Thomas William Nielsen

University of Canberra · Education, Science, Technology and Mathematics

In a time when the world is facing social, political, public health, and environmental upheaval, Danes are lighting candles, baking cookies, and engaging in 'hygge', or 'cozy togetherness'. Interestingly, Denmark also happens to be ranked as one of the happiest, most harmonious and prosperous societies across several global indexes. Could there be...

Using hermeneutic phenomenology to aid the reader ‘experience’ the data collected, this study reports on 18 college students, 4 staff members and the author's trip to a remote island on the Great Barrier Reef. It is a story of the (re)discovery of the social and natural ecologies that bind us together, and of how explicit teaching and learning abou...

As part of a two-week outdoor education expedition, 18 high school and college students (11 males and 7 females) were engaged in evidence-based wellbeing activities, such as journaling, three new gratitudes, and meditation. Using a mixed methods approach, the aim was to investigate the impact of these activities - conceptualised as a 'curriculum of...

There is a stark disconnect between what most of us think will make us happier and what research shows will actually make us happier. Most of us believe that material or monetary increases will improve our happiness the most (Dunn et al. 2008), whereas a growing body of research shows that the deepest and most stable levels of happiness come from h...

From 2004 to 2010 I served as a researcher and advisor in the Australian Government’s values education projects (see Final Reports at www.curriculum.edu.au/values). During the task of helping schools implementing and conducting research on values education, I took the opportunity to observe the importance explorative and imaginative modes of teachi...

Upon sketching some broad brush strokes pertaining to anthroposophical and theosophical cosmology, this paper argues that the imagination is not just another element within the human whole, but is indeed a crucial part of and plays a significant role to the 'whole'. However, imagination is not necessarily positive per se, but highly dependent on th...

Inspired by papers developed for the 6th International Conference on Imagination and Education: Imaginative Practice, Imaginative Inquiry, (Canberra, Australia, 2008), this book connects a cross-section of educators, researchers and administrators in a dialogue and exploration of imaginative and creative ways of teaching, learning and conducting ed...

This paper reports on findings from the Learning for Understanding through Culturally-Inclusive Imaginative Development project (LUCID). LUCID has been a 5-year (2004-2009) research and implementation endeavour and a partnership between Simon Fraser University (SFU) and three districts in British Columbia, Canada. Via emotionally engaging pedagogie...

Imagination has sporadically captured the attention of many great thinkers in philosophy, psychology, and the arts, yet it would be hard to argue that we are much closer to elucidating its central mysteries (Brann, 1991). Nor is its importance for education widely recognized. True, many people pay lip service to the educational value of engaging ch...

Can values education improve student wellbeing and learning outcomes? This research question was at the heart of a case study of values education in an Australian mid-sized, metropolitan high school. Using a combination of action research and statistical analysis of school data such as test scores and records about student behaviour this chapter ar...

The contents of this book represent a revolution for education and especially teacher education. The revolution centres on the effects on student learning that have been demonstrated through research and pilot projects concerned with values education, quality teaching and service learning, in Australia and internationally. The demonstrated effects...

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This article philosophically reconstructs John Dewey's notion of'experi­ ence' and its implications for teaching in view of the changing nature of experience for today's society. Given that Dewey's notion of 'experience' suggests a holistic, archetypal structure for human experience, specific neither to time nor place, the article asks whether it c...

It’s time that teaching and learning penetrated deeper than surface intellect, and recognised the power of imagination to enable that, say Bronwen Haralambous, Robert Fitzgerald and Thomas Nielsen

How Steiner brought to bear the role of the imagination in reconciling ideological polarities on its function in an educational setting cannot be fully understood without examining the outlook on life from whence it sprang - nor without touching upon historical developments in Western education and the extraordinary life and background of Rudolf St...

This article offers a synthesis of my recently completed doctorate study of Rudolf Steiner's notion of imaginative teaching. Seven original imaginative teaching methods (drama, exploration, storytelling, routine, arts, discussion and empathy) are introduced via phenomenological moments, followed by analysis and discussion. The article concludes wit...

This article offers a synthesis of my recently completed doctorate study of Rudolf Steiner's notion of imaginative teaching. Seven original imaginative teaching methods (drama, exploration, storytelling, routine, arts, discussion and empathy) are introduced via phenomenological moments, followed by analysis and discussion. The article concludes wit...

More and more sense a need for the purpose of education to be more than just knowledge acquisition. Values and morality are an integral part of our lives and should for this reason be carefully integrated into educational contexts. For values to become 'owned' by students, however, opportunities must be provided for them to actively and critically...

This is a study into Dewey?s notion of ?scientific inquiry?. Given the many changes in society since Dewey?s time, the discussion is centred around post-modern commentary on Dewey?s notion of scientific and educative experience. The insights gained from this theoretical undertaking are then used to reconstruct Dewey?s notion of scientific and educa...