Well known to language teachers, LearningApps is rarely used in history and geography. Antoine Cavelier, professor of history-geography at the Rep + Jules Ferry college in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges (94) explains how he discovered it and what it brings to his teaching.
A contribution of English to geo history
LearningApps is a platform for creating online exercises from many types of documents including videos and sound recordings. It is this peculiarity that has earned it great success among language teachers in France. Antoine Cavelier highlights other qualities. “We can describe images, work on photographs, ask multiple choice questions or timelines and therefore offer students a variety of activities,” he tells us. It also highlights the sharing enabled by the platform. “I have access to the exercises submitted by colleagues and that gives me ideas. And my activities are reused by other teachers whom I know or not”.
Advantage of Rep colleges, teachers often work together. “It was an angalis colleague who introduced me to LearningApps”, explains A Cavelier. “She used it for her students. I tested it in class 4 years ago for a sequence on the geography of tourism in 4th year. And since then I have been adding exercises every year”. Since then, A Cavelier has been working on his sequences with a colleague, Léna Denis, from a college in Villeneuve le Roi. “We reflect together on our work”.
Documentary studies brought up to date
What are the advantages for the history and geography teacher? “The diversity of the documents processed”, answers A Cavelier. “We incorporate maps, videos, texts, photos. And we also have the diversity of questions: multiple choice questions, place on an image, on a frieze, sort ideas in a document etc. We can also include shots. thumbs up to the pupils and thus accompany them to the end “.
On the student side, A Cavelier emphasizes the ease of use. “The students immerse themselves in the exercise. The teacher’s place changes. He is next to the student in support to help him unblock difficulties. We find ourselves in a collaborative logic which is pleasant. This creates a calm in the classroom and a relationship conducive to learning “.
Change position in the classroom
How to move to institutionalization? “The pupils fill out a handout to stick in the notebook as the exercises progress. They are the written record of their answers which then allows them to fill in a summary table for example in 6th or to write an argumentation in 3rd”.
What are the results of these 4 years? “I especially learned to change position and it is pedagogically interesting. From the start I was convinced that the students would play the game. They learn differently. I have had the confirmation.”
Interview by F Jarraud
An example of a sequence on Rome
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