Integrating Geomatics into the Curriculum: Inquiry-Based-Learning during a Fieldwork Course

International audienceIn this paper, we address the question of the introducing of geomatics into the secondary curriculum for Inquiry-Based-Learning. This paper relates to an empirical study based on the implementation of a fieldwork course for 140, 16-18-year-old students. The study takes place in the intersection of two fields of the educational research: the didactic of geology and the computerized learning environment for learning. It relates to a socio-constructivist framework and aims at identifying the setting which is necessary so that students can be able to carry out a scientific inquiry based on the use of GIS material.We show that the question of instrumentation is a key question and that the benefit of the technology relates to the fact that it mediates the interactions – i.e. assists the students during the inquiry process. The computer based learning environments are, then, considered as instruments which are constructed by the learners through their activity and participate in transforming the learning process