Trends in Innovation and Interdisciplinary Knowledge across Educational Settings

Preface

This book is about courage and boldness at the service of innovation. It focuses on how different areas of knowledge can benefit from creative and innovative approaches. Following double-blind peer review, twenty-two chapters have been compiled under the premise that reflection and innovation in education are based on diversity and the opposite of pensée unique. Figure 1 was created from the keywords in all chapters.

This book is also a compendium of the work of researchers from 17 universities on both sides of the Atlantic: (a) Colombia: Universidad de Cartagena; (b) Ecuador: Universidad Central; (c) Spain: Universidad de Alicante, Universidad de Jaén, Universidad de Málaga, Centro Universitario de Tecnología y Arte Digital de Madrid, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Fundación Victoria-Universidad de Málaga, Universidad de Salamanca, Universidad de Córdoba, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad de Granada, Universidad de Murcia, Universitat de València and Universitat Jaume I.

The verse from the Aeneid (X, v. 284) by Virgil (70 AD-19 AD), “Audentis Fortuna Iuvat” (“Fortune favours the bold”) suggests that innovation, with a generous dose of risk appetite, enables us to implement the results of creativity. As Llull indicated in his Book of Marvels (Majorca 1232–1315), the marvel of knowledge, of the new and the unknown, is seductive and can bring us closer to happiness. To generate and apply knowledge is not easy, but this difficulty does not detract from the fascination it provokes. Quite the opposite.

Former US President John F. Kennedy articulated these ideas in a speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962, when referring to the reasons for going to the Moon¹. His words signalled a crux in the Space Race. In his speech, Kennedy established a new paradigm in terms of space navigation, conquest and associated state policy. Kennedy highlighted the relationship between university, knowledge and the pursuit of innovation. To bring humans to the Moon would be the new goal, the new frontier. Achieving this goal would be the result of a conscious decision, on the basis of how much good would derive from it.

Kennedy alludes to the potential danger of innovation in knowledge. Some fear the new: novelty provokes new challenges. However, great benefits for humankind would follow, and that is the reason why we should invest in such an endeavour:

This is a breath-taking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward. […]

Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. (Kennedy Speeches)

Innovation is difficult and risky, which explains the fear and fascination humans feel in its presence. That is the basis of the key question Kennedy asks and the answer he provides. The intrinsic difficulty involved in going through unknown territories is itself knowledge-generating:

We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. […]

The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. (Kennedy Speeches)

Innovation requires audacity, as well as the skill to minimise or avoid the dangers of the unknown, just like a sailor facing an enraged ocean. Very frequently one does not know where innovation is taking us, but it will most likely bring about new knowledge from which all of us can benefit. Kennedy´s speech referred to this too:

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.

As stated, this book deals with courage and boldness at the service of innovation. It provides a forum for the exploration of new trends in different educational settings, their value, our awareness of the difficulties to overcome, and an exploration of how different areas of knowledge can benefit as a result.

We would like to express our deep gratitude to all contributing authors. We hope that this book will offer opportunities for reflection and inspirational ideas in our collective quest to enhance education.

Alejandro Armellini, University of Portsmouth

Rosabel Martinez-Roig, University of Alicante

1 Reference: Kennedy Speeches (2023): “Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort”, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://bit.ly/3tLEDdm

María Pilar Aparicio-Flores & Rosa Pilar Esteve-Faubel

Pre-service Teachers’ Perception of the Role of Museums in Preschool Art Education

Abstract: Schools, through art education, and museums are both spaces that can contribute to the comprehensive development of pupils due to their practical, visual and motivational nature. However, at times their possibilities are not fully considered. This study aims to determine the perceptions of pre-service teachers regarding the relationship between museums and art education in early childhood education before and after a visit to a museum. 52 pre-service early childhood teachers from the University of Alicante were recruited for the study. The results revealed a positive attitude towards the museum both before and after the visit. They highlighted the museum’s role as a source of knowledge and different aspects that favour the training of both pupils and teachers. The narrative coding was classified by theme, taking into account the museum’s role as an enabler of interdisciplinary teaching and a methodological tool for meaningful learning, with purposes such as creative development and expression of feelings, among others. Aspects to be taken into account are also included and reflected upon. In conclusion, these kinds of tangible, real-life experiences are considered necessary as guidelines for pre-service teachers to help them enrich the education of the children in their future classrooms.