5 research outputs found

    Teaching fractions through a Measurement Approach to prospective elementary teachers: A design experiment in a Math Methods course

    Get PDF
    In this study we give an account of a teaching experiment on fractions to prospective elementary teachers, which took place in winter 2014 in a Teaching Mathematics course in an Elementary Education undergraduate program at a North-American university. The experiment was an adaptation for teacher education of the “Measurement Approach” to teaching fractions developed by the psychologist V.V. Davydov for the elementary mathematics curriculum (Davydov & Tsvetkovich, 1991). The research had the characteristics of a design experiment, with a phase of reflection on the sources of meaning of fractions appropriate for the elementary school, as well as preliminary trials with one year before (winter 2013) preceding the implementation of the experiment in a “mature form.” We had two overarching goals in the design conception: fostering future teachers’ quantitative reasoning and cultivating a positioning relative to the course institution that is more conducive to accepting the approach – that of university students acquiring theoretical knowledge. In the description and the retrospective analysis of the teaching intervention we follow the realization of these goals at three levels: the overall organization of the material and tasks in the course by the instructor, the classroom interactions between the instructor and the students in lectures, and individual reasoning without mediation by the instructor. We found that the Measurement Approach encouraged a culture of systemic justification in the classroom with some students adopting flexibly and creatively the proposed models of reasoning within a given theory. However, the risk of students’ imitating only certain aspects of these models – such as words, sentence structures, or procedures – ran high, with many students using the theory only as “decoration”, without adequate understanding. Furthermore, although spontaneous engagement with quantitative reasoning for establishing validity of statements about fractions or for explaining realistic problems was rare, it was present in several students, in encouraging forms. Very few students adopted such reasoning, but those who did, exhibited sophisticated and varied strategies for solving problems, which demonstrated robust understanding of the fraction of quantity theory

    Teaching fractions through a Measurement Approach to prospective elementary teachers: A design experiment in a Math Methods course

    Get PDF
    In this study we give an account of a teaching experiment on fractions to prospective elementary teachers, which took place in winter 2014 in a Teaching Mathematics course in an Elementary Education undergraduate program at a North-American university. The experiment was an adaptation for teacher education of the “Measurement Approach” to teaching fractions developed by the psychologist V.V. Davydov for the elementary mathematics curriculum (Davydov & Tsvetkovich, 1991). The research had the characteristics of a design experiment, with a phase of reflection on the sources of meaning of fractions appropriate for the elementary school, as well as preliminary trials with one year before (winter 2013) preceding the implementation of the experiment in a “mature form.” We had two overarching goals in the design conception: fostering future teachers’ quantitative reasoning and cultivating a positioning relative to the course institution that is more conducive to accepting the approach – that of university students acquiring theoretical knowledge. In the description and the retrospective analysis of the teaching intervention we follow the realization of these goals at three levels: the overall organization of the material and tasks in the course by the instructor, the classroom interactions between the instructor and the students in lectures, and individual reasoning without mediation by the instructor. We found that the Measurement Approach encouraged a culture of systemic justification in the classroom with some students adopting flexibly and creatively the proposed models of reasoning within a given theory. However, the risk of students’ imitating only certain aspects of these models – such as words, sentence structures, or procedures – ran high, with many students using the theory only as “decoration”, without adequate understanding. Furthermore, although spontaneous engagement with quantitative reasoning for establishing validity of statements about fractions or for explaining realistic problems was rare, it was present in several students, in encouraging forms. Very few students adopted such reasoning, but those who did, exhibited sophisticated and varied strategies for solving problems, which demonstrated robust understanding of the fraction of quantity theory

    Habileté et propension à l'empathie : conceptualisation et étude de facteurs d'influence par des mesures comportementales et cérébrales

