scholarly journals The unlearning: Horror and transformative theory

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Arnzen

Building on the foundational concepts of transformative learning theory, I argue that horror fiction strongly encourages perspective transformation by challenging student assumptions about both genre writing and educational experience. I informally describe a specific creative writing class period focusing on the motif of the scream in diverse horror texts, and I illustrate how students learn to transform what they already bring to the classroom by employing a variety of particular in-class writing exercises and literary discussions. Among these, transformative writing exercises—such as the revision of an existing text by Stephen King—are highlighted as instructional techniques. As cautionary literature, horror especially dramatizes strategies of fight versus flight. I reveal how students can learn by transforming their knowledge through disorientation that is particular to reading and writing in the horror genre.

Author(s):  
Debbie R Faulk ◽  
Francine M Parker ◽  
Arlene H Morris

Socialization includes internalization of attitudes and values critical to the development of a professional identity. Resocialization relates to the returning registered nurse student's development of professional values and roles. Nurse educators’ challenge is to consider socialization/resocialization as a formation/re-formation process. The purpose of this article is to report findings from a replication qualitative descriptive study that examined the process of change in knowledge and attitudes of recent MSN graduates using Mezirow’s (1994)Transformative Learning Theory. Findings substantiated the changes in attitudes, knowledge and skills of MSN graduates identified by Cragg and Andrusyszyn (2005). Results further inform nurse educators of the process of transformation in MSN graduates according to Mezirow’s Phases of Perspective Transformation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 154134462098654
Author(s):  
Ching-Wen Chang

Transformative learning theory has provided a sound theoretical base for adult education’s Western and Eastern academic field. This article aims to introduce the mandala model of transformative learning by transferring Mezirow’s theory of perspective transformation onto a mandala map. In the mandala model, the learning agent exercises two capabilities—knowledgeability and reflexivity—to solve and pose problems in learning contexts. The learners accomplish the circle of transformative learning through the four phases of acquiring knowledge, taking actions to praxes, and generating wisdom; they are on the way to fulfill transformative learning. The theoretical model of transformative learning postulates to implement learners’ capabilities and manifest the dynamics of generative mechanisms. Moreover, it postulates to integrate knowledge into personal life and societal situations through actions and praxes and elucidate wisdom and beneficial outcomes in the intrapersonal and interpersonal contexts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 109-124
Author(s):  
Hoggan Chad

There is an important difference between the phenomena we study and the names we call them or theories we use to explain them. Transformative learning theory is a human construction designed to describe a phenomenon, but it is imperfect at best. The author advocates a delineation of the terms. Namely, the term perspective transformation should be used to refer to Mezirow’s theory because it has only ever been used for his specific theory. The term transformative learning should be used to refer to the broad range of theories (including Mezirow’s) that attempt to describe and explain dramatic changes in how people experience, conceptualize, and interact with the world. The author uses transformative learning in adult education investigations to understand the experiences of military veterans transitioning from combat to civilian life, of breast cancer survivors navigating the psycho-social transition of their disease, of students from backgrounds of poverty attending community college, and even the negative transformation of people becoming radicalized into violent terrorism. There are many more situations that cause people to change, and those specific situations shape the processes that lead to change and therefore shape the eventual outcomes of that change. All of the theories and constructs in the transformative learning literature are nothing more than human creations designed to explain the phenomena associatedwith dramatic learning and change in adulthood. The value of transformative learning as a metatheory is to provide constructs in the form of analytic tools that scholars from disparate disciplines can use in working together to create better, more useful constructs for understanding that phenomena. There are identified and presented the analytic tools (definition, criteria, typology) to provide a framework for scholars to think carefully and with clarity about what they mean when using the word “transformation”. The need in more holistic, interdisciplinary understandings of transformative learning is substantiated, thus promoting the use of transformative learning as a metatheory.


