The Primacy of Experience

Abstract

This chapter explores a possible alternative to traditional “paper-and-pencil” assessment practices in music classes. It argues that an approach based on phenomenological philosophy and inspired by recent developments in cognitive science may shed new light on learning and help educators reconsider grading systems accordingly. After individuating the core issue in an unresolved tension between subjective-objective methodologies relevant to certain learning contexts, the chapter proposes a possible remedy by appealing to three principles central to “embodied” approaches to cognition. Such principles may help educators reframe cognitive phenomena (learning described as a measurable event based on “information processing”) in terms of cognitive ecosystems (learning understood as a negotiating and transformative activity codetermined by diverse embodied and ecological factors connected in recurrent fashion). Accommodating this shift implies transforming assessment practices into more open and flexible systems that take seriously the challenge of cooperative learning and phenomenological reflections.