mon livre récent
Domenico Masciotra, PhD
consultant en éducation et formation (ASCAR Inc.)
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ENGLISH PUBLICATIONS
IN A HEALTHY MIND: STRIKING OUT IN TIME & SPACE
DOMENICO MASCIOTRA, PH.D., AND MANUEL A. MONZON
INTRODUCTION
During a violent conflict, a combatant may find himself in a reality in which his “body becomes a mind,” since one’s body actually envelops and prolongs the body within space-time. Therefore, the maxim “a healthy mind in a healthy body” must be inverted. From this point of view, the mind is not only located in the brain, it has ramifications, via the nervous system and the blood circulation, in the whole body and branches out in space and time to constitute in it a spielraum, i.e. a room to maneuver in. Borrowed from Heidegger (1977), the term spielraum represents the field of action generated by an individual involved in a situation (eg., combative encounter). Within this enactive theoretical frame, the embodied mind prolongs the Self within space and time. In this paper, Self-Prolongation is related to:
■ Mind availability and reality as a structural coupling
■ Distance and the “invisible bubble” in the Western tradition
■ Spielraum: spatial aspect of spatial and temporal intervals
■ The intentional threads of the fighter’s guard
■ Temporal aspect of spielraum
■ The folding and unfolding spielraum, and
■ Decisive actions
‘‘Maai’’: The Art of Distancing in Karate-Do Mutual Attunement in Close Encounter
Domenico Masciotra, Edith Ackermann, and Wolff-Michael Roth
Résumé
Human development implies an evolution of the individual’s physical spielraum (room to maneuver) as an adaptively changing dialectical Self-Other relationship, which is achieved through appropriate distancing. In the Japanese culture, distancing is maai (ma, spatiotemporal interval ai, harmony). Maai integrates space, time, and rhythm, dimensions of being that are deeply rooted in all human aaaactions and relations. Maai is the art of relating and communicating within constructed space-time intervals in and through which people interact. The purpose of the present study is to elaborate a phenomenological and genetic understanding of highly developed forms of distancing, that is, of our understanding of mastery in maai. Although there exist several good descriptions of distancing in everyday life, little is known about how it operates in experts. As a case in point, we analyze maai in the martial arts (karate), where distancing is taught, mastered, and conceptualized to various degrees by teachers and students, and therefore rises to the level of consciousness.
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM : A Theoretical Framework For A Competency-Based Curriculum General Basic Education Curriculum
Domenico Masciotra
The purpose of the present brochure is to clarify, in simple terms, the epistemological framework adopted by the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport for the curriculum reform of adult general basic education. The framework is that of constructivism, which presupposes that knowledge is constructed through action and reflection on action. The term social has been added to constructivism in order to underline the social character of situations and contexts that impact on the construction of knowledge by adult learners. Social constructivism thus constitutes the theoretical framework for the curriculum reform. The first section, entitled Constructivism, deals with the question of the construction of knowledge without referring explicitly to the social dimension, although it is always present. The second section, Social constructivism, highlights the importance of the social dimension. The correspondence between the epistemological framework and the competency-based approach will be elucidated as it arises. Read more...