Reflecting a national movement that seeks to create a more holistic model of learning and teaching on college and university campuses, Education as Transformation is a collection of twenty-eight essays written by a wide range of educators – including presidents, chancellors, deans, faculty members, administrators, religious life professionals, students, and other leaders in the field of education – on the themes of religious pluralism and spirituality in higher education. These essays provide scholarly analysis, practical information, and inspiration for those who agree that higher education can combine both head and heart in the teaching and learning process and in campus and community life. In seeking to articulate a new vision for higher education in America, the authors explore the possibility that both scholarship and spirituality are essential to fostering global learning communities and responsible global citizens who can address the challenges of a diverse world.
Three aspects of Piagetian theory are explored in this article and are then related to the use of computers in the education of young children. The computer tends to disrupt the development process by ignoring action and assimilation processes necessary for child development.
This handbook addresses the educational uses of mindfulness in schools. It summarizes the state of the science and describes current and emerging applications and challenges throughout the field. It explores mindfulness concepts in scientific, theoretical, and practical terms and examines training opportunities both as an aspect of teachers’ professional development and a means to enhance students’ social-emotional and academic skills. Chapters discuss mindfulness and contemplative pedagogy programs that have produced positive student outcomes, including stress relief, self-care, and improved classroom and institutional engagement. Featured topics include: A comprehensive view of mindfulness in the modern era.Contemplative education and the roots of resilience. Mindfulness practice and its effect on students’ social-emotional learning.A cognitive neuroscience perspective on mindfulness in education that addresses students’ academic and social skills development. Mindfulness training for teachers and administrators.Two universal mindfulness education programs for elementary and middle school students.The Handbook of Mindfulness in Education is a must-have resource for researchers, graduate students, clinicians, and practitioners in psychology, psychiatry, education, and medicine, as well as counseling, social work, and rehabilitation therapy.
The teaching of the sciences, as with all other disciplines, can benefit by inclusion ofcontemplative exercises in the pedagogy of science instruction. In this article I situate the
contemplative within the larger framework of an integrative undergraduate education, and I
emphasize the central role of contemplative practices in the discovery process. Albert Einstein’s
path to his remarkable scientific achievements helps us to see what capacities are drawn on in
the process of discovery, and thereby what kinds of contemplative exercises can be useful to
this process.
Around the world a quiet revolution is unfolding in teaching and learning through the introduction of contemplative practices in higher education. Several practices are described and their value assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of New Directions for Teaching & Learning is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education. From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being—mind, heart, and spirit—an essential integration if we hope to address the complex issues of our time. The book offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and proposals for action from two educators and writers who have contributed to developing the field of integrative education over the past few decades. Presents Parker Palmer’s powerful response to critics of holistic learning and Arthur Zajonc’s elucidation of the relationship between science, the humanities, and the contemplative traditions Explores ways to take steps toward making colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff Offers a practical approach to fostering renewal in higher education through collegiality and conversation The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of holistic education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching and learning on their campuses.
For many, the business of science is to search for causes. So when the would-be scientist Goethe declares to Schiller that “. . . we are not seeking causes but the circumstances under which the phenomenon occurs” (‘Erfahrung und Wissenschaft’: HA 13, p. 25; Goethe, 1952, p. 228), he seems to be missing the point of the scientific enterprise. He only makes matters worse by maintaining that, “Man in thinking errs particularly when inquiring after cause and effect; the two together constitute the indissoluble phenomenon . . . [‘Maximen und Reflexionen’, 591: HA 12, p. 446]. “It is rightly said that the phenomenon is a consequence without a ground, an effect without a cause [Goethe, Maximen . . ., 590: HA 12, p. 446].
October 1991 – Transcript of a talk at Lexington Waldorf School, Lexington, Massachusetts
"A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education. From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being--mind, heart, and spirit--an essential integration if we hope to address the complex issues of our time. The book offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and proposals for action from two educators and writers who have contributed to developing the field of integrative education over the past few decades. Presents Parker Palmer's powerful response to critics of holistic learning and Arthur Zajonc's elucidation of the relationship between science, the humanities, and the contemplative traditions. Explores ways to take steps toward making colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff. Offers a practical approach to fostering renewal in higher education through collegiality and conversation. The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of holistic education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching and learning on their campuses"--Provided by publisher.
