Looping Into Hyperspace: Mechanisms of Distributed Imagination During a Collaborative Science-Fiction Writing Project

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Collaborative Learning Experiences

Abstract

This paper follows attempts to “move” the study of imagination away from the head, and in between individuals and their environment (Glăveanu & Zittoun, 2017; Murphy, 2004).We use the metaphor of imagination loop (Zittoun, 2016) and its different dimensions to analyze how adolescents externalize imagination while composing a science fiction story as a group, in a formal educational setting. For analyzing the process, we use interaction analysis and conversation analysis (Erickson, 2004; Erickson & Schultz, 1997; Jordan & Henderson, 1995). Results point to triggers that contribute to joint loopings, the role of mutual contributions and acceptances for sustaining the shared imaginative loops, and frameworks that assess the commitment to imaginative loops through the use of concrete details.

Authors

• Maria Kolovou, University of Miami

• Ji Shen, University of Miami