Contemplative Practices in Higher Education

This book presents the background information and ideas for the practical application of contemplative practices across academic curriculum from the physical sciences to the humanities and arts. Contemplative pedagogy is more than a new, trendy technique to change the landscape of learning.

Contemplative pedagogy is a way for instructors to:

• empower students to integrate their own experience into the theoretical material they are being taught in order to deepen their understanding;
• help students to develop sophisticated problem-solving skills;
• support students' sense of connection to and compassion for others; and
• engender inquiries into students' most profound questions.
  Contemplative practices are used in just about every discipline--from physics to economics to history--and are found in every type of institution. Each year more and more faculty, education reformers, and leaders of teaching and learning centers seek out best practices in contemplative teaching, and now can find them here, brought to you by two of the foremost leaders and innovators on the subject.

This book presents background information and ideas for the practical application of contemplative practices across the academic curriculum from the physical sciences to the humanities and arts. Examples of contemplative techniques included in the book are mindfulness, meditation, yoga, deep listening, contemplative reading and writing, and pilgrimage, including site visits and field trips.

Auteur

Daniel P. Barbezat is professor of economics at Amherst College and executive director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. He has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University and Yale University and has taught in the summer program at Harvard University.

Mirabai Bush is senior fellow and founding director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, a nonprofit organization that encourages contemplative awareness in American life in order to create a more just, compassionate, and reflective society.

Texte du rabat

Contemplative pedagogy is a way for instructors to: empower students to integrate their own experience into the theoretical material they are being taught in order to deepen their understanding; help students to develop sophisticated problem-solving skills; support students' sense of connection to and compassion for others; and engender inquiries into students' most profound questions. Contemplative practices are used in just about every discipline--from physics to economics to history--and are found in every type of institution. Each year more and more faculty, education reformers, and leaders of teaching and learning centers seek out best practices in contemplative teaching, and now can find them here, brought to you by two of the foremost leaders and innovators on the subject. This book presents background information and ideas for the practical application of contemplative practices across the academic curriculum from the physical sciences to the humanities and arts. Examples of contemplative techniques included in the book are mindfulness, meditation, yoga, deep listening, contemplative reading and writing, and pilgrimage, including site visits and field trips.

Contenu

Foreword vii
Parker J. Palmer

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xvii

The Authors xxi

Part One Theoretical and Practical Background 1

1 Transformation and Renewal in Higher Education 3

2 Current Research on Contemplative Practice 21

3 Contemplative Pedagogy in Practice: Two Experiences 39

4 Teacher Preparation and Classroom Challenges 67

Part Two A Guide to Contemplative Practices 87

Introduction to the Practices 89

5 Mindfulness 95

6 Contemplative Approaches to Reading and Writing 110

7 Contemplative Senses: Deep Listening and Beholding 137

8 Contemplative Movement 159

9 Compassion and Loving Kindness 174

10 Guest Speakers, Field Trips, and Retreats 189

11 Conclusion 198

Afterword by Arthur Zajonc 205

References 207

Index 217