The point made was: Maybe there needs to be another big clash\/ crisis\/ catastrophe that people start changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well \u2013 how do we humans learn?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The words crisis, conflict, discomfort, dissonance, frustration, disorienting dilemmas \u2013 all known terms in learning theories. Yes \u2013 they bear great potential for transformation. In my first article<\/a>, we talk about the effects of smoldering conflicts<\/em>. Not only don\u00b4t they contribute to learning [change], they withdraw emotional energy<\/em> from things we actually would like to engage in \u2013 if circumstances were different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u00b4t we read about enough crises on a daily basis? There are plenty of reasons that could disrupt our daily lives if we hadn\u00b4t turned numb<\/em>, as also Arjen Wals wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We do not question (enough) why these crises happen. We do not reflect<\/em>. We rush. We consume one bad news after the other, falling into apathy, not seeing a way out. How can we?! \u2013 if we do not halt and reflect, coming down to the roots of problems instead of keep fighting or being angry with symptoms. Interestingly, normally what you apply if short-sighted: You use lenses or glasses to see clear again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New narratives<\/em>, as postulated by George Monbiot<\/a> and others earlier, can be these lenses. Why do we hesitate in putting them on? Who would say no to glasses if they improve your sight, allowing you to see each single leaf on a tree? (Indeed the magic experience I made after years of being already fascinated by trees as such). How come we are so reluctant to take on solution-glasses?<\/em> Yes, maybe because we are still too comfortable with status quo (as I was with my life without glasses \u2013 I did not know the difference).<\/p>\n\n\n\n How can needed learning [transformative] processes be fostered? Supported?<\/em> So that we learn to see that alternatives are not only possible but do already exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What proved useful in my case studies and what learning theories, such as by Kolb and Kolb (2005), support: Reflection <\/em>is key. Having one experience after the other does not automatically lead to learning if I \u201chave no time\u201d to do something with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spaces for reflection<\/em>, for joint and individual reflection, need to be actively created<\/em>. My PhD research showed the importance of a learning community \u2013 of people to share feelings and thoughts with \u2013 and also the importance to constructively deal with conflicts. This starts with the recognition<\/em> that there is one. [In our article we write \u201cinner<\/em> conflict occurs when an individual\u2019s worldview or perspective is challenged by a divergent experience. Inner conflicts often express themselves in discomfort, frustration or perplexity on how to respond or react.\u201d \u2013 (Konrad et al.<\/a> 2020, p. 85)]<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I think of certain health or education institutions \u2013 built with kitchens unpleasant to be in, with no spaces to sit down together around a nice meal or even without \u2013 where do people interact? What we steal from ourselves by withdrawing individually behind screens are joint forces needed to bring about change. If we do not talk, engage, meet \u2013 just absorb: just pieces of knowledge and bad moods may retain. What we need are physical, personal encounters, active interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We found that learning through<\/em> and from<\/em> (inner and outer) conflicts can lead to the development of interpersonal competence. If there is time, space and willingness to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you willing? Do you have time? Do you have space?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who should be willing if not you<\/em>, out of yourself? You have the same 24 hours as I have. What may differ is how we spend our time \u2013 and this has to do with priorities<\/em>. What are yours?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And yes, there might be no spaces provided for us. But it can be me<\/em> to start actively creating one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we always wait for others to do the first step, or if we continue to think our wise thoughts alone in our rooms \u2013 where and how shall spaces for shared reflection and following action evolve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motivated and inspired regards from a kitchen table at which world problems do not lead to apathy but spark the wish to be part of the solution instead of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks caterpillar*. Good having you around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who provokes you? Who makes you reflect? And where do your reflections go, consolidate? Are your thoughts, worries, ideas, visions shared?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Believe it or not \u2013 this might be a start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n –<\/p>\n\n\n\n References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kolb, A.Y. and Kolb, D.A. (2005), \u201cLearning styles and learning spaces: enhancing experiential learning in higher education\u201d, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 2, pp. 193-212.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Konrad,T.; Wiek, A.; Barth, M. (2020), \u201cEmbracing Conflicts for interpersonal competence development in project-based sustainability courses\u201d, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 76-96.<\/p>\n\n\n\n * Why Caterpillar<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel grateful for living together with a young person who reminds me so much of my own Master study beginnings: Full of energy, ready to change the world, trying to figure out how. Getting active here and there, together with a learning community. Unstoppable. Not shying away from the tough questions. Always something happening. \u2013 I have already expressed my gratitude for having encountered my tribe while studying. There lies power in community<\/a>. And, engaging in the question I was asked and the conversations that followed: There lies power in reflection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Below some thoughts I needed to get out of my head after a spontaneous kitchen table conversation with my housemate towards the end of last year. – Coming home from a quite long day in the office. Dealing with data analysis right now. Again. Figuring out how we learn. How key competencies in sustainability were… Blog post #16: \u201cUnseen need\u201d: Spaces for reflection [Kitchen Table Conversations, Part I]<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,10,13,17],"tags":[26,42,55,61,70,80],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-constructively-dealing-with-conflicts","category-change-agent","category-community","category-kitchen-table-conversations","category-research","tag-action-following-reflection","tag-creating-space","tag-joint-forces","tag-new-narratives","tag-provoking-questions","tag-transformation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
In most of the homes I know, the kitchen is a meeting place for exchange, to live, to laugh, to recharge, to jointly reflect. In institutions which ideally promote health and\/or education, emancipation, self-directedness, being a healthy & awakened human \u2013 such physical places are undermined. Too less attention is paid to the careful design of such places. And we are wondering why there is no change? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.thereskonrad.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/img_4066.jpg?w=768\")