imaginative educationimaginative education

Presentation Outline

• Introduction and Overview of Imaginative Education

• The Theoretical Foundations of Imaginative Education

• Imaginative Education in Action

Introduction

What is new about IE? a new understanding of how knowledge grows in the

mind, and how our imaginations work and change during our lives

innovative teaching methods based on these insights offer new ways of planning and teaching

So what is the imagination? ability to think of the possible, not just the actual source of invention, novelty, and flexibility in human

thinking that greatly enriches rational thinking tied to our ability to form images and our emotions “reaching out” feature of minds that picks up new

ideas, tries them out, weighs their qualities and possibilities, and finds a place for them amidst the things already learned: “Look! See what I can do with this!”

What are the theoretical foundations for IE? Socio-cultural theories of Lev Vygotsky

richest elaboration of Vygotsky’s ideas about learning and imagination developed for education

Cultural Recapitulation Theory thinking tools (cognitive tools) that were invented in

cultural history are recapitulated best described in Kieran Egan’s The Educated Mind: How

cognitive tools shape our understanding

“A new theory of education that is (believe it or not) useful…

'The Educated Mind' is something very new and different.” -- C. J. Driver, The New York Times Book Review

“Kieran Egan has one of the most original, penetrating, and capacious minds in education today. This book provides the best introduction to his important body of work.”

-- Howard Gardner, Harvard University

Overview – Initial Questions

Kinds of Understanding: The Core of

Imaginative Education

Kinds of Understanding

IE is based on five distinctive kinds of understanding that enable people to make sense of the world in different ways

enable each student to develop these five kinds of understanding while they are learning math, science, social studies, and all other subjects

needs to be accomplished in a certain order because each kind of understanding represents an increasingly complex way that we learn to use language

Somatic Understanding (pre-linguistic) Mythic Understanding (oral language)

Romantic Understanding (written language) Philosophic Understanding (theoretic use of language) Ironic Understanding (reflexive use of language)

Kinds of Understanding:

all five kinds of understanding make a distinctive contribution to one’s understanding and they work best if they can be combined

Somatic + Mythic + Romantic + Philosophic + Ironic

each kind of understanding does not “naturally” develop at a particular age in some steady and inevitable process

occurs when the appropriate forms of IE are used adequately

teachers can focus their efforts on engaging students’ imaginations and emotions with knowledge about the world and on developing their use of an array of… cognitive tools

Somatic UnderstandingSomatic Understandingunderstand experience in a physical, pre-linguistic way

make sense of experiences through the information provided by the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, and crucially with the emotions that these are tied up with experience the world and sensations of balance, movement, tension, pain, pleasure, and so on, through the way the body physically relates to the objects and persons encountered

Mythic UnderstandingMythic Understandingunderstand experience through oral language

no longer limited to making sense of the world through direct physical experience can now rely on language to discuss, represent, and understand even things not experienced in person

Romantic UnderstandingRomantic Understandingunderstand experience through written language

realization of independence and separateness from a world that appears increasingly complex relate readily to extremes of reality, associate with heroes, and seek to make sense of the world in human terms

Philosophic UnderstandingPhilosophic Understanding

understand experience through the theoretic use of language

systematic understanding - more focus on the connections among things recognition that there are laws and theories that can bring together, and help make sense of, what originally seemed to be disconnected details and experiences

Ironic UnderstandingIronic Understandingunderstand experience through the reflexive use of language

realization of the limits to systematic thinking appreciation that theories, and even language, are too limited and crude to capture everything that is important about the world recognition that the way we make sense of the world depends on our unique historical and cultural perspective

Cognitive Tools: How We Can Develop

The Five Kinds Of Understanding

Cognitive Tools

students can most successfully develop the five kinds of understanding by acquiring sets of cognitive tools “thinking tools” invented and developed by

our ancestors for making sense of the world and acting more effectively within it

referred to as tools because they are mental devices that help us think and do things more effectively

