Intersectionality is a central concept in contemporary feminist thought (Crenshaw, 1989), but its high level of theoretical abstraction has historically made it difficult to incorporate into early educational stages, especially within formal education contexts. This paper presents a pedagogical experience developed with sixth-grade students (ages 11–12) in the Spanish education system in a rural context, whose objective was to work on the concept of intersectionality through participatory methodologies and experiential learning, integrated into a broader Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) program.

The proposal stems from a dual question: on one hand, how to make a complex and relatively new concept comprehensible to students in preadolescence; on the other, why participatory methodologies –widely used in non-formal education spaces– remain marginal or exceptional in formal schooling, despite their transformative potential to carry out meaningful learning processes (Gallardo-López y Muñoz, 2021). From this perspective, the work questions the historical separation between formal and non-formal education, as well as the pedagogical assumptions that have legitimised this division (Ríos-Ramírez, 2023).

The experience is based on the design and implementation of a playful, embodied activity structured in two successive rounds. First, students are asked to “embody” characters with different social positions, genders, origins, abilities, and family contexts, confronting situations that reveal structural inequalities. Through movement in space, participants experience in a situated way –but with a certain emotional distance– how different dimensions of identity can interact. In the second round, a methodological shift is introduced: participants stop representing a character and position themselves as themselves. The situations presented are then adapted to their age, context, and possible experiences, so that they can recognise how social axes also intersect in their own reality.

This transition from “embodied character” to “myself” is the pedagogical core of the proposed activity. In this activity, students move from passive listeners to putting their bodies into educational practice, generating a connection between theoretical concepts and sensations, emotions, and affectivities (Freire, 1970). This bodily and emotional dimension is key to the internalisation of content, fostering meaningful (un)learning that goes beyond mere cognitive transmission. The experience shows how students not only understand the concept of intersectionality, but are also able to develop empathetic, critical, and reflective responses to the situations of inequality (re)presented.

During the activity, moments of collective reflection open up through which complex notions about sexualities, gender, discrimination, privileges, and oppression, among others, are internalised, thus connected with previous CSE knowledge.

This paper argues that this type of proposal, applied in contexts where a climate of trust and group cohesion already exists, allows for addressing “intense” theoretical content that often remains beyond the reach of those who are not previously politicised or mobilised. Likewise, it argues that experience contributes to dismantling deeply rooted meritocratic discourses in traditional education, promoting critical awareness of how social categories can intervene and influence life trajectories.

The research adopts a qualitative, exploratory approach, focused on the analysis of a specific educational experience developed in two primary rural school (Colegio Rural Agrupado) in Benasque and Castejón de Sos, villages of the province of Huesca (Spain). Two workshops were implemented, each lasting approximately two hours, aimed at sixth-grade groups (ages 11–12). The project is currently in its continuation phase, with new applications planned. The central activity of the workshop is based on a participatory and embodied methodology (Jaramillo-Martínez et al., 2024), specifically designed to work on the concept of intersectionality in an experiential way. The activity is structured in two distinct rounds. In the first, each participant constructs a fictional character by combining different social variables (gender, origin, family context, economic situation, functional diversity, among others). Based on a series of statements posed by the facilitator, students move forward or remain in place within the physical space, which functions as a metaphor for structural inequalities. In the second round, students stop representing characters and position themselves in the activity. The statements are reformulated and adapted to their everyday reality, taking into account the group’s social context and avoiding exposure to explicitly traumatic experiences (they have their eyes covered). This phase seeks to make participants recognise how social intersections also traverse their own lives, fostering a situated understanding of the concept (O’Reilly-de Brún et al., 2016). It is essential to note that this activity is not implemented in isolation. It forms part of a broader CSE program and is applied only when there is a pre-existing climate of trust, group cohesion, and care agreements. These elements are considered the network that sustains collective processes of unlearning and relearning. Data collection was carried out through participant observation, recording of emotional reactions, spontaneous student comments, and collective reflection spaces at the end of each workshop. These spaces allowed for the verbalisation of experienced sensations and the linking of bodily experience with the theoretical concepts addressed. The analysis is complemented by a literature review on participatory methodologies, experiential learning, feminist pedagogies, and the contrast between formal and non-formal education, situating the experience within a broader theoretical framework.

The results of this experience demonstrate the potential of participatory and embodied methodologies for addressing complex theoretical concepts such as intersectionality in primary education (Guevara et al., 2020). The possibility of embodying knowledge, and not only understanding it abstractly, marks a significant difference in learning processes. The transition between a first round of distancing –based on fictional characters– and a second round of direct involvement –centred on one’s own experience– emerges as a key element to producing situated knowledge in a non-necessarily-academic point of view (Haraway, 1995). It is in this step that the concept acquires meaning for students, generating processes of identification, empathy, and critical awareness. Among the main limitations observed are the spatial restrictions of the classroom, the possible initial discomfort with bodily movement, and the possible influence of physical proximity between classmates during the activity. These elements should be carefully considered in the design and adaptation of the proposal. Despite this, student engagement was high. The experience fostered the development of empathy, self-criticism, and an early understanding of how structural factors such as gender, sex orientation, origin, or socioeconomic context, among others, influence life trajectories. In this sense, the activity also contributes to questioning meritocratic discourses deeply rooted in traditional education. Finally, this paper proposes the experience as a concrete example of how to bring feminist and complex theoretical content into the primary classroom in an accessible, situated, and transformative way. As active and participatory methodologies enable to nurture (un)learning processes where participants collaborate and exchange sensations (Jaramillo-Martínez et al., 2024), this experience invites a rethinking of the boundaries between formal and non-formal education.

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