Although philosophers have long claimed that reading fiction has the potential to improve imaginative capacities, empirical evidence on this topic is limited. We report an experiment that aims to conceptually replicate and extend previous work by Djikic and colleagues by testing whether reading literary fiction reduces the need for closure, and by…

This paper explores the role of imagination on art and design educators who undertake autoethnographic research in adult community learning (ACL) in the UK. ACL in the UK comprises community-based learning opportunities delivered by local authorities and general further education colleges (Department for Education [DfE] 2019) and provides…

There is very little research on imagination in the context of leadership in general, and even less in relation to educational leadership. Drawing on available research on imagination in leadership and scholarship in the field of imagination, this qualitative content analysis seeks to add to foundational understanding of imagination's role in…

Although recognising multiple creativities as an interdisciplinary and contemporary approach to creativity represents the basic opportunity for future change, the assessment of children's musical creativity is a problematic and insufficiently explored area. The paper discusses the problem of encouraging and assessing the creative musical potential…

This research investigates how children located in separate homes use the psychological function of imagination to engage in sociodramatic play using networked digital technologies. Specifically, it examines how 7- to 8-year-old children create imaginary play situations in the same "Minecraft: Education Edition" digitally-mediated…

Preschoolers are offered few opportunities to become acquainted with non-fiction books, and when they are given the possibility to read non-fiction picturebooks, these are often fictionalised in one way or another. The fictionalisation of children's non-fiction blurs the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction picturebooks. This could mean that…

This article presents an exploration of imagination as a fundamental and often undervalued aspect of human cognition emphasising its crucial role in fostering creativity. Acknowledging the challenges associated with researching imagination and its role in children's learning, the authors explore imagination through the lens of eight core…

Spurred by an observation that 'student art teachers don't want to be radical teachers', this paper explores how the gift by a lecturer of a tongue-in-cheek hand-printed 'Artistic Licence' to a new cohort of pre-service teachers, gives permission to imagine new futures. Through a dialogic image-exchange two educators bring their radical manifesto…

This writing originates from unease with assumptions that often shape intergenerational practices and everyday encounters in the UK, for instance, assumptions about generational 'gaps' or 'roles' and the pedagogy of 'interventions' to promote meetings 'between' ages. Such interventions are usually predicated on chrono-logical notions of infant,…

Knowing how children become oriented to imaginary play can help educators in centres better support development. But how this begins in the first years of life is not well understood. How toddlers transform through their imagination concrete objects (such as play accessories, figurines, and books) to become props in play (placeholders and pivots)…

A variety of studies have attempted to explain the dispositions of imagination; notably, imagination engages and develops an individual's creativity. In the present study, we propose that three types of imagination dispositions (i.e., epistemic, sensory, and future imagination) serve as cognitive mechanisms for the ability to efficiently generate…

Pretend play provides enriched environments for multiple cognitive and social purposes. The quality of children's pretend play depends on the process, including children's back and forth proposals and responses about the play frames. Proposing and responding to play ideas with metacommunication use, leadership-followership interactions are…

Objective: Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is an impairing condition characterized by addiction to narrative, emotional fantasizing, involving dissociative absorption. By compulsively withdrawing toward vivid imaginative scenarios, MD hinders attentional functioning and replaces social interactions. Previous Interview-based research showed clinical…

The use of natural and non-natural play materials in early childhood education is a critical facilitator to children's learning and development. Different materials vary in their affordances for sophisticated play, imagination, and creativity, which contribute to children's complex thinking; with the current focus on technology, it has been…

Background: Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) display impaired pretend play abilities, reflective of broader social-cognitive challenges. Pretend play interventions for children with PWS demonstrate preliminary efficacy for improving cognitive and affective processes in play. It is unknown which specific intervention strategies, such as…