PsychoGeography and Gonzo Pedagogy: approaches to learning through movement and space

Presented by Dr Peter Shukie, Becky Moon, Sharney Royle.

Chaired by Aziz Abdul Hafiz.

July 4th 2024

60 minute symposium session.

Session reference 18.d, session held in LT 18.

Abstract

This presentation details approaches to learning that include movement and being outside the classroom as a primary component of what learning is and how that takes place. The focus is on an Alternative Education module on a BA (hons) in Education Studies. However, we will also include additional project work that attempted to use similar approaches to explore transdisciplinary working around creativity and arts across other courses.

Psychogeography provides a framework of sorts, a conceptual understanding of the ways that our geographic context is significant in our cognitive understanding and sense making in the world. This presentation considers how we have use that in the module to encourage reflections on our own experiences in terms of class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and age. These include wanders beyond the classroom, soundscapes in Leeds, student presentations around the streets of their own locality, outdoor lectures and leaving students alone in an unfamiliar city. We will define our purpose and rationale for what we discuss as gonzo pedagogy, but also invite students to discuss their own experiences.

Additional work from 'CollaborArt Blackburn', a small project funded by MEG and ran in 2023, discusses the ways these approaches can create new working spaces between and across disciplines.

Ideally this presentation will take place in and out of the classroom and this will require some further deliberation with conferences should we be accepted. We would like to develop a series of pedagogical wanders that may suit the 60-minute format better. We are open to discussion.

Biographies of the Speakers

Dr Peter Shukie

Peter Shukie is a lecturer in higher education with programme leader roles on education studies and on a PGCE post-compulsory programme. He works at University Centre Blackburn College. Dr Shukie’s Ph.D. research explored the ways technology and distance education work in informal and community educational spaces. Research interests include digital technology and pedagogy, social justice, art and education, Deleuzean influences on education, working-class identities in academia and the arts, post-human pedagogies, social practice (art and education in community), and informal and non-institutional education. Peter was founder of the International Working-Class Academics Conference that began in 2020.

Sharney is a mother of two young children with a passion for education. Sharney has spent the past five years achieving a first-class honours degree in education and a PGCE certificate in education and training. Sharney presented her ethnographic research at the worldwide research conference 2023 and enjoys anything to do with education, learning and developing.

Becky Moon is an emerging multidisciplinary artist, working with a variety of media, she uses painting and photography as a basis to inform her sculptural work, recently concentrating on stained glass, metalwork, and jewellery, as well as exploring working with collage, her practice is its own ecology. Her purpose is not to master and conform to one medium but to explore and combine disciplines creating unique visual experiences.

Sharney Royle

Rebecca Moon

Indoors and Outdoors

The session will take place as a wander. Three voices initially, and space for yours to join us throughout.

You will need clothes appropriate for a wander in whatever lies in wait beyond these lecture theatre doors.

We will encounter a lecture theatre space, a place of nature and a built-up space. In each we will pose questions and you will have the opportunity to experience each space, reflect on that experience and recount that in a group or to another walker/ experiencer.

There will be no slides but there is a pamphlet (if you are reading this, you have found the pamphlet. If you are listening to me speak this, you need the QR code to reach the PDF.

"I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realised who was telling me this."

Emo Phillips (Comedian)

Experience Through Reflection (A mindfulness adjustment for each space we will visit)

What do you notice about the way you 'sense' this space? Is there an atmosphere? How do you feel? Where do you feel it?

What do you notice about smell/ temperature/ colour/sound/ light in this place? What might you learn from here, in this place, as well as from a teacher?

Do you feel good in this place? Can you identify what it is that makes you feel that way?

Introduction to a Lecture Theatre and our Key Ideas

The core concept of today is that we learn much more than cognitive/ brain-based concepts of knowledge.

We recognise too the absolute domination of this type of knowledge in educational spaces, in teaching and learning approaches, and in how we measure what we consider to be knowledge.

This building we are in right now is a prime example of how we have created an architecture of learning and teaching based on this brain first, brain only model. A model that infuses hierarchy into the learning process regardless of what we think might follow as content.

Our contention today Is that ALL learning needs to be aware of the spaces we inhabit. We need to be conscious of space. We need to be conscious of ourselves in different spaces.

The focus of our presentation is that we can encourage other forms of engagement by how we consider space, how we use it.

