Hans-Werner Hunziker
Encyclopedia
Hans-Werner Hunziker, was a Swiss educational psychologist
, scientist
and author of interactive computer
based training
programs for special education
.
His fields of research
were visual perception
, auditory perception, perception training
and reading
.
After a year as a graduate assistant (1957/58) at Miami University
Ohio
Hunziker took his PhD in Psychology
and Education
from the University of Berne
, Switzerland
.
In his 1963 Dissertation Plastizität als Faktor der Spannungsüberwindung in Denkaufgaben [Flexibility of closure as a factor of tension reduction in visual problem solving], he compared concepts of J. P. Guilford
(Adaptive Flexibility), Abraham S.Luchins (einstellung rigidity
), Louis Leon Thurstone
(flexibility of closure
), Adkins (Flexibility of perceptive closure
) and Richard Meili
(neuroplasticity
) by a factor analysis of visual problem scores.
He integrated behavioristic and gestalt views of perception by the concepts of peripheral and foveal vision.
In 1965 he was the first psychologist to use recordings of eye movements during problem solving
for investigating the relationship between visual perception
and human intelligence
factors.
He authored a number of multilingual CD-ROMS for special needs education (perception training). http://www.learning-systems.ch/
. His father, Werner Hunziker, a customs officer, was transferred in 1939 and the family (now including his younger brother Peter http://www.baenkelsaenger.ch/) moved from St.Gallen to Zürich . In the years 1940 and 1941 (World War II
) his father was serving in the Swiss Army and the family moved to Einsiedeln (as they did not feel very safe in Zürich, due to some German bombs that exploded near their home).
In 1942 his father got promoted and the family moved again back to St.Gallen, where his youngest brother Christian http://www.musicfarm.org/profile/p-ch.html was born.
Hunziker then went to a primary school at a rural suburb of St.Gallen, called St.Georgen: first to a very friendly woman teacher and then up to grades 6 to an old-fashioned teacher who was in charge of all corporal punishments of the school.
He was very happy to escape primary school and to enter the St.Gallen High School (Kantonsschule).
In 1950 his father was promoted head of the Swiss Customs Administration in Berne
and the family moved to Berne, too.
In 1952 he made some pocket money by assembling radios for a local radio dealer, together with a friend of his (Peter R. Fontana), who later became professor of nuclear physics in the USA. The two of them also coupled a tape recorder with an 8mm movie projector, scripted and produced a screenplay with members of a local youth group.
During the winter term of 1954/55 he studied at the Sorbonne
, Paris
, did some paintings and greatly improved his French.
In 1956 he staged a musical, performed by the local boy scouts, at the Casino (the place where Louis Armstrong
had performed his first concert in Berne a year earlier). In the same year he took his B.A. in Education.
In 1957 he started his new job as a secondary school teacher in Herzogenbuchsee
. A few months later he obtained a scholarship from Miami University, Ohio, where his friend Peter was studying physics. As a scholarship in the USA was something quite exceptional at the time, he got a one year's leave from teaching.
At Miami U. the scholarship was soon transferred into an employment as a graduate assistant for audiovisual aids and psychological testing for two terms (due to his prior experience in movie production and test administration). He enjoyed and took good advantage of his stay. Then he hitch-hiked through the States and Mexico before returning to Herzogenbuchsee in the fall of 1958.
This (and the following) experience was all-important for his further life.
More details can be found under the external links section.
Educational psychology
Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing...
, scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
and author of interactive computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
based training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
programs for special education
Special education
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
.
His fields of research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
were visual perception
Visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...
, auditory perception, perception training
Perception training
Complex perceptions like voice recognition or discrimination of similar sound sequences need experience and can generally be trained.Complex perceptions are often multi sensory perceptions....
and reading
Reading (process)
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...
.
