Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feelings, and actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically and permanently alters our way of being in the world. Such a shift involves our understanding of ourselves and our self-locations; our relationships with other humans and with the natural world; our understanding of relations of power in interlocking structures of class, race and gender; our body awarenesses; our visions of alternative approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for social justice and peace and personal joy. The editors of this collection make several challenges to the existing field of transformative learning - the first is to theoreticians, who have attempted to describe the nature of transformative learning without regard to the content of transformative learning. The editors argue that transformative learning theory cannot be constructed in a content-neutral or context-free way. Their second challenge, which assumes the importance content for transformative learning, is to educators as practitioners. The editors argue that transformative learning requires new educational practices consistent with the content. Arts-based research and arts-based teaching/learning practices are one example of such new educational practices. Education for the soul, or spiritual practices such as meditation or modified martial arts or indigenous peoples' forms of teaching/learning, is another example. Each article in the collection presents a possible model of these new practices.

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About the authors

EDMUND V. O'SULLIVAN is the Director of the Transformative Learning Centre, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto.

AMISH MORRELL is a doctoral candidate, OISE, University of Toronto.

MARY ANN O'CONNOR is a doctoral candidate, OISE, University of Toronto.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Learning Toward an Ecological Consciousness
Book Subtitle: Selected Transformative Practices
Editors: Edmund V. O’Sullivan, Marilyn M. Taylor
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-8238-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies Collection, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2004
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4039-6304-8Published: 17 January 2004
Softcover ISBN: 978-0-312-29508-0Published: 31 July 2002
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4039-8238-4Published: 15 February 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VI, 266
Topics: Educational Policy and Politics, Organic Chemistry, Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Philosophy of Education, Sociology of Education, Teaching and Teacher Education

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

Front Matter

Introduction

Educational Forms and Processes Toward Ecological Consciousness

Front Matter

Learning Through Engagement in the Life World

Front Matter

The Dynamic Relation of Personal Agency in Community Context

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Back Matter

About this book

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About the authors

Bibliographic Information

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