Conference Program

There is a gap in current school-based health programs. Traditional methods often provide concrete information on diseases but neglect the deeper psychological, ethical, social, and environmental dimensions that influence individuals and social life.

This case study focuses on SASPEM (SAlute SPEcchio del Mondo), an experimental health education project that transforms elements of school curriculum into a "One-Health" educational research laboratory involving teachers, students and experts both from the health as well as from the communication world. It is supported by relevant institutions and aligns with the UN 2030 Agenda, providing opportunities to targeting Goal 3 (Health and Well-being), Goal 4 (Quality Education), and Goal 5 (Gender Equality).

Moving away from vertical, top-down instruction, SASPEM adopts a holistic perspective that links human health to animal and environmental well-being.

Some 10 teachers and 150 students are engaged across five Human Sciences classes and one Applied Sciences class from three prominent Italian high schools: Liceo Don Lorenzo Milani (Romano di Lombardia), Liceo Niccolò Machiavelli (Rome), and Liceo Vittoria Colonna (Rome).

The project’s methodology is rooted in three combined approaches:

Place-Based Education (PBE): Learning is rooted in the students' local and social contexts, making abstract scientific concepts personally relevant on the basis of their experience.

Trialogical Learning: Students, teachers, and experts collaborate to create a "shared object"—in this case, multimedia communication products—shifting the focus from passive listening to active production.

Action Research: Educators and researchers use participant observation and reflection questionnaires to collect qualitative data, aiming to unravel participants’ needs, reactions, feelings. The idea to build a replicable model of health education engaging the community and the relationship with and between different stakeholders .

The practical journey begins with a high-level scientific foundation. Students analyze an important video document: the 2024-25 Inaugural Prolusion on global health from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome. Their analysis serves as a springboard for intense, direct dialogues with medical experts and researchers. This interaction is designed to foster students’ agency—a sense of meaningful participation- and influence over their own health and life in their community and suggests further developments.

A peculiar feature of SASPEM is in fact its focus on multimedial communication. With the guidance of professional experts, each of the participating classes produces reels and podcasts translating complex medical-scientific concepts into accessible, engaging messages. Students not only deepen their scientific knowledge but also master digital storytelling and communication technologies.

By sharing these student-led products on school websites and specialized platforms, a wider community dialogue is sparked, in which students have a relevant role, finding new forms of agency and esperiencing their self-efficacy within a context of interdependence.

The importance of building agency and self-efficacy in students to tackle health issues is emphasised.

The case study explores the implications of a journey into the One Health approach and provides an overview of strudents’ perceptions, reactions and interests in health education drawing on the qualitative data collected.