The Institute for Educational Studies:
Sampling of Graduate Projects

“The mental model that I hold as I combine the words integrative with education is threefold. First, the mental, physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of each learner have the possibility of internal coherence. Second, the individual has a reflective understanding of relationship to other people and to the expanded world. Third, learning involves the development of skills, knowledge, powers of discernment, and wisdom resting on a context of interrelationship that provides meaning.”
– Marsha Snow Morgan

“Education can be defined as a medium of enabling human beings to become conscious about the potential problems of the time and awakening intelligence to deal with those problems efficiently while simultaneously contributing to social and ecological harmony. “
– Tejandra Pherali

“Through my understanding of Maturana and Varela’s concepts of autopoiesis and structural coupling, I found that I began to focus more on the relationships between myself and the children and the invisible, intangible ways in which we communicated and triggered small changes in each of our overlapping interdependent autopoietic systems.”
– Kathleen Miszuk

“Throughout my life, I have come to a deep, personal understanding that nature has its own lessons, and I am learning that becoming a worthy guide entails allowing for the dance between an individual’s natural process of autopoiesis within and other natural energies and environments outside of the individual.”
– April Smith

“I continue to be optimistic that through the resolute determination and sustain energy of all individuals who genuinely believe in the benefit of Montessori scientific pedagogy, and butterfly power, that children throughout Indonesia will ultimately be the beneficiaries of this extraordinary approach to their education.”
– Carol Engmann

“The hydrogen atoms that are present in human bodies, as well as in other organisms, have been present since three seconds after the primordial flaring forth. This is the mission of Cosmic Education; to provide students the opportunity to truly understand the history of where they came from and with that knowledge contribute to the ongoing development of the human species and life on this planet.”
– Paula Dean

“An intriguing area lies in the relationship between artist and media, a relationship best described as a form of dialogue between the creator and creation, the subject and the object.”
– Andrew Kay

“Integrative learning is a coming together of many ideas. It is the inner and outer self as one with all that is. It is a holistic view of the person, intelligence, life. Integrative learning looks through many lenses at the same time. It does not focus in on one subject, but uses Gaia and the Cosmos as the great umbrella. Under this umbrella are many branches of intelligence, including art, poetry, science, nature. The branches are limitless.”
– Eva Sikes

“The TIES community is rich and nurturing. I immediately felt welcome. Even though I was originally intimidated by posting responses and comments, it quickly became clear it was a safe space where opposing ideas and emerging thoughts would be accepted and warmly discussed. Friendships and connections were developed and I began to think of the cohort as friends, noticing absences and sharing in sorrow and joy alike over the months. I felt supported, heard and part of a profound community.”
– Pherooz Kerani

“At the end of this study within TIES, I am left with the sense that, in light of the crises facing our ecosystem, and the negative impact the human species has had on natural systems, Montessori’s ideas have more urgency today than in 1948. In that year, shortly after the ending of World War II, Montessori (1948/1989) sounded alarms about the need to educate children because of ‘world-shaking forces [which are] now making the realization of human unity an urgent necessity.’ (p. 77).”
– Kathryn Ross

This course as a whole has helped me to reflect further and dig deeper. This quote is of particular importance to me because it is a reminder that we are responsible for our reality and as an educator, “We reveal ourselves in the metaphors we choose for depicting the cosmos in miniature”. (Gould, 1996.p.7) I have a particular responsibility to deepen my understanding and be purposeful in my metaphors.
– Huck Ford

Differentiated from but informed by the ideas of neuroreductionism (consciousness explained solely as a function of brain neurological process) and functionalism (consciousness explained as an understanding of interrelated processes within the nervous system as a whole), neurophenomenologists explain consciousness as a process that emerges from an intertwined combination of “conscious experience, the physics, biochemistry, and biology of the nervous system; and of the non-linear dynamics of neural networks….what Francisco Varela (1999) has called the ‘triple braid’ of conscious research”
– Jennifer Matthews

“The evidence that dialogue is a beautiful way to communicate comes from how I feel about the space of communication. It touched my soul because in a dialogue, people are non-judgmental, open and receptive to feedback, and hence I had no fear to express my thoughts and emotions. This was in contrast to the previous education experiences. And that’s why I always mention that this M.Ed. has been the true education of my life!”
– Aarthi Nandakumar

“My academic studies have provided pathways to the mystery that fires the wild cosmic dance, leaving me with a renewed sense of purpose. I have been exposed to the work of scientists, philosophers, educators, organizational leaders, spiritual leaders, anthropologists, and artists who provide scintillating contexts for such an exploration.”
– Sarah Denae