Prosignification is defined as the process through which the subject generates new meanings by engaging in aesthetic experience, critical reflection, and creative action. Unlike general theories of meaning-making, which primarily describe the cognitive organization of experience, prosignification foregrounds the symbolic–expressive dimension as the central site of meaning production. It refers to the individual and collective capacity to construct meaning from expressive and symbolic experiences, integrating cognitive, emotional, social, and cultural dimensions of learning through intentional creative mediation. Prosignification operates between knowledge construction and subjective experience, enabling learners to connect conceptual understanding with personal interpretation and emotional involvement. Whereas knowledge construction emphasizes epistemic development and transformative learning focuses on perspective transformation through critical reflection, prosignification centers on the aesthetic reconfiguration of experience through symbolic creation and interpretation. Rooted in constructivist and experiential approaches, it unfolds through active, student-centred methodologies, particularly in Project-Based Learning contexts. However, its distinctive contribution may lie in integrating reflection, expression, and creation as interdependent mechanisms of meaning generation. Art education constitutes a particularly relevant context for this process, as its symbolic nature fosters the embodied and shared construction of meaning. Thus, prosignification cannot be reduced to cognitive restructuring or attitudinal change but involves the expressive re-symbolization of lived experience.
In recent years, debates on educational innovation have incorporated new concepts that seek to account for the complexity of contemporary learning. Among them, prosignification emerges as a category that enables understanding how knowledge acquires meaning through lived experience and the learner’s active relationship with their environment. This term, still under theoretical consolidation, refers to the processes by which individuals re-elaborate meanings through interaction with content, emotions, and cultural contexts, particularly within artistic learning environments. The present contribution is conceptual in nature and seeks to develop a theoretical framework for understanding prosignification within contemporary art education.
In the field of education, this idea is directly linked to the principles of meaningful learning
[1][2] and active methodologies, including Project-Based Learning (hereinafter referred to as PBL), which promote teaching centered on experience, autonomy, and collective knowledge construction. From Novak’s
[3] perspective, education constitutes a set of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor experiences that empower the individual to face everyday life. In this sense, prosignification extends beyond the mere acquisition of knowledge; it implies a personal transformation in which learning becomes meaningful because it connects with one’s biography, emotions, and actions.
Art education, due to its expressive and symbolic nature, offers fertile ground for the development of these processes. Art, understood as a form of embodied knowledge
[4][5], enables the integration of cognitive, emotional, social, and creative dimensions, thereby providing a particularly fertile space for prosignification. Artistic creation entails a constant dialogue between thought and action, reflection and experience; hence, artistic projects can be configured as pedagogical devices where meanings are constructed and reconstructed dynamically.
From this standpoint, the article pursues a threefold purpose:
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To present the concept of prosignification as an emerging theoretical category within art education.
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To analyze its relationship with meaningful learning and PBL, exploring the constructivist and experiential foundations that sustain them.
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To reflect on the role of art and artistic projects in generating deep, transformative, and contextualized learning.
The relevance of addressing this topic lies in the need to rethink art education beyond merely transmitting techniques or styles. It is about recognizing its potential as a meaning-generating practice capable of articulating knowledge with lived experience and fostering a critical understanding of the world. As Dewey
[6] suggests, art not only expresses emotions but also reorganizes experience, opening the possibility for new modes of understanding.
Therefore, exploring prosignification in the artistic field also entails questioning the role of the teacher as mediator and co-creator of meanings, as well as that of the student as an active subject in the construction of learning. This approach invites us to transcend transmissive teaching models and to place artistic practice at the heart of contemporary educational processes.