Teaching children the “Scientific process”

The AXXIS association, founded by Hélène Sanlaville, is developing free online training courses in the form of MOOCs for primary school teachers, with the aim of educating children in the new challenges of the 21st century. After the launch of a training course on philosophy with children, it's now the turn of the scientific process to see the light of day.

How does it work? Videos on the theoretical aspects of the scientific approach, divided into 6 main stages (curiosity, hypothesis, experiment, results, interpretation, conclusion) and 10 turnkey workshops to set up with children. No scientific prerequisites are required, as teachers can take the training via the MOOC, available online from November 2023, and establish this approach directly with their pupils using the proposed workshops.

Two PhD students from the IVPC lab, Maëva Duboeuf (iWAYS team) and Marie Verneret (PR2T team), accompanied by Stéphane Renard from the Bureau des possibles association, were able to run some of the MOOC workshops at the Science Festival in mid-October, at the Terraillon and Jean-Prevost libraries in Bron. Adapted to fit in with sports, the covered topics were focused on "A balanced diet", "Identifying fake news" and "Renewable energies".

In order to provide the best possible support for teachers wishing to follow the training, a mentoring system will be set up at the launch of this MOOC. Maëva and Marie, along with several other doctoral students, will follow the teachers throughout the MOOC to provide their help, support and expertise.