The image above was drawn on the 3D App on my iPad. It reminds me of the long, thin balloons that I used to love twisting and shaping in my play as a child. It introduces this blog post which considers the sensuality of learning.
What lingers after a learning experience such as Obstetrics? Barad’s (2007) concept of material-discursive practices seems to offer a valuable tool to unpack what is happening to our students in their curricular encounters. There are intra-actions that extend beyond the confines of the designed curriculum learning outcomes, even beyond the informal and hidden curricula (Hafferty 1998). Peterson (2014) explains that “agencies do not precede their intra-action but instead emerge through it”. In my understanding, each individual student is immersed in a process of learning in which they are affected and in which they affect their clinical encounters in a dynamic and uncontained way. Through a theoretical lens of new materialism the curriculum can be considered as an open-ended apparatus, defined by Barad (2007:148, cited by Peterson 2014) as “the material conditions of possibility and impossibility of mattering; [that] enact[s] what matters and what is excluded from mattering”.
One aspect that I explore here is the impact of the senses in Obstetrics curricular learning. For instance on the one hand the smell of the placenta lingers, the feel of a macerated foetus is discomforting, the sight of a foetal anomaly is both intriguing and upsetting, and hearing frightened teenage mums being scolded by angry midwives leaves students feeling guilty and disempowered. On the other hand the joyful touch of a healthy newborn, the sight of a blue neonate becoming pink as the body is aerated, and the pleasure embraced through hugs of gratitude bring a sense of elation, increased self-confidence and inner resourcefulness to students.
Recently a colleague has used the senses as the theme for third year students to prepare for their entry into Obstetrics the following year. She asked students to draw texts and images reflecting what they anticipate in terms of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and occasionally tasting in Obstetrics. Surprisingly this activity did not make much impact, and was not well received by other educators.
What can we do differently to educate for the sensitivities of real world professional practice?
Barad, K. 2007. Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Hafferty, F. 1998. Beyond Curriculum Reform: Confronting Medicine's Hidden Curriculum. Academic Medicine. 73:4::403-407.
Peterson, K.S. 2014. Interviews as intraviews: A hand puppet approach to studying processes of inclusion and exclusion among children in kindergarten. Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology. 5:1:32-45.
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