The Stories We Embody: Neurobiology of Imagination for a Healing and Critical Education

Overview: How is creativity a fundamental right and a pathway to learning and health? This workshop will explore the neurobiology of imagination to promote neuronal healing and potential across educational settings. Additionally, participants will acquire pedagogical techniques (imbued by neuroscience, philosophy, and the arts) to become imagination architects.Proposal text: Recent breakthroughs in neurobiology show that imagination, usually defined as the capacity to create ideas beyond direct experience, is an umbrella term for voluntary, involuntary, and hybrid mechanisms. In other words, there are anatomical and functional differences between dreaming or hallucinating (involuntary imagination), conscious story-telling (voluntary imagination), and spontaneous insights during play or problem-solving (hybrid imagination). But how is this discovery related to learning and health?

Imagination types interact with biopsychosocial and spiritual dimensions, and hence they can either improve or deteriorate wellbeing. Therefore, educational models that focus on creative development may improve several cognitive and behavioral domains, such as flexibility, adaptability, and empathy. Students who imagine freely may have more chances of analyzing with curiosity and respect, having “eureka moments,” and experiencing dreams that do not cause harm. Meanwhile, those feeling disengaged due to dull or impersonal dynamics will lack the needed cognitive stimulation to achieve greater heights. And more problematically, those students exposed to traumatic experiences may suffer in their memory and attention, making it harder to generate insights or potentially even facing nightmares and hallucinations. Therefore, the blooming and embodiment of imagination is a matter of historical justice. Who lacks the means to explore the potential of their creativity fully, and why?

Educators are at a vantage point to promote neuronal healing and potential. Thus, this workshop will provide a solid foundation for implementing the science of imagination into social work education, teaching styles, and curriculum design. In addition to our scientific framework, we will engage with ethics and the arts to offer analogies and metaphors. Several modalities will be employed (e.g., images, brain diagrams, live music, body movement, gestures), and the presentation will include three main formats. First, brief conceptual and theoretical explanations. Second, an active dialogue to encourage personal and professional growth. And finally, we will play with the audience to illustrate the neuroscientific principles. As the right to play is Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we expect the games to motivate global justice introspections further.

Participants who attend this session will gain a basic understanding of how to enhance their own brain potential and that of their students. By demonstrating the role of imagination types in health and other positive affects (such as joy, humor, and curiosity), we will provide attendees with specific, neuroscience-informed techniques that can transform syllabi and classroom dynamics. In brief, participants will acquire conceptual and procedural knowledge that may benefit them in personal and professional dimensions alike. We will conclude by underscoring how social workers must advocate for the healthy development of imagination types as a fundamental human right.