Through the Glass Training with Performing Arts: bodies that think, experience emotions and transform behaviours

We propose a method, inspired by the Manifesto for a new theatre by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1968), for the social being education through performing arts (Gianeselli 2024). We identified the metacognitive training Through the Glass (Gianeselli, Bosco 2024; Gianeselli, Bosco & Pastore 2024) based on an enactive approach. Our experience is from an empirical result: 237 students were divided into three randomized groups, two experimental and one control group. In the groups undergoing the treatment, the management of the workspace has been modified to offer a democratic and active participation during the workshop (Lewin, Lippitt, & White 1939). The experimental groups, thanks to the metacognitive training, rethink the relationship between body and emotions. According to the data collected with questionnaires (Bosco 2023; 2024) and analyzed with a Repeated Measures ANOVA, all training participants experienced significant increases in self-efficacy in post-intervention compared to the control group. In particular, the experimental groups register after the training an increase in motivation to study compared to the control group. It is also interesting to assess that the control group has recorded, in the absence of treatment, a worsening discomfort related to the use of technologically mediated products compared to the experimental groups: exposure to black and white films involves negative emotions in those who do not undergo metacognitive training and therefore do not have the opportunity to reflect on the relationship between mind, body and emotions. During the workshops dedicated to cinematographic and theatrical language, indeed, it is possible to stimulate the participants to recognize how the learning and emotions elicited by cultural discourses change in relation to posture (Briñol & Petty 2003) and in relation to the possibility of sharing and debating ideas in a democratic and collaborative context. The goal of our research has always been to share our training with future teachers and educators in a Lifelong Learning perspective. We therefore wonder how our enactive approach can be strengthened.