Toward a Pedagogical Epistemology of Consciousness: A Transdisciplinary and Holistic Curricular Proposal Mediated by the Poetry of Walt Whitman.

Resumen

Facing the epistemological fragmentation of the sciences and the emergence of challenges such as
educational, social, and environmental reforms, this research proposes a pedagogical epistemology
centered on consciousness as the foundation for a holistic curriculum. The study connects a
transdisciplinary theoretical framework (philosophy, aesthetics, neuroscience, quantum physics,
transcendentalism in American literature, translation studies, complexity theory) with qualitative
methods: poetic inquiry, focus groups, and an action-research logic. Walt Whitman and his poem cycle
Song of Myself (“La Canción de mi Consciencia”) are used as a pedagogical mediation to activate
imagination, attention, ethical sense, and ecological communion. The empirical component (two
virtual focus groups, N = 10 graduate students) shows that the poetic encounter provokes reflective,
imaginative, and social states that can sustain practical aesthetic training and ecological action. From
this interrelation four epistemic curricular pillars are proposed as the foundations of a Holistic
Curriculum from Consciousness (HCC), with modules, practices, rubrics and a formative assessment
proposal. Implications for teacher education, authentic assessment, and future research lines (mixed
intervening studies and longitudinal studies) are discussed.