The Scandinavian concept of aesthetic learning processes

Aesthetic learning processes (ALP) are a Scandinavian concept that has proven challenging to define and conceptualise. The artistic/aesthetic and educational fields have described ALP from both medium-specific and medium-neutral perspectives, which has created ambiguities. A clear framework must be developed if ALP is to be a useful and meaningful theoretical model. In this paper, I focus on the aesthetic aspect of the learning process and examine where and how the aesthetic quality shows itself. Based on my hermeneutic interpretation, I argue that in ALP, meaning is created through active reflection on previous and new experiences, where reason and emotions, as well as imagination and creativity, contribute to a form-expression, that carries meaning and moves the learner. This occurs within the aesthetic form-language, where fragmented pieces of content are formed and transformed into coherent wholes in a personally shaped and expressed experience.