Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2005 Living room learning, professionalism, progressivism: bridging fragmented instructional philosophies through everyday aesthetics and flow Deanne S. Gute Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Administration Commons, Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Recommended Citation Gute, Deanne S., "Living room learning, professionalism, progressivism: bridging fragmented instructional philosophies through everyday aesthetics and flow " (2005). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 1560. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/1560 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Living room learning, professionalism, progressivism: bridging fragmented instructional philosophies through everyday aesthetics and flow by Deanne S. Gute A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Education (Adult Education) Program of Study Committee: Nancy J. Evans, Major Professor Margaret Graham Barbara Licklider Jackie Blount Christine Cook Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2005 Copyright © Deanne S. Gute, 2005. All rights reserved. UMI Number: 3184618 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3184618 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation of Deanne S. Gute has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. jor Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Program iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 The Problem 1 The Purpose of the Study 3 Research Questions 5 Significance of the Study 7 Organization of the Study 10 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 13 Phenomenological Philosophy of Perception 14 Research Procedures 24 CHAPTER 3 THE INSTRUCTIONAL POWER OF MATERIAL OBJECTS: REVIEW OF HISTORICAL AND EMPIRICAL LITERATURE 37 Domestic Things and Liberal Arts Learning: Organizing the Mind 39 Domestic Things and Humanist Learning: Objectifying the Self 67 Domestic Things and Progressive Learning: Demonstrating Social Position/Organizing for Social Change 93 The Domestic Sphere versus the Workplace 118 Rejection and Revival of 19th-Century Philosophy and Style 135 Contemporary Research in Informal Education 149 CHAPTER 4 THE PARTICIPANTS AS LEARNERS 154 Bob and Pat 155 John and Steve 159 Joan 163 Formal Education 168 Informal Learning 175 CHAPTER 5 THE PARTICIPANTS AS TEACHERS 205 Bob 205 John and Steve 208 Joan 212 CHAPTER 6 EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES IN ACTION 219 Liberal Arts Learning 219 Humanist Learning 234 iv Progressive Learning 254 Performativity 277 CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 280 Contexts for Interpreting the Participant Narratives 281 Intellectual Enemies, or "Literary Darwinism" 284 Beliefs about Human Nature: Parent of Popular Polarities 288 Implications of the Study for Adult Education: Reconciling Polarities and Solving Problems 299 The Meaning of Things 334 Conclusion 351 REFERENCES 358 V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was made possible thanks to an open-minded committee receptive to looking outside institutional life for topics of significance. They include my major professor, Nancy J. Evans, and committee members Margaret Graham, Jackie Blount, Barbara Licklider, and Christine Cook. Thanks to Jackie and Marty in particular for helping shape the dissertation's direction during my doctoral coursework by offering substantive content suggestions and source recommendations. The publications of Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi were particularly influential in shaping this study when I discovered the rare combination of complexity in his thinking and clarity in his writing. I am grateful to have benefited personally from his generosity with time and wisdom, as well as his honest critique of an early and less-than-successful attempt to fit all the pieces of the study together. Special thanks to the five participants who so generously shared their time in telling their stories and showing me what they do and what they value. They are an inspiration in demonstrating how to fill every day with beauty and challenge. Most of all, thanks to my husband, Gary Gute. His x-ray vision during the editing, proofreading, and formatting stages was priceless, as were his good humor and unflappable calm throughout a long, arduous process. vi ABSTRACT Four philosophies of adult education—liberal arts, humanism, progressivism, and performativity (educating for economic production) were used to structure and interpret this study. A body of literature has addressed the growing symbiosis between adult education and the development of productive human capital in knowledge-driven economies, as reflected in the discourse of organizational learning and learning organizations. Although philosophical and theoretical discourse has become increasingly polarized, adult education approaches are almost always discussed in the context of formalized programs and outcomes. In contrast, the idea of "living room learning," (Pestalozzi, 1898), that teachable moments occur throughout everyday life, was integral to Victorian-era conventional wisdom and informal instruction explored in the dissertation. With the 20th-century rise of Modernism, science, and changing beliefs about human nature, the decorative, functional, manual, corporeal, sentimental, and female lost their cultural privilege to theory and design classified as rational, intellectual, and male. With power associated exclusively with the public sphere and "disembodied," technologized workplaces (Hart, 1992) increasingly the norm, personal aesthetics and bodily engagement with material reality have been disparaged as a topic for research and human endeavor. The dissertation explores the repression of domesticity that gave way to a revival of interest via self-help media. Narratives from five self-directed learners/informal educators were constructed through phenomenological methodology employing semi-structured interviews and observations. The participants work with and teach about historic artifacts including household objects, buildings, and costume. Their acquisition of expertise; the vii settings and materials of instruction they employ; and the philosophical foundations for what they do are described in their narratives and the interpretation of findings. The high degree of satisfaction the participants expressed about their overlapping learning/work/leisure, exemplifying a state of enjoyment Csikszentmihalyi (1990) labeled flow, is contrasted with discourse describing boredom, anxiety, alienation, and isolation commonly created in knowledge age work and instructional settings. The study suggests that domestic spaces and the material objects and structures that define them are significant in both expressing and shaping human subjectivity in cognitive, psychological, political, and economic realms. The concluding chapter uses creativity research from three perspectives to explore the potential of aesthetic-focused education and training approaches 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, 1746-1827 (The Education of Man; How Gertrude Teaches Her Children), is identified as an early pioneer in informal education, a pedagogy that will help inform this study. Pestalozzi wrote, "There can be no doubt that within the living room of every household are united the basic elements of all true human education in its whole range" (as cited in Smith, 2001b). This dissertation is a phenomenological examina­ tion of "living room pedagogy" and its implications for adult education philosophy and practice. American education has been driven by often contending philosophies of what educa­ tion should be. Educational philosophy is important to this study because it asks questions that help define the goals of educational activity, such as Who should be educated? How can education best serve individual interests and abilities? (Noddings, 1995); What "greater good" can education perform for society? Wedemeyer (1981) concisely posed the question most relevant to this study in his description of the various philosophies behind adult education programming: "Education for What?" (p. 194). The Problem Literature in adult education has catalogued and defined