Conference Program

We present a small-scale pedagogical experiment focused on a visit to a virtual museum, designed as an inclusive educational environment that encourages participation, recognition, and democratic belonging among older adults with disabilities or social vulnerability. Within the field of Special Pedagogy, the project reimagines the museum visit as a community-based educational practice where access to cultural experiences becomes a means to counteract isolation, passivity, and marginalization. The theoretical framework is based on a bioecological perspective, which posits that development and participation are shaped by the dynamic interaction between individuals and their relational, institutional, and cultural environments (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). From this view, the virtual museum serves as a meso-level pedagogical space linking personal biography, digital mediation, and community life. This idea is further supported by Berthoz’s concept of simplexity, emphasizing the need to create learning environments that make complex concepts accessible through adaptive, meaningful, and embodied mediation (Berthoz, 2012). The intervention is also guided by the neuroeducational and embodied approach developed within the ECS framework, which highlights the interconnectedness of body, cognition, affect, and context in inclusive learning (Gómez Paloma & Damiani, 2021). The virtual visit extends beyond digital reality to become an embodied-relational experience, structured through guided interaction, narrative activation, and reflective participation. Reflecting on simplex didactics and educational technologies reinforces this perspective by emphasizing the pedagogical value of digitally mediated environments in fostering active participation, meaningful interaction, and the development of transversal skills, rather than merely offering passive consumption (Di Tore, 2020). Within this framework, and consistent with inclusive pedagogical approaches rooted in relational care and participatory accessibility, inclusion is viewed not as a compensatory response to deficits but as an ecological and existential condition related to the quality of educational settings, recognition of subjectivity, and the capacity for genuine participation in shared cultural life (Corona & De Giuseppe, 2017; De Giuseppe, 2024). At the policy level, the project aligns with current European, international, and national frameworks that acknowledge the educational and social importance of cultural participation. "Culture and Health report: Time to Act" advocates for stronger integration of cultural policy, wellbeing, and public inclusion, while the WHO scoping review "What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?" (Fancourt & Finn, 2019) provides solid evidence that arts participation significantly contributes to quality of life, social connectedness, and overall wellbeing. In Italy, this approach is further reinforced by the recent alignment between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Health. Methodologically, the pilot involves a small group of older adults and may include younger participants in a structured intergenerational activity. The process includes pedagogical reception, brief digital support, an accessible and dialogic virtual visit, and a final co-narrative exercise. The expected outcomes focus on strengthening cultural agency, digital confidence, intergenerational exchange, and recognizing cultural access as a practice of democratic citizenship in later life.