PME 811

Final Blog Reflection: A Transformative Learning Journey

         The opportunity to learn is a tightly wrapped gift, requiring active unwrapping. While my professional focus has been education for the majority of my dedicated learning, this class positioned itself from a new place. Through the lens of philosophical mindedness versus previous priorities. I am proud to acknowledge the growth I have earned through this hard course work. 

    I have taken countless courses featuring leadership, inclusive education, indigenous knowledge, pedagogical practices and a myriad of passionate advocations for systemic change. Never before have I dedicated so much time to learning about the perspectives of those dedicated to the philosophy field and its potential applications for my students. I am leaving this content with new understandings and shifts in my personal and practical beliefs as an Educator. 

    In 2017/2018 I had the life-changing opportunity to coach our national Team Canada Juniors in the world cup. At that time, I was learning to be a teacher, and my experiences were limited to internships. However, coaching at that level, with primarily Middle/High School students fundamentally shifted my focus towards a fascination with motivation and engagement. I didn't realize at the time that that would direct my professional journey in such a significant way. 

    When I saw this course, and its description, I was intrigued by the concept of innovation and the previous post-secondary learning about how innovative practices can increase motivation and engagement in my students. I expected that this master's course would primarily impact my classroom practices. I am leaving this class acknowledging that the major shifts that have been earned, are for myself, more than for the humans I will serve. 

    There have been moments in this course work where it has felt like lightning striking my understandings. Beginning with my dive into the cognitive functions of creativity and innovation and the bias within our system that creates barriers against those processes. (Mueller). I began to consider the abilities of my students differently. Their brains are not developed and many of them are just beginning to have access to their pre-frontal cortex, the fundamental pathway for innovation. I reflected deeply on the pieces needed for true creative output, and realized that not only are their brains and bodies working against these pieces, but that the educational system itself is riddled with problematic barriers. 

    As we continued through the course, I learned that historical paths have led to contemporary bias against "creativity". The association with creative qualities as being viewed as negative, feminine and non-cognitive. (Martin) Where instead of valuing the kind of thinking and person that innovative practices create, we have spent the majority of our educational history, actively attempting to vanquish them. 

    This historical infamy has led to our current societies' drought of innovative persons and creative qualities. (Badran) Now we find ourselves in a new world where the solutions of our uncertain future, kinds of problem solving, critical questioning and collaborative resolutions are being framed as our saving grace, a precious commodity, in short supply. Creating confusion as to why we cannot find these kinds of saviors, staggering abysmal statistics (Badran) (Martin) or attributing creativity and innovation to special kinds of persons able to tap into unique energies the majority of us cannot access. (Csikszentmihalyi) When in reality I have now learned that access to those processes has been intentionally mediated for generations.

    These meaningful understandings have positioned me as a passionate advocate for the pieces that will support creation and innovation. Additionally, I now understand the value of marrying my practice with pedagogical theories that encourage deep learning through a philosophical lens. Creating an urgency in myself as an Educator to support students with deep reflection, time to consider alternative perspectives and strategies for philosophical thinking and processes. (Whelan) (Christou) (Smeyers). By doing so, I strongly believe I will be working to challenge the systemic barriers that have been the foundation of our educational system and help students reach innovative potential, currently desperately being sought after. 

References: 

Enhancing Personal Creativity. (1997). In Mihaly. Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity : flow and the psychology of discovery and invention (1st HarperPerennial ed., p. 456 p. ;). HarperPerennial.

Mueller, Jennifer, and Melwani, Shimul, and Goncalo, Jack. (2011) The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Reject Creative Ideas. Volume 23, Issue 1 (Mueller, Melwani, Goncalo)

Leat, D., & Whelan, A. (2023). Innovative pedagogies in relation to curriculum. In R. J. Tierney, F. Rizvi, & K. Ercikan (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (Fourth edition., pp. 132–141). Elsevier. 

Smeyers, P. (2006). What Philosophy can and cannot do for Education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 25(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-006-6427-x

Badran, I. (2007). Enhancing creativity and innovation in engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 32(5), 573–585. https://doi-org.proxy.queensu.ca/10.1080/03043790701433061

Martin, J. R. (1987). Transforming Moral Education. Journal of Moral Education, 16(3), 204–213.

Theodore Michael Christou. (2012). The Case for Philosophical Mindedness. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 20(1), 14–23. https://journals.sfu.ca/pie/index.php/pie/article/view/310