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UNamur unveils AI Score: the first "reliability meter" for educational chatbots

Which chatbot can we really trust? A reliable answer to this question can now be provided thanks to a unique scientific tool: the AI Score. Developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Namur, it provides an objective, reproducible, and transparent way of measuring the reliability of educational chatbots.
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Medicine and literature: when words can also heal

On February 21, the University of Namur hosted the symposium "Medicine and Literature," organized by the History of Medicine and Health Sciences Group, with the support of the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium. Nearly 70 participants gathered at the Faculty of Medicine for a particularly open and stimulating day of reflection, devoted to the deep and ancient links between medical practices and literary creation.
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Event

FaSEF Education Day | Time for discussion!

Save the date! More information coming soon.
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Delamination of sheepskin parchment: an interdisciplinary discovery published in Heritage Science

At UNamur, parchments are much more than objects of curiosity: they are at the heart of an interdisciplinary scientific adventure. Starting with historical sciences and conservation, the research has gradually incorporated the disciplines of physics, biology, chemistry, and archaeology.  This convergence has given rise to research in heritage sciences, driving innovative projects such as Marine Appart's doctoral work, supervised by Professor Olivier Deparis. This research has now been recognized with a publication in the prestigious journal Heritage Science (Nature Publishing Group).
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Event

Theoretical frameworks in science and mathematics didactics

Conceptual field theory and didactic situation theory Two complementary theories for thinking about and organizing mathematical learningIn the first part of this talk, I'll propose an introductory situation in literal arithmetic (Barallobres & Giroux, 2008) that will enable me to introduce and illustrate the main concepts and methodological tools of the theory of didactic situations developed by Guy Brousseau (Brousseau, 1997; Bessot, 2024). In the second part, I will give a brief presentation of Gérard Vergnaud's theory of conceptual fields (Vergnaud, 1990; Durand-Guerrier and Saby, 2023), then show how this theory helps to shed further light on the introductory situation.The contributions of the anthropological theory of didactics The Anthropological Theory of Didactics (TAD, Chevallard, 2001) aims to explain why and how a given knowledge lives in a certain institution, and/or is transformed as it passes from one institution to another. This perspective and some of its evolutions will be presented and illustrated in this talk.Students' activities and teachers' practices in the mathematics classroom: analysis methodology with Activity TheoryIn this talk, we will present the founding assumptions of the Activity Theory framework adapted to the Didactics of Mathematics (TADM, Vandebrouck, 2008), showing how this theory gives importance to fine-grained analyses of mathematical knowledge to appreciate classroom developments. We will then exemplify some of these aspects on the teaching of limits at university (Bridoux and Grenier-Boley, 2024).BibliographyBarallobres, G., & Giroux, J. (2008). Environmental deficiencies and regulations in validation situations. N. In Berdnaz, & C. Mary (Eds). L'enseignement des mathématiques face aux défis de l'école et des communautés. Actes du colloque EMF 2006 (CD-ROM). Éditions du CRP https://emf.unige.ch/application/files/1414/5390/4857/EMF2006_GT8_Barallobres.pdfBessot, A. (2003). An introduction to the theory of didactic situations. Cahiers du laboratoire Leibniz, 91. hal-00078794Bridoux, S., & Grenier-Boley, N. (2024). What teaching practices should be used to introduce the limits of functions in the first year of university? A case study. In A. González-Martín, G. Gueudet, I. Florensa & N. Lombard (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth Conference of the International Network for Didactic Research in University Mathematics (INDRUM 2024, 10-14 June 2024) (pp. 791-800). Escola Universitària de Sarrià. Univ. Autònoma de Barcelona and INDRUM.Brousseau, G. (1997). Théorie des situations didactiques. Lecture given at the award to Guy Brousseau of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Montreal. http://www.cfem.asso.fr/actualites/archives/Brousseau.pdfChevallard, Y. (2001). Organizing study: 1. Structures and Functions. In J.-L. Dorier, M. Artaud, M. Artigue, R. Berthelot, & R. Floris Proceedings of the XIe École d'été de didactique des mathématiques. (pp. 3-32). Editions la Pensée Sauvage.Durand-Guerrier, V., & Nicolas Saby, N. (2023). Usages de la théorie des champs conceptuels en didactique des mathématiques. The example of transitivity. Caminhos da Educação Matemática em Revista, 13 (4),118-134. ⟨hal-04585866⟩Vandebrouck, F. (dir.) (2008). La classe de mathématiques: activités des élèves et pratiques des enseignants. OCTARES Éditions.Vergnaud, G. (1990). Conceptual field theory. Recherches en didactique des mathématiques, 10(2/3), 133-170. In practice Program18:00: Presentation by Viviane Durand-Guerrier 18:40: Presentation by Ghislaine Gueudet 19:20: Presentation by Nicolas Grenier-Boley and Stéphanie Bridoux20:00: Q&A around the three presentationsModalities Required registration via the PhD school website or direct link to the registration form.Or online participation link (via TEAMS).
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Article

