Imaginal education is a whole-person approach to learning that creates a way to release the boundless potential of an individual or group, so it can act creatively. Educators see learning as an every moment reality, touching all dimensions of a person’s life. As Institute teachers began to develop image change curriculum, they researched and experimented with many approaches. LiDona Wagner writes stories of the beginnings of Imaginal Education in the 1960s as it was used with the Muskedoodler gang and 5th City Preschool. Click for “Origins of Imaginal Education.”
1960s ~ 1970s
“In 1968, Joe Mathews sister, Alice. a teacher in New York City, asked Joe to develop a course for educators outside the 5th City project. After developing a two-day Imaginal Education course for educators. David McCleskey, Rick Loudermilk and two from the teacher’s cadre, Kay Lush and myself, went to New York City to deliver the two-day course for teachers in Alice’s school. This course then became available for educators around the United States. It was decided that the teacher’s cadre would become the first teachers for this course. We were paired with the highly skilled pedagogues from the EI religious courses to deliver this course. In addition to teaching the basic principles of Imaginal Education, the theme of the course was to develop a “revolutionary” group within the educational community. The final Imaginal Education lecture was to be willing to stand in the future and forge the new path for needed changes in education.” As told by Marilyn Oyler in 2018
Kenneth Boulding’s Introduction to his book The Image (1956) (condensed version here) provided five principles that became the foundation for the Imaginal Education curriculum reflected in the star oabove. Boulding says that behavior is based on the way people see themselves in the world: through self-perception, self-story, and self-image. In Kenneth Boulding’s visit with Denver ICA staff, he said he was surprised how well the Institute summarized his thinking into the five principles.
1980s ~ 1990s
When the ICA met David Cooperrider, he had written “Positive Image, Positive Action”. In this shorter version of his work, he highlights six areas of research on the role of image in society, including its influence in medicine, cognitive psychology, athletics and culture. In retelling the Pygmalion story, he wrote that “significant Pygmalion effects have been experimentally generated in as little time as fifteen minutes and have the apparent capacity to transform the course of a lifetime.”
“…the artful creation of positive imagery on a collective basis may well be the most prolific activity that individuals and organizations can engage in if their aim is to help bring to fruition a positive and humanly significant future
… it is not surprising that research on the workings of the image has risen to be “one of the hottest topics in cognitive science”.
2000 ~ Present
Elise Packard, Miriam Patterson and Jane Stallman wrote The Evolving Resource of Imaginal Education: Releasing maximum potential of individuals, organizations, programs and communities. The report describes:
- the historical development and premises of image theory,
- how it relates to the brain’s development,
- the dynamics of image change viewed through the facets of the Kaleidoscope, and
- experiences of the process as it was used with the International Family Literacy Initiative.
