Un inventaire des notions impliquées dans un enseignement général de mathématique à l'école secondaire

Sans résumé     

Cinema Demand in Spain: A Cointegration Analysis

In this paper we explain the decline in cinema attendance in Spain since 1968. We use a cointegration analysis to estimate an individual demand function for cinema, with annual data and in terms of average attendance per inhabitant. We find that cinema is a luxury good and that its demand is elastic with respect to its price. We also show that television acts as a deterrent with regard to cinema attendance. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Intentional thought dynamics during exercise performed until volitional exhaustion

Using a non-linear approach, intentional dynamics of thoughts were examined during constant cycling performed until volitional exhaustion. Participants (n = 12) completed two sessions at 80% W_max. Their (1) intrinsic thought dynamics (i.e., no-imposed thoughts condition) and (2) intentional thought dynamics (i.e., imposed task-unrelated thoughts condition; TUT) were recorded and then classified into four categories: internal and external TUT (TUT-I, TUT-E) and external and internal task-related thoughts (TRT-E, TRT-I). The probability estimates for maintaining each thought category stable, the rate of switching from one category to another, and the entropy dynamics along the testing procedure were assessed and compared through time phase. Friedman ANOVA tests revealed a significant effect of effort increase on thought contents only in the imposed TUT test. While TUT-I probabilities decreased significantly (P < .001) as effort increased, TRT-I probabilities increased (P < .05). Moreover, the entropy to the entire thought dynamics increased at the outset of task performance and decreased upon approaching volitional exhaustion (P < .001). As time spent in constant effort increased, and volitional exhaustion approached, task relatedness (TUT, TRT), direction (internal, external), and entropy of thought contents changed unintentionally providing further evidence for a nonlinear dynamics of attention focus.     

Transcultural analysis of the effectiveness of a program to promote self-regulated learning in Mozambique,Chile, Portugal,and Spain

The current investigation aims at assessing the effectiveness of an intervention program designed to enhance self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies at the university level, with students from different cultural, linguistic, and educational backgrounds. The central tool of the program is a set of letters in which a fictional first-year student describes his experiences as an SRL student. The program was implemented in four universities in different countries and continents (Portugal, Spain, Chile, and Mozambique), with an experimental group and a comparison group at each university (263 students from experimental groups and 247 from comparison groups). Findings display the effectiveness of the program in enhancing a set of motivational variables related to the study process and the use of SRL strategies. Data were consistent across the different cultural and academic contexts in which the program was implemented. The implications of these findings for university administrators and faculty are discussed.     

Writing instruction for social justice: an investigation into the components of a teacher preparation course

Future teachers must notice, navigate, and address ideologies in order to counter inequities in the literacy classroom. This article presents the findings of two teacher educators who have taken up the call to critically reflect on their own underlying beliefs and discourses regarding writing instruction. Through an education design framework, they analysed important components of the course, arguing for a higher degree of visibility of the ideologies and social forces that impact writing instruction. They found that despite encouraging a fairly complex and all-encompassing view of learning to write to the future teachers in their course, the creativity discourse was present passively and the socio-political was downright absent, despite clear social justice aims in the course. They discuss how well-established discourses can serve as gateways to embed the socio-political into the course and address more granularly the question of exclusion through selected mentor texts.     

The Hand of God,the Hand of the Devil: a sociological interpretation of Maradona’s hand goal

Based on the moral problem of Maradona’s goal, known as the ‘Hand of God’, this essay presents a theoretical discussion using the perspective of figurational sociology of how game rules and moral rules are related. It does not aim to solve the moral dispute occasioned by actions like the ‘Hand of God’, but concentrates on a much more limited discussion (appealing to far fewer people) in which we strive to reach a proper sociological understanding. Indeed, we believe that the ‘Hand of God’ is a paradigmatic event for sociological reasoning. This is not to claim that sociology can give any final answers, but to suggest the opposite, namely that an understanding of the value of ‘hand goals’ can be very important for understanding the limits of sociological reason.     

A comparison of the perceptions of Love, Anger, and Guilt in Portugal and the United States and implications for counseling

This study compared the ways that graduate and undergraduate counseling and psychology students from Portugal and the United States evaluated the feelings of Love, Anger and Guilt. Utilizing a semantic differential, a multivariate analysis of variance was employed in which the independent variables were Country and Gender and the dependent variables were the evaluative and potency scales of Love, Anger and Guilt. There was no significant main effect for gender and there was no significant interaction effect for gender by country. There was a significant main effect for country. It was found that students from the United States evaluated Anger more positively than the Portuguese students and that the Portuguese students evaluated Guilt more positively than the United States students. These findings have implications that are relevant to the counseling process.     

Enhancing students’ mathematical reasoning in the classroom: teacher actions facilitating generalization and justification

A proof is a connected sequence of assertions that includes a set of accepted statements, forms of reasoning and modes of representing arguments. Assuming reasoning to be central to proving and aiming to develop knowledge about how teacher actions may promote students’ mathematical reasoning, we conduct design research where whole-class mathematical discussions triggered by exploratory tasks play a key role. We take mathematical reasoning as making justified inferences and we consider generalizing and justifying central reasoning processes. Regarding teacher actions, we consider inviting, informing/suggesting, supporting/guiding and challenging actions can be identified in whole-class discussions. This paper presents design principles for an intervention geared to tackle such reasoning processes and focuses on a whole-class discussion on a grade 7 lesson about linear equations and functions. Data analysis concerns teacher actions in relation to design principles and to the sought mathematical reasoning processes. The conclusions highlight teacher actions that lead students to generalize and justify. Generalizations may arise from a central challenging action or from several guiding actions. Regarding justifications, a main challenging action seems to be essential, while follow-up guiding actions may promote a further development of this reasoning process. Thus, this paper provides a set of design principles and a characterization of teacher actions which enhance students’ mathematical reasoning processes such as generalization and justification.     

The dynamics of connecting universities,non-governmental organizations and community members by means of academic projects directed at people in need

In this article we discuss an action research experience that took place from 2002 to 2015. We analyze the inception and progress of several project-based learning-centered academic courses that were aimed at developing the project management skills of graduate and undergraduate students. The experience involved approximately 1800 students from two universities and 40 community partners. The students developed real-life projects on behalf of institutions and non-governmental organizations located in the area that help people in need; we refer to these agencies as ‘community partners.’ We analyze the development of the course from a systemic perspective, making use of causal loop diagrams in order to understand the main driving dynamics. We discuss the results achieved by these projects and the benefits brought to the community partners. We also present testimony from the community partners themselves. We conclude by presenting the lessons we learned over the years we have been running this course.