Chapter 3: Formational Outcomes for Social Imaginaries

Social imaginaries, conscious or otherwise, set our values, direct our thinking, form our ideas, guide our decisions, and shape many, if not all, of the spiritual, personal, and social outcomes of our lives. They underlie much of our poetry and storytelling. They are also responsible for the predispositions and prejudices that influence much of what we think is objectively determined. This chapter considers how consideration of outcomes-based learning and an expansion of the domains of learning might provide approaches to learning that more fully support moral and spiritual formation through the conscious cultivation of emotions (affect), and inclinations and desires (conation) consistent with, derivative of, and constitutive of life-views expressed in Christian social imaginaries. It proceeds in four parts. First, it briefly outlines James K. A. Smith’s call to replace the concept of worldview in Christian education with the idea of the “social imaginary.” Second, it presents four vignettes that illustrate the nature and power of social imaginaries. Third, it provides a brief review of three phases of the development of outcomes-based education. It outlines each phase and provides brief discussions of their strengths and the contests associated with them. Finally, it considers the domains of learning, the human faculties through which learning takes place.