Abstract:

Over the decades, pedagogy has delved into multiple concepts that have allowed us to understand the nature of human learning to form educational theories. In the teacher's routine, this work focuses on planning, evaluating, and executing the teaching and learning processes. However, pedagogy comprises a broader area that starts from the very origin of the cognitive process of the human being and, from that perspective, allows us to focus on aspects that teaching practice unattended. Among the pedagogical theories that have addressed the theme of cognitive abilities, Kieran Egan's Educational Imagination speaks of a human being with cumulative abilities that are not lost, or should be lost, throughout life. That is, he does not speak of periods of cognitive development, but rather of cognitive tools that human beings always have and that require practice to avoid falling into disuse.

The objective of this work was to promote the engagement and develop the creativity of students by using the cognitive tools of Imaginative Education in class.

A non-experimental exploratory-descriptive mixed methodology study was carried out with students from engineering, design, architecture and other programs at a private Mexican university. Two instruments were used: a questionnaire with a four-option Likert scale to eliminate neutral responses that evaluated the student's creative imagination; and an observation guide for teachers that sought to know the relevant aspects to design and implement activities of this educational approach, as well as to record the use of Egan's cognitive tools in class. Each teacher designed activities to manage their content from the perspective of some type of understanding of Imaginative Education: somatic, mythical, romantic, philosophical and ironic.

Results confirm a high engagement and motivation of students to learn by following activities that incorporate cognitive tools of Imaginative Education and how these are more appealing and entertaining. A single implementation format for all teachers, contained description of the activity, the teaching strategy, the comprehension phase to be explored, the corresponding cognitive tools that would be used, the way in which that would apply, the relationship of the activity with the content of the subject, the didactic sequence, the expected results or evidence and the proposed evaluation instrument. It was demonstrated that the curricular content can be presented through these cognitive tools, which constitute a natural and effective way to learn from the environment and how this amplifies the imaginative processes that benefit students' understanding. It was found that teachers require solid knowledge of the theory in order to propose relevant and interesting activities as well as to design appropriate evaluation instruments. The collegiate work prior to implementation, favored the results.

The Imaginative Education theory´s cognitive tools, became especially worthy for university students whose technological practices have distanced them from sensations, gestures, music, stories, and even Nature. Rethinking didactic activities incorporating them, allowed this research group to verify how students could increase their motivation, engagement and commitment towards class.

Keywords:

Creativity, higher education, Imaginative Education, instructional design, teacher experiences.