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Birthing Internal Images: Employing the "Cajita" Project as a Contemplative Activity in a College Classroom
New Directions for Teaching and Learning
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: Nov 30, 2012
Pages: 41 - 51
Sources ID: 81821
Notes: ISSN 0271-0633
Visibility: Public (group default)
Abstract: (Show)
Recently, there has been a surge of interest in employing contemplative teaching and learning practices in college classrooms. The authors define contemplative pedagogy as a teaching and learning experience that involves the learner in a participatory epistemology characterized by a deeply immersed, insightful learning experience fostered through carefully selected reflective practices that complement the learning assignment. Contemplative practices may be integrated into one's daily life in many ways. These practices may include sitting in silence; mindful walking in nature and man-made environments; meditation; contemplative prayer; yoga; and a variety of artistic forms of expression. The authors view pedagogy as the approach that considers both the professor's own philosophical orientation, as well as the selection of appropriate teaching and learning strategies to set up an in- and out-of-class context for learning to occur. Contemplative practices are the tools that foster a reflective, insightful dimension to the pedagogic experience. In this chapter, they describe their experience employing a contemplative, arts-based pedagogy known as the "cajita" project, a contemplative activity, which they have employed in their classrooms to help students become reflective, socially conscious scholar-practitioners in student affairs.