Integral Education: New Directions for Higher Learning

Integral Mind, Brain, and Education

Integral Mind, Brain, and Education Katie Heikkinen Introduction A recent survey of 200 educators in an international sample revealed that the majority believed that understanding how the brain works was important “in the design and delivery of educational programs for children and adults” (Pickering & Howard-Jones, 2007, p. 111). Most educators had heard about or used so-called “brain-based” education programs and generally found them useful. At the same time, educators were concerned with the accessibility and interpretation of scientific research and its application to the real-world classroom. Educators, it seems, yearn to learn more about the brain and the latest neuroscience and cognitive science findings. Teachers want to be more effective in their instruction, to help every student learn, and they hope that understanding the brain will provide vital insight. The fledgling field of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) honors this impulse and attempts to facilitate collaboration across fields and disciplines. Yet the field is new and the challenges are many. Educators need tools that will help them integrate the truths of brain and cognitive sciences in a comprehensive, transdisciplinary framework. Ken Wilber’s Integral model is one such framework. In this chapter, I demonstrate how educators can use two aspects of the Integral model—the four quadrants and the eight zones of Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP)—to improve their teaching practice and deepen their understanding of educational research. I argue that Integral Theory brings a much-needed integrative framework to MBE, while MBE offers integral education a methodological and scientific rigor—not to mention a certain cachet. With perspectives from the Integral model and MBE, educators can create comprehensive solutions to educational problems, better assess educational research, and understand the relationship between the various research methodologies and their impact on practice in a new way. 271 What Is Mind, Brain, and Education? Mind, Brain, and Education is a new field, established in part by the creation of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES) in 2005. Rather than merely bringing biological and cognitive sciences to bear on educational problems, the field seeks instead to build reciprocal relationships between the three disciplines of cognitive and developmental sciences, biology, and education (Fischer and Heikkinen, in press). Just as brain and mind science will improve education, the theory and practice of education will improve brain and mind science. IMBES offers a biennial conference, occasional workshops and seminars, a biannual newsletter, and a journal. Mind, Brain, and Education was awarded the Best New Journal in the Social Sciences and Humanities by the Association of American Publishers in 2007 (www.imbes.org). Its articles have been mentioned in Newsweek, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Medical News Today, and United Press International (Fischer & Daniel, 2008). So while the field is in its infancy, it is in no doubt hot. Stories about the brain seem to capture the hearts and minds of the public. Moreover, the role of science in education has never been stronger, with many nations currently emphasizing empirically-validated instructional methods. The founder of IMBES, Kurt Fischer, also helped to found a Master of Education program in Mind, Brain, and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. I received my master’s degree from this program in 2007, and I have been an assistant teacher for its core course, HT-100: Cognitive Development, Education, and the Brain. It is exciting to see how students in the program are eager to integrate what they know about education from their typical position as teachers or administrators with what they are newly learning about psychology, cognitive science, development, and the brain. Yet this integration is not without struggle, particularly as students attempt to understand how to deal with the overload of information without a certain understanding of how the different disciplines relate to one another. This is where the Integral model steps in. The AQAL Framework: Toward an Integral MBE Ken Wilber, the American philosopher-writer, has done extensive work toward creating Integral Theory, which includes a comprehensive transdisciplinary framework , which he dubs the “AQAL” model. AQAL stands for All Quadrants, All Levels, All Lines, All States, and All Types. These five categories represent the primary distinctions or elements within the Integral model. Here, I will focus on the four quadrants (i.e., the interior and exterior dimensions of individuals and collectives) and how they can help educators create comprehensive solutions to educational problems and better assess educational research. For an overview of the four quadrants, see Esbjörn-Hargens...