This thesis is a theoretical and practical investigation of the role played by informal learning and teaching in the development of identity and applied knowledge. With the advent of mass schooling, there came to be a distinction between formal and informal education, with formal schooling representing the superiority of abstract, decontextualized, and rule-based learning over the informal, or the concrete, situated, and supposedly unstructured learning from everyday life. Research and theory in anthropology, sociocultural psychology and progressive educational philosophy have challenged this distinction, explicitly demonstrating the dialectical relationship between the formal and informal modes of all activity, regardless of setting. Inseparable from this conception of cognition is the notion that all knowledge is transmitted via culturally and sociohistorically framed and interrelated valuations of norms, beliefs, social conduct and the application of knowledge across spheres. / Progressive educational theorists argue that the creative process is the best means to tap the identity and skill-shaping potential of the informal mode. This proposition is actively and concretely investigated in this thesis through the writing, by this researcher, of a one-act play, Nineveh . As postulated by the theory, through the creative process the author's sense of identity and ability to creatively apply knowledge was affected positively. From this combined theoretical and practical examination of the informal mode of learning and teaching, a need for pluralistic educational praxis is forwarded. Engagement with the creative process is suggested as a means to help students feel more confident to learn from and enrich their lived experiences in their cultural environment, and thereby actively contribute to their interconnected sense of identity and mastery over multiple forms of applied knowledge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33933 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Tannis, Derek. |
| Contributors | Wood, Elizabeth (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Integrated Studies in Education.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001872228, proquestno: MQ79039, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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