As an educator I have noticed since my earliest reflections how movement drastically alters the way I see what Is being learned. From the fresh cut grass and outdoor school summers as a child, I recall the ways learning became de-stressed, joyous, momentous. Later, I was teaching a class where the Issue was always keeping teenagers in a classroom, keeping them engaged after years of behaviour and attendance issues In schools they had been excluded from. That was altered when I started to take them onto the canal towpaths, were we had what would become later 'walking lectures'. I have done this since and have psychogeography sessions, where students encounter the world as part of their sessions. Projects, lectures and research practice takes place outside and in diverse spaces. From external spaces, turning Internal seminar rooms into art studios, having classes as unplanned/ no-route wanders, the emphasis on learning as Inclusive of unknowing Is significant.

The emphasis today Is on movement and space. Three key terms are important.

Key Term 1: Gonzo Pedagogy

Gonzo Pedagogy draws from the immersive and subjective style of gonzo journalism. This educational approach emphasizes a personalized and engaged method of teaching, where educators and students collaborate as equals, challenging traditional hierarchical structures within education.

A key element of gonzo pedagogy is the critique of "bogus objectivity," a term used to describe the false sense of neutrality and impartiality often upheld in conventional education. Traditional practices frequently promote an illusion of objectivity that ignores the subjective experiences and biases of both teachers and students. By maintaining this notion of objectivity, education systems marginalize diverse perspectives and reinforce existing power dynamics.

Gonzo pedagogy, however, embraces the subjective and personal dimensions of learning, encouraging educators to integrate their own experiences and emotions into their teaching practices.

By promoting reflexivity, storytelling, and critical engagement with content, gonzo pedagogy aligns with critical pedagogy. It seeks to dismantle the deficit model of education, which views students as lacking and in need of remediation. Instead, it recognizes and builds upon the existing skills and knowledge of learners, fostering a sense of empowerment and agency through understanding them as human, with agency, and open to the transformative potential of morethan-human teachers/ Influences.

To enact Gonzo Pedagogy needs approaches to pedagogies that allow for subjective restructuring. For this session we will encounter both Psychogeography and Extended Mind thinking.

Key term two - psychogeography

We use psychogeography to explore the emotional and psychological impact of places on individuals. Initially developed by the Situationist International, psychogeography examines how environments influence emotions and behaviours.

In our work, psychogeography examines the relationship between digital and physical spaces, especially in education and community engagement. We use it to:

1. Investigate Spaces: We explore how educational environments, both online and offline, affect learners' experiences and outcomes, aiming to create more engaging and supportive practices.

2. Enhance Digital Learning: We design virtual spaces that foster community and belonging, understanding how they can replicate or differ from physical ones.

3. Empower Communities: We encourage communities to explore and narrate their own spaces, helping individuals reclaim and reimagine their environments.

4. Innovate Educational Practices: By examining the spatial dimensions of learning, we critique traditional educational models and advocate for practices considering diverse spatial experiences.

In summary, we use psychogeography to bridge physical and digital spaces, enhancing education and community engagement by recognizing the emotional and psychological influences of environments.

Key term three - extended mind

In "The Extended Mind," Annie Murphy Paul explores how learning and cognition extend beyond the brain, involving the body and environment. Here are three key points about learning and walking:

1. Embodied Cognition: Paul argues that cognitive processes are intertwined with physical actions. Walking stimulates thinking and creativity, as movement engages different neural and bodily systems.

2. Environmental Influence: She highlights the impact of physical spaces on learning. Natural settings, in particular, enhance cognitive function by reducing mental fatigue, improving attention, and boosting mood, making learning and problem-solving more effective.

3. Social and Collaborative Learning: Paul notes that social interactions are crucial for learning. Walking meetings foster dynamic and creative conversations, leveraging our social brains to think more deeply and creatively when engaged with others.

Incorporating physical activity and social interaction into learning can significantly enhance cognitive function and creativity.

Movement is a vehicle for social justice and engagement. Shifting spaces can allow for greater inclusion and belonging.

While we Walk

Take one of the 4 cards and discuss with others with you.

You will have three separate walking periods and can work through these, or just focus on one.

In a Place of Nature

Sharney Royle

Psychogeography examines how places and spaces affect a human’s emotions, behaviours and experiences (Coverly, 2018). Today I would like to discuss some key differences between the usual classroom learning experience and outdoor education experience, bringing in some key findings from my ethnographic study on a forest school.

