Historias que nos transforman (Stories That Transform Us)
The interdisciplinary programme Historias que nos transforman. Filosofía y literatura para el cambio de sí mismo a través del conocimiento (Stories That Transform Us: Philosophy and Literature for Self-change Through Knowledge) focuses on the processes of personal and collective transformation through knowledge.
It combines philosophical and literary tools and contents, and was developed according to the Service-Learning (aprendizaje y servicio) approach, also incorporating the Philosophy for Children methodology.
Is it designed to transfer philosophical, ethical and literary concepts from university teaching to schools. Accordingly, the two main objectives are:
1) Training students from an early age in:
- critical and creative thinking;
- ethical reflection;
- reading, understanding and enjoyment of literary texts.
2) Training university students to translate their specialist knowledge into learning and social transformation projects for the community.
This interdisciplinary educational programme was devised by Giovanna Miolli, Marina Di Marco and María Sol Rufiner, as part of an international collaboration between the University of Padua and the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA) in Buenos Aires.
Problem addressed
How can the combination of philosophy and literature contribute to improving children’s thinking habits in disadvantaged contexts? How can this process guide them towards a better relationship with themselves and with others? To explore these questions, the programme works on the notion of personhood and knowledge’s transformative role.
Change through relationship is a widely debated topic in literature, which philosophy can help clarify in its cognitive-transformative aspects. In this sense, philosophy sheds light on how, through knowledge, subjects modify the subject-object and subject-subject relationship, developing the capacity to remodel their actions with respect to themselves, others and the world.
In addition, Historias que nos transforman seeks to respond to a specific pedagogical need: the difficulty – present in many primary school contexts and especially in those with less favourable conditions – of consciously realising integrated learning processes. In particular, help is needed to develop logical thinking, reading comprehension and oral expression. The proposed project promotes these three focal points of cognitive activity by creating spaces where young students (aged 8 to 10) and university students trained in their respective disciplines can meet and learn from each other.
Through stories, Greek myths and literary analysis tools, students are guided to explore together key philosophical concepts such as good, evil, freedom and the cardinal virtues. Tales and myths (such as King Midas, Atalanta and Hippomenes, among others) are used as a vehicle to teach such concepts in a concrete and accessible way. Furthermore, a meta-reflection is developed on the transformative processes of characters and communities that occur through an evolution in awareness and knowledge.
Matthew Lipman’s Philosophy for Children (P4C) methodology is applied, which facilitates philosophical reflection, turning work on abstract ideas into critical and creative learning experiences.
Educational and theoretical background
- Service-Learning educational method
- Philosophy for Children method
- Enquiry-based learning
- Reinforcement of logical-argumentative skills
- Potential of reflective philosophical thinking and artistic practices and productions to improve the social context
- Translation of abstract philosophical concepts into concrete cognitive practices
- Ethics and its foundations:Treatment of life’s ethical questions such as happiness, good, evil, freedom, virtues from the perspective of classical realist philosophy.
- Myth-criticism
- Theory and Analysis of Literary Discourse
- Child agency theories (in philosophy, literature and education)
Beneficiaries
University students from different disciplines; primary and secondary school students; primary and secondary school teachers; university professors.
Implementation and partners
This interdisciplinary programme was implemented as an Inclusive Educational Experience (Experiencia Formativa Inclusiva / EFI) promoted by UCA’s Social Commitment Service (Dirección de Compromiso Social).
Groups of students from Literature and Psychopedagogy degree courses at UCA were trained by Giovanna Miolli, Marina Di Marco and María Sol Rufiner to carry out this educational path with some students (eight to ten years old) of the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Bueno Consejo, in Barracas, Buenos Aires.
The design phase lasted from July to December 2022. The implementation phase took place from March to June 2023.
As the programme generated very positive results, it has been integrated as a permanent EFI by the Social Commitment Service at UCA.
Two more cycles were realised in 2024:
- First semester: Historias que nos transforman. Segunda edición (Prof. María Sol Rufiner, Chair of Ethics and its Foundations, BA in Psychopedagogy, Faculty of Psychology and Psychopedagogy).
- Second semester: Historias que nos transforman: relevancia social de la lectura en la conformación de hábitos de pensamiento (Prof. Marina di Marco, Chair of Literature, BA in Digital Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences).
Research projects involved
- InRatio Project (European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101025620; PI: Giovanna Miolli).
Dissemination
This educational programme’s research results have been disseminated and communicated at the following events:
- International Congress XXIII Jornadas. La Literatura y la escuela, Asociación Jitanjáfora, Mar del Plata (Argentina), 9-10 June 2023. Talk by Marina di Marco, Giovanna Miolli and María Sol Rufiner: ‘Historias que nos transforman: cómo la filosofía para niños y la literatura infantil pueden inspirar el cambio a través del conocimiento.’
- International Online Conference Crossing Expertise Divides Co-creation of Knowledge across Institutions and Communities of Children’s Culture, Center for Young People’s Literature and Culture, University of Wrocław, Poland, 28-29 Sept. 2023. Talk (by Marina di Marco, Giovanna Miolli and María Sol Rufiner): ‘”All The Better to Read Ourselvesʼ: Co-creation of Knowledge as a Different Way of reading, inspired by the Philosophy for Children.’
- Public conversation + educational workshop ‘El pensamiento infantil y la materialidad de la literatura para niños,’ 1 Nov. 2023. Event organised by the Centro de Estudios de Literatura Comparada Maiorana, Compromiso Social and the Instituto de Cultura Universitaria at UCA, Buenos Aires. Participants involved: Marina Di Marco, Giovanna Miolli, María Sol Rufiner and Cristian Valezuela. The educational workshop was led by Cristian Valezuela, check out the related post on his project website.
Want to know more? Have a look at the following material
Watch and listen to the radio interview with Giovanna Miolli, Marina di Marco and María Sol Rufiner on the EFI Historias que nos transforman.
By Radiofónicos en vivo – Compromiso Social (UCA), 21 June 2023.
Watch the TV interview with Marina di Marco on the EFI Historias que nos transforman. Minutes 11.39-26:40.
By Punto Convergente Television at UCA (Department of Communication Sciences and Journalism).
- The EFI Historias que nos transforman was among the 15 finalist projects for the Uniservitate Award 2024 (Premio Uniservitate 2024) – Latin America and Caribbean area.
- It was selected to represent the ‘Advancement of Women and Girls’ (Promoción de la mujer y de la niña) axis at the launch of the Global Education Pact (Pacto Educativo Global) at UCA in 2024. Watch the Global Education Pact Accession Event: minutes 52:00-53:44.
- It was awarded the EFI Social Commitment Award. Watch the ceremony: minutes 56:05-59:58.
- Historias que nos transforman also resulted in a proposal for the ‘UCA PI. Educational innovation projects‘ (UCA PI. Proyectos de innovación educativa), which was selected for funding.
