Drawing on imagination : primary students' ideal learning environments

Research has established a close relationship between learning environments and learning outcomes (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Victoria, 2008; Woolner, Hall, Higgins, McCaughey & Wall, 2007) yet little is known about how students in Australian schools imagine the ways that their learning environments could be improved to enhance their engagement with the processes and content of education and children are rarely consulted on the issue of school design (Rudduck & Flutter, 2004). Currently, school and classroom designers give attention to operational matters of efficiency and economy, so that architecture for children’s education is largely conceived in terms of adult and professional needs (Halpin, 2007). This results in the construction of educational spaces that impose traditional teaching and learning methods, reducing the possibilities of imaginative pedagogical relationships. Education authorities may encourage new, student-centred pedagogical styles, such as collaborative learning, team-teaching and peer tutoring, but the spaces where such innovations are occurring do not always provide the features necessary to implement these styles. Heeding the views of children could result in the creation of spaces where more imaginative pedagogical relationships and student-centred pedagogical styles can be implemented. In this article, a research project conducted with children in nine Queensland primary schools to investigate their ideas of the ideal ‘school’ is discussed. Overwhelmingly, the students’ work emphasised that learning should be fun and that learning environments should be eco-friendly places where their imaginations can be engaged and where they learn from and in touch with reality. The children’s imagined schools echo ideas that have been promoted over many decades by progressive educators such as John Dewey (1897, in Provenzo, 2006) (“experiential learning”), AS Neill (in Cassebaum, 2003) (Summerhill school) and Ivan Illich (1970) (“deschooling”), with a vast majority of students suggesting that, wherever possible, learning should take place away from classrooms and in environments that support direct, hands-on learning.

Inciting the social imagination to realising the dream : An unfolding story of reform in a low-socioeconomic school

This paper presentation addresses design-based research that became a catalyst for social change among a disadvantaged school community. The aim of the longitudinal research was to protoype an evidence-based model for whole school digital and print literacy pedagogy renewal among students from low socioeconomic, Indigenous, and migrant backgrounds. Applying Anthony Gidden’s principle of the “duality of structure”, the paper presentation interprets how the collective agency of researchers and the school community began to transform the structural properties of the institution in a two-way dynamism, so that the structural properties of the school were not outside of individual action, but were implicated in its reproduction and transformation.

Imagination for re-engagement from the margins of education

For marginalised secondary school students, mainstream education may no longer appear to be an inviting place. While proposed solutions to problems of disengagement and marginalisation appear to concentrate on finding ways to coerce students back to mainstream education through, for example, ‘learning or earning’ legislation, this article suggests that more effective solutions may be found by engaging with the students in the margins that they occupy. Following discussion of key influences on student disengagement and a theory of imaginations, a ‘students-as-researchers’ (SaR) model of working with young people is discussed to demonstrate that, through the scaffolded application of active imagination, it is possible for such students to identify and create their own connections to the mainstream. The SaR model is illustrated through reference to groups of disaffected high school students who participated in an action research project to investigate apparent low aspiration for tertiary education among their peers at schools serving low-income communities in Queensland, Australia.

Imagination in school children's choice of their learning environment: An Australian study

A visual research project addressed school children's concepts of ideal learning environments. Drawings and accompanying narratives were collected from Year 5 and Year 6 children in nine Queensland primary schools. The 133 submissions were analysed and coded to develop themes, identify key features and consider the uses of imagination. The children's imagined schools echo ideas promoted by progressive educators. The results of this study suggest benefits for school designers can emerge from the imaginative contributions of children in creating engaging environments, while educational policy makers can benefit from children's ideas in the promotion of engaging, student-centred pedagogies.

Public history, private memories: Historical imagination in the new Italian cinema 1988-1999

The concern with the following arguments started during a study of national and international cinemas, from the desire to account for a cinema that internationally was doing well, but was undervalued domestically. The aims were to account for the renewal of Italian filmmaking from 1988, the New Italian cinema, and understand the conditions behind this renewal. The thesis identifies in the historical theme and in the recurrence of features from Italian cinema history elements of coherence with previous cinema production. The first consideration that emerges is that a triangulation between a new generation of filmmakers, their audience and recent history shaped the recovery of Italian cinema from 1988. A second consideration is that no discussion of Italian cinema can be separated from a discussion of that which it represents: Italian society and politics. This representation has not only addressed questions of identity for a cohort of spectators, but on occasions has captured the attention of the international audience. Thus the thesis follows a methodologic approach that positions texts in relation to certain traditions in Italian filmmaking and to the context by taking into consideration also industrial factors and social and historical changes. By drawing upon a range of disciplines, from political history to socio-psychological studies, the thesis has focussed on representation of history and memory in two periods of Italian film history: the first and the last decade of twentieth century. The concern has been not so much to interpret the films, but to understand the processes that made the films and how spectarors have applied their knowledge structures to make meaning of the films. Thus the thesis abstains from ascribing implicit meanings to films, but acknowledges how films project cultural contingencies. This is beacause film is shaped by production conditions and cultural and historical circumstances that make the film intelligible. As Bordwell stated in Making Meaning, "One can do other things with films besides 'reading' them" (1989, p. xiii). Within this framework, the thesis proposes a project that understands history films with the norms that govern Italian filmic output, those norms that regulate conditions of production and consumption and the relation between films from various traditions.

