Concrete Experience happenings Active Experimentation behaviour Reflective Observation perception Reflective Observation perception Abstract Conceptualisation cognition Abstract Conceptualisation cognition

Perspective transformation is the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand, and feel about the world; changing these structures of habitual expectation to make possible a more inclusive, discriminating, and integrative perspective; and, finally, making choices or otherwise acting upon these new understandings. (Mezirow, 1991, p.167) This three-tier process of developing critical consciousness, undergoing perspective transformation, and taking action was further elaborated through the use of a ten-phase model:

Mezirow suggested that ten possible phases of perspective transformation were as follows: 1. A disorienting dilemma; 2. Self-examination with feelings of guilt or shame; 3. A critical assessment of epistemic, sociocultural, or psychic assumptions; 4. Recognition that one’s discontent and the process of transformation are shared and that others have negotiated a similar change; 5. Exploration of options for new roles, relationships, and actions;

6. Planning of a course of action; 7. Acquisition of knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans; 8. Provisional trying of new roles; 9. Building of competence and self-confidence in new roles and relationships; and 10. A reintegration into one’s life on the basis of conditions directed by one’s new perspective. (Mezirow, 1991, pp ) Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

After prolonged immersion in uncertainty, confusion, and doubt, the sudden emergence of novelty is easily experienced as a magical moment. Artists and scientists have often described these moments of awe and wonder when a confused and chaotic situation crystallizes miraculously to reveal a novel idea or solution to a previously intractable problem. Since the process of emergence is thoroughly nonlinear, involving multiple feedback loops, it cannot be fully analyzed with our conventional, linear ways of reasoning, and hence we tend to experience it with a sense of mystery. (Capra, 2002, p. 119) Capra, F. (2002). The hidden connections: Integrating the biological, cognitive and social dimensions of life into a science of sustainability. Toronto, Canada: Doubleday.

Narration (with the teacher as narrator) leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into "containers," into "receptacles" to be "filled" by the teacher. The more completely [s/he] fills the receptacles, the better a teacher [s/he] is. The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are. (Freire, 2000, pp ) Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group. (Originally Published in 1970)

Learning in the twenty-first century has been described as embedded, emergent, and embodied:  Emergent learning means more than acquiring knowledge over a lifetime; it means that we create new knowledge continuously as we encounter new conditions and challenges…  What we come to know is embedded, and its meaning and value are linked to a particular time and place  We have come to realize that we shape reality by our very presence. We are embodied as an integral part of what we seek to understand. (Taylor, 2011, pp ) Taylor, M. M. (2011). Emergent learning for wisdom. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.