'Feeling Jewish' and 'Knowing Jewish': The Cognitive Dimension of Informal Education
Source: Journal of Jewish Education, Volume 73, Issue 2 May 2007 , pages 123 - 125
In this reaction to J. Reimer's (2007) recent article on informal Jewish education, the author stresses the cognitive dimension in addition to the social and educational goals of informal education identified by Reimer.
He claims that " informal Jewish education has extraordinary potential for enhancing not only values and skills, but also the cognitive domain of Jewish practice: knowledge of content embodied in sacred and contemporary texts upon which Jewish tradition and continuity are based."
He further points out that the informal educators often implement an intentional curriculum aimed to bring about cognitive development of the learners without them being aware that the informal setting is designed to promote this cognitive development (as opposed to the school setting, where cognitive goals are front and center).
Reference:
Reimer, J. (2007) Beyond more Jews doing Jewish: Clarifying the goals of informal education. Journal of Jewish Education 73 , pp. 5-23. [informaworld].