The post-pandemic classroom dealt with not only the mental health struggles of educators and students, but also the technological and virtual learning dependence in a time ridden with misinformation. At this time, it was important to not only consider the purpose and intent of science education as a learning experience, but also pedagogical approaches that seek to actualize this very intent. The pedagogy of science has at its foundation the experience of inquiry beginning from self and expanding to the natural world. Explained by educationalists like John Dewey and Thomas Kuhn and in theory, implemented into classrooms through the Next Generation Science Standards, the potential of inquiry is to expand from a first-person experience to the wellbeing of community and society. Moreover, contemplative philosophies, such as Yoga, Vedanta, and Buddhist mindfulness, provide novel, yet ancient approaches to teaching this awareness through their pedagogical framework. Contemplative or spiritual pedagogies are those whose approach involves the exploration of subjectivity through introspection and empathy practices like meditation, journaling, and activism. In all, as the practitioner of these traditions and the educator-researcher in the classroom, I performed a qualitative study in phenomenology. I taught an AP Physics C class influenced by the lens of this contemplative paradigm, although this was not detached from the usual curriculum or interventional by nature. From emergent themes in the past student work and evaluation of their experience, I discovered the following: when an educator applied the approach of these wisdom traditions into the classroom curriculum, the resulting environment impacted a positive learning experience as it pertained to engaging science as inquiry. This study had an ambition to provide a novel approach to teaching and learning inquiry informed by the above-mentioned traditions.

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This study aims at investigating the communication and language competences of teachers in an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) context and examining how these competences influence teacher-student communication and subsequently impact students’ learning experiences. To reach this aim, the research questions focused on what teachers and students find necessary about EMI yoga teacher competences, how these affect students’ learning experiences, how the teachers adapt their teachings and what challenges they face. The study was qualitative and conducted with online interviews. As a result, teachers and students identified several competences to do with building rapport, creating an inclusive environment, language proficiency and language instruction pedagogy. Students state that teachers’ authenticity, adaptability, and ability to being open to non-judgemental communication alongside with other competences significantly affect their learning experience. There are four strategies which help teachers to adapt to the group, namely code switching, demonstration, asking students for help and slowing down the pace. Teachers encountered challenges such as translation issues, fears and lack of confidence, lack of general English proficiency and specialized vocabulary in the beginning of their careers, but over time these challenges were overcome. The study can be of help in yoga teacher training courses to help students master the communication and language competences quicker, or these can be used to create a self-study student book which can help teachers to improve their communication and language skills inteaching yoga using EMI.

Les écoles constituent un contexte dans lequel il importe de favoriser le développement positif des enfants. Il s’agit de l’un des principaux environnements pour mettre en oeuvre des initiatives de prévention. Les programmes de PC ont une visée préventive ciblant, dans le contexte scolaire, des jeunes au développement typique. Toutefois, très peu d’études évaluent l’efficacité d’un programme de PC sur le rendement scolaire des enfants au primaire, malgré que le rendement scolaire soit une évaluation essentielle, fournissant un portrait du fonctionnement général de l’individu et de son développement futur. L’objectif principal était d’évaluer les effets du programme PEACE-School sur le rendement scolaire d’enfants de 3e et 4e année du primaire. Les objectifs secondaires consistaient à documenter le mécanisme associé aux effets sur le rendement scolaire. Les deux mécanismes étudiés sont l’anxiété et l’état de PC. Pour ce faire, des analyses de régressions linéaires ont été utilisées. Les résultats indiquent que la participation au programme PEACE-School permet d’expliquer le rendement scolaire à la fin du programme. En ce qui concerne les objectifs secondaires, l’anxiété ainsi que l’état de PC à la fin du programme ne permettent pas d’expliquer les effets observés sur le rendement scolaire. Bien que les résultats obtenus dans la présente étude soient plus faibles que ce qui étaient attendus, ils sont tout de même importants étant donné l’étroite relation entre le rendement scolaire des enfants et leur bien-être. L’amélioration du bien-être fait écho à la mission de l’école québécoise qui prévaut l’optimisation du fonctionnement scolaire des enfants et de leur plein potentiel en favorisant leur bien-être. Des pistes d’explication sont proposées afin de comprendre les résultats obtenus. La présente étude énonce également des pistes de recherches futures évaluant les mécanismes potentiels expliquant les effets sur le rendement scolaire. Elle met également en lumière d’importants aspects à considérer quant à l’implantation future du programme PEACE-School au sein du curriculum scolaire.

