A History of Inspiration through Metaphors of Learning: The Height of Teaching (Routledge Research in Education)

In this book, Robert Nelson reminds us that one of the most important elements of teaching and learning is to inspire and to be inspired. Given that inspiration itself has evolved through metaphor, the inquiry distinguishes inspirational learning by its peculiarly metaphoric character. We acknowledge that students respond to passion and enthusiasm and that they seek stimulation, purpose, motivation and inspiration. But because these triggers operate through mysterious language and arrive at their modern usage through metaphor, we have no means of penetrating their structure or gaining access to their powers. We mishandle educational practice through a focus on technical process and machinery rather than the imaginary animating vision that propagates inspired study through metaphor. This book corrects the imbalance and argues that metaphors are intrinsic to all our educational ambitions. It reveals the wide metaphorical backdrop of learning and teaching that works on an unconscious level and is only revealed through analysing the language that describes what matters most. Inviting readers to explore learning in a non-traditional way, this book will be of interest to researchers and students in education seeking to understand better the nature of inspiration. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 This book at a glance 8 Synopses of the chapters 9 Acknowledgement 14 Introduction: inspiration as the height of learning 16 Part 1 Motivational metaphors 38 1 Passion: how the pleasure of learning is measured with agony 40 2 Being special: how we need to feel distinctive when we share an interest 52 3 Focus: when is concentration limiting and distraction helpful? 62 4 Group: when do we learn better on our own than among others? 75 5 Purpose: how a sense of mission depends upon conceit 87 Part 2 Material metaphors 98 6 Step: what is the smallest gain toward an inspiring understanding? 100 7 Change: in learning, what do we want to alter and what has to stay the same? 111 8 Support: how cultural encouragements are more necessary than material ones 123 9 Impact: how the need to demonstrate impact damages inspiration 131 10 Failure: when is it good to be resigned to not succeeding? 144 Part 3 Aspirational metaphors 156 11 Wonder: how does the rational mind recruit the mystical in order to learn? 158 12 Voice: how the sound of student voices is as important as student influence 175 13 Ease: how we only learn inspiringly when we are free of anxiety 187 14 Colour: how inspiration in learning is encouraged by imaginative language 200 15 Perfection: how inspirational striving depends on comfort with imperfection 217 Conclusion: how we will never recognize inspiring cognition without metaphor 227 Bibliography of secondary sources 235 Index 238 Motivational;,Aspirational;,agony;,mystical;,imaginative Motivational,Aspirational,agony,mystical,imaginative