By Thérese Auzou-Caillemet, author of the thesis Les interactions d’accompagnement dans les aides pour les élèves en difficulté : invariants et particularités des ES-ADP (Support interactions in help for pupils with difficulties: constants and particularities of the ES-ADP), defended in 2023 at the Université de Caen-Normandie
At school, activities involving emotions, speech and symbolisation are often confined to the margins of learning. Yet some of them are genuine levers for the development of cognitive skills. The Three Figures Game (J3F), designed by Serge Tisseron in 2006, is an illuminating example. Behind its playful appearance lies a structuring tool, capable of promoting both emotional self-regulation and reflective thinking, two fundamental dimensions of learning.
Although my research on support interactions in help for pupils with difficulties did not focus specifically on this game, it allowed me to see its value when it was used by certain teachers. Combined with the scientific literature, these observations highlighted the potential of the J3F for fostering the co-construction of meaning and the development of a reflective stance, in pupils and teachers alike.
A game… but not only a game
The J3F invites pupils to embody, through role-play, three roles: the victim, the aggressor and the third party, who may be a simple witness, a righter of wrongs or a rescuer. Starting from a striking image reported by the children, the adult turns a scene taken from screens (which does not necessarily contain these 3 figures at the outset) into a schematic scenario, a kind of narrative skeleton, which will be used to develop a new scenario co-constructed by the children, conducive to play and collective reflection. When the image proposed by the children carries a strong charge of violence, this transformation brings about a genuine “symbolic detoxification” that rids it of its anxiety-provoking charge.
This ritualised game offers a safe framework in which pupils can express, observe, name and adjust their emotions, but also develop language, narrative and social skills. In particular it engages the executive functions: task planning, mental flexibility, inhibition… all processes essential to any school learning. These executive functions, as defined by Houdé (2014) and Dehaene (2018), encompass high-level cognitive processes actively called upon in any learning task. But their development depends heavily on the relational climate, on the ability to manage one’s emotions and on the possibility of stepping back from one’s actions.
Self-regulation and learning climate
Bandura’s work (2007) showed how interdependent emotional regulation and cognitive regulation are. The sense of self-efficacy is built in those moments when one acts, feels, observes and adjusts, while being recognised by the group and supported by the adult. In other words, learning is more effective when it is anchored in a calm relational climate linked to encouraging feedback, a safe environment and the possibility of mutual observation between peers (Borst, 2019).
The J3F allows precisely this gradual progression towards autonomy. The teacher first holds an active place in it, but gradually steps back: the group learns to co-regulate its exchanges and to structure its interactions. We thus move from collective self-regulation to a more personal self-regulation, an essential condition for cognitive engagement.
A bridge between emotions, language and thought
The J3F tool also creates bridges between spheres that are too often compartmentalised at school: the socio-emotional, the cognitive, the linguistic. The moment of verbalisation that follows the role-play is particularly fruitful for older pupils (end of primary school and lower secondary). Pupils learn to talk about what they felt, to listen to other points of view, and to compare and reflect on their choices. These skills in turn help them adjust to school learning and develop critical thinking, autonomy in action, and awareness of themselves and others. We are no longer simply dealing with managing “living together”, but with building the conditions for thoughtful and engaged learning.
A pedagogy of socio-cognitive conflict
Integrating the J3F into school culture means betting on a pedagogy that values the multiplication of points of view and the dynamic tensions between them. These become so many opportunities to learn to think with others and among others. It means offering pupils spaces to learn not only to say and to do, but to think of themselves as they say, as they do… and as they learn.
The J3F thus embodies the ambition of a school that combines the development of psychosocial skills with cognitive rigour.
Bibliography
Auzou-Caillemet (2023) Les interactions d’accompagnement dans les aides pour les élèves en difficulté : invariants et particularités des ES-ADP – Doctoral thesis
Bandura, A., & Lecomte, J. (2007a). Auto-efficacité : Le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle. De Boeck.
Borst, G. (2019). Cerveau, raison, émotion et apprentissage chez l’enfant et l’adolescent. Diversité, 195(1), 36-39.
Dehaene, S. (2018). Apprendre ! Les talents du cerveau, le défi des machines. Odile Jacob.
Houdé, O. (2017). Apprendre à résister. Gallimard
Tisseron, S. (2020). Empathie et manipulations : Les pièges de la compassion. Albin Michel.
