The mythopoetic body
learning through creativity
pp. 93-106
in: Timothy Leonard, Peter Willis (eds), Pedagogies of the imagination, Berlin, Springer, 2008Abstract
The learning experience can be identified and studied through considerations upon processes of participation. The interlocking notions of autopoiesis and mythopoesis can be used to help understand and articulate that participation. These notions illuminate embodied experience, reflective consciousness, and the construction of cultural knowledge forms or stories. This chapter reflects upon the use of creative arts practices to assist educators to gain insight into the practical application of creativity. It presents research done with a group of beginning and pre-service teachers in a series of workshops focused on creative practice. Through workshop evidence and associated theory it discusses ways in which creativity facilitates the emergence of learning and ways in which that learning permeates life and constructs further opportunities and experiences. It looks to embodiment as a major determinant in the process and discusses such things as improvisation, reflection, collaboration, and emergence and their role in the dynamics of learning.