Imaginative Education Summer Training
Vancouver, British Columbia
DAY ONE
Part Two
So ... the juice! What are these "kinds of understandings" Egan is talking about? In an attempt to be more concise than my last post, here are the basics:
Building on the notion of recapitulationist theories, children acquire cognitive tools, with which they make sense of the world, in a similar sequence to that which humans, as a species, have acquired. Egan presents language as the primary medium, through these tools are represented and communicated. If we work, then, from the development of human language, we get the following stages (and what they become as "kinds of understanding"):
Pre-linguistic (Somatic)
Oral language (Mythic)
Written language (Romantic)
Thinking about language theoretically (Philosophic)
Turning language over on itself reflexively (Ironic)
Zoom in on any one of these stages and we find the cognitive tools involved with making sense of the world through each of these kinds of understanding:
Pre-linguistic (Somatic understanding): without oral symbols to communicate, we rely entirely on our bodies and sensory capacities to understand the world around us, including the use of
- Bodily senses
- Emotional responses and attachments
- Humor and expectations
- Musicality, rhythm, pattern
- Gesture and communication
- Intentionality
Oral language (Mythic understanding): with both bodily and oral symbols, with which to communicate, our experiences of the body inform our language of understanding with
- Story
- Metaphor
- Abstract binary opposites (and mediations thereof)
- Rhyme, rhythm, pattern
- Jokes and humor
- Powerful images
- Dramatic play
Written language (Romantic understanding): with the development of visual symbols, so is our understanding of the world shaped by them - not just the alphabet, but numbers, symbols, tables, maps, and other visual organizers - as well as by the effects they have on human culture, including
- Heroic narrative
- Humanizing meaning
- Revolt and idealism
- The literate eye / graphic organizers
- Collections and sets
- Extremes and limits
- Role play
Thinking about language theoretically (Philosophic understanding): with increased practice and skill in the use of oral and written language, we can begin to deconstruct the meanings these arbitrary symbols have come to have in our word, which may be confirmed and/or challenged through
- Meta-narrative of theory
- Analysis and synthesis
- Search for authority, truth, evidence
- Alternative theories
- Anomalies, ironies, ambiguities
- Bringing ideas to life in one's own life
I must admit, we have not gotten greatly into turning language over on itself reflexively (Ironic understanding) in our discussions as of yet, because it is not a stage even high school students have not yet obtained, so I'm not as confident reporting on that. However, where Philosophic understanding falls short ("All generalizations are false" are the opening words of Egan's chapter on the last stage), there Ironic understanding takes up the reins, as learners begin to turn their knowledge over on itself and examine knowledge as a subject, itself.
What to make of all of this? Quite frankly, I don't know. Not yet, at least. If you've made it this far, I congratulate you and appreciate your persistence. I'm so full of thoughts and still making sense of this all for myself, it's hard to think critically about it and respond properly. Just because I can summarize this all does not at all mean I understand it. Really, it would be best for me just to go and erase all I've written up to this point and start anew ... in a classroom ... with students ... and a topic, say, "eels" ... oh dear.
Part Two
So ... the juice! What are these "kinds of understandings" Egan is talking about? In an attempt to be more concise than my last post, here are the basics:
Building on the notion of recapitulationist theories, children acquire cognitive tools, with which they make sense of the world, in a similar sequence to that which humans, as a species, have acquired. Egan presents language as the primary medium, through these tools are represented and communicated. If we work, then, from the development of human language, we get the following stages (and what they become as "kinds of understanding"):
Pre-linguistic (Somatic)
Oral language (Mythic)
Written language (Romantic)
Thinking about language theoretically (Philosophic)
Turning language over on itself reflexively (Ironic)
Zoom in on any one of these stages and we find the cognitive tools involved with making sense of the world through each of these kinds of understanding:
Pre-linguistic (Somatic understanding): without oral symbols to communicate, we rely entirely on our bodies and sensory capacities to understand the world around us, including the use of
- Bodily senses
- Emotional responses and attachments
- Humor and expectations
- Musicality, rhythm, pattern
- Gesture and communication
- Intentionality
Oral language (Mythic understanding): with both bodily and oral symbols, with which to communicate, our experiences of the body inform our language of understanding with
- Story
- Metaphor
- Abstract binary opposites (and mediations thereof)
- Rhyme, rhythm, pattern
- Jokes and humor
- Powerful images
- Dramatic play
Written language (Romantic understanding): with the development of visual symbols, so is our understanding of the world shaped by them - not just the alphabet, but numbers, symbols, tables, maps, and other visual organizers - as well as by the effects they have on human culture, including
- Heroic narrative
- Humanizing meaning
- Revolt and idealism
- The literate eye / graphic organizers
- Collections and sets
- Extremes and limits
- Role play
Thinking about language theoretically (Philosophic understanding): with increased practice and skill in the use of oral and written language, we can begin to deconstruct the meanings these arbitrary symbols have come to have in our word, which may be confirmed and/or challenged through
- Meta-narrative of theory
- Analysis and synthesis
- Search for authority, truth, evidence
- Alternative theories
- Anomalies, ironies, ambiguities
- Bringing ideas to life in one's own life
I must admit, we have not gotten greatly into turning language over on itself reflexively (Ironic understanding) in our discussions as of yet, because it is not a stage even high school students have not yet obtained, so I'm not as confident reporting on that. However, where Philosophic understanding falls short ("All generalizations are false" are the opening words of Egan's chapter on the last stage), there Ironic understanding takes up the reins, as learners begin to turn their knowledge over on itself and examine knowledge as a subject, itself.
What to make of all of this? Quite frankly, I don't know. Not yet, at least. If you've made it this far, I congratulate you and appreciate your persistence. I'm so full of thoughts and still making sense of this all for myself, it's hard to think critically about it and respond properly. Just because I can summarize this all does not at all mean I understand it. Really, it would be best for me just to go and erase all I've written up to this point and start anew ... in a classroom ... with students ... and a topic, say, "eels" ... oh dear.
No comments:
Post a Comment