Transformative Learning: The Role of Research in Traditional Clinical Disciplines

Abstract

One of an educator's main tasks is to develop the intellectual openness of students that is necessary for transformative learning to take place. An initial step in removing the constraint of assumption is to employ the process of unlearning in the classroom. Unlearning in its simplest form can be described as the process through which the student learns to ask questions about a subject on which they are passionate, and through critical reflection, to construct and validate a new understanding based on observations and information generated by the original questions. Developing the ability to improvise and innovate are clear and positive indications that unlearning has occurred, and the Maryland University of Integrative Health's (MUIH's) educators have found that integrating research methods into class and group projects can accelerate the unlearning process. MUIH promotes students' effort to solve interesting problems using the community found within the classroom. The natural state of relativism found in group processes lends itself to making explicit the assumptions each individual brings to the process. MUIH's methods include engaging students in visual deconstruction of research data found in graphs, tables, and images; having students identify the end point of a line of inquiry; and evaluating a previously accumulated body of evidence to determine if it supports a product's claims (eg, claims about general health, structure-function, or therapeutic value). The ultimate aim in asking students to take part in research embedded in coursework is to provide an assessment of their abilities that is more closely linked to discipline-specific experience. MUIH's method of ingraining a culture of inquiry into both classroom and independent research serves to enhance students' self-awareness about the constraints of their own a priori thinking and to nurture a deeper trust in their own informed intuition.