Centre for Research in Didactics and Science Dissemination

The Centre for Research in Didactics and Science Dissemination, known as the CRDS, is one of the two research centres of the Institute of Applied Pedagogy. Its purpose is reflected in its very name: it does not only produce didactic knowledge, it also focuses on its dissemination, that is, on the conditions under which research findings actually reach teachers, pupils and education decision-makers.

This dual focus responds to an observation shared in many education systems: educational research often remains confined to university circles and does little to change classroom practice. The CRDS works to close this gap by designing its research around real-world issues and by sharing its findings with the educational communities concerned.

The centre brings together two laboratories with complementary scopes. The Research Laboratory for Science Didactics and Peace Education, known as REDISEPA, combines the study of science teaching with that of peace education. The Laboratory for the Description, Didactics and Dynamics of Languages, known as 3DL, focuses on the languages present in Burundi's educational landscape, from their linguistic description to their teaching.

The Research Laboratory for Science Didactics and Peace Education brings together two fields that are rarely combined, and it is precisely this combination that makes it unique. On the one hand, science didactics examines how pupils build scientific concepts, the initial ideas they bring with them, the cognitive obstacles they encounter, and the teaching approaches that help them overcome these obstacles. On the other, peace education examines the role of school in building social cohesion, citizenship and the non-violent resolution of conflict.

Bringing these two fields together is rooted in a strong educational conviction: the scientific approach and a culture of peace draw on shared intellectual dispositions. Evidence-based argument, accepting contradiction, revising an opinion in the light of new data and listening to other people's reasoning are skills that can be developed just as well in a science lesson as in a peace education programme. Training teachers able to cultivate these dispositions in their pupils is part of a single educational project.

The laboratory's work focuses on the conditions for teaching science in Burundian schools, on designing teaching sequences suited to the resources actually available in classrooms, and on integrating peace and social cohesion themes into school curricula and teacher training.

The Laboratory for the Description, Didactics and Dynamics of Languages organises its work around the three dimensions in its name, which form three linked research areas.

Description concerns the linguistic study of the languages themselves: their phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon. For Kirundi in particular, the national language of Burundi, this descriptive work remains very important, as it provides the scientific basis without which no rigorous teaching or production of teaching resources is possible.

Didactics concerns the teaching and learning of these languages, whether Kirundi as a first language, French and English as languages of instruction and international communication, or Swahili as a regional language of East Africa. Each status calls for different teaching approaches, which the laboratory studies and documents.

Finally, dynamics looks at the life of languages in society: contact between them, variation in usage, changes in status, code-switching and the actual multilingualism of Burundian speakers. This area is directly useful for educational decision-making, as school language policy choices are better based on accurate knowledge of real usage than on assumptions.

All three areas feed into the Institute's training programmes, which include departments and Master's programmes in English, French, Kirundi and Swahili.

The CRDS's work feeds directly into the Institute's teaching. Research findings from both laboratories inform the didactics courses of the Bachelor's and Master's programmes, and give students references drawn from their own context rather than from educational situations far removed from their future working conditions.

Master's students find a framework for their research thesis within the centre. The themes of the two laboratories open up a wide range of topics, from analysing learning difficulties in a science subject to studying a specific linguistic phenomenon or evaluating a teaching approach tested in the classroom. Students are supervised by teacher-researchers active in their field.

Finally, the centre takes part in the Institute's continuing education mission, contributing to activities for in-service teachers and to support for school curriculum reforms, two objectives included in the IPA's mandate.