Imagination

Abstract

Teaching-learning environments in nursing education encourage students to think and recall hordes of factual information while checking off a skills list too numerous to mention. In efforts to impart all of this information to students, has the use of imagination been ignored? The author in this column presents a discussion on imagination. First, there is a discussion of the literature, followed by a discussion of imagination in light of the humanbecoming school of thought. A glimpse at the presence of imagination in qualitative research methodologies is also highlighted. The author also presents the limits of imagination, and perhaps, its fading existence in current teaching-learning practices. The column concludes with encouragement toward a greater utilization of imaginative thought in nursing pedagogies.

A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Imagination as a Process-Based Concept

“…Thus, the ''imaginative eye'' encourages multiple interpretations. This process is necessary to enhance and influence understanding (Condon, 2014). The tendency to detect and perceive connections between elements assists in the formation of mental associations which in turn facilitates the emergence of multiple, and sometimes unconventional, solutions and understanding.…”