Contemplative Studies in Higher Education: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Number 134(J-B TL Single Issue Teaching and Learning)

The complexities of 21st-century life—personal, social, cultural, and environmental—demand thoughtful responses, responses fostered and enhanced through contemplative experience. Contemplative education includes studies of the history, psychology, and socialcultural context of such experience, as well as the development of experiential knowledge through one or more personal practices. Contemplative education has recently emerged in the academy. Although there has been significant published discussion of postsecondary courses and programs that incorporate contemplative views and practices, there have been few studies of relevant curricula and pedagogy. This volume integrates research, theory, and practice through a fusion of perspectives and approaches, giving readers the opportunity to review contemplative educational concepts and applications in academic, social, and institutional domains. This is the 134th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education series. New Directions for Teaching and Learning offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers.

Table of Contents:
PREFACE 1 Linda A. Sanders 1. Peak Oil, Peak Water, Peak Education 3 Thomas B. Coburn This chapter introduces contemplative education as a way of teaching and learning that is meaningful, relevant, and critical to the evolution of the 21st century academy. The essay also offers guidelines for contemplative practice in face-to-face and online class environments. 2. Contemplative Science: An Insider Prospectus 13 Willoughby B. Britton, Anne-Catharine Brown, Christopher T. Kaplan, Roberta E. Goldman, Marie DeLuca, Rahil Rojiani, Harry Reis, Mandy Xi, Jonathan C. Chou, Faye McKenna, Peter Hitchcock, Tomas A. Rocha, Josh Himmelfarb, David M. Margolis, Halsey F. Niles, Allison M. Eckert, Tana Frank Seventeen members of the Contemplative Studies Research Lab from Brown University envision a new kind of science that includes collaborative research and the integration of contemplative studies into scientific training. The chapter includes comprehensive discussion about the long-term consequences of contemplative pedagogies for the fields of science and medicine. 3. Contemplative Practices and the Renewal of Legal Education 31 Rhonda V. Magee This chapter discusses the contemplative law movement and its influence on the development of new courses and cocurricular sessions at the University of San Francisco School of Law and other law school programs. The contemplative approach to law is also presented as transformative and inclusive epistemology and methodology in response to multiple critiques that call for change in legal education. 4. Birthing Internal Images: Employing the Cajita Project as a Contemplative Activity in a College Classroom 41 Vijay Kanagala, Laura I. Rendón This chapter provides a step-by-step description of planning and implementing the cajita project, a contemplative exercise, designed to facilitate self-refl exivity, as well as personal and social responsibility in graduate students majoring in higher education leadership and student affairs at the University of Texas–San Antonio. The chapter also explains the cultural and pedagogical origins of the cajita project. 5. Integrating Contemplative Education and Contemporary Performance 53 Linda A. Sanders In this chapter, faculty and students characterize contemplative education, and students disclose their perspectives of how contemplative view and practice affect their personal and professional development in a graduate, interdisciplinary performing arts community. At Naropa University, traditional contemplative education is integrated with conservatory-level, contemporary performance training in its Master of Fine Arts in Theater: Contemporary Performance program. 6. The Formation and Development of the Mindful Campus 65 Margaret A. DuFon, Jennifer Christian This chapter recounts the efforts of faculty and students to cultivate contemplative pedagogies and mindfulness through curricular initiatives and extracurricular programs at California State University– Chico. The authors describe their campuswide programmatic and promotional work that captures the attention, support, and involvement of the greater Chico community. 7. Koru: Teaching Mindfulness to Emerging Adults 73 Holly B. Rogers This chapter reviews the developmental features of emerging adulthood and explores the ways in which mindfulness is a useful developmental aid for this age group. The specifi c strategies employed in Koru, a program designed at Duke University to make mindfulness accessible to college students, are described. Student responses to Koru are also briefly discussed. 8. Contemplative Pedagogy: A Quiet Revolution in Higher Education 83 Arthur Zajonc A contemplative pedagogy movement is quietly emerging around the world. This chapter offers a brief history of the movement, which has occurred during the last fi fteen years throughout postsecondary campuses, and describes the contemplative practices of mindfulness, concentration, open awareness, and sustaining contradictions. The author also voices such larger hopes for higher education as the cessation of ignorance and an “epistemology of love” and suggests that contemplative pedagogy can cultivate and form the capacities that are required for integrative, transformative teaching and learning in the 21st century academy. INDEX 95

About the Author :
Linda A. Sanders is the author of Contemplative Studies in Higher Education: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Number 134, published by Wiley.