"Learning Arabic: Writing with a pen or keyboard?"

Presentation of the project

With the introduction of digital tools in schools, the teaching and learning of key skills such as writing is likely to change considerably.

This research project is designed to study the effects on school performance, on the one hand, and the cognitive and cerebral consequences of a change in learning to write at school, on the other hand. It will involve comparing, over two years, a group of students learning to write directly on the keyboard, a group learning to write by hand on a tablet and a group learning traditional handwriting on paper.

The protocol will consist of teaching the Arabic language to three groups of 40 students for two years (6th and 5th grades) during which reading and writing tests will be conducted twice a year.

Objectives

• Compare different practices for learning to write a foreign language: directly on the keyboard, handwritten on a tablet and handwritten on paper. This is a longitudinal study (4 years) on the writing of Arabic.
• An inventory and analysis of all the work carried out in this field, as well as all the existing digital tools and applications for learning and re-educating writing, will be used to make recommendations on how to learn to write at school with and without digital tools.

Budget

Total budget: €362 232 (PIA)

Calendar

Start: 01/09/2016

Ends : 31/08/2020

Project Team

Carrier: Mr. Jean-Luc Velay, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (LNC)

Partners

• Partner laboratory: Learning, Didactics, Evaluation, Training (ADEF),
• Psycle
• LNC
• Aix-Marseille University
• 5 schools
• Company: BIC Espé* of Marseille

"Digital as a pedagogical tool for learning reading and mathematics: from the laboratory to the classroom".

Presentation of the project

Reading and mathematics are the backbone of all learning, especially in primary school. Today, digital technology offers new avenues for helping children with difficulties to learn reading and mathematics. This project focuses on the usefulness of digital technology as an innovative pedagogical tool and a first-line therapeutic aid within the school.

It consists of training and supporting teachers to use digital tablet trainings that have been specially designed by internationally renowned scientists in the field of learning reading and mathematics.

This project therefore proposes a longitudinal and interventional experiment on the use of digital technology in primary schools. The experiment will take place in 20 classes throughout the first grade (10 in maths and 10 in reading) in which teachers will be trained and committed to using the software on a daily basis in addition to their usual pedagogical activities.

Objectives

• To test on a large scale the effectiveness of digital technology as a pedagogical tool to support the learning of reading and mathematics in primary school, based on 3 games developed by scientific teams: GraphoGame, NumberRace and NumberCatcher.
• Propose "first-line" digital solutions within the school that focus on individualized and adapted training in order to reduce learning difficulties, disparity between students, dropping out and academic failure.

Budget

Total budget: 763 020 € (PIA)

Calendar

Start: 01/09/2016

Ends : 31/08/2020

Project Team

Carrier: Mr. Johannes Ziegler, Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology (LPC)

Partners

• Cognitive Psychology Research Laboratories (CPL)
• Learning, Didactic, Evaluation, Training Laboratory (ADEF)
• Marseille Fundamental Informatics Laboratory (LIF)
• AMU,
• Inserted AMU,
• Canopy
• The Rectorate