Somatic Cognitive ToolsSomatic Cognitive Tools

emotionsimitationgesturesenses Incongruity (Humor)Rhythm and MusicPatterns and repetition

EmotionsEmotions

We often hear that we should “teach from what the students already know” We forget that our emotions are a huge part of what we knowFrom birth we can know love, fear, loneliness, and happiness and can connect through these emotions to the content we are teaching

Gesture and ImitationGesture and Imitation

Learning through imitationCopyingPre-dramaImportant part of pre- languaged learning

SensesSenses

Experiencing things through our bodily sensesThe more senses that are involved, the fuller the exeperience Sight Sound Touch Taste Smell

IncongruityIncongruity

The basis of humourIncorporating the unexpectedThe joy of “peek-a-boo”

RepetitionRepetition

RhythmMusicRepeat phrasesWhere is your _______?

Mythic Cognitive ToolsMythic Cognitive Toolsunderstanding experience through the tools of oral language

metaphor binary opposites rhyme, rhythm and patterns jokes and humour mystery mental images drama and play story

StoryStory

Just one of the ‘cognitive tools’ that we can use to enhance our understanding

stories shape our emotional understanding of their content; they tell us how to feel

One of the most widely used methods to teach both historically and throughout the world

A Story tells you how to feel

A girl crossed the street. The girl crossed the street to help the

little boy who had fallen off his bike. She only wanted to help him because she

saw that he had a fifty dollar bill poking out of his pocket and wanted to take it.

The girl had witnessed the boy steel the money from an old lady and was getting the money to return it to the old lady.

The boy had only stolen the money because his family was very poor and he wanted to help pay for his little sister’s hospital bill.

2 main ways to use story in Education:

Telling true or fictional stories that teach. This approach, using stories that carry powerful moral and spiritual meaning, has been a core of many educational programs from the beginning of time. It has also been very successfully adapted and developed, and extended, in the Waldorf school movement.

Using elements of the story form to make lessons in math, science, history, etc, more meaningful and imaginatively engaging - examining the ways we can shape regular lessons and units of study into story shapes, drawing on the communicative and engaging power to make the everyday material of the curriculum more lively and stimulating to both teacher and student.

The latter is what we aim to do in Imaginative Education

MetaphorMetaphor

the tool that enables us to see one thing in terms of another

lies at the heart of human intellectual inventiveness, creativity, and imagination

important to help students keep this ability vividly alive by exercising it frequently

using it frequently in teaching will help students to learn with energy and flexibility

Binary OppositesBinary Opposites good/evil, hope/despair, love/hate,

hot/cold the most basic and powerful tools we have

for organizing and categorizing knowledge in nearly all fictional stories, and they are

crucial in providing an initial ordering to many complex forms of knowledge

The most powerful BO’s are emotionally charged and, when attached to curriculum content, imaginatively engaging.

We can use BO’s to teach students how to mediate between polarities.

Rhyme and PatternRhyme and Pattern

potent tools for giving meaningful, memorable, and attractive shape to any content

have an enormous power to engage the imagination in all areas of knowledge while reflecting and connecting with the emotions

music, rhyme, poetry, daily and seasonal rhythms

Jokes and HumourJokes and Humour

can help to make language “visible” - they can expose some of the basic ways in which language works and, at the same time, allow students to play with elements of all areas of knowledge

can also assist the imagination— helping to fight against rigid conventional uses of knowledge and showing the student dimensions of any knowledge’s flexibility

Mental ImagesMental Images

Images in the mind can be evoked by words.

In societies saturated by visual images, it is increasingly important to allow students space to learn to generate their own mental images.

We can easily forget the potency of our unique images generated from words.

Often the image can carry more imaginative and memorable force than can the concept, and the use of images should play a large role in teaching.