The intent of this thesis is to understand how we as educators and learners in our Western system of education can bridge and heal the fundamental principles of a constructed divide embedded in our consciousness that continues to be reproduced in our Western academy. The primary goal is to make visible this divide that is based on the intellectualization of Western education in the absence of spiritual aspirations, thus revealing the potential of spiritual transformation within the academy and our everyday lives. In my literature-based thesis research I explored, analyzed and discussed two bodies of literature: the historical intellectualization of Western education on the one hand, and, on the other, Eastern Philosophy with the emphasis on Higher Self Yoga, African Philosophy and North American Aboriginal Spirituality. I investigated these bodies of literature employing a research paradigm that has its foundation in a spiritual ontology and epistemology. I analyzed my findings using such methodologies as appreciative inquiry, content analysis and textual analysis, including anti-colonial and indigenous knowledges theoretical frameworks. I found that the synthesis and integration of the inner life wisdom revealed in the three philosophies is an integral component fundamental toward a whole life vision of education, an educative vision that has the potential to serve as a catalyst to open the gates for life-enhancing change in the academy and our everyday lives. Change implies becoming aware of our true origin, who we truly are, and what our intrinsic purpose is. Change implies becoming aware of humanity’s accelerated transition toward a higher level of spiritual planetary consciousness, a spiritual evolution as an inner quest of unity with nature, the larger human community, the universe, and the divine Source itself. Change implies whole life educational processes, inclusive of the unfoldment of inner life wisdom, the authority of the human spirit, and the sense of divinity, as useful bridging work in healing the divide in our aware consciousness and our educational institutions. Whole life change needs to be the responsibility of academic education, as well our self-responsibility of realizing ourselves as citizen of the world living within one-world consciousness. All is one.

The intent of this thesis is to understand how we as educators and learners in our Western system of education can bridge and heal the fundamental principles of a constructed divide embedded in our consciousness that continues to be reproduced in our Western academy. The primary goal is to make visible this divide that is based on the intellectualization of Western education in the absence of spiritual aspirations, thus revealing the potential of spiritual transformation within the academy and our everyday lives. In my literature-based thesis research I explored, analyzed and discussed two bodies of literature: the historical intellectualization of Western education on the one hand, and, on the other, Eastern Philosophy with the emphasis on Higher Self Yoga, African Philosophy and North American Aboriginal Spirituality. I investigated these bodies of literature employing a research paradigm that has its foundation in a spiritual ontology and epistemology. I analyzed my findings using such methodologies as appreciative inquiry, content analysis and textual analysis, including anti-colonial and indigenous knowledges theoretical frameworks. I found that the synthesis and integration of the inner life wisdom revealed in the three philosophies is an integral component fundamental toward a whole life vision of education, an educative vision that has the potential to serve as a catalyst to open the gates for life-enhancing change in the academy and our everyday lives. Change implies becoming aware of our true origin, who we truly are, and what our intrinsic purpose is. Change implies becoming aware of humanity’s accelerated transition toward a higher level of spiritual planetary consciousness, a spiritual evolution as an inner quest of unity with nature, the larger human community, the universe, and the divine Source itself. Change implies whole life educational processes, inclusive of the unfoldment of inner life wisdom, the authority of the human spirit, and the sense of divinity, as useful bridging work in healing the divide in our aware consciousness and our educational institutions. Whole life change needs to be the responsibility of academic education, as well our self-responsibility of realizing ourselves as citizen of the world living within one-world consciousness. All is one.

