Transformative Creative Imagination: Conceptual Framework for Analyzing the Designs of Learning Experiences for Children

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 9:45 am
  In Poster Session: Inquiry in the Social Contexts of Education

Abstract

Abstract
This paper explores key conceptualizations of imagination and creativity and proposes Transformative Creative Imagination (TCI) as a conceptual framework for analyzing learning designs that respond to children in crisis. Drawing on seminal and interdisciplinary works on creativity, imagination, and social transformation, alongside empirical and case studies, TCI situates imagination as central to meaning-making, resistance, and worldmaking. It emphasizes children's agency in constructing hopeful futures amid crisis and systemic marginalization. Illustrated through formal and informal educational settings, TCI challenges deficit-based approaches and invites educators to co-create learning experiences that cultivate resilience and possibility. Ultimately, the framework calls for education that not only responds to crises but activates imagination toward collective healing and social transformation with and through children.

Author

• Roni Barsoum, University of Michigan