After a year as a graduate assistant (1957/58) at Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
Hunziker took his PhD in Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and Education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
from the University of Berne
University of Berne
The University of Bern is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a broad choice of courses and programmes in eight faculties and some 160 institutes. The university is an...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
In his 1963 Dissertation Plastizität als Faktor der Spannungsüberwindung in Denkaufgaben [Flexibility of closure as a factor of tension reduction in visual problem solving], he compared concepts of J. P. Guilford
J. P. Guilford
Joy Paul Guilford was a US psychologist, best remembered for his psychometric study of human intelligence, including the important distinction between convergent and divergent production....
(Adaptive Flexibility), Abraham S.Luchins (einstellung rigidity
Einstellung effect
Einstellung is the creation of a mechanized state of mind. Often called a problem solving set, Einstellung refers to a person's predisposition to solve a given problem in a specific manner even though there are "better" or more appropriate methods of solving the problem. The Einstellung effect is...
), Louis Leon Thurstone
Louis Leon Thurstone
Louis Leon Thurstone was a U.S. pioneer in the fields of psychometrics and psychophysics. He conceived the approach to measurement known as the law of comparative judgment, and is well known for his contributions to factor analysis.-Background and history:Louis Leon Thurstone was born in Chicago,...
(flexibility of closure
Closure
Closure may refer to:* Closure used to seal a bottle, jug, jar, can, or other container** Closure , a stopper* Closure , the process by which an organization ceases operations...
), Adkins (Flexibility of perceptive closure
Closure
Closure may refer to:* Closure used to seal a bottle, jug, jar, can, or other container** Closure , a stopper* Closure , the process by which an organization ceases operations...
) and Richard Meili
Richard Meili
Richard Meili was an internationally renowned scientist in practical psychology, diagnostics, personality development and intelligence.- Biography :...
(neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity is a non-specific neuroscience term referring to the ability of the brain and nervous system in all species to change structurally and functionally as a result of input from the environment. Plasticity occurs on a variety of levels, ranging from cellular changes involved in...
) by a factor analysis of visual problem scores.
He integrated behavioristic and gestalt views of perception by the concepts of peripheral and foveal vision.
In 1965 he was the first psychologist to use recordings of eye movements during problem solving
Problem solving
Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
for investigating the relationship between visual perception
Visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...
and human intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
factors.
He authored a number of multilingual CD-ROMS for special needs education (perception training). http://www.learning-systems.ch/
Early years
Hunziker's ancestors were farmers in the Swiss midlands and ropemakers from the ToggenburgToggenburg
Toggenburg is the name given to the upper valley of the Thur River, in the Swiss Canton of St. Gallen. Currently, it is one of the eight constituencies into which the canton is divided....
. His father, Werner Hunziker, a customs officer, was transferred in 1939 and the family (now including his younger brother Peter http://www.baenkelsaenger.ch/) moved from St.Gallen to Zürich . In the years 1940 and 1941 (World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) his father was serving in the Swiss Army and the family moved to Einsiedeln (as they did not feel very safe in Zürich, due to some German bombs that exploded near their home).
In 1942 his father got promoted and the family moved again back to St.Gallen, where his youngest brother Christian http://www.musicfarm.org/profile/p-ch.html was born.
Hunziker then went to a primary school at a rural suburb of St.Gallen, called St.Georgen: first to a very friendly woman teacher and then up to grades 6 to an old-fashioned teacher who was in charge of all corporal punishments of the school.
He was very happy to escape primary school and to enter the St.Gallen High School (Kantonsschule).
In 1950 his father was promoted head of the Swiss Customs Administration in Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
and the family moved to Berne, too.
In 1952 he made some pocket money by assembling radios for a local radio dealer, together with a friend of his (Peter R. Fontana), who later became professor of nuclear physics in the USA. The two of them also coupled a tape recorder with an 8mm movie projector, scripted and produced a screenplay with members of a local youth group.
