Sensation, the Intuitive System, and Designed Experience

Book excerpt: This groundbreaking book redefines human learning by placing sensation and experience at its core. The book delves into the essence of what it means to be human and how humans best learn and flourish. Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, learning science, and the arts, the authors weave together a rich tapestry of ideas that challenge traditional approaches to education. The authors argue that school and educational research often ignore fundamental aspects of human learning, such as empathy, intuition, and balance. By examining what “experience” really means when we say “humans learn from experience,” the authors propose a more holistic approach to education—much of which goes on outside school—that goes beyond talk, texts, and analytical reasoning. With examples from various media, particularly the wildly popular Japanese anime series Attack on Titan, the authors treat good teaching as experience design and show how experience can be a powerful force for learning and human flourishing. As our world faces unprecedented challenges and crises, this timely book serves as a clarion call for a transformative approach to teaching and learning that respects the nature of humans as distinctive sorts of creatures, urging us to create environments that nurture the full spectrum of human capacities.