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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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FaSEF Education Day | Time for discussion!

Save the date! More information coming soon.
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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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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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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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Raise awareness among future compulsory school teachers of the need to integrate sustainable development objectives into their courses

The university has a duty to set an example in terms of sustainable development, in all three of its dimensions: economic, social and environmental. Sustainable "in form" through the way it manages its infrastructures and assets, and sustainable "in substance" through its commitment to research and teaching activities, in order to actively contribute to the environmental transition. All in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Our training courses

Our training center offers a wide range of training courses for teaching and support professionals.The training courses we offer are created on the basis of emerging needs in the field, our research findings and recent scientific literature updating promising practices for professionals.
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Marc Romainville: Learning to think right by discovering why we think wrong

In a digital context where fake news and other "alternative truths" abound and spread frantically, how can we educate to doubt? That's the question answered by pedagogy expert Professor Marc Romainville. He shows how schools must appropriate this central mission to shape tomorrow's citizen.
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Collaborative research on differentiation

A collaboration between UNamur - Hénallux - IFEC Image Image Image Since September 2022, Hénallux and UNamur have been collaborating with IFEC (Institut de Formation de l'Enseignement Catholique) with the aim of raising awareness and training those involved in secondary education in educational differentiation, advocated in the Pacte pour un enseignement d'excellence. To achieve this, various modalities have been devised and implemented: in-school pedagogical days, follow-ups in schools that request them, courses for differentiation referent teachers, courses for CSAs (support and accompaniment advisors).The convention is coordinated by Sandrine Biémar (UNamur) and Alain Bultot (Hénallux), and the team of researchers includes Anne Libert (UNamur), Virginie Meyer (UNamur) and Sylvie Van der Linden (Hénallux). Background This collaborative research is part of a wider project devoted to differentiation, which brings together several courses with different aims and audiences. These include in-school pedagogical training, the training of teacher-referents whose vocation is to be facilitators of the development of differentiation practices in their schools, training for all IFEC CSAs, as well as regular meetings with IFEC in-house trainers interested in this theme. Collaborative research is part of this continuity, with each path nourishing the others. It aims to anchor reflection on differentiation in classroom practices in a mutual enrichment of theory and practice. In practice School courses : pedagogical training and follow-up courses lasting from 1 to several days. CSA course : 4-day training for all CSAs and IFEC. Referent courses : Training of pairs of school referents for 4 days + 1 day. Trainers' courses : community of practice with IFEC internal differentiation trainers Collaborative research path : accompanying teachers over a school year in implementing differentiation practices. The objectives Fostering teachers' power to act by mobilizing and interpreting objective data gathered in the field.Collaborative research is built on negotiation between participants and researchers. Each stage of the research is therefore constructed together, in order to respond as closely as possible to the concerns and issues related to differentiation that are encountered in the specific contexts of each participant.For example, the research question and sub-questions are co-formulated to respond as closely as possible to the concerns and issues in the field regarding the impact of a differentiated teaching posture on student motivation and autonomy.. Methodology This research is inspired by the protocol developed by Schildkamp (2018, 2019) within "Data TEAMS". It aims to develop and foster teachers' power to act through decision-making based on data collection and evaluation of school practices.The data resulting from this research pathway will feed the referent and trainer pathways. In addition, data and productions resulting from this collaborative research will also be destined for colleagues and organizations from the various stakeholders (schools, CSA). Want to get involved? We are looking for pairs of teachers from the same school, which will facilitate the implementation of the process within each school concerned. The themeDevelop and regulate differentiation practices in light of classroom data.The objectivesUnderstand and actUnderstand, through analysis of available classroom data and exchanges of practice between professionals, the effects of a differentiated teacher posture on student motivation and autonomy.Objectivate one's intuition to act effectively.Terms and conditions7 meetings over the course of the year at the Salle des Pros (Rue Godefroid, 7 - in the center of Namur)Why participate?To enrich research by drawing on practices in the field.To enrich your practices thanks to the support of the researcher-trainers.To meet other teachers who share your concerns. Contact For further information, please contact the research teamAnne Libert : anne.libert@unamur.beVirginie Meyer : virginie.meyer@unamur.beSylvie Van der Linden : sylvie.vanderlinden@henallux.be Project coordinator Sandrine Biémar: sandrine.biemar@unamur.be
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Academic year 2025-2026

Something for everyone 09:30 | Welcome ceremony for new students11:00 | Back-to-school celebration at Saint-Aubain Cathedral (Place Saint-Aubain - 5000 Namur), followed by student welcome by the Cercles. Read more
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