Love and imagination in early learning

Establishing a connection between love and imagination in early learning was the basis of my master’s thesis. In this post, I will share a summarized version of my thesis focused on my research findings.

Before describing my research, I’d like to share a quote about the importance of imagination from education theorist Lev Vygotsky:

“It is precisely the human creative activity that makes the human being a creature oriented toward the future, creating the future and thus altering his own present. This creative activity, based on the ability of our brain to combine elements, is called imagination or fantasy in psychology. Typically, people use the terms imagination or fantasy to refer to something quite different than what they mean in science. In everyday life, fantasy or imagination refers to what is not actually true, what does not correspond to reality, and what, thus, could not have any serious practical significance. But in actuality, imagination, as the basis of all creative activity, is an important component of all aspects of cultural life, enabling  artistic, scientific, and technical creation alike. In this sense, absolutely everything around us is created by man’s hand. As distinct from the world of nature, the entire world of human culture is the product of human imagination and creation based on this imagination.” (Vygotsky, 2003, p. 9–10)

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify practices that support love in early educational settings and to explore how love nurtures the development of imagination in early learning. Love is contextualized using The Humanistic Theory, which emphasizes relationships and the holistic development of the child. Imagination is considered through Lev Vygotsky’s Theory of Creative Imagination, which believes imagination to be integral to child development. Qualitative research methods were used to collect data through observation and surveys. Research findings revealed four conditions necessary to integrate love into early education practices, and findings confirmed that connections exist between love and imagination. The study concludes that through love, children can expand their imagination and creativity, generating new possibilities and opportunities for future growth and learning.

Research Findings

My research unveiled distinctive findings around beliefs and practices to support love in early learning. Additionally, my research made a direct link between love as a factor in supporting children to access and develop their imagination.

I’ve organized research results into two categories: conditions and connections.

Conditions:

There are four distinct and highly related conditions necessary to nurture love and develop the imagination:

1) Attention to the whole child

Relationships are the cornerstone of this condition. Through relationship with the child, caregivers can understand the child as a multidimensional human being with a unique cognitive, emotional, physical, cultural, and social identity that is ever-changing as they grow. My research suggests that emotions, in particular, are the gateway to building a relationship with the child to support the child’s holistic development.

2) Respecting children as creators of their learning

The operative word in this condition is respect. When children are respected and viewed as capable learners with an appreciation for their unique experiences and insights, they become empowered to act as the creators of their own experiences – their own learning. To respect children’s natural ability to learn, the environment must be safe and encouraging to accomodate an unfolding of imagination and exploration along with the autonomy to make meaning, engage, play, and create freely.

3) Valuing the child’s social development and cultural context

Social and cultural context could be described as external factors influencing the child’s development, yet social and cultural factors also have an intrinsic influence on children’s inner development.

Caregivers can value children’s social development and cultural context by integrating inclusive practices into relationships, curriculum, and the environment. By creating inclusive spaces and facilitating social dynamics for interaction that value cultural context, children can learn to relate and build capacities for empathy, appreciate and embrace the beauty of diversity, and gain understanding about their own sense of social identity and positionality. 

4) Caring for the caregiver

Caregivers have a tremendous responsibility to the children in their care. As discussed, children need emotional connection – they need love. Caregivers provide emotional expertise that is both nuanced and fine-tuned to each child’s individual needs for connection. Caregivers, also referred to as early childhood educators, are on the front lines of human development, responsible for supporting children’s internal capacity building and tapping into the well of each child’s vast and unique potential. Caregiving is a vital and consequential role.

Caregivers deserve more care, including more compassion and personal attention in the workplace, as well as societal system changes to ensure a comfortable living salary, generous health insurance to sustain well-being, opportunities for continued education and mentorship, paid time off for recreation and rest, and the public’s sustained respect and gratitude in recognizing the significance of the early education profession.  

Connections:

Lastly, in connections, the link between love and imagination is described through participant responses that includes powerful stories to further illustrate the connection. An excerpt from the discussion portion of my thesis describes this in more depth.

Connections between love and imagination were present across all collected data. Love could be understood as the universal qualities present across conditions: safety, trust, empathy, and belonging. Through these universal qualities, the child forms healthy relationships and can express themselves fully, as well as explore their environments freely which nurtures their imagination. 

An alternative consideration is the idea of imagination that is absent love, what would this look like? So far, imagination has been viewed as a strength in learning and development. However, absent love, what is the effect on the imagination? In this instance, does the imagination become a source of anxiety? Does it catastrophize in fear loops causing mental constriction? Imagination is best described by authors Nielsen and Haralambous as a neutral vehicle, stating that “The lunatic, lover and poet are all capable of imagining, but the nature of the imagined is particular to the mood of the one imagining” (Nielsen and Haralambous, 2011). Vygotsky also stated that “Every construct of the imagination affects our feelings, and if this construct does not in itself correspond to reality, nonetheless the feelings it evokes are real feelings, feelings a person truly experiences” (Vygotsky, 2003, p. 19). In this sense, the imagination is malleable to many dispositions.

As children’s imagination develops in the earliest years of life, the greatest contribution caregivers can make is to provide intentional, loving care that nurtures the imagination to evoke feelings of safety, trust, connection, wholeness in oneself and oneness in relationship. Through love, imagination can be a generative source of well-being to develop healthily, engage in meaningful learning, and inspire creativity. 

Referring again to Vygotsky who impresses the importance of imagination to facilitate creativity, he states that “It is precisely the human creative activity that makes the human being a creature oriented toward the future, creating the future and thus altering his own present” (Vygotsky, 2003, p. 9–10).  Imagination brings forth expansive creativity, and in this context, could be understood as the basis for human evolution. To evolve is to adapt to change, scientists and spiritual philosophers align on the knowledge that change is a fundamental element of life. Children exemplify the process of change and evolution, constantly growing and adapting to rapid changes in the first years of life. Scientist Alison Gopnik, author of The Philosophical Baby (2009), asks, “How is it possible for humans to change?” She goes on to say that, “there are three intertwined strands in the answer – learning, counterfactuals, and caregiving or more poetically, truth, imagination and love” (p. 243-244). Gopnik affirms that “For young children, truth, imagination, and love are inextricably intertwined” (p. 244). Through truth in learning, imagination, and love – change is possible.

If you’d like to learn more, here’s a link to my thesis Love Nurtures Imagination.

Photo credit: Jess Zoerb on Unsplash