The Child's Open Responsiveness to the Others

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Edidin, Aron

Keywords

Early Education, Phenomenology, Critical Pedagogy

Area of Concentration

General Studies

Abstract

Through perceptual experiences, children embody a kaleidoscopic quantity of implicit understandings that influence and enable their capacity to learn new material. This thesis aims to illustrate how the incorporation of children�s working knowledges into lessons and activities in early education can foster a dialogic relation between both the child and new material and the child and teacher, enriching and expanding their understandings. This entails three tasks: first, using the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty to articulate how the child embodies meaning through perceptual experience; second, contrasting this underlying learning process with conventional teaching practices; and third, exploring alternatives that engage the child�s embodied knowledge. Merleau-Ponty�s phenomenology and the educational approaches I examine account for how meaning is created between individuals and in one�s reciprocal engagement with the sensible world�so that to learn is not to give meaning to, nor absorb meaning from, but form meaning with. The thesis culminates in four educational strategies that help foster a classroom environment where knowledge is co-constructed by the student and the teacher together.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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