Ephipany of an Educator
The epiphany of an educator: “Let me offer the universe to people.” Watch the 16 min. clip of the presentation by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson.
via OneGoodMove.org
The epiphany of an educator: “Let me offer the universe to people.” Watch the 16 min. clip of the presentation by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson.
via OneGoodMove.org
Marco Polo wrote:
Kinda fun. I wonder if there’s a movie of an epiphany of an artist who become a nerd…?
Posted 28 Nov 2006 at 6:00 pm ¶
Aaron wrote:
I doubt it. But I don’t interpret this case as a nerd becoming an artist, but rather a nerd who breaks through and understands the other side of the Tao. His consciousness has expanded and now he accesses both, leading to new insights. This is the place where spirituality and science meet.
How do our practices as educators lead people toward such an understanding? Can we be spiritual without being spiritual? I think this is necessary when dealing with the topic in an institutional setting.
Posted 29 Nov 2006 at 8:44 am ¶
Marco Polo wrote:
This is the second time recently that you’ve used the phrase “in an institutional setting”. I’d be interested to hear/read what you think the qualities of such a setting are. I get the impression you are using the phrase as shorthand for certain limitations, impositions, constraints, “realities”.
Posted 09 Dec 2006 at 2:55 pm ¶
Aaron wrote:
What are the qualities of an institutional setting? To characterize that, I only have to go on what I have experienced thus far: medium-to-large universities here in Japan and in the U.S.: political, bureaucratic, hierarchical, fairly rigid places where change is slow.
Case in point: recently another teacher and I wanted to use a plug-in modular activity on the university Moodle that isn’t installed on the current system. The installation process - start to finish - would take 10 to 15 min. Yet, we would most likely have to wait months - even up to a year - to get it installed. While I imagine there are perfectly sound reasons for this, such impediments to fluidity happen daily in large institutions, and are reflected in the way curricula are designed.
In the comment above, I was referring to a political aspect of institutional education, namely that religion and spirituality don’t belong in the curriculum. While I can understand the reasoning for religion being barred, the failure to deal with the second is a huge mistake in my opinion. When you separate spirituality from the learning process, students get schooled. When you include it, learners can develop fully, moving toward greater compassion and autonomy.
Posted 10 Dec 2006 at 12:09 pm ¶