INTRODUCTION

In the previous chapters it was shown that imagination in play is particularly important for building children's theoretical thinking, and that all educational programs (including those focused on discipline knowledge) need to develop imaginative thinking in unity with cognitive development. As discussed previously, play and conceptual knowledge should not be viewed in competition with each other, but rather they should be conceptualised as mutually constituting each other. In this chapter, this unity between play, cognitive development and imagination is theorised further.

This chapter discusses imagination from a cultural–historical perspective, and as such, readers used to working with Cartesian logic will note two counterintuitive ideas about imagination. The first counterintuitive point taken up in this chapter challenges the belief that imagination should be centred on the arts. Vygotsky (2004: 87) held the view that ‘science, like art, permits application of the creative imagination’. His theoretical works show clearly that those ‘who attempt to master the process of scientific and technological creativity are relying on the creative imagination to the same extent as in the area of artistic creation’ (p. 87). Imagination will be considered here in relation to all discipline areas. Imagination as a cultural–historical construct will be foregrounded.