To be able to state something, one has to make choices about themes, angles, words ... But how to explain the complexity of what my eyes have seen and my mind can imagine, when my mouth only can speak one word… - only one sound by time? And this linearity in talking (and writing) carries a risk for simplifying...
“Good qualitative research, like art, presents us with complex reality”, says Liora Bresler. “Bad research and art, I suggest, distort in the process of oversimplification, creating stereotypes and distancing us from the world” (Bresler 2006).
I believe that, when presenting my qualitative research, I should make clear when I am aware of the complexity of the world I am studying. But to be understood, I’ll have to structure and order my thoughts and reflections - and this structuring can, on the other hand, give an impression that I am minimizing the reality, and contradicting myself!? What about constantly switching between “the big picture” and the details? …between flow and structure? Which possibilities do I really have when pushing something complex into a linear form? This will require creative thinking…
In her visual presentation on the research seminar on the 26-th of March, Ninni Sandvik used images of a female ceramic figure photographed in different physical contexts, apparently not related to the content of her verbal presentation. The images had a powerful influence on my experience, understanding and reflections: I identified with the female figure and saw myself in different research roles according to different contexts it was placed in. Ninni’s presentation was an illustration how a researcher’s creativity can stimulate audience’s aesthetic experience and deeper understanding in dealing with complex reality.
Some years ago my students had a project about creativity. Their own creativity was expressed through the project presentation: They created an ironic performance about a pre school teacher who had, for 30 years, been giving children in her kindergarten the same assignment to make Santas of cardboard rolls (those you find in toilet paper). The play culminated when an oversized toilet-paper-roll-Santa visited the teacher in her dreams…
Ninni’s presentation took place at a research seminar about ethics in kindergarten research on the 25-th and 26-th of March in Tønsberg, Norway. On the 27-th of March I attended another seminar at the University of Stockholm in Sweden. Here, a group of PhD students, mostly art teachers (in different arts), discussed qualitative research in education, and creativity. Since we all, one way or another, seemed to have experienced creative process with own body, this common understanding made a foundation for our interesting discussions. We watched a TV-program about design process in a multidisciplinary group of people and we discussed a teacher’s role in stimulating, supporting and guiding students in their creativity. We could agree on importance of teacher’s support of students’ free fantasy, playfulness, unconventional and even crazy ideas. On the other side, a teacher should be a leader that can help with obtaining required knowledge, structuring the ideas, making decisions and timing. It seems to be a need for an elegant balance between fantasy and reality, complexity and structure, possibilities and choices. Freedom of thought allows creative ideas – structure helps the ideas to come into life.
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar