"Reading to Understand the World" is the project that brings reading closer to the children of El Raval.
UAB Psychology student launches a final-year degree project to actively and critically foster the habit of reading using the Service Learning methodology.
Learning gains meaning when it has a direct impact on the surrounding environment. This is the case with "Reading to Understand the World: A Project to Foster a Love of Reading"—the final degree project (TFG) by Psychology student Laia Cors Puigdollers, supervised by lecturer Cristina Zhang Yu in the 2025/26 academic year. The project originated from a request by the Open Centre (Centre Obert) of the Associació Educativa Integral del Raval (AEI Raval).
The project was launched with the aim of fostering a taste for reading among children aged 8 to 10, but it does so by moving away from more prescriptive approaches. As explained in a recently published video summary of the experience, the approach has been based on anti-racist, dialogical and critical pedagogies.
"The Genius Club"
The initiative has found an innovative way to get young ones engaged with reading. A writing team made up of the children themselves, named "The Genius Club", has been the driving force behind the project. Through this process, primary school children were involved in creative activities, moving away from traditional education. From writing reviews and creating comics, to conducting interviews and recording audiobooks.
All these creations have been compiled into their own magazine, La veu dels mitjans. This methodology sought to replicate real-world publishing processes, connecting the children with a professional environment. To this end, the editorial team was able to hold special sessions outside the organisation—such as a visit to the local neighbourhood library, where they were able to sign up for library cards—as well as a visit to the newsroom of the newspaper Ara.
Service learning
This final-year project is an ideal example to explain what SL is at the UAB: a tool that ensures the knowledge students acquire at university brings about change in the education of the future. Laia Cors has managed to respond to a local need, has identified a problem and has known how to reach the youngest children to promote reflection and critical thinking. For the project's instigators, its success is explained above all by the great commitment of all the children who took part. And now, the challenge they have set themselves is for this format to take root and become a permanent fixture at the centre, with a view to introducing digital tools at a later date.