Imagination for inclusion: Shared understandings across diverse contexts of educational practice

This chapter explores inclusive education as a social imaginary; that is, a common understanding that has become a global perspective. We trace the roots of inclusive education in early movements for social justice and the development of special education and note that these two domains continue to be seen in the ongoing tensions within the practice of inclusive education. We conclude that although much has been achieved in opening up greater opportunities for all children and young people to participate in and engage with education, there is still much work to be done. Creative imagining, discursive dialogue, and courageous actions in breaking down barriers in schools and communities will strengthen the local and global social imaginary of inclusive education, thus affording even greater opportunities for all children and young people regardless of any categorisation that may have been applied to their differences.

Cultura corporal: pesquisa com adolescentes do Centro Cultural Cartola (CCC) Rio de Janeiro

A definição mais plausível para esta pesquisa é aquela onde a adolescência se estabelece de acordo com a história de vida e o contexto sociocultural no qual o sujeito está inserido, que envolve, na transição para a fase adulta, transformações na mente, na personalidade, no comportamento e principalmente no corpo. O grupo das adolescentes pesquisadas encontra-se numa fase da vida de descobertas, mudanças (psicológicas identitárias e acima de tudo corporais) assim como todo e qualquer sujeito que encontra-se nessa fase da vida. Com a entrada na adolescência, ocorre a formação de grupos no qual as adolescentes vão se identificar. Cada grupo tem a sua marca, o seu estilo, e o corpo parece ser o grande tradutor dessa nova fase, os efeitos de comparação começam a surgir, o medo de não ser aceita pelo grupo faz com que a adolescente recorra a métodos que acredita ser eficazes na busca de um eu ideal e consequentemente um corpo ideal. Esta pesquisa discute as idealizações corporais das jovens encontradas durante a realização da pesquisa de campo, e as ligações que existem entre essa idealização e as constituições desse ideal sob a concepção do movimento corporal. A análise de dados se baseou em interpretações psicológicas acerca dos desenhos realizados pelas adolescentes. Visto que a Comunidade da Mangueira é um espaço multicultural (estilos de músicas, danças, esportes, entre outros), mas que em comum tem o corpo como o principal tradutor dessas vivências. A busca pelo corpo ideal está longe de ser integralmente satisfeito, sendo a cultura a grande responsável pela elaboração emocional, mental e principalmente corporal das adolescentes do grupo de Jazz do CCC. A aplicação da metodologia do Grupo Operativo teve como um dos objetivos desconstruir e reestruturar o imaginário das adolescentes o conceito de corpo ideal, que atualmente é visto de forma rígida e estereotipada pela sociedade contemporânea. Tal ferramenta foi muito útil no processo de desconstrução do conceito de corpo ideal por parte das meninas. As dinâmicas utilizadas tiveram como objetivos despertar novos olhares sobre o corpo, assim como criar situações onde as jovens pudessem buscar o melhor de si, mas sem fugir da própria realidade corporal.

Present, imagination and memory in Zakes Mda and Mia Couto

Apesar de marcadas por contextos históricos e culturais distintos, é possível observar nas obras de dois dos autores mais significativos da África do Sul e de Moçambique, Zakes Mda e Mia Couto respectivamente, perspectivas semelhantes no que diz respeito à recuperação das memórias históricoculturais e à sua contribuição para a construção e compreensão das identidades pós-coloniais. Através da ficção, Zakes Mda e Mia Couto combinam a ligação da História a factos concretos com a necessidade de revelação associada à memória, criando assim espaços importantes para a discussão de algumas das mais complexas questões colocadas às identidades pós-coloniais. Para além dos contextos políticos, culturais e históricos que caracterizam e distinguem as literaturas sul-africana e moçambicana, tanto Zakes Mda como Mia Couto assumem nas suas obras a necessidade de analisar as identidades pós-coloniais contemporâneas dos dois países através da recuperação das suas memórias históricas.

