The educational imagination

In this book, Eisner provides a conceptual framework that shows the different ways in which the aims of education can be regarded and describes their implications for curriculum planning and teaching practices. This book provides a "context" in whic h teachers can critically examine prevailing assumptions and both current and proposed practices. An analysis and overview of leading ideas in the field explores American education as it has developed from the turn of the century to the present. Introduction of unique concepts in educational planning include such ideas as eductional connoisseurship--the art of appreciating what is educationally significant, and educational criticism--the use of art critism as a means of describing, interpret ing, and evaluating teaching.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.