Paper short abstract:

Mental models are a way to conceptualize worldviews at the individual and collective levels in culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) processes. This paper introduces a way to playfully explore possibilities of the past, present, and future through imagining worlds we want to exist into reality.

Paper long abstract:

Program evaluation is a field that can be considered either values-free or one solidly values-driven. Mental models are meant to offer a glimpse into the perspective how someone views the world through aspects like their personal values, training (e.g. education, disciplinary, or methodological), and contextual and political factors (Greene, 2007). The first step in understanding and creating a shared mental model involves understanding mental models at the individual-level. Individual mental models can be used for reflective discourse on connections in differences. Connections are then used to build a shared mental model for a group.

As an evaluator grounded in values-driven evaluation, specifically culturally responsive evaluation (CRE), this paper uses play for the imagining of symbolic worlds through the lens of realistic utopia dreaming. This activity is one way to think about Playful CRE, a way to use play as a method for disrupting loops of reoccurring time for changing the past and present for imagining new futures into reality within the CRE process. This Playful CRE activity shows a playful way to facilitate mental model (individual and collective) processes using ideas of imagination and dreaming. Activity participants are led through the process of imagining both their individual and collective evaluation utopias. Connecting a reimagined individual and shared mental model process with the engaging stakeholder stage of the CRE process offers an opportunity for the evaluator to build trust through transparency and authentic playful engagement (Hood et. al, 2015; Mathie and Greene, 1997).