R&D Unplugged

In this episode, we sit down with Manon Sala, a second-year PhD student in Sociology and Learning Sciences at the FIRE Doctoral School at the Learning Planet Institute. Manon’s research delves into the institutionalization of Social and Ecological Transition Pedagogies in Higher Education in France, through a comparative analysis of various curricula.

Our conversation centers around the French government’s 2026 recommendations for Ecological and Social Transitions in Higher Education. We explore the role of educators as a “creative middle ground,” bridging the gap between structural changes and the development of psychosocial competencies in students. Together, we examine how these dual levels of action can transform learning cultures and contribute to building a more sustainable and caring society.

Teachers play a critical role in ensuring high-quality education for all, but top-down recommendations on proven teaching practices often miss the mark. In reality, teachers rely on their own experiences to navigate challenges in the classroom. While this experiential knowledge is widely shared, it’s often localized and intuitive, raising the question: can it become a trusted, shareable knowledge base for the profession?

In this episode, we talk with Ignacio Atal, founder of the Profs-Chercheurs program, a participatory research initiative designed to engage teachers in producing reliable and cumulative knowledge about their educational practices. Together, we reflect on five years of the program, exploring how collective intelligence can help teachers collaboratively tackle shared challenges. Tune in for an insightful discussion on the potential and obstacles of fostering teacher-driven research.

Nearly two years after the public release of ChatGPT and the widespread adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs), what have we learned about their relevance in real-world applications?

In this episode, we’re joined by Jean-Marc Sevin, a senior data scientist at the Learning Planet Institute, to tackle some of today’s most pressing questions: How can we effectively apply this technology to support learning around the Sustainable Development Goals? And should we shift the AI research agenda toward new disciplines to better understand the so-called magic behind LLMs?

Although we like to believe that we care about children and their future, studies on climate change and children's mental health reveal that their concerns about the planet and their actions are often undermined.

In this episode we will discuss with Laelia Benoit how childism, the prejudice against children, is prevalent in our daily lives. Additionally, we will discuss ways to become more aware of this issue, address childism as it occurs, and collaborate with children to overcome stigma and empower them to drive change.

Given the vast amount of information currently available on the internet and the spread of fake news and other types of disinformation, source evaluation has become a key competence for all users. But what is exactly “source evaluation” and why/when should users perform it? How do reading literacy theories define this construct?

Together with Mônica Macedo-Rouet, we delve into the findings of empirical studies on users’ sourcing behavior in this episode, arguing that sourcing may vary depending on the context of information seeking. With this perspective, Mônica suggests topics for discussing the creation of educational interventions aimed at teaching sourcing skills to adolescents.