Dina Mendonça

The paper argues that recognising the crucial role of immersion for minds is another far reaching consequences of Dewey’s notion of experience. The paper begins by raising the question why not all experience is educational showing how Dewey notion of experience and its pedagogical implication provide a ground to explain how immersion enables providing a more detailed account of how experience can have decisive cognitive impact. After describing how immersion has already shown its impact in language acquisition, it is shown how immersion can be experienced in different degrees and can promote a shift of perceptual association in different contexts and situations (new technological dimensions and gadgets, aesthetics experience, human relationships). The variation of intensity of the experience of immersion can better be understood in the recognition of layers of emotional experience and are best grasped by Dewey’s description of “an experience” and enables recognition of how humans choose the moments to embrace the power of immersion. The conclusion points out how further research can provide a better grasp on the details of the fundamental role of immersion for the functioning of Minds.