Studies
In 1953 Hunziker graduated from Berne Kirchenfeld High School and started to study Psychology at Berne University while attending the necessary training classes for a secondary school teacher diploma.During the winter term of 1954/55 he studied at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, did some paintings and greatly improved his French.
In 1956 he staged a musical, performed by the local boy scouts, at the Casino (the place where Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
had performed his first concert in Berne a year earlier). In the same year he took his B.A. in Education.
Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.The population is 6,646 , counting the villages in the Oberaargau. The traditional name was Buchsi.- History :...
. A few months later he obtained a scholarship from Miami University, Ohio, where his friend Peter was studying physics. As a scholarship in the USA was something quite exceptional at the time, he got a one year's leave from teaching.
At Miami U. the scholarship was soon transferred into an employment as a graduate assistant for audiovisual aids and psychological testing for two terms (due to his prior experience in movie production and test administration). He enjoyed and took good advantage of his stay. Then he hitch-hiked through the States and Mexico before returning to Herzogenbuchsee in the fall of 1958.
This (and the following) experience was all-important for his further life.
Marriage and professional life
In 1959 he fell in love with and got married to Ursula Berner (daughter of the late lawyer Hans Berner). They had together 3 sons:- Jean-Marc (1961), now Country Management Development Leader and Coach for IBM(Switzerland), band leader of The Soulmates
- Alexander (1963), Prof. Dr. oec. publ., director of studies EMBA Public Management at the Professional College, Berne. http://www.ahunziker.ch/index2.htm
- Eric (1967), musician, composer, sound engineer and multimedia designer; Member of the Swiss Indian Orchestra
More details can be found under the external links section.
Publications
- Plastizität als Faktor der Spannungsüberwindung in Denkaufgaben. Eine feldtheoretisch-faktorenanalytische Untersuchung der Umstrukturierung von Problemsituationen. In: Zeitschrift für experimentelle und angewandte Psychologie. Band 11. 1964, Heft 2, zugleich: Dissertation, Bern 1963
- Visuelle Informationsaufnahme und Intelligenz: Eine Untersuchung über die Augenfixationen beim Problemlösen. In Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Psychologie und ihre Anwendungen, 1970, 29, Nr 1/2 Summary in English: Visual perception and intelligence: an investigation of the role of eye movements in problem solving. http://www.learning-systems.ch/multimedia/forsch1e.htm
- Book: (in German) Audiovisual Learning and Creative Thinking. Theory and Practical Application of Research for the Development of Interactive Programs. Transmedia, Stäubli Verlag Zürich 1973
- CD-ROM EAGLE EYE. 1998/2000, ISBN 978-3-7266-0047-1 (visual perception training)
- CD-ROM SUPER OWL. 2000, ISBN 978-3-7266-0053-2 (auditory perception training)
- CD-ROM KALKMONSTER. 2001, ISBN 978-3-7266-0062-4 (visual and auditory perception training of numbers and quantities)
- CD-ROM EAGLE EYE JUNIOR. 2003, ISBN 978-3-7266-0046-4 (visual perception training from 4 to 10 years)
- CD-ROM SPEEDRAT. 2005, ISBN 978-3-7266-0067-9 (training of high speed recognition of isolated letters and of over 2500 of the most frequent English words in 330 games grouped according to length and similarity)
- CD-ROM SpassKid. 2006, ISBN 978-3-7266-0073-0 (interaktives Training von gesprochenem und geschriebenem Hochdeutsch aus dem Zusammenhang von Bildgeschichten)
- Book: (in German) Im Auge des Lesers: foveale und periphere Wahrnehmung - vom Buchstabieren zur Lesefreude [In the eye of the reader: foveal and peripheral perception - from letter recognition to the joy of reading] Transmedia Stäubli Verlag Zürich 2006 ISBN 978-3-7266-0068-6
External links
- Curriculum
- Comments on the Concept of Closure by Abraham S. Luchins and Edith H. Luchins