𖦹 Spiral as a Learning Metaphor 𖦹

In the summer of 2024, I decided to learn beaded embroidery by enrolling in a course at the Isparta Public Education Center in Türkiye. One of the patterns I worked on was a spiral, which came to deeply symbolize the essence of the learning journey for me. The center of the spiral represents self and the concepts that are related to self, such as self-reflection and self-awareness, while its outward expansion reflects our engagement and interaction with the human and more-than-human world around us. Spiral reminds me that learning is not linear, but a continuous, non-linear, and dynamic movement that flows from the inner self outward and then circles back inward, or the other way around, continuously weaving experience and insight together in an ongoing cycle.

Furthermore, unlike the rigid, four-cornered walls of a traditional classroom, the spiral’s rounded and inclusive form symbolized, for me, the kind of learning environments I aspire to create, ones that are open, dynamic, and interconnected. This idea strongly aligned with the principles of place-based and nature-based educational approaches, which emphasize learning through active engagement with both the environment and community.

To convey this message, I made a large spiral pattern using natural materials I found in the Belgrade Forest, Istanbul:

Ceyda Hoşgör, İstanbul, 2025

Another influence that helped me convey my perception of learning via the spiral happened when I started to recognize my deeper willingness to build a stronger bond with Nature and was introduced to poetic texts, carefully attuned to specific phases of the annual cycle. I believe that designing learning experiences in parallel with the cycles of the year is an effective way to help children increase their environmental awareness and appreciate Nature. This conception will be further conveyed with a recorded video featuring a spiral, and it will be published when the year completes its seasonal cycle.

The last layer that the spiral pattern has reinforced in my perception of learning comes from a personal experience: that learning can be intuitive. Long before I came across any association between spirals and learning, I had already felt a natural connection between the two. It was only later, through a quick internet search, that I discovered the spiral is indeed linked to learning processes (Ditas, 2014). The fact that I sensed this relation before reading about it reminded me that learning is not purely cognitive. Sometimes, meaning comes first through feeling, image, or symbol, only later unfolding into intellectual awareness.

As many have said, all phenomena originate in vortices. Similarly and figuratively, I find that conceptions about learning can be effectively understood and communicated through the metaphor of vortices, making it easier to notice and define difficulties in learning environments and to further develop suggestions.

Defining difficulties, developing suggestions, and the application of these suggestions in the field of early foreign language education will be my focus for the next four years.

Reference

Dita (2014) The Spiral - symbol of the journey of life. Available at: https://www.grievingthruglee.com/blog/2014/1/25/the-spiral-symbol-of-the-journey-of-life