Embodied learning for a complex world: exploring creative education approaches through a transdisciplinary workshop.

Publication Type:
Conference Proceeding
Citation:
2021
Issue Date:
2021-09-13
Full metadata record
Higher Education plays a crucial role in supporting young people to develop the capabilities required to act knowledgeably and ethically in a complex world. However Higher Education is typically siloed into disciplines which constrain and fragment learning and experimentation. There is a need for new models of learning within Higher Education and beyond that build learners’ capacity to approach complex contemporary challenges without separating knowing about the world from being in the world. This includes working across disciplinary compartments to enable learning for transformation and increase the potential to address complex challenges in more inclusive and equitable ways. This contribution explores how embodied, holistic and transdisciplinary learning approaches can support students to build their knowledge, skills and ways of being that enable them to act and thrive within complexity and uncertainty. We ask ‘what can we learn from embodied forms of collaborative learning to deepen students’ capacity to engage with complex societal challenges?’. In this interactive session we, 7 TD educators teaching within Transdisciplinary School (TD School) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), draw on a range of case-studies to discuss insights and outcomes arising from our practice-led inquiry into transdisciplinary learning. Workshop participants have an opportunity to experientially engage with examples of embodied learning activities to gain first-hand insights about the value of these types of approaches. By drawing on reflexive and diffractive methodologies, we contextualise this exploration within existing practice and theory, and invite the participants to reflect on their own transdisciplinary learning and teaching practice and experiences. We conclude with discussion of how we might utilise this developed understanding of embodied learning for complexity to support transdisciplinary learning across different contexts. Aligning with the stream TD Learning for Transformation, this contribution explores questions around what we can learn from different forms of collaborative learning in building student capacity to act within complexity. This interactive workshop is an opportunity for educators, as well as arts and transdisciplinary practitioners, to deepen their understanding and/or connect with other practitioners who are exploring embodied learning as a means to engage learners in learning for complexity.
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