Flight of Transcendence: Exploring Flight as a Metaphor for Transcendent Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This paper explores flight as a metaphor for transcendence in teaching and learning through an examination of Philip Phenix’s (1975) work, “Transcendence and the Curriculum,” combined with personal reflections, poetry, and an investigation of the scientific workings of flight. This journey of understanding begins with poetic reflections on the sensations of flight, including fear, boxed in limitations, and the motivation of our sense of wonder. The article then examines and interprets the four forces that act on an object in flight as metaphors for the elements of transcendent teaching and learning. The goal of this article is to understand the forces at work in our experiences of transcendence in the classroom and to remind us to run head first into the wind and soar.