The heterogeneity in the levels of knowledge induced by the student’s professional project and the intrinsic difficulty for transposing the academic knowledge to the experimental practice in Plant Biology lead regularly AMAP to become interested in the new pedagogical tools for supporting and developing their training actions in plant morphology and architecture.
BotaCaching is an intuitive online design tool to create gamelinked to the botany education. Unlike serious game which reproduces a virtual environment, it needs and uses human-nature interactions in the open-air runs.
BotaCaching is composed of two software modules which share information across a remote database : BotaTeaching and BotaTraining. BotaTeaching is a CMS (Content Management System) using predefined canvases and mechanisms which allow the teacher to :
BotaCaching allows to promote and complete the educational itinerary defi ned by the teachers on the one hand, and to strengthen and evaluate the experimental knowledge of the students from voluntary and entertainment approaches on the other. It is a satisfactory alternative to the lack of practical work hours and of access to resources. It stimulates so the observation of natural and man-made environments.
The contextual study stated that BotaCachning could be enlarged and used for sensitizing the general public, specialising the informed amateurs and/or enhancing the plant heritage. The finalisation of BotaCaching could so take the form of a technology transfer.