La conversion entre intimité et publicité : essai d'imagination sociologique

Avec ce mémoire, j’ai souhaité cerner ce qui serait le propre d’une conversion, soit ce que j’ai appelé un processus de trans-formation. Avec ce concept original, j’ai voulu orienter le regard de l’observateur vers les points de basculement de l’intimité à la publicité qui caractérisent les conversions. Pour ce faire, il m’est apparu fertile de mobiliser et de réhabiliter l’étude des valeurs, un thème classique en sociologie. Des valeurs portées par des individus aux valeurs publiques, la notion de « valeur » recèle le potentiel heuristique nécessaire pour étudier les conversions à différentes échelles d’analyse et par-delà des qualifications a priori religieuses, politiques, sexuelles, etc. Avec cette perspective théorique pragmatique inspirée par Dewey et articulée à la sensibilité aux positions sociales des cultural studies, je me suis donné les moyens d’analyser la façon dont change au cours d’une vie ce à quoi les gens tiennent. Cette représentation dynamique de la conversion vient ajouter des éléments de compréhension à un phénomène trop souvent appréhendé à la lumière de « lectures préférées » modernes et coloniales qui demandaient à être subverties pour redonner place à l’exercice de l’imagination sociologique. Les apports du concept de trans-formation sont illustrés à partir de la comparaison de quatre études de cas individuels : Paul Claudel, un écrivain converti au catholicisme ; Michelle Blanc, une transsexuelle québécoise ; Joe Loya, un Mexican American qui modifie ses conceptions du bien et du mal en isolement carcéral ; et Mlle Pigut qui est devenue « vegan ».

Philosophy with teenagers : nurturing a moral imagination for the 21st century.

Facilita la exploración de los jóvenes de las principales cuestiones éticas de nuestro tiempo, tales como, la justicia, la comprensión intercultural y la educación para el desarrollo sostenible. Ofrece a los educadores la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre cómo el pensamiento filosófico en los adolescentes puede apoyar su desarrollo en individuos seguros de sí mismos y ciudadanos responsables, y se analiza la conveniencia de este proceso filosófico en las necesidades educativas del siglo veintiuno.

Risk and resilience, knowledge and imagination: the enlightenment of David Almond's Skellig

In what Ulrich Beck calls "risk society," and Anthony Giddens a "runaway world," a climate of fear and insecurity has been created by scientific progress, leading to a loss of confidence in the ability of experts to manage risk. Resilience is at the forefront of psychology research informing child-rearing strategies (Luthar, et al.); it entails an approach to child welfare that focuses on fostering internal (psychological) and external (cultural) assets that develop a child's ability to triumph over adversity in the form of individual, familial, and cultural stresses.

Ulster-New Zealand migration and cultural transfers / Brad Patterson

Books
Medievalism and the Gothic in Australian Culture. Edited by Stephanie Trigg.

What If? Australian History as It Might Have Been. Edited by Stuart Macintyre and Sean Scalmer.

Disputed Histories: Imagining New Zealand's Pasts. Edited by Tony Ballantyne and Brian Moloughney.

The Myth of the Great Depression. By David Potts.

Memory, Monuments and Museums: The Past in the Present. Edited by Marilyn Lake.

Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective. Edited by Marilyn Lake and Ann Curthoys.

Island Ministers: Indigenous Leadership in Nineteenth Century Pacific Islands Christianity. By Raeburn Lange.

Texts and Contexts: Reflections in Pacific Islands Historiography. Edited by Doug Munro and Brij V. Lai.

Day of Reckoning. By Lachlan Strahan.

Appropriated Pasts: Indigenous Peoples and the Colonial Culture of Archaeology. By Ian J. McNiven and Lynette Russell.

Recognising Aboriginal Title: The Mabo Case and Indigenous Resistance to English-Settler Colonialism. By Peter H. Russell.

Black Glass: Western Australian Courts of Native Affairs 1936-54. By Kate Auty.

Edward Eyre, Race and Colonial Governance. By Julie Evans.

Gender and Empire. By Angela Woollacott.

Uncommon Ground: White Women in Aboriginal History. Edited by Anna Cole, Victoria Haskins and Fiona Paisley.

Mixed Relations: Asian-Aboriginal Contact in North Australia. By Regina Ganter, with contributions from Julia Martinez and Gary Lee.

Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet. By Maria Nugent.

A Man of All Tribes: The Life of Alick Jackomos. By Richard Broome and Corinne Manning.

Black Founders: The Unknown Story of Australia's First Black Settlers. By Cassandra Pybus.

Over the Mountains of the Sea: Life on the Migrant Ships 1870-1885. By David Hastings.

Ulster-New Zealand Migration and Cultural Transfers. Edited by Brad Patterson.

From Paesani to Global Italians: Veneto Migrants in Australia. By Loretta Baldassar and Ros Pesman.

Ways of Seeing China: From Yellow Peril to Shangrila. By Timothy Kendall.

East by South: China in the Australasian Imagination. Edited by Charles Ferrall, Paul Millar and Keren Smith.

Arthur Tange: Last of the Mandarins. By Peter Edwards.

