Reggio’s theory of interactivity and relations

Dr. Lorenzo Manera, Reggio Emilia, Italy

The Reggio Emilia Approach is characterised by a relational aesthetics that find its roots in Deweyan philosophy and in phenomenological* reflections.

Dr. Manera introduces Reggio’s Approach, its aesthetics and roots, and underlines how these perspectives influence the design of the learning experiences – also showing how researchful educational practice goes on to influence the further development of theoretical perspectives. His presentation is illustrated with research projects promoted by the Reggio Children Foundation.

*“Everything that I know about the world, even my scientific knowledge, is gained from my own particular point of view, or from an experience of the world without which the symbol of science would be meaningless. The whole universe of science is built upon the world as directly experienced, and if we want to subject science itself to rigorous scrutiny and arrive at a precise assessment of its wish to think rigorously, to appreciate precisely its meaning and scope, we must begin by awakening the basic experience of the world, of which science is the second-order expression. …

To return to things themselves is to return to that world which precedes knowledge, of which knowledge always speaks, and in relation to which every scientific schematization is an abstract and derivative sign-language, as is geography in relation to the countryside in which we have learnt beforehand  what a forest, a meadow, or a river is.”       

Maurice Merleau-Ponty: The Phenomenology of Perception, 1962

Dr. Lorenzo Manera is a postdoctoral fellow in Aesthetics and Pedagogy in the Department of Education and Human Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He is a member of the Italian Society of Aesthetics, and Executive assistant for the PhD in “Reggio Childhood Studies”, promoted by the Department of Education and Human Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Fondazione Reggio Children. He has experience in Preschools (Montessori Preschool in Regensburg, Germany), has worked as school educator in a primary and secondary school in Reggio Emilia and as researcher in several preschools in Reggio Emilia.