Forest schools or forest education relates to a learnercentred process inspired by hands- on experience within a natural environment. The benefits of such learning environment are an increase in creativity, confidence, social skills and problem- solving (William- Siegfredson, 2017).

• My experience- why did I choose this topic?

I have had a passion for Forest education for some time now starting with volunteering in EYFS and primary forest school settings and realising the potential and impact they have. Last year I decided to base my dissertation on forest education and the impact they have on the mental health and wellbeing of young learners. However, upon deciding this I realised and felt a distance between studying the forest school on paper and what it feels like to be in the forest school. So, in turn this altered my approach from case study to an ethnographic study allowing me to immerse myself into the setting, observing and using vignettes writing about my own experience as part of the research. The findings from the research seemed to mirror prior research that being present in a natural environment itself increases mental health and the activities and learning are all meaningful and experiential. As discussed by the forest leader “the learners that were not engaging within the mainstream

settings came out of their shell and their personalities flourished”.

Psychogeographers talk about “Ambiance” and how the atmosphere of a space pr place can have a direct effect on one’s feelings, thoughts and behaviours… Psychogeography uses the sensory experiences of the city to evoke thoughts and emotions, while forest school immerses learners in the sensory richness of the natural environment.

• Senses?

Ones sensory experiences greatly differ between the classroom setting and a natural setting. How is our sight affected?

Within a classroom environment you are usually greeted with artificial lighting, structured classroom layouts with limited colours and patterns, rows of seating and desks, whiteboards and predominantly our vision focuses on workbooks and reading books. However, with a forest environment the lighting is all-natural lighting with variation dependent on the sun position and the weather changes, a non-structured layout with constant movement of trees and wildlife. Lastly, the colours within a natural environment are rich with greens, browns and colourful flowers (William- Siegfredson, 2017).

How is our hearing affected?

Within the classroom environment we will experience predominantly human made sounds, talking, the sound of tables and chairs shuffling around, pens scratching across paper and occasionally the sound of air conditioning units. The forest however is dominated by the sounds of nature; birds singing, trees blowing in the wind, occasionally water flowing and animals venturing between the bushes. Classroom noises are consistent with the occasional bursts of sound during break, dinner times and activities. Whereas the noises within the forest are varied dependant on the time of day and the weather.

How is our smell affected?

Our smell is affected very differently for a classroom environment to the forest. The smells within the classroom are minimal and controlled with cleaning products filling the air, the occasion smell of books, paper and fresh carpet with food smells lining the corridors at dinner time. The forest offers again a varied experience when considering smells from the heavy smells of damp mud and tree bark to the smell of the weather changing from sun to rain and seasons from spring to summer with strong smells of blossoming flowers. While the smells in nature are everchanging dependant on the weather and the seasons the classroom is filtered and conditioned leaving the air fresh and odourless.

• Place as teacher?

Within mainstream education the teacher is the person that design, plans and delivers the sessions and then assesses learning. Following a strict curriculum means that learning is influenced by the teacher and the activities and tasks they set.

Within outdoor education the role of teacher becomes a facilitator of learning. Similarly, activities are set by the facilitator, but these are influenced by the learners and their interests and engagement. There is a sense of freedom and opportunity within the forest and what I discovered through my research is that when the children do not realise, they are learning, their engagement levels seem to increase.

• Behaviour

Behaviour and the management of behaviour is a topic that throughout my research seemed to have me questioning what is accepted and what is not? And how this might be increasingly confusing to a small child that experiences both classroombased learning and forest education. All children, young people and anyone in education are expected to behave in a certain way, following rules to ensure a safe, collaborative, respectful learning environment.

“Within the classroom we are told we must sit down, listen to instructions and complete activities calmly and quietly usually. Then the children get changed, leave the classroom and are basically told to do the complete opposite” Now rules still apply within the forest, the children know they must respect each other, listen to instruction, respect the boundaries of the forest (William- Siegfredson, 2017). Except the role of teacher shifts to facilitator and the children now have more freedom and are able to run off finding their own activities, pair up and collaborate with any of their friends, talk and discuss what they are doing with everyone, climbing, snapping, stamping. Seeing the children come out of their shell within the forest was a blessing and something I will never forget. The happy, smiling faces all running around making bug houses and making shmores on the fire.

