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Imagining Imagination: A Phenomenological Study Of Children's Drawings Of Imagination, Robert M. Callahan

Educational Studies Dissertations

A phenomenological study of imagination employing "archetypal hermeneutics." The theoretical background for the research comes from the disciplines of Archetypal Psychology and Ontological Design. The research focuses on 296 Kindergarten to fifth grade public school children's drawings of imagination within an educational setting and aims at understanding imagination and its educational value. The research demonstrates that images of imagination are purposeful and intelligible when viewed with imagination, and it provides distinctions regarding imagination's nature. Images seen imaginally were regarded as teachers which deepen learning, the artistic process, and living in the world. Conclusions challenge developmental theories of learning based on …