Salamanca, España
Barcelona, España
El presente artículo analiza la relación dialéctica entre entorno natural y entorno digital desde la perspectiva del cuerpo como mediador fundamental de los procesos educativos. A partir del trinomio cuerpo-espacio-educación, se examina cómo los diferentes espacios condicionan las posibilidades de despliegue sensorial, cognitivo y emocional del ser humano. Frente al predominio actual de la pedagogía de los datos y la hiperconexión tecnológica que ha generado un déficit de naturaleza, se propone recuperar una pedagogía sensible que reconozca al cuerpo no como mero contenedor del cerebro sino como territorio de conocimiento encarnado. La literatura constata que, mientras el espacio natural favorece el desarrollo de vínculos interdependientes, la libre movilización de los sentidos y la autonomía, el entorno digital tiende a la dependencia, la reducción sensorial y la fragmentación de la experiencia corporal. A través de un análisis teórico fundamentado en la fenomenología del cuerpo, la cognición encarnada y los conceptos de lugar antropológico versus no-lugar, y complementado con una muestra de un estudio cualitativo aplicando la técnica de grupos de discusión con 33 grupos de niños y niñas de 9-11 años. Posteriormente, se ha realizado un análisis con el software NVivo. Los resultados muestran que la renaturalización de la acción educativa resulta esencial para el desarrollo integral del ser humano. Se concluye que la educación contemporánea debe buscar una complementariedad dialéctica entre lo natural y lo artificial, reconociendo que el cuerpo humano necesita de lenguajes pentasensoriales y espacios que permitan su despliegue holístico para construir una identidad basada en la pertenencia al mundo natural, la responsabilidad y la creatividad.
This article explores the dialectical relationship between natural and digital environments, foregrounding the body as the fundamental mediator of educational processes. Drawing on the triad body–space–education, it investigates how diverse spatial configurations shape the sensorial, cognitive, and emotional possibilities of human development. In response to the current hegemony of data-driven pedagogies—and the hyperconnectivity that has precipitated what scholars term a ‘deficit of nature’—the paper advocates for a reassertion of sensory pedagogy: one that recognises the body not as a mere vessel for the brain, but as a site of embodied knowing.
Extant literature suggests a marked contrast in the developmental affordances of these two milieus. Natural environments tend to nurture interdependent relationality, sensorial openness, and autonomous exploration; conversely, digital spaces often foster dependency, sensorial narrowing, and the fragmentation of embodied experience. To interrogate this dynamic, the analysis draws upon three interrelated theoretical strands: phenomenological accounts of embodiment, theories of enactive and embodied cognition, and anthropological distinctions between place (as a locus of meaning, memory, and belonging) and non-place (as transient, instrumental, and decontextualised).
Empirically, findings are informed by a qualitative study involving 33 focus groups composed of children aged 9–11 years. Discussions were designed to elicit children’s lived experiences across natural and digital settings, with thematic analysis conducted using NVivo. The data reveal a consistent orientation toward natural environments as sources of coherence, agency, and self-regulation—suggesting that the re-naturalisation of educational practice is not merely desirable, but ethically and developmentally imperative.
The paper concludes by proposing that contemporary pedagogy ought not to pit the natural against the artificial, but rather pursue a dialectical complementarity between them. Such an approach must be grounded in the recognition that human embodiment requires pentasensory engagement and spatial conditions conducive to holistic unfolding. Only then can education meaningfully foster identities rooted in ecological belonging, ethical responsibility, and creative resilience.