ERIC Number: EJ1164404
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0272
EISSN: N/A
Schooled in Our Own Minds: Mind-Wandering and Mindfulness in the Makings of the Curriculum
Journal of Curriculum Studies, v50 n1 p77-95 2018
Curriculum discourse focuses understandably, on the formal and enacted curriculum; however, studies demonstrate that much of individuals' waking hours are spent in task-unrelated thinking and mind-wandering. No less, this pervasive phenomenon has been shown to affect us in many ways that can be linked to education. This paper examines this null-hidden "inner curriculum" that is enacted within students' minds when they are "not" attentive to the formal/enacted curriculum. Drawing on a review of research in cognitive science, the paper develops a theory of "the mind as a curriculum deliberator" and explains how the mind can be seen as "schooling itself." Different states of mind such as mind-wandering, rumination and mindfulness are discussed in terms of their educational effects and a systematic framework that renders them in curricular terms is suggested. Based on this analysis, the paper aims to mobilize this "inner curriculum" from opaqueness and absence to a more explicit presence in curricular discourse, in an attempt to broaden our understanding of how the mind can both enhance and hinder education.
Descriptors: Attention Control, Hidden Curriculum, Higher Education, Metacognition, Reflection, Arousal Patterns, Self Concept, Creativity
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A