Drama, Play and GamesDrama, Play and Games

Imaginitive play holds a big role in our ability to understand the world we live in and a very big role in developing our imagination

Role play helps us understand not only what is, but also what could be

Games and Play help children establish and understand structure and rules and how to work within them

The Misbehavior of T and H

Opposites: Naughty, well behaved Personify the letters – tell why they

make the sounds they do with an emotional connection

Other letters: Helpful e Lonely v Ideas for sh and ch?

Romantic Understanding and the tools of literacy

Romantic Understanding and the tools of literacy

Extremes and Limits of Reality

Associating with the Heroic

Sense of Wonder

Humanizing of Meaning

The Literate Eye

Collections and Hobbies

Change of Context

Extremes of RealityExtremes of Reality

a central concern to student’s imaginations after they become fluently literate

a common means students’ imaginations use to explore the extent of the real world in which they find themselves

students learn a new conception of reality that is separate from themselves, and that is unaffected by their hopes and fears

Heroic QualitiesHeroic Qualities

enables us to overcome some of the threats involved in the new sense of reality

By associating with those things or people that have heroic qualities we can gain confidence that we too can face and deal with the real world, taking on those qualities with which we associate.

As teachers we want to help student see find the heroic in what they are learning. If we do not present heroic qualities to kids, they will choose their own.

Sense of WonderSense of Wonder

enables us to focus on any aspect of the world around us, or the world within us, and see its particular uniqueness.

We can turn this sense of wonder onto anything, recognizing the wonderful in every feature of the world around us.

This tool can provide the gift that allows a person to recognize behind even the most routine and taken-for-granted things dimensions of complexities or concentrations of effort or accumulation of richness through history.

The starting point of all science and all inquiries is “I wonder why . . .”

Knowledge and Human MeaningKnowledge and Human Meaning

the tool that enables us to see beyond the surface of any knowledge to its source in human life.

Knowledge is part of living human tissue; books and libraries contain only desiccated codes.

The business of education is enabling new minds to bring to new life old knowledge.

All knowledge is human knowledge, and the imagination is enlivened by understanding the human emotional core of the knowledge the student is learning.

The Literate Eye And the use of graphic organizers

The Literate Eye And the use of graphic organizers

opportunity and dangers involved in increasing fluency with literacy

shift to literacy reflects also a shift from a dominance of the ear to the eye in gathering information

making and manipulation of lists, flowcharts, diagrams, and other literate tools

The dangers concern the greater “distance” between the eye and the emotions than between the ear and the emotions for some.

Collections and Hobbies Collections and Hobbies

With literacy comes a desire to find the limits of all things and a great sense of accomplishment comes with knowing all there is to know about a topic (or collecting all there is to collect).

Examples: Badges in scouting, Pokemon Cards, base ball Cards, McDonalds Happy Meals, Cereal Box Prizes (Collect the whole set!)

LOST (TV series)- Announcing an End - Harry potter Books - set of 7

Revolt and Idealism Revolt and Idealism

The ability to imagine a world or particular circumstance that is better or superior than reality, and…

The ability to revolt against those constraints and look for ways to overcome the obstructions that prevent the attainment of an ideal

In every topic we teach, there will be examples of obstructions that prevent the achievement of some ideal, and there will also be someone or some idea that prevails against that obstruction.

The Adventures Of H2O

Water as a great traveler on a journey of discovery

Personifying water – giving it human hopes and fears

Extremes – water everywhere – from the tip of Everest to great depths of the ocean, underground, in the air – and yes, even in sweat and urine

The Incredible Courtesy of Punctuation and Conventions

EFYUKANRHEEDTHICEEYEAMVEREEIMPRESSTBEECOZITIZRATHERHARDTOREEDWITHOWTPUNGCHEWASHUNAVERYLONGTYMEAGOHWENRITINGWUZFERSTINVENTEDOHNLEEAFEWPEEPULCOODREEDITWUZMUCHMOREDIFIKULTTHANITIZTOODAEBECUZITTOOKKWITESUMTYMEPHORPUNGCHEWASHUNTOOBEAINVENTED

