The Educated Mind: How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding

The Educated Mind offers a bold and revitalizing new vision for today's uncertain educational system. Kieran Egan reconceives education, taking into account how we learn. He proposes the use of particular "intellectual tools"—such as language or literacy—that shape how we make sense of the world. These mediating tools generate successive kinds of understanding: somatic, mythic, romantic, philosophical, and ironic. Egan's account concludes with practical proposals for how teaching and curriculum can be changed to reflect the way children learn.

"A carefully argued and readable book. . . . Egan proposes a radical change of approach for the whole process of education. . . . There is much in this book to interest and excite those who discuss, research or deliver education."—Ann Fullick, New Scientist

"A compelling vision for today's uncertain educational system."—Library Journal

"Almost anyone involved at any level or in any part of the education system will find this a fascinating book to read."—Dr. Richard Fox, British Journal of Educational Psychology

"A fascinating and provocative study of cultural and linguistic history, and of how various kinds of understanding that can be distinguished in that history are recapitulated in the developing minds of children."—Jonty Driver, New York Times Book Review

Egan (Imagination in Teaching & Learning, Univ. of Chicago, 1992) argues here that the incompatibilities of three inherited significant educational ideas?"socialization," "Plato and the truth about reality," and "Rousseau and nature's guidance"?have brought about clashes at every level of the educational process, from teaching methods to curriculum decisions. His diagnosis presents a new and sophisticated alternative to learning. To keep educational energy alive, Egan endorses William Wordsworth's idea of stimulating the imagination early on. His theory seems practical as well as innovative in that he concludes his work with timely proposals for changes and applications in teaching and curriculum. Extremely clear and readable, this work provides a compelling vision for today's uncertain educational system. Recommended for academic libraries and libraries serving school teachers.?Samuel T. Huang, Northern Illinois Univ. Libs., DeKalb
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