In many situations, the change in the conceptual understanding of students is measured using a single question. This is, for instance, the case in peer instruction where students answer twice to the same questions, before and after the discussion phase. Using item response theory and assuming that students proficiencies are normally distributed,…

Institutional relations to knowledge objects at the primary school are time-fluctuant and therefore closely linked to the development of institutions. Building up the concept of material implies several sciences and technologies in overlapping epistemological fields. The questions of transposition and appropriation associated to the concept at…

The definition-construction process is central to mathematics. The aim of this paper is to propose a few Situations of Definition-Construction (called SDC) and to study them. Our main objectives are to describe the definition-construction process and to design SDC for classroom. A SDC on "discrete straight line" and its mathematical and…

Examines the process through which students learn to make functional use of computer algebra systems (CAS) and the interaction between that process and the wider mathematical development of students. Highlights important challenges that arise in instrumenting classroom mathematical activity and instrumentalizing CAS correspondingly. Reveals…

Using interviews with primary school teachers from France who are living and working in Portugal as examples, this article argues that the informal, in-depth interview process helps the interviewee develop a new understanding of the experiences in focus. The idea is discussed of introducing this function of the interview into inservice training…

Presents an anthropological approach used in French research and the theory of instrumentation developed in cognitive ergonomics. Shows how these frameworks allow an approach to the educational use of CAS technology, focusing on the unexpected complexity of instrumental genesis, mathematical needs of instrumentation, status of instrumented…

In this paper, some aspects of French mathematical education theory concerning "problem situations" are taken into account. In this theoretical framework, the choice of problem situations is fundamental in order to allow pupils to make hypotheses, to mobilize their knowledge, to argue, and finally, to construct new knowledge. Certain…

This article presents and discusses some results of the authors' analysis of international and national institutional documents related to environmental education from the 1970s to the present day. The aim of the study is to present a critical characterization of how environmental education is conceptualized and introduced through the ongoing…

Describes some topics of French research: relationships between teaching and learning, choices and constraints of the didactic system, role of the computer, and forms of the functioning knowledge. (YP)

One way of countering illiteracy is to teach children to read before they enter elementary school, e.g., in nursery school or at home. The "right age" for learning to read is discussed; positive results of a project in France that taught nursery school children to read and write are examined. (RM)