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Nutzungsbedingungen AbstractIn this paper we aim at establishing a link between two theoretical frames: modelling and its use in the design and analysis of scientific teaching sequences, and the communicative approaches as they alternate in classroom activities. In this case study, we follow the interactions between the teacher and a pair of students during an entire teaching sequence in Optics (grade 11). We focus on the way the teacher managed the dialogicity and the modelling processes in the classroom discourse. A qualitative analysis shows some difficulties in such an achievement, and their consequences on students' meaning making.

International audienceThis article describes the results of a study of the similarities and differences in laboratory tasks used in science education at upper secondary school and university level, in the three main science subjects, in seven European countries. The data source for the study was a collection of 75 laboratory instruction sheets for use at school level in five countries, and 90 for use at university level in six countries, selected as being “typical” of practice in these countries. The tool used for analysis was a “map” (or classification system) for labwork tasks. Whilst some differences are noted between the science subjects and between educational levels, the dominant impression from this analysis is of similarity across educational levels, science subjects and countries. Some coding categories arise only very infrequently, suggesting that some possible designs of labwork task are very seldom used. The findings indicate the potential usefulness of this classificatory “map” as a tool for monitoring practice and for raising questions about the use of labwork in science education. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed85:483–508, 2001

This article describes the results of a study of the similarities and differences in laboratory tasks used in science education at upper secondary school and university level, in the three main science subjects, in seven European countries. The data source for the study was a collection of 75 laboratory instruction sheets for use at school level in five countries, and 90 for use at university level in six countries, selected as being "typical" of practice in these countries. The tool used for analysis was a "map" (or classification system) for labwork tasks. Whilst some differences are noted between the science subjects and between educational levels, the dominant impression from this analysis is of similarity across educational levels, science subjects and countries. Some coding categories arise only very infrequently, suggesting that some possible designs of labwork task are very seldom used. The findings indicate the potential usefulness of this classificatory "map" as a tool for monitoring practice and for raising questions about the use of labwork in science education.

This study has two aims: to give some overview of methods used previously by other researchers for analysing labwork in science education and to describe a new method for analysing labwork using a category-based analysis of videotapes from labwork (CBAV). In this CBAV method, two types of categories are defined: categories for labwork contexts and categories for verbalised knowledge during work in these contexts. The method was used in five studies of labwork in France and Germany in upper secondary school and university physics classes (see contributions of Buty, Theyßen et al., Hucke et al., and Sander et al., all in this volume;Haller 1999). Specific results can be found there. The method among others can help to answer questions about the link between theory and practice in different labwork contexts. It can be used complementary to other methods and permits to analyse a lot of video data in a relatively short time.

This analysis concerns the help given to students by a computer-based model, in the field of geometrical optics. We consider that physics learning is necessarily the establishment of links between two worlds, the world of objects and events, and the world of theory and models. Our study aims to understand whether the computer-based model has enriched these links in the verbal productions of students. We relate the resources given to students during a rather long teaching sequence, and the kinds of their verbal productions. The results show that the computer-based model has favoured the use of physics theory, with more efficiency than the performing of experiments. But the link with the world of objects and events needs accurate instructions from the teacher.

Teaching and learning are time-dependant processes. It can be hypothesised that the content coherence during a teaching sequence is an important factor of learning. In this perspective, it is of great interest to follow the occurrences of a notion and the development of its meanings in the classroom discourse, all along the various sessions of a sequence. The purpose of this article is to propose a methodology for reconstructing the story of a particular notion, from the video recording of the interactions between a teacher and students, with the use of a software dedicated to qualitative analysis. The case study which is the basis of this work involves two classes in Lebanon, at Grade 7, during a teaching sequence about electricity. The study also shows the respective contributions of the teacher and students to the discourse and knowledge progression in the sequence.

Les études des effets de l’enseignement sur les apprentissages des élèves conduites en didactique des sciences sont présentées selon trois types: les études a priori qui décrivent ce qui est réellement enseigné et peut donc être appris, les études relatives à la manière d’enseigner un savoir déterminé, et les études qui cherchent à décrire les manières d’enseigner pour en déduire ce qu’il est possible d’apprendre dans les conditions créées par un enseignement donné. Des exemples sont donnés, afin de montrer les méthodes et les raisonnements dans chacun des cas.