Creativity of the sign

handwriting and pedagogy of the graphic gesture across epistemology, development and didactics

Abstract

This contribution systematically analyzes the relationship between the dimension of creativity and the practice of handwriting, situating this reflection within the framework of the contemporary pedagogical debate on the complexity of learning processes. Through an epistemological review that brings pedagogy into dialogue with neuroscience, developmental psychology, and language didactics, the article interprets the graphic gesture not as a mere instrumental skill, but as a fundamental narrative and creative device for the construction of identity and cognition. Starting from the polysemic nature of creativity, it explores how manual activity acts as a catalyst for higher cognitive processes, fostering a synthesis between body and symbol that risks being weakened within an exclusively digital ecosystem. Particular attention is devoted to primary school, understood as a privileged laboratory for symbolic development, and to the need for teacher education capable of integrating graphomotor skills within an embodied cognition perspective.