Prosignification in Art Education: Project-Based and Meaningful Learning Towards Active Learning

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.