The Act of Knowing The Act of Knowing andand

Creating the Conditions Creating the Conditions for thefor the

Aha!Moment Aha!MomentLiz Attwell

The Aha!Moment: The Aha!Moment: Have you ever had one?Have you ever had one?

• Archimedes-Eureka!• Epiphany! • Insight!• My students’ Aha!Moments

The 7 Attributes of the Aha!MomentThe 7 Attributes of the Aha!Moment

• They come after initial effort and confusion in solving a problem.

• They are instantaneous.• The participant “knows” that the answer is true. • They can give a much fuller explanation of the solution than

when an answer is arrived at in another way.• They remember much more of the solution than when an

answer is arrived at in any other way.• The participant experiences a positive affective result (a rush

of joy).• They experience greater engagement of the will.

IncubationIncubation

IlluminationIllumination

My Aha!MomentMy Aha!Moment

Your Aha!Moment

Why was it Why was it happening? happening?

A Structuralist approach to literature

Goethe “I can read a fossil like a text”

We can read a text like a set of bones.

Goethean ScienceGoethean Science1. Observe exactly, without

bringing preconceptions to the observations.

2. Bring the phenomenon into active relationship to each other.

3. Listen inwardly to perceive “dawning realisations”.

4. Act on intuitions.

Graham Wallas Graham Wallas The Art of ThinkingThe Art of Thinking(1926)(1926)

Sir Ken Robinson Sir Ken Robinson Out of Our MindsOut of Our Minds

(2011)(2011)

“We live in two distinct worlds” (p.110)

The material objective world and our inner subjective world.

Rudolf Steiner’s Rudolf Steiner’s The Philosophy of Freedom The Philosophy of Freedom (1896)(1896)

Naïve Realism experiences their thinking as in their heads and “has nothing to do with the things” (p65).

“What right have you to declare the world to be complete without thinking? Does not the world produce thinking in the heads of men with the same necessity as it produces the blossom on a plant?” (p65-66).

Rudolf Steiner’s Rudolf Steiner’s The Philosophy of FreedomThe Philosophy of Freedom

In Goethe’s science we have a method, and in Steiner’s epistemology we have a bridge, through which the human being connects subjectivism and objectivism.

An education that bases itself on knowing as an activity in which percept and concept are dynamically connected through the agency of the child truly draws on the primary source of human creativity.

A Complementary Colour ExerciseA Complementary Colour ExerciseA Complementary Colour Exercise Liz Attwell Look at the colour for 1 minute and then focus on the white paper to the right. Wait for the complementary colour to appear.

RiddlesRiddlesRiddle 1In a marble hall white as milkLined with skin as soft as silkWithin a fountain crystal-clearA golden apple doth appear.No doors there are to this stronghold,Yet thieves break in to steal its gold.

Social Social ConstructivismConstructivism

• Geoff Petty “Evidence-Based Teaching”(2009)

• Shirley Clarke “Formative Assessment”(2005)

• 12 attributes of a constructivist classroom.

The Janus HeadThe Janus Head

An interface between two worlds

Matter and Anti-matter: releases energy and changes substance.

Liz AttwellLiz AttwellMichael Hall SchoolMichael Hall School

Forest Row, Sussex, UKForest Row, Sussex, UK

liz.attwell@michaelhall.co.ukliz.attwell@michaelhall.co.uk

Thankyou