Abstract
We address the nature of mindfulness and its salience to education generally and to science education specifically. In a context of the historical embeddedness of mindfulness in Buddhism we discuss research in social neuroscience, presenting evidence for neuronal plasticity of the brain and six emotional styles, which are not biologically predetermined, but are responsive to adaptation through life experiences. We raise questions about the role of science education in mediating the structure and function of the brain. Also, we discuss interventions to increase Mindfulness in Education, including meditation and heuristics, that act as reflexive objects to heighten awareness of characteristics of mindfulness and increase the likelihood of changes in the conduct of social life—increasing the mindfulness of those who engage the characteristics included in the heuristic. We present mindfulness and the development of a toolkit for ameliorating emotions when and as necessary as a component of a science curriculum that orientates toward wellness and sustainability. We advocate for changes in the nature of science education to reflect the priorities of the twenty first century that relate to sustainability of the living and nonliving universe and wellness of sentient beings.
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Acknowledgments
We (the authors) would like to extend special thanks to Ewa Dębska, Ph.D. on the faculty of the Department of Continuing and Adult Education at the University of Warsaw. Dr. Dębska has been a lead researcher on our collaborative heuristic-based mindfulness project in Poland. Thanks to her enthusiastic involvement and thoughtful execution of the study, we were able to gain access to voices of Polish university students as exemplified in the opening quote to this article. We are also grateful for the contributions made by Karim Gangji towards planning and implementing of the study discussed extensively in this manuscript. We consider it noteworthy that both Ewa and Karim embraced a challenging and often discouraged role of a teacher-researcher by stepping outside of their respective “official” curricula and exposing their students to notions of what some may regard as “alternative” knowledge system. Finally, we are indebted to Ewa’s and Karim’s students for their participation in our research. We hope that their involvement translated into benefits to their lives.
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M. Mueller and D. Greenwood, Editors for Special Issue on Ecological Mindfulness and Cross-Hybrid Learning.
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Powietrzynska, M., Tobin, K. & Alexakos, K. Facing the grand challenges through heuristics and mindfulness. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 10, 65–81 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-014-9588-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-014-9588-x