The Incredible Courtesy of Punctuation and Conventions

EF YU KAN RHEED THICE EYE AM VEREE IMPRESST BEECOZ IT IZ RATHER HARD TO REED WITHOWT PUNGCHEWASHUN A VERY LONG TYME AGOH WEN RITING WUZ FERST INVENTED OHNLEE A FEW PEEPUL COOD REED IT WUZ MUCH MORE DIFIKULT THAN IT IZ TOODAE BECUZ IT TOOK KWITE SUM TYME PHOR PUNGCHEWASHUN TOO BEA INVENTED

The Incredible Courtesy of Punctuation and Conventions

IF YOU CAN READ THIS I AM VERY IMPRESSED BECAUSE IT IS RATHER HARD TO READ WITHOUT PUNCTUATION A VERY LONG TIME AGO WHEN WRITING WAS FIRST INVENTED ONLY A FEW PEOPLE COULD READ IT WAS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT IS TODAY BECAUSE IT TOOK QUITE SOME TIME FOR PUNCTUATION TO BE INVENTED

The Incredible Courtesy of Punctuation and Conventions

If you can read this, I am very impressed because it is rather hard to read without punctuation. A very long time ago, when writing was first invented, only a few people could read. It was much more difficult than it is today because it took quite some time for punctuation to be invented.

Humour in Punctuation

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours?

Jill

Humor in Punctuation

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

Jill

One More

A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Cognitive Tools

these cognitive tools, and many others, have become a part of our culture

hard to imagine life without basic cognitive tools such as stories or metaphors

each of us can learn to use these cognitive tools to enlarge our powers to think and understand

most teachers will intuitively recognize the importance of many cognitive tools

teachers may be less familiar with how to routinely use them in the classroom

IE shows how cognitive tools can be effectively used to make everyday teaching more interesting and meaningful while also developing the kinds of understanding

Cognitive Tools

The sets of Cognitive Tools students should acquire to develop each Kind of Understanding

Somatic Understanding

Mythic Understanding

Romantic Understanding

Philosophic Understanding

Ironic Understanding

bodily senses

emotional responses & attachments

rhythm & musicality

gesture & communication

referencing

intentionality

story

metaphor

abstract binary opposites

rhyme, meter, & pattern

joking & humour

forming images

sense of mystery

games, drama & play

sense of reality

extremes & limits of reality

association with heroes

wonder

humanizing of meaning

collections & hobbies

revolt & idealism

context change

drive for generality

processes

lure of certainty

general schemes & anomalies

flexibility of theory

search for authority & truth

limits of theory

reflexivity & identity

coalescence

particularity

radical epistemic doubt

PLANNING FRAMEWORKS

1. Brief version of the Mythic Framework

2. Brief version of the Romantic Framework

3. Brief version of the Philosophic Framework

Planning Frameworks

Mythic Planning Framework

1. Locating importance

2. Thinking about the content in story form

2.1. Finding binary opposites 2.2. Finding images, metaphors and drama 2.3. Structuring the body of the lesson or unit

3. Conclusion

4. Evaluation

Romantic Planning Framework

1. Identifying transcendent qualities

2. Organizing the content into a narrative structure

2.1 Initial access 2.2 Structuring the body of the unit or lesson 2.3 Humanizing the content 2.4 Pursuing details

3. Conclusion

4. Evaluating

Philosophic Planning Framework

1. Identifying powerful underlying ideas

2. Organizing the content into a theoretic structure2.1. Initial access2.2. Organizing the body of the lesson or

unit

3. Introducing anomalies to the theory

4. Presenting alternative general theories

5. Encouraging development of the students’ sense of agency

6. Conclusion

7. Evaluation

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Imaginative Education Research Group

c/o Faculty of EducationSimon Fraser University

Burnaby, B.C. Canada V5A 1S6.Ph: 604 291 4479. Fax: 604 268

7014Email: ierg-ed@sfu.cahttp://www.ierg.net