“Now imagine after 2 hours you are told right line up quietly and lets go back to class, the children immediately seem to lose that motivation, engagement they just had 5 minutes prior, their attention turns to going back to class to sit down, listen and write”

• Relationships

Now the behaviours that were just accepted within the forest are no longer accepted in the classroom. The children can not leave their seats and go off to find an activity, they can not just start a conversation with their peers during delivery of a subject. The classroom can now feel like a

lonely place to be, on a chair on your own in your place at the table. The expectation of collaboration and choice is no longer, the role has shifted back, and you are the learner listening to the teacher. The engagement of the class post forest seemed to decrease significantly. In the forest you can wander off to think, to feel comfort, whereas in the classroom this is not an option (William- Siegfredson, 2017).

You can see how this may be confusing to a child? Or does it just increase one’s resilience?

• Engagement

Both experiences of the classroom environment and the forest have boundaries and rules, and these only differ slightly. What has changed significantly is... you have taken away the four walls and the vulnerability that comes with them. Throughout my research I recorded consistently that when in the forest every child engaged, whether this was collaboratively or on their own. Each child had an activity and every child seemed more at ease and themselves when outside. Within the classroom I recorded several times where learning had to be topped because of low level disruptions, contrastingly activities and tasks never had to be stopped within the forest because what is classed as low-level disruption in the classroom was classed as engagement within the forest.

Psychogeography and forest school both nurture creativity (Coverly, 2018). Psychogeographers often reinterpret and engage with urban spaces in imaginative ways, while forest school activities encourage engagement through creative play and problem-solving in nature.

• To conclude:

While psychogeography and forest school originate from different contexts urban exploration and nature-based education they share common goals of fostering deep, reflective engagement with environments (Coverly, 2018). By integrating principles of psychogeography into forest school, educators can enhance the richness of outdoor learning experiences, encouraging students to explore, reflect, and connect with the world around them in diverse and meaningful ways. This approach can help students develop a holistic appreciation for both urban and natural landscapes, enriching their educational journey and personal growth “taking away the four walls of the classroom”.

• Classroom Learning:

• Environment: Indoor, controlled setting with artificial lighting, structured seating, and limited sensory stimulation.

• Focus: Primarily academic, with a focus on theoretical knowledge delivered through textbooks, lectures, and digital media.

• Structure: Highly structured with a fixed timetable and curriculum, emphasizing order and routine.

• Interaction: Predominantly teacher-led with direct instruction and individual student work, though collaborative activities occur.

• Assessment: Regular, formal assessments such as quizzes, tests, and written assignments to evaluate student progress.

• Sensory Experience: Limited and controlled, with focus on visual and auditory inputs related to academic content.

• Forest Learning:

• Environment: Outdoor, dynamic natural setting with natural lighting, varying terrains, and rich sensory stimulation.

• Focus: Experiential, hands-on learning that integrates academic concepts with practical, real-world applications.

• Structure: Flexible and adaptable, allowing for spontaneous learning opportunities and student-driven exploration.

• Interaction: Collaborative, with students working together on projects and activities, guided by the teacher but driven by the environment.

• Assessment: Informal, ongoing assessments through observation, reflection, and practical demonstrations of learning.

• Sensory Experience: Rich and varied, engaging all senses with the sights, sounds, smells, and textures of nature.

In a Manufactured and Curated Space

Becky Moon

I spent 20 years working in what felt like a small box as a finance officer, my immediate surroundings were very bland - a computer screen, piles of invoices on my desk, constantly dinging email inbox, regularly punctuated by the ringing phone and not leaving my desk for 7 hours… My view, in that office and in life was blinkered, it was black and white, with no encouragement to see anything more.

I was born and still live in a very rural part of the world, I am used to rolling hills, very old architecture, and, conventional views and opinions, I was taught that is the way it should be, and never question it. There were many factors which led to the changes that brings me here today, pivotal was an accident, which left me with a life changing condition, although it shouldn’t take something like that to make a change. I realise now I was merely existing in a place. My first steps into this new life consisted of me walking miles with a camera, that tiny viewfinder became my eyes, it cut out the unnecessary to enable me to see more.

I began my Fine Art degree in 2021, I have never felt more out of place than on that first day - a 45 year old woman, with no art background other than five years of self-taught hobbyist photography and I had studied various vocational courses over the years, although nothing like a degree.

