Egan’s Developmental Stages in
Learning and Thinking 

Kieran Egan's Web Page

Egan suggests that as children grow they have different ways of being and exploring their world. In planning classroom activities we should start with where students 'be' rather than what they might know. By doing this we immediately engage with them. His four stages of Mythic, Romantic, Philosophic and Ironic learners are shown below.

An example might be doing social science with a 9 year old who is in the Romantic stage. Rather than starting with something that is familiar- like products in a supermarket -  starting with the exotic and strange will immediately grab the interest and create intrigue that will motivate learning. If this is in conjunction with stories involving heroes and struggles then the learner is drawn into an emotional connection with the activity.

Egan sees these stages as something we never leave behind. As we advance through them we might lose conscious contact with our mythic or romantic selves but they are still there to be awakened by an appropriate activity. When all of our selves are 'on-line' we can have very rich experiences. He comments that many people have not moved through the stages adequately. If we have not reached the full potential of a stage before being required to learn in the next then it is like a pyramid effect - we have less chance to fully develop to our potential. Although we can redevelop in our adulthood, it is a lot harder. As an adult these stages can become preferred ways of learning. So do you recognise yourself in the mythic, romantic, philosophic or ironic? Do you recognise your discipline as coming from one of these areas in particular?

Egan says that a key part of the teacher's role is to recognize when students are on the verge of moving to the next stage and to offer activities which perturb the students into a new way of being.

An example might be a 17 year old science student who is fascinated by facts, aeroplanes, pulling things apart - still in the romantic stage. As they learn science they see it as an accumulation of facts that are unrelated - they have no real overarching models - they learn more by example and rote than deriving solutions from key principles. Many students enter university in this stage because they haven't been challenged to move on. So how to get them into the philosophic stage? The teacher might use big questions and grand stories to get them thinking in a bigger paradigm. They might give tools such as concept mapping so the student can make links between ideas visually. As the student talks through their emerging general schemes the teacher asks questions that perturbs them so the student is evolving models of  greater complexity. During this process the student becomes concerned with big 'meaning of life' questions as they fully enter the philosophic stage. But before they get too secure and their models take on a permanent rigidity the teacher throws in a few paradoxes to keep them in a flexible frame of mind to be able to enter the ironic stage. In conjunction with all this the teacher can be addressing the student's mythic and romantic selves through metaphor, rich transcending stories and the strange.

Egan has developed a framework for teachers designing activities for children in each stage. It is a very useful device in helping us think about what elements can really engage a child. Egan's Planning Frameworks

Holistic educators would recognize that the age limits are guidelines only and each child moves through stages in their own unique way in their own time. 

References: 

Egan, Kieran (1997) The Educated Mind: How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding. London: University of Chicago Press

Egan, Kieran (1979) Individual Development and the Curriculum. Melbourne: Hutchinson Educational