ABSTRACT

Practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique in schools and universities throughout the world has been well researched over a 50-year period suggesting it is a useful tool for student development and learning. However, introduction of the practice into school systems throughout Latin America is a relatively recent phenomenon and no research has been published on the likely or actual outcomes from this initiative. Moreover, research conducted on the practice in international settings has typically involved investigation of standard educational variables – such as academic performance, intelligence, and behavior – and has mostly used only quantitative methods and designs to do so. For this study, conducted on the practice in Puno, Perú, we have adopted a learning history approach using a third-person action research method of semi-structured interviews to hear and understand the distinct voices of parents and teachers about the consequences of practicing Transcendental Meditation on the personal, academic and social lives of Aymara school children. Results from frequency and saliency analysis indicate that a series of confirmatory as well as unique knowledge outcomes have emerged in this setting, and these are discussed in the context of international empirical results to create a learned history of the practice in Perú.

摘要

世界各地的学校和大学对超验冥想技术的实践进行了超过 50 年的深入研究，表明它是学生发展和学习的有用工具。然而，将这种做法引入整个拉丁美洲的学校系统是一个相对较新的现象，目前还没有关于这一举措可能或实际结果的研究发表。此外，对国际环境中的实践进行的研究通常涉及对标准教育变量（例如学业成绩、智力和行为）的调查，并且大多仅使用定量方法和设计来做到这一点。这项研究是在秘鲁普诺进行的，我们采用了学习历史方法，使用半结构化访谈的第三人称行动研究方法来聆听和理解家长和老师关于练习超验冥想对艾马拉学童的个人、学术和社会生活的影响的不同声音。频率和显着性分析的结果表明，在这种情况下出现了一系列验证性和独特的知识成果，这些成果在国际实证结果的背景下进行了讨论，以创建秘鲁实践的历史。