AQAL Framework for Teaching
To get more detailed overview of Ken Wilber's Integral Theory and the AQAL model (Wilber, 2000, p. 70-72), click on his picture.
This page will describe the application of the AQAL model to teaching and provide basic information about AQAL as it will appear on other parts of this site.
The AQAL model is a 'perspective mapping' tool that can be used to encompass the many viewpoints and worldviews associated with any field, area or issue (Esbjorn-Hargens, 2013, p.173). There are many ways that this framework can be utilized in education and I will detail some basics below.
Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2007). “Integral Teacher, Integral Students, Integral Classroom: Applying Integral Theory to Education,” in AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice Vol 2, No. 2., pp. 72-103
Wilber, K. (2000). A theory of everything: An integral vision for business, politics, science, and spirituality. Boston: Shambhala.
Above is a summary of what the AQAL four quadrants model describes. Each quadrant represents a perspective that can be taken when considering any aspect of education (or any other area). The interior individual quandrant deals with personal subjective experience, the exterior individual deals with the behavioural and observable, the interior collective deals with cultural experiences and exterior collective deals with social and environmental systems.
The three aspects of education I will discuss are transdisciplinary multiperspectival learning, integral considerations for lesson planning and Esbjorn-Hargens' Twelve Ways of Knowing.
When planning transdisciplinary learning experiences, teachers can use the AQAL model as a framework for including several diverse perspectives when problem solving or responding to an issue or challenge. Central to holistic education is the understanding that all things are inherently connected. This model makes the connections for both teachers and students explicit.
A learning experience that incorporates this model could be a student debate where learners are given characters to portray in response to an issue. For example, a nearby forest is being cut down to make room for new housing developments. Students are assigned roles like a historian, a biologist, a CEO of Mattamy Homes, a concerned parent, a religious leader, an economist, a geographer, or a philosopher and must research their roles and create arguments for use in the townhall debate regarding this issue. This learning experience is multi-faceted and authentic; it allows for connections to be made across disciplines and for students to understand how subjects they are learning are connected.
The AQAL chart above includes elements of different types of learning informed by various learning theories and holistic teaching strategies. This is a way of conceptualizing different considerations educators make about how they design their learning experiences. Do I include enough opportunity for reflection and personal connection to subject matter? Am I providing opportunities for collaboration and social interaction during lessons? Do I alter the classroom environment in order to promote curiousity and engagement? These are all questions educators might ask themselves about different components of learning.
This chart shows Esbjorn-Hargens' Twelve Ways of Knowing organized into "levels of complexity" - body, mind and spirt in each quadrant. The holistic educator aims to include elements of all twelve of these ways of knowing into their teaching. Esbjorn-Hargens describes his application of Integral Theory to education in the paper,
Integral Teacher, Integral Students, Integral Classroom: Applying Integral Theory to Education. Click the button below to view it.
References
Ken Wilber
