In de recensie worden systematisch de verschillende onderdelen van het boek besproken. De door ons aangedragen structuur wordt gevolgd. Via de uitgangspunten van praktijkgericht onderzoek, de kenmerken van ABR en de kwaliteitscriteria zoals door ons geformuleerd, komen vervolgens de verschillende disciplines aan bod en wordt het afsluitende hoofdstuk kort beschreven. Door de gekozen schrijfstructuur wordt onze opbouw mooi voor het voetlicht gebracht. Alhoewel we op onderdelen gekozen zouden hebben voor andere accenten, wordt zo een herkenbaar verhaal gepresenteerd. Wel is het jammer dat we voor de recensent onvoldoende duidelijk hebben kunnen maken waarom we het zo belangrijk vinden dat er meer ruimte komt voor ABR in het sociaal domein
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In today’s technological world, human intertwinement with the rest of nature hasbeen severely diminished. In our digital culture, many people hardly have any direct experience of and sense of connection with “the real” of the natural world. The author assumes that when we want to find ways to mend this gap, arts-based environmental education (AEE) can play a meaningful role. In AEE, artmaking is regarded as itself a way of potentially gaining new understandings about our natural environment. As a reflective practitioner, the author facilitated three different AEE activities, at several times and at diverse locations. On basis of his observations, memories, written notes, audio-visual recordings and interviews with participants, teachers and informed outsiders, he interpreted the experiences both of participants and himself. To this end he employed interpretative phenomenological analysis paired with autoethnography.The artmaking activities researched here aimed to bring about a shift in focus. Participants were encouraged to approach natural phenomena not head-on, but in an indirect way. Moreover, the artmaking process aspired to heighten their awareness to the presence of their embodied self at a certain place. The research questions that the author poses in this study are: (1) What is distinctive in the process of the AEE activities that I facilitate?; (2) Which specific competencies can be identified for a facilitator of AEE activities?; and (3) Does participating in the AEE activities that I facilitate enhance the ability of participants to have a direct experience of feeling connected to the natural world?In this explorative study, the author identifies facilitated estrangement through participating in AEE as an important catalyst when aiming to evoke such instances of transformative learning. In undergoing such moments, participants grope their way in a new liminal space. Artmaking can create favorable conditions for this to happen through its defamiliarizing effect which takes participants away from merely acting according to habit (on “autopilot”). The open-ended structure of the artmaking activities contributed to the creation of a learning arena in which emergent properties could become manifest. Thus, participants could potentially experience a sense of wonder and begin to acquire new understandings – a form of knowing that the author calls “rudimentary cognition.” The research further suggests that a facilitator should be able to bear witness to and hold the space for whatever enfolds in this encounter with artistic process in AEE. He or she must walk the tightrope between control and non-interfering.The analysis of the impacts of the AEE activities that were facilitated leads the author to conclude that it is doubtful whether these in and of themselves caused participants to experience the natural environment in demonstrable new and deep ways. He asserts that most of their awareness was focused on the internal level of their own embodied presence; engagement with place, the location where the AEE activity was performed, seemed secondary. The findings show that AEE activities first and foremost help bring about the ignition and augmentation of the participants’ fascination and curiosity, centered in an increased awareness of their own body and its interactions with the natural world. The present study can be seen as a contribution to efforts of envisaging innovative forms of sustainable education that challenge the way we have distanced ourselves from the more-than-human world.
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Arts in Health, also known as Arts for Health, is an umbrella term used to describe the domain of using the arts to enhance our (mental) health and well-being. It involves a heterogeneous range of professionals who use the arts in various ways, with different goals and outcomes. The practices of these professionals can be placed on a continuum based on the variety of goals and outcomes, ranging from promoting social connection or well-being to treating (mental) health conditions. Recent discussions in the Netherlands have raised questions about the position of creative arts therapists on this continuum. This opinion paper addresses this issue by providing a brief overview of the development of the profession of creative arts therapists, the working areas of creative arts therapists and the growing evidence base of creative arts therapeutic interventions. The practices of creative arts therapists are positioned on the continuum, where the emphasis on and accountability for the clients’ (mental) health increases and evidence-informed use of the arts within a more clearly delineated and legally safeguarded professional framework are present. Knowing where the practices of creative arts therapists are placed can assist in identifying when to choose creative arts therapists, other professionals combining arts and healthcare, or a combination of professionals.
