Innovative educational experience with emotionally enriched puppets in the visual and narrative languages course

Abstract

This article presents an innovative pedagogical experience that integrates the use of emotionally enriched puppets with technology in the Visual and Narrative Languages course. This course is part of the foundational component of the General Studies Year, a common program across the six academic curricula at Universidad Nacional de Colombia – De La Paz campus, including Mechatronic Engineering and Biological Engineering. It is important to highlight that the General Studies Year is a curricular innovation strategy designed for the De La Paz campus, aimed at fostering interdisciplinarity through the integration of diverse knowledge areas and interests. The Visual and Narrative Languages course explores, through creative processes, the various ways contemporary societies appropriate these languages. Its scope ranges from aesthetic explorations and philosophical reflections to social claims, ideological tensions, and historical configurations, among other manifestations of human expression and communication. As part of this course, an innovative pedagogical project was developed, incorporating emotionally enriched puppets through screens, lights, sounds, and educational drama strategies. This initiative aimed to use puppets as a narrative tool, allowing students to explore and represent stories inspired by their own life experiences. The process began with research and the construction of family narratives in small groups, fostering dialogue about real experiences that shaped their identities. From these reflections, each group identified a common story that integrated their individual narratives. Once the storyline was established, students proceeded with the staging process, where puppets came to life to tell the story through audiovisual language. This approach not only enabled students to creatively engage with visual and narrative languages but also promoted personal expression, collaboration, and sensitivity in constructing meanings within contemporary media. This methodology fosters the development of research competencies linked to creative processes. Educational drama serves as a pedagogical strategy that invites reflection on the emotions and feelings derived from the situations represented. The creation of narratives requires research skills to explore the stories and elements suitable for representation. Meanwhile, the staging process facilitates the construction of practical knowledge through puppet manipulation and the use of body/voice by students, enhancing their acting and performance experience. For future engineers, this methodology can have a positive impact on their learning abilities. The goal of emotionally enriched puppets is to foster cognitive-affective knowledge related to understanding and expressing emotions. Additionally, the preparation and staging process involves research-creation activities, which are crucial in developing problem-solving skills and inquiry abilities that will be valuable in their academic and professional engineering training.