Conference Program

This study shows how movies can be used in their auditory component to build a feeling of empathic sharing, the basis for the formation of a sense of community in a primary school class. In Wall-E movie (2008), by Walt Disney Pixar Animation Studios, a short image/sound sequence is analyzed and a series of activities are proposed, in which relations among corporeal entities are central.

Within the guidelines for teaching Civic Education is the conceptual node of Sustainable Development, which aims to enhance inclusive ways of living. The focal point is the presence of the Other, that builds up the dimension of “meaning”, an Other that shows itself through its own corporeity. The main references are Edith Stein and Gerda Walther for empathy; Marc Leman and some empirical studies of music psychology for the sound and most of all Merleau-Ponty's theoretical paradigm; Antonio Iannotta gave a remarkable contribution to the audiotactile cinema and fundamental have been neuroscience studies in the relationship between cinema and empathy; finally Jert J. Biesta is the reference for pedagogy.

Walter disserts on experiential sharing, as the main principle for the development of communities, the first level of which is empathy. In shared experience, one is not only aware of the other's experience but also identifies with and incorporates the other's perspective; it is understood as an integral part of one's own: it is not felt as private and singular, but as shared, as a co-ownership of a plurality of subjects. This feeling of sharing is what is mean when talking about cinematic sound since:

1. It activates motor patterns mentioned by Leman in embodied music cognition that entrain and cause such a high degree of absorption to generate a feeling of union with reality. The reference is to Merleau-Ponty, who speaks of a corporeality embedded in a continuous process, in which perception is a function of action. The sense-motor basis of sound is represented by the bodily gesture that produced it in a circular system: energy produces an action whose perceived physical qualities are those relevant to the action.

2. It develops ubiquitous (thanks to Dolby) and tactile spaces. The haptic quality, as Iannotta states, acts as a perceptual glue by transiting the film experience from the theoretical paradigm of the eye to that of touch and skin. The Inter-Subjectivity Correlation of film experience that Uri Hasson identifies with neuro imaging during film viewing showed simultaneous activation in multiple subjects of the same brain areas.

Immersive Education (IE) is a highly inclusive pedagogical methodology that stems from 'Immersive’ and ‘Experiential’ Theatre, a performing approach developed over the last 20 years in several countries. This approach gathers under these terms several forms of interactive theatre focusing on audience agency and multi-sensory stimulation (Machon, 2013; White, 2012), stemming from the idea developed throughout the 20th century of art as experience. Thus, starting from the Deweyan assumption that "all genuine education comes about through experience" (Dewey, 1934/1980; p. 25), the methods and principles of Experiential Theatre are transferred to the educational-didactic field to facilitate learning through the interaction with a narrative where the students play a central role. The term immersive, within this methodology, does not refer to the use of technological 'virtual worlds', but identifies educational-didactic narrative- and game-based projects that take place inside the school. These IE projects use spatial installations, set-ups, transmedia content, and props to stimulate the senses; to explore emotions through the body; to foster group work; to venture through the relationship between space, narration, and creativity. The aim is to enhance the pupils' personal and social skills through a holistic embodied approach, at the crossroads between art, education, space installations, and hands-on experiences. This approach is guided by the pedagogical literature that considers socio-emotional education, within formal education pathways, as a protective factor for students' mental health, school performance, employability, by stimulating prosociality and reducing disruptive attitudes (Cefai et al., 2018). This contribution will present the results of an IE intervention with 127 6th grade pupils (10-12 yrs; 5 classes) in a Comprehensive Public School in the periphery of Rome, Italy. Qualitative-quantitative data were collected through questionnaires and interviews addressed to different participants and beneficiaries (school headmaster, teachers, pupils, families, school psychologist), according to the Whole-School Approach (Cefai et al., 2021). The results show how the IE methodology had a significant impact on indicators relating to the area of social, emotional, and relational competences: it specifically represents a useful working tool in strengthening the key-competence "Personal, Social and Learning to Learn", as defined in the recent LifeComp framework (Sala et al., 2020; Sorrenti et al., 2020). In line with this conceptual framework, IE has been defined, at a national level, as an innovative pedagogical practice. Finally, this contribution, through the evidence gathered, aims to share with the scientific community the reflection on the use of the IE methodology as "good practice" for inclusive education, highlighting the role of school "as a democratic community capable of realizing the development of all, and thus participating in the promotion of a radical democracy, in which every human being can find an aim in herself, and can fully expand her own personality" (trad. Baldacci, 2017 pag. 36).