Teachers have a crucial role in bringing about the extensive social changes that are needed in the building of a sustainable future. In the EduSTA project, we focus on sustainability competences of teachers. We strengthen the European dimension of teacher education via Digital Open Badges as means of performing, acknowledging, documenting, and transferring the competencies as micro-credentials. EduSTA starts by mapping the contextual possibilities and restrictions for transformative learning on sustainability and by operationalising skills. The development of competence-based learning modules and open digital badge-driven pathways will proceed hand in hand and will be realised as learning modules in the partnering Higher Education Institutes and badge applications open for all teachers in Europe.Societal Issue: Teachers’ capabilities to act as active facilitators of change in the ecological transition and to educate citizens and workforce to meet the future challenges is key to a profound transformation in the green transition.Teachers’ sustainability competences have been researched widely, but a gap remains between research and the teachers’ practise. There is a need to operationalise sustainability competences: to describe direct links with everyday tasks, such as curriculum development, pedagogical design, and assessment. This need calls for an urgent operationalisation of educators’ sustainability competences – to support the goals with sustainability actions and to transfer this understanding to their students.Benefit to society: EduSTA builds a community, “Academy of Educators for Sustainable Future”, and creates open digital badge-driven learning pathways for teachers’ sustainability competences supported by multimodal learning modules. The aim is to achieve close cooperation with training schools to actively engage in-service teachers.Our consortium is a catalyst for leading and empowering profound change in the present and for the future to educate teachers ready to meet the challenges and act as active change agents for sustainable future. Emphasizing teachers’ essential role as a part of the green transition also adds to the attractiveness of teachers’ work.
Currently, many novel innovative materials and manufacturing methods are developed in order to help businesses for improving their performance, developing new products, and also implement more sustainability into their current processes. For this purpose, additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been very successful in the fabrication of complex shape products, that cannot be manufactured by conventional approaches, and also using novel high-performance materials with more sustainable aspects. The application of bioplastics and biopolymers is growing fast in the 3D printing industry. Since they are good alternatives to petrochemical products that have negative impacts on environments, therefore, many research studies have been exploring and developing new biopolymers and 3D printing techniques for the fabrication of fully biobased products. In particular, 3D printing of smart biopolymers has attracted much attention due to the specific functionalities of the fabricated products. They have a unique ability to recover their original shape from a significant plastic deformation when a particular stimulus, like temperature, is applied. Therefore, the application of smart biopolymers in the 3D printing process gives an additional dimension (time) to this technology, called four-dimensional (4D) printing, and it highlights the promise for further development of 4D printing in the design and fabrication of smart structures and products. This performance in combination with specific complex designs, such as sandwich structures, allows the production of for example impact-resistant, stress-absorber panels, lightweight products for sporting goods, automotive, or many other applications. In this study, an experimental approach will be applied to fabricate a suitable biopolymer with a shape memory behavior and also investigate the impact of design and operational parameters on the functionality of 4D printed sandwich structures, especially, stress absorption rate and shape recovery behavior.
Project BAMBAM, BAby Motor development monitored By A Multisensor wearable, richt zich op het begin, namelijk bij de zorg voor kinderen van 0-2 jaar. In het bijzonder op het optimaliseren van de ontwikkeling van de motoriek wanneer dit niet vanzelf gaat. Kinderfysiotherapeuten begeleiden veel baby’s waarbij er zorgen zijn over de motorische ontwikkeling. Een goed ontwikkelde motoriek is de basis voor andere ontwikkelingsdomeinen,en een voorwaarde voor een fysiek actieve leefstijl op latere leeftijd. Het inzetten van technologie bij het analyseren van bewegingsproblemen bij het jonge kind kan een waardevolle aanvulling zijn voor de kinderfysiotherapeut, die nu eigen observaties gebruikt. Op dit moment is er nog geen geschikt systeem voor het observeren van de motorische ontwikkeling voor kinderfysiotherapeuten. Daarom werken we in project BAMBAM aan een meetinstrument voor het objectiveren van bewegingsgedrag van baby’s, dat verantwoord ingezet kan worden in de kinderfysiotherapeutische praktijk en interventiestudies. Uitgangspunt is een bestaande smartsuit, een ‘slimme' romper, met sensortechnologie en Artificiële Intelligentie die doorontwikkeld wordt in co creatie met kinderfysiotherapeuten, ouders en experts. Ook onderzoeken we hoe de uitkomsten van het systeem waarde toevoegen als beslissingsondersteuning voor de kinderfysiotherapeut. Hierbij richten we ons vooral op de bewegingsparameters die belangrijk zijn voor het kinderfysiotherapeutisch onderzoek en behandeling en hoe we die duidelijk kunnen weergeven. Het systeem moet valide en betrouwbare metingen verzorgen in de thuissituatie voor de kinderfysiotherapeut in praktijk en ziekenhuis. De impact van deze toepassing op ouders en kinderfysiotherapeuten is een belangrijk onderdeel bij het ontwikkelen van deze technologie, zodat het op een verantwoorde manier gebruikt kan worden. De gezondheidszorg vraagt om evidence-based diagnostiek en interventies. Met de schaarste van zorg, wordt het zorgvuldig signaleren van de baby’s die de zorg echt nodig hebben steeds belangrijker, net als de inzet van effectieve interventies. Technologie kan bijdragen aan toegankelijkheid en duurzame borging hiervan.
