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"This is a fascinating, provocative, utterly visionary and courageously speculative imagining of an educational future that is simultaneously elite and egalitarian, deeply intellectual yet utterly connected to passion and identity. A most audacious proposal from one of education's most audacious thinkers . . . an inspiring challenge to those who aspire to deep understanding for their students.”—Lee S. Shulman, President Emeritus, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
"The Learning in Depth project has brought to our students a completely new relationship to learning that has been surprising in its depth and quality. After seeing Learning in Depth at work in our school community, I know this has been a critical, missing element. It has proven to be everything we imagined (and much more we didn't) when we heard about Kieran Egan's remarkable vision.”—Sheri Dunton, K-3 Teacher, Corbett Charter School
“Learning in Depth outlines a bold and stimulating curricular innovation designed to improve the quality of schooling from kindergarten through high school. The book’s key idea is certainly worthy of serious debate and continued experimentation. For that reason alone, I commend its suggestive proposal to the attention of thoughtful educators everywhere.”—Philip W. Jackson, David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus University of Chicago.
What people are saying about Imaginative Education
It’s great stuff! I was exposed to it through the article in Educational Leadership and I am now reading the book. It makes so much sense! Thank you for your great work! Dave Bell (Texas)
When I started to use IE several years ago now, that I tried it out in a few lessons here and there, was amazed at the success and then began to look for other areas and subjects in which I could use the Lesson Planning Frameworks and other aspects of the theory. Pamela Hagen.
I am just back home after a great pro-day and still reeling from all that I learned from your workshop. Pamela Walker (Victoria, B.C.)
I've been having a great deal of success with IE in the classroom. I taught grade 5 last year using IE-based concepts and had a GREAT year. I'm teaching kindergarten this year and using the concepts again - so far so fabulous! Mary Mulleady, (Teacher, Surrey.)
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IRNIE Inaugural Planning Meeting
last modified
2008-07-22 23:35
Supported by a SSHRC grant to Dr Mark Fettes of Simon Fraser University at SFU, the inaugural meeting of IRNIE (International Research Network in Imagination and Education) was held at the Coast Plaza Hotel, Vancouver, on July 17 th and 18 th , 2006. A total of 37 participants from many parts of the globe took part in this ground-breaking meeting, which laid the foundation for further and future collaborative work.
At
the meeting, participants were introduced to each other's work in short
presentations. This first meeting was deliberately conceived to be
inclusive of all kinds of educational research involving imagination,
and thus a broad range of issues and contexts was represented.
Individuals also had a chance to participate in roundtables which
provided the opportunity to brainstorm areas of commonality for a
broad-based collaborative research project. Further, discussions were
held on approaches to research and methodology, on possible funding
agencies such as SSHRC, and on the establishment of IRNIE's online
database of researchers, research projects, publications and
resources..
At the roundtable debriefing held on Tuesday afternoon, three major research areas for the network emerged. These were:
- imaginative curriculum and pedagogy , extending from the preschool years to high school and postsecondary education;
- imaginative education for marginalized groups
of many kinds; typically extending beyond curriculum and pedagogy to
include issues of school organization, community involvement, power and
identity; and
- imagination in teacher education and teacher development .
It
also became clear that many members of the network have expertise in
alternative educational practices, which could inform collaboration in
many ways.
Cutting across these three major
research areas were a number of common needs and objectives, which can
be summarized under the headings of Theory, Research Methods, and
Praxis.
- Theory:
Diverse theoretical frameworks and languages for conceptualizing the
role of the imagination in learning and development — including, for
instance, the Vygotskian tradition, Kieran Egan's recapitulation
theory, and such educational movements as Waldorf schooling and Saito
pedagogy — need to be further investigated, compared, and elaborated.
While a single unified theory may be neither possible nor desirable,
these various approaches can enrich one another and lessen the risks of
oversimplification. We should also anticipate and foster theoretical
dialogues with other areas of the social sciences and humanities.
- Research methods:
Investigating the role of the imagination in teaching and learning is
methodologically challenging. We need to work towards common
understandings of what counts as adequate evidence and adequate
description — e.g. of imaginative engagement, of the cultural and
educational context, or of a teacher's understanding and application of
particular theoretical ideas. Also needed are strategies and models for
productive research relationships between academic institutions and
educational settings of various kinds.
- Praxis:
The network's ultimate objective is to help bring about changes in
educational practice on a wide scale. Thus tools specifically designed
to inspire and support imaginative educational practice are needed,
including books, handbooks and teaching guides (both text and video),
curriculum materials and resources, and workshops, courses, and
programs for teacher development. Work is also needed on the
translation of materials and approaches across languages and contexts.
We need to be aware of the risk of cultural bias and unequal power
relationships in all international and cross-cultural work, and to be
willing to question ourselves and each other as the work moves forward.
Tentatively, then, IRNIE
will focus on developing a research program that is concentrated in
research areas A, B and C, above, and which fosters the sharing and
elaboration of theoretical frameworks, research methods, and
educational praxis. Over the next year, members of the network will
seek opportunities for major collaborative initiatives that might bring
together a number of projects and institutions in several countries
under a common theme and set of ideas. The meeting concluded with the
signing of a letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation outlining
the case for research funding on a large scale.
To download a PDF file that includes this summary and a detailed summary of the sessions, please click here. 
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