Aesthetic competence identifies in humans a complex capacity, in which perception, emotion, attention, a self-reflective component, and a comparison with an "otherness" (the aesthetic object, so to speak) come into play, according to a polar dynamic of activity and passivity. It is a dense and layered human trait, on the threshold between biological predispositions and cultural acquisitions. Research in psychological and neuroscientific fields has highlighted the potential of beauty and the experience of beauty in influencing individual well-being. Beauty in this sense is considered a holistic and all-encompassing experience involving emotions, cognitive abilities, reflective capacities, and socio-relational skills. As Morris Weitz argues, “ aesthetic education concerns the child as a developing total human being …it is an implication about the whole child-that his body, including his senses as well as his physical movements, is as important as his mind" (Morris Weitz, 1972). Educating aesthetic sense in children means creating conditions for them to enrich their imagination and engage in artistic creation, while simultaneously developing their sensitivity and aesthetic preferences. Children's books and their iconic narration offer precious opportunities to enrich young readers' perspectives by cultivating an aesthetic gaze. The book is simultaneously an art form (Marciano, 2023), with its multiple choices of narrative techniques, devices, and stylistic aspects of existence as aesthetic behavior (Macé & Cavarretta, 2017). In children's literature, in recent decades, there have been converging lines of experimentation leading to a greater performative dimension of the book. This has led to increased attention to materiality, interactive or three-dimensional nature, the relevance of design, and the use of different languages, as well as strategies that seek to provide the reader with an artistically significant experience. Among the various examples of experimentation, we find "object books" (Ramos, 2017) such as cut-out books, which allow young readers to cultivate imagination and nurture aesthetic sense through the experience of exploring "emptiness." These works, through their cutouts, offer readers openings in their pages, spaces that allow exploration and discovery. In some cases, these openings traverse the entire book, fostering textual play between the pages. Gaps that allow for a better understanding of characters, provide information, and multiply their functionalities, giving these works a markedly engaging character for the reader. The contribution focuses on the relationship between "object books" and the experience of beauty education, analyzing two works by the artist Rebecca Dautremer: "Il piccolo Teatro di Rebecca" and "Ti aspetto." These "die-cut books", akin to theater books or dioramas, offer a physical and emotional journey through Dautremer's creative universe

Nowadays, a dignified social existence requires adept navigation skills to flow in the dynamic and elusive nature of contemporary times effectively, as described by Bauman (2013).

This involves embracing each experience optimally and staying absorbed in the moment, what Csíkszentmihályi (2013) calls "state of grace," akin to the situation in which an artist feeds his imagination by giving light to personal ideas. In this sense, the act of flowing becomes a practice of freedom and democratic liberation. Consequently, educational institutions begin to bear a new but eternal responsibility: educating for freedom, social justice, and equity. Acquiring both moral and aesthetic dimensions, education guides individuals toward ethical actions in society while nurturing sensitive experiences.

However, the contemporary capitalistic pursuit of freedom often leads to unsustainable aspirations, resulting in a progressive individualization that may leave citizens feeling without a story, detached from any collective belonging (Rosales, Frangioni & Marroccoli, 2019).

The imperative to reconsider educational trajectories arises, aiming to transcend the paradox of freedom and oppression.

One potential avenue, as articulated by Nussbaum (1997), is the concept of "narrative imagination" – the capacity to interpret one's own history, empathize with others, and envision improved life scenarios collectively. Specifically, self-narratives can serve as a catalyst for cultivating a flourishing society, promoting individual awareness and interpersonal creativity in education (Demetrio, 1996, 2012).

Aligned with these principles, Professor Elisabetta Ghedin and I envisioned and established a University Laboratory, called “Intermedia Autobiography”, which was integrated in the course of Inclusive Didactic, engaging Master Degree students’ in Pedagogy at the University of Padua. The pressing need for a paradigm shift in higher education – from academic performance to individual fulfillment as the primary learning objective (Volstad et al., 2020) – underscores and justifies our focus on university students’ voices.

In addition, the connection between the course and the lab deeply reflected a shared look for generative scenarios of learning. The course, in fact, aims to build revealing knowledge on accessibility and inclusion as democratic properties in education, stimulating the creation of flourishing communities. The lab, in turn, welcomes and follows these footsteps, intending to propose enabling environments, activities and tools in which every human narration freely enhances personal differences and affinities with others.

The laboratory was realized from April to June 2023, and it has been approved also for this year, starting from April 2024.

The experiential path was divided in six different workshops, each deepening a specific medium, as well as a specific technique, of narration: from autobiographical paintings to inanimate object self-writing, from collective poetry to introspective musical storytelling, from ecological autobiography to the creation of living syllogisms.

Thanks to Intermedia Autobiography, students enthusiastically explored their stories as live-giving forces and in-depth vehicles to retrieve and enlight personal and collective meanings (D’Olimpio, 2022).

Therefore, our proposal has led to the emergence of unique and diverse expressive manifestations, transcending individualized boundaries and resonating together with communicative and imaginative processes that started from oneself and moved towards creative ways to foster everyone's potential to flourish.