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ERIC Number: EJ1049973
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jan
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1368-4868
EISSN: N/A
The Immersion Experience: Lessons from Study Abroad in Religion
Mitchell, Kerry
Teaching Theology & Religion, v18 n1 p56-62 Jan 2015
This paper discusses strategies I employed during seven years of teaching within a study abroad program focusing on religion. This year-long program traveled to four Asian countries and included immersion experiences in monasteries, ashrams, and other religious institutions. I identify four principles and discuss accompanying exercises that guided my teaching: (1) Accept and observe anxiety. Inability to understand is a sign that direct and deep contact is taking place. (2) Educate about education. Help students to see the aims, assumptions, and context of the teaching strategies religious practitioners employ. (3) Make it practical. Devise exercises that students can do and do well and that do not demand synthetic, systematic comprehension even as a goal. (4) Stop making sense. Build pauses and breaks into the train of reflection on the meaning of experience. These spaces give room for the shifts in the ways of learning that study abroad demands. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see "Teaching Theology and Religion" 18:1, January 2015). [See the essays in ERIC at: EJ1049966 (Elijah Siegler); EJ1049971 (Andrew Irvine); EJ1049975 (Norris W. Palmer); EJ1049977 (Wendy A. Wiseman); EJ1049979 (Calvin Mercer); and EJ1049982 (Response by John D. Barbour.)]
Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2429/WileyCDA
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Asia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A