A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education. From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being--mind, heart, and spirit--an essential integration if we hope to address the complex issues of our time. The book offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and proposals for action from two educators and writers who have contributed to developing the field of integrative education over the past few decades. Presents Parker Palmer's powerful response to critics of holistic learning and Arthur Zajonc's elucidation of the relationship between science, the humanities, and the contemplative traditions. Explores ways to take steps toward making colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff. Offers a practical approach to fostering renewal in higher education through collegiality and conversation. The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of holistic education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching and learning on their campuses
The role of contemplative practice in adult education has a long history if one includes traditional monastic education in Asia and the West. Its use in American higher education is, however, more recent and more limited. Nonetheless, on the basis of evidence from surveys and conferences, a significant community of teachers exists at all levels of higher education, from community colleges to research universities, who are using a wide range of contemplative practices as part of their classroom pedagogy. In addition to existing well-developed pedagogical and curricular methods that school critical reasoning, critical reading and writing, and quantitative analysis, this article argues that we also require a pedagogy that attends to the development of reflective, contemplative, affective, and ethical capacities in our students. The significance of these is at least as great as the development of critical capacities in students. The rationale for the inclusion of contemplative modalities is articulated within this context. On the basis of considerable experience in teaching at Amherst College, I present an "epistemology of love," which emphasizes a form of inquiry that supports close engagement and leads to student transformation and insight. This approach to knowing is implemented in the Amherst College first-year course, Eros and Insight. It includes a specific sequence of contemplative exercises that are practiced by students and integrated with more conventional course content drawn from the arts and sciences. Our experience shows that students deeply appreciate the shift from conventional coursework to a more experiential, transformative, and reflective pedagogy.
In a KidSpirit PerSpectives article, physics professor Arthur Zajonc inspires us, as students, to become more fully "awake" to our environment through practices of mindfulness.
When we turn to meditation, we are turning toward renewal, peace, and insight. Initially, we may take up contemplative practice as a means of tapping into the abundant resources of the mind and heart that bring serenity, but the meditative journey leads further--to the place where wisdom and love unite.In Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry, Arthur Zajonc offers an overview of the meditative life, weaving practical instruction together with the guidance and inspiration of the world's great teachers, from Rudolf Steiner to Rumi, and from Goethe to the sages of Asia.
Zajonc reminds us that an ethic of humility grounds all practice, and that care of the soul is the basis for sound spiritual reflection and understanding. The author carefully describes each stage of the path and includes many recommended practices.
Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry is the fruit of many years of personal practice and teaching. Arthur Zajonc developed his orientation toward meditation through working with hundreds of university students and professors, as well as with contemplative groups in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
The purpose of this study, conducted in Winter 2003, was to document academic programs and other initiatives in North American universities and colleges that incorporate transformative and spiritual elements of learning. A combination of qualitative and quantitative instruments was used for data collection. Transformative learning has historically referred to a primarily epistemic, rational process whereby adult learners become aware of their unconscious roles, beliefs, and assumptions. The operational definition of transformative learning used in this study emphasized reflective learning, the intuitive and imaginative process, and the ethical, spiritual, and/or contemplative dimensions of education. Questionnaire responses and interviews indicated that although there is great interest in bringing transformative/spiritual elements into higher education, this movement still exists primarily among individual faculty within classrooms rather than as a departmental or institutional strategy. However, there are a number of notable initiatives in mainstream educational institutions. Survey participants were also asked about strategies that would support the transformative learning movement.
The purpose of this study, conducted in Winter 2003, was to document academic programs and other initiatives in North American universities and colleges that incorporate transformative and spiritual elements of learning. A combination of qualitative and quantitative instruments was used for data collection. Transformative learning has historically referred to a primarily epistemic, rational process whereby adult learners become aware of their unconscious roles, beliefs, and assumptions. The operational definition of transformative learning used in this study emphasized reflective learning, the intuitive and imaginative process, and the ethical, spiritual, and/or contemplative dimensions of education. Questionnaire responses and interviews indicated that although there is great interest in bringing transformative/spiritual elements into higher education, this movement still exists primarily among individual faculty within classrooms rather than as a departmental or institutional strategy. However, there are a number of notable initiatives in mainstream educational institutions. Survey participants were also asked about strategies that would support the transformative learning movement.
The purpose of this study, conducted in Winter 2003, was to document academic programs and other initiatives in North American universities and colleges that incorporate transformative and spiritual elements of learning. A combination of qualitative and quantitative instruments was used for data collection. Transformative learninghas historically referred to a primarily epistemic, rational process whereby adult
learners become aware of their unconscious roles, beliefs, and assumptions. The operational definition of transformative learning used in this study emphasized reflective learning, the intuitive and imaginative process, and the ethical, spiritual, and/or contemplative dimensions of education. Questionnaire responses and interviews indicated that although there is great interest in bringing transformative/spiritual elements into higher education, this movement still exists primarily among individual faculty within classrooms rather than as a departmental or institutional strategy.
However, there are a number of notable initiatives in mainstream educational institutions. Survey participants were also asked about strategies that would support thetransformative learning movement
January 1997 – Paper – Computers and Education Conference
Pages |