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Post-Enlightenment Period begins discussion of "Imagination"
1780 - 1810
Thinkers like John Locke and David Hume begin the discussion of the mind and imagination. At this point, Imagination is the organizer of sensory inputs and filters what the mind sees.
Imagination was seen as an important link between sense and a person. -
Romantic Period
The Pedagogy of Imagination1820 - 1920
It is during this period that the imagination and the mind takes a more active role in creating the link from man to the world around him. It is through the use of imagination that man is able to process and understand what the world encompasses. The mind, which was praised for its mirror like ability to shine back an image of the world, was now regarded as a "bright lamp with its own creative, inner light." -
Pave the Way for Educational Theory
This new shift in how the mind and imagination was viewed paved the way for Educational Theorists to come in and "think" about educating.
Pestalozzi and Froebel became some of the first to focus on how imagination factored into learning. -
Theories of Education
At the turn of the century theorists like John Dewey (pragmatism) and Montessori (indepedence and psychological development) began to emerge and change the face of education. -
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World War I & II and the Communist Threat
During the period of turmoil and war around the globe the push for industrialization and mass production began to halt the progress of imagination in education. The need for technology eclipsed the need for social and personal growth.
"Behaviorism", the new outlook, avoided talk of the imagination since there was no way to talk about it or quantify it. -
Troubling loss of self-expression
During this time, theorist like Dewey and Parker fear that imagination is being weeded out of everyone for the sake of "progress" and innovation - without realizing that those are products of imagination and creativity. -
Lev Vygotsky and SocioCultural Approach
Banned during his lifetime, Vygotsky stressed that culture was the prime determinate of indivdual development. He posited that each individual brought their own context to learning and requires subjectivity and scaffolding. -
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Cognitive Tool Links
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Creation of Imaginative Education Research Group
Imaginative Education Research GroupCreated by Kieren Egan, a scholar of Vygotsky, the IERG pioneers the cognitive tool method of Imaginative Education. Creating lesson/unit plan examples as well as accumulating research materials and newsletters for educators to use in the classroom. -
Foundations of IE
Imaginative Learning:
- Engages a student's individual imagination and offers new information on how knowledge grows and changes in our mind and over our lifetime.
- Caters to three main objectives:
1) excites students with learning.
2) improves test scores and assessment standards.
3) connects students to curriculum. "A child's learning is rooted in imagination." Through activating the different methods of understanding a student puts themself into learning. -
Foundation of IE
IERG's founder and creator - Kieran Egan, and his theory of Cultural Recapitulation hold immense importance in the theory of Imaginative Education. Lev Vygotsky's Socio-Cultural Theory, the More Knowledgable Other, and the Zone of Proximal development figure prominentally in IE with active uses of scaffolding and subjectivity. -
Somatic Understanding
(Pre-linguistic)
Infants understand the world around them through the use of their senses, balance, movement, tension, pain, pleasure and so on. -
Mythic Understanding
(Oral Language)
An infant now grows to discuss, represent, and understand things they have both experienced and have not yet experienced. They are able to discuss knowledge of experience. -
Romantic Understanding
(Written)
An Independance and seperateness is formed as the world gets more complex. The child reacts to extremes of reality, associates with heroes, and seeks to make sense of human terms. -
Philosophic Understanding
(Theoretic use of Language)
The child begins to make connections through the use of laws and theories, systematically understanding the world. -
Ironic Understanding
(Reflexive use of Language)
The child relaizes there are limits to systematic thinking and understands that their view is shaped by personal experiences. -
Cognitive Tools & Developing Understanding
IERG offers a number of Cognitive Tools and Approaches for teachers to use to successfully cover all five of the Methods of Understanding: Somatic, Mythic, Romantic, Philosophic, and Ironic.
These tools cover a range of disciplines and grade levels
