Exploring integral education from a practitioner's perspective
(Book - Regular Print, Online Content)

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 54-03M(E).

Advisors: Cheryl Schwartz Committee members: Laurie Frank; Rick Medrick.

ProQuest Document ID: 1658529688

Thesis (M.A.) -- Prescott College, 2014.

This study explores integral education from the perspectives of educators who incorporate Ken Wilber's integral theory into their educational practice. With a specific focus on linking the theoretical and practical, this study examines the experiences and phenomenology of eight integral educators working across a variety of fields, including environmental science, social science, and health and wellness, as well as K-12 and college environments, in order to establish a grounded theory of integral education. Interviews were conducted with all educators and then analyzed according to the methodology of grounded theory (utilizing memo-writing, coding, and constant cross-case comparisons) in order to determine key themes and commonalities. The study explores the impact of integrally-informed education on students and how it differs from other educational approaches, specifically those of traditional and experiential education, in terms of learning outcomes, philosophy, and personal development of self-as-educator. Using research data, background knowledge and an extensive review of the literature, commonalities and differences between experiential education and integral education are distinguished and analyzed. Ontological paradigms as well as methodologies are examined and contrasted among fields as a means to determine what each field could offer the other towards accessing and enacting more effective pedagogy.

English