Résumé
The purpose of this study is to identify links between the geothermal context and the conceptions in different initial teachers training, from the Caribbean and North America. The Caribbean Islands are located in a subduction zone, creating a great potential for geothermal energy. In Guadeloupe, this potential has been harnessed and a geothermal power plant produces about 5% of the local demand for electricity. It is called high temperature geothermy. In Quebec the bedrock mainly consists of ancient Precambrian rocks from the Canadian Shield, which does not allow for electricity production. The geothermal heat is used to regulate the temperature in buildings, to create spars, to grow crops and other purposes. It is called low temperature geothermy. This design-based research (Sandoval, W. et Al., 2004) takes part in the contextualization of sciences education research works (Blanchet, P. et Al., 2009, Anciaux, F. et Al., 2013) and in the continuation of the Gounouy project (Fecil, S. et Al., 2014). A project-based learning on geothermal energy has been set up with two groups of initial teachers training from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and from the French West Indies University (UA). The purpose is to create collaborations between each group in order to enable them to encounter, recognize and formulate their conceptions. Further, they will collectively elaborate a more complex understanding of conceptions about geothermy. More specifically, the design used in this experiment aims to highlight context effects (Merlo-Leurette, S., Forissier, T., 2009). Context effects are pedagogical events occurring when there is a clash between the different conceptions of students, observed uring courses regarding different problematics related to geothermal energy. Communications via videoconferences were arranged so that the counterpart teams may discuss their investigative findings. Videos from the exchanges have been collected, as well as weekly summaries about student’s accomplishment, ideas, questions and feelings. Pre-test and post-test questionnaires on geothermal energy were submitted at the beginning and at the end of the project, to compare conceptions before and after the learning process. Collected data enables to bring out the student’s contextuality. Therefore, they highlight context effects, due to the differences between the geothermal contexts in Guadeloupe and in Montreal.This study is supported by the Geotref project.