❋ Research
Adult-learning theory
linkedin series
Research
❋ The Psychological Reconstruction of Mindfulness: From Buddhist Origins to Modern Operationalization
Human Arenas, Springer (2026)
This paper examines mindfulness as a cultural-psychological boundary object — tracing how it has been reconstructed across four epistemic contexts: early Buddhist frameworks, Buddhist modernist reinterpretations, psychological operationalization, and contemporary digital and VR-based interventions. Rather than evaluating whether any version is more effective, the analysis asks what gets preserved, modified, and excluded at each stage of translation. It proposes a pluri-epistemic approach to construct validity and introduces a practical lineage statement framework to help researchers document the epistemic commitments embedded in their work.
❋ AndragogyAndragogy comes from the Greek ἀνήρ (adult) and ἀγωγός (guide). First published in 1833 by German educator Alexander Kapp, the term names the art and science of helping adults learn. It centers autonomy, experience, and purposeful application in the design of learning.
❋ Experiential Learning TheoryDavid Kolb proposed that learning unfolds through a cycle: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Adults learn most effectively when experience is structured and reflection is intentional.
❋ Self-Directed LearningAdvanced by Malcolm Knowles, self-directed learning positions adults as active agents in diagnosing their learning needs, setting goals, identifying resources, and evaluating outcomes. It assumes autonomy and responsibility as core design considerations.
❋ Situated Learning / Communities of PracticeJean Lave and Etienne Wenger argued that learning occurs through participation in social practice. Knowledge develops through engagement in real contexts, alongside others, rather than through isolated instruction.
❋ Aesthetic EducationRooted in the philosophy of John Dewey and extended through the work of Maxine Greene and embodied cognition researchers including Zull, aesthetic learning holds that genuine understanding requires felt experience, not information transfer. Learning becomes integrated only when it achieves what Dewey called experiential unity — a beginning, development, and consummation that the learner experiences as complete and consequential.