We were given “The Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules” in our first week, rules one, two and six became the most essential to my learning and evolution.

Rule 1 – Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.

Rule 2 – General duties of a student: pull everything out of your teacher. Pull everything out of your fellow students.

Rule 6 – Nothing is a mistake, there’s no win and no fail. There’s only make.

My education experience of the past three years has fundamentally changed me, my tutors taught me art is in everything, say yes to every opportunity and go big. They also taught me that I can create and communicate using paint, glass, metal – much like the materials these buildings are constructed of, although on a smaller scale, I also use paper and words within my practice. I wrote my dissertation about the stained glass ‘experience’, asking can it always be delivered by any artist – of course I found there was no definitive answer (see rule 6).

I have come to realise that any art is capable of giving its own experience, just like the first time I saw John Hoyland’s “Broken Bride” whilst being somewhat lost in The Walker Gallery in Liverpool on a uni daytrip. That is a moment I can only describe as ‘the angels sang’. The scale of that nonfigurative painting was immense, as was the feeling in my soul, I understood the message the artist was giving directly to me in those seconds, except I wouldn’t be able to truly replicate or explain it. When I saw that exact painting on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, the feeling was not so powerful, the place and circumstances of where I had that experience is clearly an important factor.

The traditional Victorian red brick art school at Blackburn where students before me had studied has been closed for a refurb throughout my course. Our studios were in modern buildings not dissimilar to the ones that are surrounding us now, some may say they are soulless and uninspiring. However, we need to adapt and be open, change how we feel, look and listen, allow them to have an effect upon us and note what we learn from it.

I visited here last week in preparation, it was the first time I have ever walked around a university campus, it was indescribable and somewhat overwhelming - the sounds, expanse of concrete, metal and glass buildings, the rabbit warren of walkways, along with the energy radiating from the place, whilst relatively quiet it is still intense and exciting, admittedly it took me a couple of days to process what I had experienced. Every building around us is different, there is an individual energy and message from each, they tower above us, designed by man for a purpose, we look at them, but do we really see them? Mundane monoliths to education, interrupting mother nature’s world, we are encouraged to walk through the doors into lecture halls to learn and, then sit in the designated outdoor areas, just like here, a place to congregate and communicate.

However, shouldn’t we just allow the effects of our surroundings happen on a personal level. My belief is we should be encouraged to have our own solo experience in addition to as a group, to have our individualism nurtured and allow confidence in our creativity, look through our own viewfinder, be curious, find our story about the small things we find. We should ask ourselves why are there six flags which are lighter coloured? is there maybe something magical behind that invisible door over there? and why is there a copper and glass traffic cone?

We are increasingly taught there has to be a practical and logical reason for everything, creative thinking is sidelined, I want to encourage people to look for the art and beauty, even in concrete, it is there!

Guy Debord and the Situationists encouraged us to walk the streets of the familiar, in a way we wouldn’t normally, to observe and experience the norms in new ways, and see how it changed us. Marcel Duchamp introduced everyday items as art in the Readymade, it has sparked a continuing debate, how do we see art and what is it? I created a life size copper and stained glass traffic cone as part of my degree show, I have been asked why. My reply is why wouldn’t I? At university I was taught art is in everything and no opinion of art is wrong, we as artists take inspiration from everything we see, hear and feel around us.

I do not feel the need to explain what my work is about, except to say, “the traffic cone is me”, I invite the viewer to take what they want and invite them to ask what does it mean to them, maybe they too are the traffic cone, for their own reasons.

Immaculate Conception Art College Department Rules (1965)

Back to the Lecture Theatre: Some Concluding Considerations

Peter Shukie

How do you think different environments, both natural and urban, impact your learning and creativity?

In what ways can you incorporate movement and spatial awareness into your own educational or professional practices?

How can the principles of psychogeography and gonzo pedagogy be applied to create more inclusive and engaging learning experiences in traditional educational settings?

References

Coverly, M. (2018). Psychogeography. Old Castle Books: Harpenden.

Murphy Paul, A (2021). The Extended Mind: the power of thinking outside the brain. New York: Harper Collins/ Mariner

William- Siegfredson. (2017). Understanding the Danish Forest school approach. Early years education in practice. Routledge: London.