Shri Aurobindo (1872-1950) was an Indian scholar, teacher, politician, writer and mystic. He wrote prolifically, including his Magnum Opus "The Life Divine". He developed a philosophical system based on subjective knowledge obtained during experiences of higher states of consciousness. His theory states the cause of creation was Brahman's desire to experience more delight. A creation cycle comprising a downward movement (involution) and an upward movement (evolution) was fashioned for that purpose. At every stage of creation the essence of Brahman remains present in His creation, which makes Brahman both Immanent and Transcendent. The importance of this theory is the intended effect that it can have on the future evolution of mankind, which is now on the evolutionary leg. Humanity, knowing its ultimate goal, and by using Yogic techniques, can evolve to higher states of consciousness right up to the level of Brahman, which is inherent in man at present. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Religious Studies)

Background: Given the incomplete benefits of the pharmacological therapy for ADHD and its over-prescription in children over the last decades, there is an explicit need for alternative treatments. Mindfulness-based Interventions (MBIs) are a family of emergent self-regulation practices including meditation, yoga and body-awareness exercises, found to be an effective therapy for ADHD. Due to poor methodological design and significant risk of bias across studies, mindfulness approach remains an investigational treatment. Aim: This systematic review sought to identify and critically appraise the evidence on the functioning outcomes of MBIs in children and youth with ADHD. Method: The literature search was conducted in 7 databases for psychology and social sciences to identify controlled trials – randomized- and non-randomized, evaluating MBIs published in peer-reviewed journal in English between 2000-2019. Only studies focusing on children and youth aged 7-18 years with documented ADHD symptoms were considered for inclusion. Results: Six controlled trials were included and analysed. Meditation, breathing techniques, self-awareness and yoga exercises were the most common activities implemented across the 6 studies. Significant reduction of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms; and improvements of sustained attention, working memory and emotional regulation were reported across studies, with small to large effect size. Conclusion: Despite the limitations, MBIs do prove to be an effective complementary treatment for reduction of the core ADHD symptoms and improvement of executive functioning (EF). Further research is needed to elucidate how these interventions improve social functioning and participation of children and youth with ADHD, which would enable a wider implementation of these practices at the community level.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:29:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marilia Goncalves.pdf: 1694793 bytes, checksum: 3459e5f3f7b77ee826c92db064ee781a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-13 / The present study aimed at carrying out a psychoanalytical investigation of the collective imaginary of yoga teachers by identifying their imaginative conceptions of psychological equilibrium and by capturing the non-conscious psychological fields from which they emerge. This research study took place through a differentiated psychoanalytical framework called individualizad meetings to approach the social personation and was consolidated with the help of the following dialog mediators: accounts of life stories and the thematicstory-drawing procedure. The clinical material produced during these meetings was later analyzed psychoanalytically through the light of the field theory, which led to the identification of imaginative conceptions which articulate in the following nonconscious fields: the field of a happy childhood, the field of fruition, the field of asceticism, and the field of devotion, indicating the particular manners in which the people whom we talked with, forge their conceptions of psychological equilibrium during their training as yoga teachers in the light of their own personal needs and the Eastern doctrines to which they had access. / O presente trabalho teve como objetivo investigar psicanaliticamente o imagin?rio coletivo de professores de Ioga, por meio da identifica??o de concep??es imaginativas sobre equil?brio psicol?gico e da capta??o dos campos psicol?gicos n?o conscientes, a partir dos quais emergem. O material cl?nico foi produzido no contexto de entrevista individual para a abordagem da pessoalidade coletiva, consolidando-se por meio do uso de dois procedimentos dial?gicos: a Narrativa da Hist?ria de Vida e o Procedimento de Desenhos-Est?rias com Tema. Foram criados/encontrados os seguintes campos: frui??o, devo??o, ascese e inf?ncia feliz. O quadro geral permite concluir que os modos particulares pelos quais s?o forjadas as concep??es imaginativas, articulam tentativas de atendimento a necessidades emocionais pessoais, conhecimento das doutrinas orientais e apropria??o de id?ias psicanal?ticas socialmente circulantes.