Is there a doctor in the village? Analysis by a sociologist

The lack of primary care is a major public health issue. In 2022, it was estimated that 52 municipalities in French-speaking Belgium were facing a severe shortage of general practitioners. This is a worrying situation that the University Observatory for Rural Medicine (OUMRu) has been addressing since 2023, with the aim of identifying concrete solutions. Working alongside a doctor and a health geographer, Amélie Pierre, a sociologist and lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Communication SciencesPo (EMCP), is studying the factors that influence access to healthcare, particularly from the patients' point of view. She emphasizes the need to take into account the realities experienced by vulnerable groups.
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Master's students specializing in general medicine meet people with disabilities

On December 4, second-year students in the Master's program specializing in general medicine at UNamur enjoyed a unique training day. They had the opportunity to interact directly with residents of Château Vert, an institution that welcomes people with disabilities. The goal was to better understand their expectations of general practitioners and improve the quality of medical care for these patients with specific needs.
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A new teaching unit at UNamur: "One Health

In an ever-changing world, where health, environmental and societal crises are intertwined, it is becoming imperative to rethink health in a global and interconnected approach. It was against this backdrop that the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Namur inaugurated its new "One Health" teaching unit (UE) on Thursday February 06, 2025, in the presence of Minister Yves Coppieters. This initiative, offered to all UNamur undergraduates, aims to train tomorrow's healthcare professionals in a systemic vision, where human, animal and environmental health are considered as one and the same reality.
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Projects - Pacte pour un Enseignement d'Excellence

Our research activities are divided into 3 main areas.
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Scientific Consortium

Since 2017 and as part of the work of the Pacte pour un Enseignement d'excellence, eight scientific "Consortiums" of the tronc commun have been formed. They bring together a total of some fifty members from the various universities, colleges and higher arts schools in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Their mission is to establish, on the e-classe digital platform, a repertoire of didactic tools and pedagogical devices that the educational community will be able to consult, select and procure easily, according to its needs and those of its students. These resources are available on the e-classe digital platform.
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Charlotte Beaudart, Namuroise of the Year: reward for her research on ageing

Helping us to age independently and in good health. This is the aim of Charlotte Beaudart's research into sarcopenia, an age-related disease that can occur as early as the age of 50. The work of the UNamur researcher and member of the Narilis Institute has been rewarded once again, as she has just been awarded the title of "Namuroise of the Year", for the Sciences category!
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The p.ART.cour(t)s