Kin: A Collective Biography of a Working-Class New Zealand Family. By Melanie Nolan.

Ida Leeson A Life: Not a Blue-Stocking Lady. By Sylvia Martin.

Will Dyson: Australia's Radical Genius. By Ross McMullin.

Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist Australian Legend. By Andrew Moore.

South by Northwest: The Magnetic Crusade and the Contest for Antarctica. By Granville Allen Mawer.

From Woolloomooloo to 'Eternity': A History of Australian Baptists. 2 vols. Volume 1: Crowing and Australian Church (1831-1914), Volume 2: A National Church in a Global Community (1914-2005). By Ken R. Manley.

Cultural diplomacy, cosmopolitanism and global hierarchy at the Shanghai Expo

In 2010, the city of Shanghai hosted the largest and most spectacular World's Fair ever. Shanghai Expo attracted a staggering 73 million visitors, around 98% of whom were domestic Chinese, and involved the participation of 190 countries. As a forum of "virtual tourism," the event is significant given the rapid and long-term growth in outbound Chinese tourism. This article pursues a closer reading of how "the world" was performed and exhibited to these visitors. Oriented by two theoretical considerations - the spatial configuration of the expo site and its cosmopolitan imagination - the article considers how the format of the Expo revealed and declared certain elements of the global, while simultaneously effacing and squeezing out others. The Expo is thus interpreted as an important mechanism in the creation of a new national citizenry in China and as part of the ceremonialization of a global polity of a "family of nations."

Educação - Corporeidade - Lazer: saber da experiência cultural em prelúdio

In the passage of life, the labyrinth of songs and corners are propitious ways for a better comprehension, perception and incorporation of learnings that emerge from our subjectiveness in a magic caught by senses. Eyesight, taste, hearing, touch and smell in communication with the world, put us in front of cultural diversities. The ludicity accumulated by experiences promote the flow of hilarious and concrete discoveries that express themselves in work and leisure demonstrations. Such reflections emerge indicators to the problematic construction centralized in the incorporation of cultural experience knowledge to the formation process and professional interventions in this rule and area. From this significant problematic, aiming to deepen studies, we favored leisure as field of investigative production in full expansion. This, for sure, was an exercise of qualification that guided us through meander of education and made us dip into studies about the corporeity. A research in which the scenery was painted and constructed with the complicity of the culture lived with shine, colors, rhythm and drummings of one of the most present cultural cycles: carnival. Recognized as a stimulant for beauty, participation, socialization, and helped us to enter in the essence of gestures and expressions of corporeity, to think, elaborate and socialize a critic-scientific knowledge which, appropriating from the rhythm of colors, of sounds, of tonalities, of senses and of meanings impregnated in the web of life. All these things seduced the researcher, making imagination flow amid ludic-creative dialogues with the imaginary of researchers creation and production in the rule and area of leisure, education and corporeity. Option that made us outline as objective to investigate and interpret how leisure teachers-researchers, from their studies, researches and interventions, locate and incorporate the knowledge from cultural experience to the formation process and intervention of professionals in this rule and in this area, emphasizing the contributions from this knowledge to fence and qualify this praxis. So, as living each cultural scenery, each epistemological contribution was feeding the production with images of the different versions of the Brazilian breedings, creating and raising expectations and new discoveries and newcomers. With the seriousness of a scientific study, we lived an xxiii academic experience with complex intensity, rigor and coherence, eliminating, step by step, the risks and limitations always present in a work of this magnitude. However, we weren t, even for one moment, alone. Our epistemic regard always maintained mediated by the principles of a methodological approach - the Etnomethodology, that while central guide provided us clues to unveil the lived world by our people-playful , in a universe of 15 members, that allowed themselves to comprehend, comment, analyze. This way, grasping the object in interactions arised and provoked by narrative interview, it was systematically dialected by (re) interpretation of images and formulations of people-playful, enriched by their beliefs, myths, conceptions and rituals inherent to knowledge from cultural experience, which each one attuned with Brazilian and international history, in a mixture of senses echoed from songs and tales. Inspired in drummings and percussions, clothing and choreographies of gestures and expressions, in mixtures produced in unit interactions in the multiplicity shown as necessary requests to the totality of life, with ludicity the rescue of the past, the conquest of present and the construction of future was the axle guide. This rich process of scientific creation made us realize that is possible qualify and empower the praxis in the rule and area of leisure incorporating the knowledge from cultural experience. What also becomes possible is the recuperation of objective revolutionaries and changing conditions of praxis itself with the view of strengthening and triggerment of vital elements in the rule and area of leisure. We also reaffirm that from this praxis emerge elements necessary to human formation in plenitude, by the appropriation of knowledge that guide the facing of challenges of a complex and plural world that valorize education, corporeity and leisure

Tradução como representação cultural: olhares sobre o Brasil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)