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The Origins of Imagination and the Curriculum

 

Egan, K. (1988).  Chapter 6, The origins of imagination and the curriculum.  In, K. Egan & D. Nadaner (Eds.), Imagination and Education,  New York: Teachers College Press.

I'd first like to reflect that the end of the article (the conclusion almost) was a perfect bow-tie to a length and challenging conversation about imagination, culture, literacy, and our binary experiences in this world. I appreciate Egan's statements: 

Language is the first disruptor of the infant's intimate participation in the natural world: Language creates distance between the self and the object...That unique consciousness of reality, which is the birthright of each of us, can seem hopelessly lost if language becomes a purely conventionalizing instrument, which persuades the child that its uniqueness was merely an illusion and that one is simply a socialized unit among others who are the same. 

Art can provide ways of accounting for our experiences in the world, but things will still get lost in translation due to the abstract approach of experiencing something and using unrelated materials to symbolize for it, while balancing emotional connection or disconnection from the subject that is being presented and how its being presented. 

What I am left with is thinking about experiences. Experiencing the world around us and leaving them as intimate thoughts and experiences is just as important as using literacy and language to express what we have experienced. I see video and audio playing a very important role in how we communicate true experiences. I also am pushed to keep talking more with kids, providing them with stories and leaving them to their own devices. 


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