From the Moon's Cycles to Students’ Learning, to a Holistic, Multidimensional Understanding of Learning and Being

• In Event: A Holistic, Multidimensional Perception of Time: Connecting Our Inner and Outer World, and Connecting Education to the Earth and the Universe

Abstract

I, Author JL, remember many years ago I met a 3rd grade teacher, and she told me that her students behaved very differently during full moon and when the moon is waning smaller and smaller. She shared that the students were very hyperactive and running around full of energy during the full moon, while during the waning crescent phase, the students were very subdued, and it was difficult to get them excited. I was very intrigued by this, and we talked about doing collaborative research. She later asked her colleagues to record the energy state and behaviors of their students. The three participating teachers and herself recorded their observations and compared notes by the end of three months and noted a pattern of student behavior related to the waxing and waning of the moon.
Modern education system has, however, truncated time as blocks that can be arranged with a beginning and an end and children’s education is arranged in such a rigid way. Teachers are to teach children without considering the biological, psychological, and spiritual rhythms of children’s life (Stehlik, 2008). The industrial model of education treats time as one dimensional, and little attention is paid to the interior of the students and the teachers. Researchers have paid little to no attention to the natural, cosmological forces on the energy and consciousness of learners (Oliver & Gershman,1989). We pose this question for our research: what is a holistic, multidimensional perception of time connecting our inner and outer world, and connecting education to the Earth and the universe?
Ancient Chinese knowledge holds that our body corresponds with the energetic changes of the four seasons, and preserving health and wellbeing requires knowing how the energy of various seasons affect nature as well as human beings (Glanz, 1997). In traditional societies and indigenous wisdom, nature is cyclical, and things and events evolve rather than going in a linear upward direction (Walker, 2004). However, we are conditioned to believe that time is linear by reports of GDP growth among nations, or company profit charts. In some traditional societies, space and time are interrelated, such as the Chinese belief that the yin and yang energy travel up our spine, the Du meridian, and come down from our front, the Ren meridian, in different hours (Culham & Lin, 2020). Energies in our vital organs are activated at various times to modulate the life system of our body, such as during 11pm to 1am, it is the kidney’s energy, and at 1am to 3am, the energy of the liver, etc, that are taking the main roles in recharging and refreshing our body energy system (Culham & Lin, 2020).
We will dialogue on what will happen when we see time as interactive and relational, that our wellbeing and Mother Nature’s well-being are intertwined, and that we have a much larger purpose in life, beyond materialistic possessions.

Authors

• Jing Lin, University of Maryland

• Catalina Prieto, University of Maryland