Structure du raisonnement deductif et apprentissage de la demonstration

Resume Le raisonnement déductif ne fonctionne pas comme une argumentation. Cependant ces deux formes de raisonnement emploient souvent les mêmes connecteurs et se traduisent par des démarches linguistiques très voisines. C'est une des raisons pour lesquelles la plupart des élèves ne parviennent pas à percevoir les exigences propres d'une démonstration en mathématique. Cet article présente une analyse cognitive de l'organisation déductive du raisonnement par opposition à son organisation argumentative. La distinction entre contenu et statut opératoire des propositions y apparaît fondamentale. Pour illustrer cette analyse nous présentons des textes de démonstration rédigés par des élèves de quatrième, sur des problèmes de géométrie, au cours d'une expérience d'enseignement organisée pour faire mettre en oeuvre cette distinction. L'analyse de ces textes et l'interprétation de l'évolution observée au cours de cette expérience conduisent à prendre en compte une seconde distinction: celle entre la valeur de vérité et la valeur épistémique des propositions. Car la découverte du fonctionnement du raisonnement déductif s'accompagne, pour les élèves, d'une prise de conscience: il change la valeur épistémique de la proposition démontrée.

---

Deductive thinking does not work like argumentation. However these two kinds of reasoning use very similar linguistic forms and propositional connectives. This is one of the main reasons why most of the students do not understand the requirements of mathematical proofs. In this article we present a cognitive analysis of deductive organisation versus argumentative organisation of reasoning, and the didactical applications of this analysis. We present also proofs written by young students for geometrical problems, in the frame of an experience, the goal of which was to realize dissociation between content and operative status of propositions. The analysis of proofs written by the students requires a second distinction between truth value and epistemic value of propositions: by splitting content and operative status, students discover how deductive reasoning works and, at the same time, become aware that deductive reasoning change also the epistemic value of the proved proposition.

     

The Desire for Fame: An Extension of Uses and Gratifications Theory

Social network sites (SNSs) enable users to self-disclose to broad and anonymous audiences. Drawing on social cognitive theory (SCT) and the uses and gratifications (U&G) approach, this study investigates how reality television (RTV) cultivates desire for fame in its audience, which is operationalized as a human desire motivating nondirected self-disclosure (NDSD) online, a technique seeking fame. Results from an online survey (N = 221) show that whether watching RTV with friends interacted with time spent viewing RTV to affect desire for fame, which in turn affected the use of SNSs to pursue fame. In addition, exhibitionism, a motive of SNS use for the purpose of fame, fully mediated the relationship between desire for fame and NDSD. These results have implications for refining U&G and new media research.     

Aesthetic encounters and learning in the museum

Abstract

This article discusses how museum settings can provide opportunities for sensory and aesthetic encounters and learning. It draws on research into museum education programmes that included examinations of curatorial construction and display, observations of teaching and open-ended interviews with museum educators. The examples selected here focus on themes of display and learning to illustrate how aesthetic experiences can emerge as incidental adjuncts to learning in other fields. They also acknowledge how museums draw on aesthetic judgements to categorise or present objects and employ aesthetic artefacts and practices as representative devices of cultural engagement, especially in learning themes in the humanities. The studies show how museums can offer opportunities and skills, and cultivate dispositions to the examination of challenging ideas about aesthetic status, sensibility, interpretation or value. Examples of purposefully constructed sites for aesthetic learning show how museum educators have rethought ways of facilitating affective sensory experiences, and raising questions of aesthetic status, response and the social and cultural functions of the arts. The studies discussed here suggest that museums can provide dedicated opportunities to cultivate independent aesthetic thinking and debate about aesthetic ideas as lifelong skills and pleasures.     

The Development and Field Testing of the Chinese Career Key among High School and College Students in Hong Kong

A career interest inventory, the Chinese Career Key (CCK) was adapted from the Career Key (Jones, 1987, 1997), which is based on Holland’s theory of vocational choice. The goal was to create a professional-quality career interest inventory for use in China and countries having significant populations of Chinese speaking citizens. This report describes the development of the CCK and its first study at a public high school (n=101) and a public university (n=80) in Hong Kong. In general, the research findings support its validity, reliability and user satisfaction among high school and university students in Hong Kong. Cultural differences were explained.     

Associations of Warmth and Control of Filipina Domestic Helpers and Mothers to Hong Kong Kindergarten Children's Social Competence

Research Findings: Across 63 Hong Kong families, both Filipina domestic helpers and mothers separately rated their own caregiving style (warmth and control) and kindergarten children's social competence. Results indicated that Filipina helpers rated themselves as higher in warmth than mothers did. In addition, self-rated warmth of both caregivers, and Filipina domestic helpers' self-perceived control were correlated with children's social competence. With ratings of warmth and control from both Filipina helpers and mothers included in separate regression equations, mothers' warmth was a strong unique correlate of all measures of children's social competence. However, Filipinas' warmth was uniquely associated with children's responsibility only, whereas their control was uniquely associated with children's assertion and responsibility. Practice or Policy: Results extend previous research on the importance of nonparental caregivers for children's social development in a new cultural context.     

The Intelligent Teacher’s Guide Through Campaign Propaganda

Seven adolescents who are blind and seven of their parents were interviewed about the adolescents’ social lives. Adolescent and parent perspectives are reviewed, followed by implications for teachers to support the social connections of students who are blind.     

The Aerial View of Parnassus (Literature as Objective Knowledge)

People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate. (James Baldwin)     

ADULT AGE DIFFERENCES IN VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

Both working memory (WM) and existing vocabulary knowledge are used when the meaning of a new word is deciphered in context. Age-related WM deficits and vocabulary strengths suggest that younger and older adults rely on these factors differently. Participants gave definitions for rare, novel words that appeared in short passages. Three measures of each individual difference factor (WM and vocabulary) were administered. Older adults gave more complete definitions for the novel words, had higher vocabulary knowledge test scores, but reduced WM scores compared to younger adults. As predicted, existing vocabulary knowledge contributed more to extracting word meaning from context than did WM for the older adults only.