A collection of tools to make it easier for teachers to set up cultural and artistic education activities in nursery, primary and secondary schools, to build confidence and the desire to dare.A p.ART.cour(t)? ART... Step by step... A p.ART.cour(t) is a series of introductory sessions built around a common thread. Each session lasts from fifteen minutes to two hours. Some p.ART.cour(t)s focus on a particular technique or theme... Others are built around a standard session to be reproduced on a regular basis. Some cover one or more artistic disciplines, while others are truly interdisciplinary.A p.ART.cour(t) is first and foremost a starting point, an aid, a proposal, a trigger for the teacher. It is a source of inspiration or imitation, of appropriation to freely create and/or experiment with activities in cultural and artistic education. The p.ART.cour(t) can take the form of a PDF or a digital book. Sometimes, an illustrative video or sound tracks accompany the teaching pack. The aim of p.ART.cour(t)s is to enable every student to experience art. To live, to feel, to experiment, without the pressure or obligation to produce a predefined result or one that corresponds to a standard. Consequently, the emphasis throughout p.ART.cour(t) is on the discovery, the student's encounter with art. The p.ART.cour(t)s in pictures Teacher feedbackThank you for the experience, on my own I wouldn't have dared.... And the students really enjoyed the experience, I think. (1st differentiated)Interesting interdisciplinary project. Sequences linked together so real class project. (P5-P6)My students loved it when I told them we were going to make, discover ART. We became artists. They sometimes asked me when we were going to make art again! (P1-P2) Children's feedbackI enjoyed it because the point of it wasn't to be the best, but it was more about having fun.I learned to have confidence in myself, to be less shy.How to access it?All the p.ART.cour(t)s, and many other identified existing resources, can be found on www.e-classe.be.If you're an FWB teacher (and have a cerberus account), you can access them easily: just go to the platform and type the word P.ART.cour(t) (with its funny spelling) into the search bar, you'll then arrive in a folder that brings them all together. If you're not a teacher, don't panic! You can access them via the brochure. How do I do this? In the brochure, each p.ART.cour(t) is briefly presented. You can access the free online tool by clicking on the title of the p.ART.cour(t) via a direct link. Access to a video is also found behind the icon. Discover the brochure A few examples RAS... Répertoire d'artistes surprenantes (to be discovered end of August 2025)A (re)discovery of 50 Belgian women artists through their biographies, a focus on a representative work, names of related artists to discover and educational leads. Télécharger RAS Remue-ménage colors (M2-P2)Four workshops to explore color in movement, painting and music. Read more For my ears (P5-S2)A month of musical listening, presented in the form of a digital booklet with information and listening links. Each day of the week has its own theme. Read more In the footsteps of silent cinema (P3-S3)Students create burlesque films, from script to editing to acting, after an introduction to early cinema and viewing film clips. Read more The game of artistic families (P4-S3)Inspired by the game of seven families, this device, whose illustrations are images of works of art, invites the student to select a batch of cards and explain the reasons for this subjective choice. Read more The technolab, a creative place within the school (P3-S3)Thirty or so artists and their techniques are to be discovered (e.g. pyrography for wood, textile printing, ...) as well as how fablabs work and the various tools these places offer to transfer their practices to the classroom as part of ECA and FMTTN. A creative and accessible lead is given for each artist presented. Read more Other examples elsewhere Ma petite fabrique de matériel (M-S2) Make basic art materials (charcoal, walnut stain, glue, paint...) on a small budget and suggest ways to use them. From ingredients to final production! Content available on E-class and idea networkLet's animate everything (P3-S3) Collaborative production of short animated films using the Stop Motion technique. A fun tool for developing creativity and awakening a critical eye for the media. Content available on E-class and PECATake the line for a spin (M3-P3) Workshops mixing dance and visual arts around the notion of line. Themes include geometry, doodling, writing, Chinese calligraphy, pattern and following the line.Content available on E-class and PECAOur five skins (M1-M3)Ten activities to be experienced in the classroom or outdoors around the 5 layers of a child's identity according to Hundertwasser: body, clothes, home, family and friends, and planet. Discovery of the world, openness to others and diversity, cultural references.Content available on E-class and Réseau idéeGestural listening (M1-)P.ART.cour(t) listening program comprising around ten short musical extracts, and played mainly by a solo instrument (which also enables instrument discovery). The excerpts on offer last between 40 seconds and 2 minutes, and have been designed to serve gestural listening.Content available on Genially and the IMEP
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