And humid knowledges*
My first PGCert blog post made me reflect on how interested I am in learning as an intergenerational experience, and how tired I am by the expectation that a professional life is a life devoid of dirt, mischief and children. So, in response, I decided to bring my three children into our MA studio, asking students to work with them in learning new methods for curiosity.
This blog post is asking, who teaches who?
Walking backwards //
My one-year-old walks backwards. Open to surprises, yet anticipating falls. This performative method is research: slowing the pace of thought, sensing and seeing from a new perspective, re-discovering the familiar. “A practice that creates spaces in-between certainty and uncertainty; what we know, what we think we know and what we do not know.”[1]
The floor //
I am on the floor a lot. Everyone at the same eye-level, unintimidating to (and unintimidated by) one another. There is something about the visible and the invisible power dynamics of a room. It is also a perfect position to be tactile and entangled in each-others thoughts and ideas[2].
The body //
As I watch the children paint with brushes, and then hands, then toes. I think about embodied cognition and somatic practices[3] where perception and action are interconnected. Our interpretation of the world is deeply influenced by our bodily senses and movements, so why don’t we dance a little more? Where have our bodies gone in pedagogy?
Free focus //
My 2 year old focusses in on detail and stays there. An ant in the corner, the dust in the light. This hyper-focus speaks to me about ideas of care[4]. In ‘Gathering Moss’ Kimmerer wears a microscope everywhere[5]. Ready to study something deeply, with love, with time and attention. A radical method for stillness for our students[6]. Igniting the reflective and creative abilities of a more mindful “free thinker”[7].
To Climb //
My 5-year-old sees the world through what is climbable. Which bits are strong enough? How soft is the landing? The real-time problem-solving act of climbing not only gives you a reflective “helicopter vision”[8] it also puts into practice an understanding of who you are, the weight you have, the positions you hold. It is a restlessness to explore, seek new knowledges and jump fences.
To conclude: Listen to children, pay deep attention, age doesn’t equal wisdom.
“Experience creates the potential for learning but, in itself, it teaches us nothing directly. It is what we do with experience that is the best teacher.”[9]
* Humid Knowledges is a term I have borrowed from a group of Artists I met through the ReShape network I am using it to refer to knowledges that are lived through experiences. What the author Jay Griffiths calls ‘wet knowledge’.
Other References:
[1] Olofsdotter Bergström, A.,and Restrepo-Giraldo, J. (2023). Walking backwards as a radical practice for design
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.102
[2] Hollins, E. R. (2014). Sitting in the Circle: Lessons Learned about Creating Classroom Communities in Culturally Responsive Classrooms. Multicultural Perspectives, 16(4), 190–196.
[3] Further information on Embodied Cognition: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/embodied-cognition/
[4] Hakim, J. Littler, J. Rottenberg, C. Chatzidakis, A. (2020) The Care Manifesto:The Politics of Interdependence. Verso Books.
[5] Kimmerer, R.W. (2021). Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Penguin Books.
[5] Are attention spans really collapsing?, article by Kings College London.
[6] Addison, N. (2014). Doubting Learning: Outcomes in Higher Education Contexts: from Performativity towards Emergence and Negotiation (Page 320)
[7] Thompson, S, & Thompson. (2008). The Critically Reflective Practitioner. Palgrave Macmillan. (page 59)
[8] Thompson, S, & Thompson. (2008). The Critically Reflective Practitioner. Palgrave Macmillan. (page 61)
[9] Thompson, S, & Thompson. (2008). The Critically Reflective Practitioner. Palgrave Macmillan. (page 63)