Author(s):  
Patricia Cranton

The purpose of this article is to explore the potential for fostering transformative learning in an online environment. It provides an overview of transformative learning theory, including the variety of perspectives on the theory that have evolved as the theory matured. Strategies and practices for fostering transformative learning are presented, followed by a description of the online environment and how strategies for encouraging transformative learning might be carried into that environment. Students’ voices are brought in to corroborate and to question the importance of these strategies. The article concludes with a discussion of how an educator’s style and strengths can be brought into online teaching, especially with a view to helping learners examine their meaning perspectives.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-13
Author(s):  
Braden Hill ◽  
Grantley Winmar ◽  
Jenna Woods

Transformative learning theory articulates a process whereby students experience a change in perspectives that expands and transforms their worldview. Despite being well established and regarded within the literature relating to adult and continuing education, Mezirow's (1978) seminal education theory remains largely absent in the research relating to Indigenous higher education. This study explores the transformative impact of university learning on the student journeys of three Aboriginal graduates from a Western Australian university. Applying a collaborative auto-ethnographic approach, each author-participant's personal narrative of their student experience was exposed to comparative, thematic and critical analysis. It was found that each author had faced similar cognitive and emotional challenges at university. Significantly, it emerged that university had changed the author-participants’ identities in ways that aligned with Mezirow's transformative learning construct. The narrative data also revealed elements that appeared related to the students’ negotiation of Nakata's cultural interface. A dominant theme in the data referred to the relationships formed during university, as being integral to transformation. Furthermore, family was understood to have a paradoxical influence on their educational journey. The insights garnered from this study prompt further consideration as to how transformative learning theory might be mobilised at the cultural interface.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 23-48
Author(s):  
Basanta Raj Lamichhane

The major aim of this paper is to explore my images of mathematics and its influences on my teaching-learning strategies. I have employed an auto/ethnographic research design to excavate my lived experiences largely informed by interpretive and critical paradigms. To generate field texts dialectical and historical-hermeneutic approaches have been used. The Habermas’ knowledge constitutive interest and Mezorows’ transformative learning theory were used as theoretical referents. The writing as a process of inquiry has been used to create layered texts through thick descriptions of the contexts, critical self-reflexivity, transparent and believable writing aiming to ensure the quality standards of the research. The research illuminates that most of the negative images of mathematics have been emerged by the conventional transmissionist ‘one-size-fits-all’ pedagogical approach. Likewise, it has indicated that to transform mathematics education practices towards more empowering, authentic, and inclusive ones, it must be necessary to shift in paradigms of teaching and practitioners’ convictions, beliefs, values, and perspectives as well.


Author(s):  
Matthew J. Kruger-Ross ◽  
Tricia M. Farwell

This chapter seeks to critically examine and question common assumptions underpinning educators’ use and incorporation of technology in the classroom. Drawing upon transformative learning theory, the authors argue that incorporating technology in education cannot and should not be done without first questioning assumptions regarding power, teaching, and assessment. Technology is transforming education in expected ways, but can also transform education in unexpected, unexplored ways. Educators need to move beyond the quick fix of bulleted lists to explore the implications of technology in the classroom more fully.


Author(s):  
Alex Kumi-Yeboah

This chapter is a study of teacher experience amongst higher education faculty in the United States, drawing on a theoretical framework shaped by Mezirow's transformative learning theory, which first emerged in the late 1970s and has seen subsequent adaptations. Mixed-method research was used to analyze data on the transformational teaching experiences of faculty and examine the narratives of teacher experience based on this transformative learning theory framework. Data collected from 90 higher education faculty members were analyzed with regard to their transformational teaching experiences. Results indicate that the majority of faculty experienced transformational teaching. Mentoring, dialogue, critical reflection, personal reflection, scholarship, and research emerged as the educational factors shaping these experiences while relocation or movement, life changes, and other cultural influences were revealed as the non-educational factors. In addition to this, the chapter entails discussion of the theoretical framework of transformative learning as it applies to this research.


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