School experimentation : from lab to classroom

Much of what we know about learning mechanisms and teaching approaches is based on small-scale experiments in highly controlled environments. However, their application in everyday classroom life brings into play a whole range of contextual elements: experimentation in situation makes it possible to apprehend mechanisms that are difficult to predict a priori, by having an operative point of view that reveals the effects of social environments. This will be illustrated by examples from French and foreign experiments.

Marc Gurgand is an alumnus of the École normale supérieure and holds a doctorate in economics from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). He is Director of Research at the CNRS and Professor at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and at the École normale supérieure-Paris sciences et lettres (ENS-PSL), where he heads the "Politiques publiques et développement" master's program. He is also Scientific Director of J-PAL Europe and Research Fellow at the IZA-Institute of Labor Economics. He is a member of the Conseil national de l'évaluation du système scolaire (CNESCO) and of the Scientific Committee in charge of evaluating the Garantie jeunes program. From 2009 to 2013, he chaired the Scientific Council of the Fonds d'expérimentation pour la jeunesse.
Marc Gurgand is a member of the Conseil Scientifique de l'Éducation Nationale.