I chose to do my project on Maxine Greene. I was intrigued by her approach to education through aesthetic approaches and a more creative approach to the curriculum. She believed in teaching about the social imagination and we focus to heavily on the instructional based learning where.students aren’t allowed to question the way things are done. By embracing their creative aspects and approaching problems with an inquisitive focus, it allows students to shape their own identity instead of being molded by the system. She often used metaphors to engage students minds and open them to this aesthetic way of thinking encouraging students to act, think or engage in new ways from the understandings they would perceive interpreting these metaphors.
She combines philosophy and education to try and achieve these goals. She believed that the school was not only the child’s place of work, but also much like a second home spending large amounts of time there, in turn, should be a place reflecting happiness to encourage students in the environment. She believed that the classroom itself held infinite possibilities and that we as teachers had some responsibility of facilitating that. This included entertaining the non traditional methods of teaching as it explored the unimagined possibilities this kind of openness to creativity nurtures inside of children. Opening new ways of experiencing things leads to new innovative ways of approaching problems that can tackle the ever involving roadblocks we face today.
My approach continuing this is to see the experimental work has been done with aesthetic experience and how we are planning to engage students with it. As someone who is a visual learner, aesthetic experience has always intrigued me in how we can use it to our advantage form the smallest of pictures in classrooms, to organizing projects to engage certain students. I would like to find articles showing the impact these aesthetic learners have had on society and whether this approach is as impactful on society as it can be for individuals. With the constant of integration of technology into classrooms, it would be great to find some innovative strategies to implement this philosophy in classrooms side by side.
Your topic sounds like it is very interesting and could open up a lot more ways of thinking when it comes to the aesthetic approach to education. Combining philosophy and education seems so obvious but I had never thought of it until now. It sounds like there is a lot of information available for this assignment. The “non-traditional” methods as you said in your blog always end up becoming the “traditional” ways over time. It seems like you have a very good start on your assignment!
Hi there,
I am doing my Critical Summary on aesthetic education as well! I agree that it makes you think of details within your future classroom and project organization in a new way. I hope in your research you find new approaches regarding ways to integrate aesthetic education into your future classroom.
Good luck!
Hello!
I find this philosophical approach very interesting. Young students are very creative and open to new experiences, and fostering these great qualities would be great in a classroom environment. As well, I think the articles you are looking at in your research would be very interesting to read.
I believe allowing students to have creative control (to some extent) is very valuable, especially considering the varying lifestyles of students. The lifestyles and cultures can be depicted in many ways and expression will become a very important aspect of many lives. Appealing to the students’ aesthetic interests will also prove useful when considering how some students are stimulated within the classroom. I hope to hear more about your findings soon!