    Get PDF
    L'empathie est une capacité humaine complexe qui permet de comprendre et même de partager les états affectifs d'autrui. Cette fonction comporte une composante affective, qui permet de ressentir à un degré moindre ce que l'autre ressent, ainsi qu'une composante cognitive, soit la capacité de prendre la perspective d'autrui et d'inférer ses états mentaux. Au plan cérébral, la résonance affective est sous-tendue notamment par le réseau de la saillance, incluant des régions tels le cortex cingulaire antérieur et l'insula antérieure. La composante cognitive est sous-tendue par le réseau de la mentalisation, comprenant entre autres le cortex préfrontal dorso-médian. Une distinction entre l'habileté (capacité maximale d'empathie d'un individu) et la propension (tendance à utiliser cette habileté) à l'empathie a été proposée. Cette distinction émerge du fait que la réponse empathique d'un individu n'est pas immuable et qu'elle peut être affectée par des facteurs individuels et contextuels. L'objectif général de la thèse était d'approfondir les connaissances théoriques, méthodologiques et empiriques des concepts d'habileté et de propension à l'empathie. Le premier chapitre de la thèse visait à mieux comprendre l'habileté et la propension à l'empathie par la modulation de facteurs contextuels, et à investiguer l'interaction entre ceux-ci et certaines caractéristiques individuelles. Par deux études comportementales, les résultats suggèrent qu'une consigne encourageant l'empathie et une charge cognitive augmentent l'empathie comparativement à une condition d'observation passive. Toutefois, cet effet était significatif seulement chez certains individus, notamment selon l'âge, les traits psychopathiques, autistiques, alexithymiques et d'empathie auto-rapportés, ainsi que chez les hommes pour la charge cognitive. Certaines personnes seraient donc moins stables dans le déploiement de leur empathie et auraient besoin de contextes spécifiques afin de l'utiliser pleinement. Afin de mieux comprendre les processus sous-tendant la propension à l'empathie, le deuxième chapitre de la thèse constitue une étude de neuroimagerie qui visait à mettre en lumière les patrons de connectivité cérébrale fonctionnelle associés aux composantes cognitive et affective de l'empathie selon certaines caractéristiques individuelles associées à la propension à l'empathie (c.-à-d., sexe et âge). Chez les individus ayant une forte propension à l'empathie (c.-à-d., adultes et femmes), les résultats ont montré que la connectivité cérébrale fonctionnelle du cortex préfrontal dorso-médian recrute des régions typiquement associées à la composante cognitive de l'empathie, tandis que celle issue de l'insula antérieure s'apparente aux régions qui sous-tendent les composantes cognitive et iv affective de l'empathie. Ces patrons étaient toutefois différents chez les individus ayant une faible propension à l'empathie (c.-à-d., adolescents et hommes), pour qui la connectivité cérébrale entre les circuits de la saillance et de la mentalisation est diffuse et moins intégrée, ce qui contribuerait possiblement au fait qu'ils soient plus sélectifs dans le déploiement de leurs capacités empathiques. Finalement, le troisième chapitre de la thèse a permis d'approfondir les assises théoriques de l'empathie, notamment la définition du concept et de ses composantes, les notions d'habileté et de propension, ainsi que les méthodes auto-rapportées, comportementales, psychophysiologiques et de neuroimagerie afin de l'évaluer. Une revue exhaustive et quantitative des questionnaires qui existent afin de mesurer l'empathie a permis de mettre en lumière qu'alors que plusieurs auteurs considèrent l'empathie comme une capacité, les outils mesurent davantage la propension à l'empathie. Ce chapitre supporte l'idée que plusieurs outils actuellement utilisés afin de mesurer l'empathie ne sont pas optimaux et n'adressent pas l'ensemble des composantes; des recommandations afin d'améliorer la mesure de l'empathie ont donc été proposées. Un arbre de décision a également été proposé afin d'aider les futurs chercheurs à sélectionner l'outil le plus approprié selon leur question de recherche et les composantes de l'empathie qu'ils désirent évaluer. Somme toute, la thèse permet d'approfondir les connaissances théoriques et méthodologiques actuelles de l'empathie, et plus précisément les concepts peu explorés d'habileté et de propension à l'empathie. De plus, la thèse propose une mise à jour de la définition de l'empathie et un nouveau modèle théorique étape-par-étape plus holistique de ce concept, comportant plus de composantes et de construits liés à l'empathie. Ainsi, les résultats empiriques de la thèse et les aspects théoriques qui en découlent permettent d'accroître la compréhension de l'empathie dans le domaine des neurosciences cognitives et sociales, le tout dans l'objectif, encore utopique à ce jour, de la mesurer adéquatement et de l'optimiser chez les individus présentant une faible propension.Empathy is a complex function that allows individuals to understand and even share the emotions and mental states of others. This function involves an affective component, which allows one to feel what the other feels, but to a lesser degree, and a cognitive component, which corresponds to the capacity to take the other's perspective and to infer one's mental states. The cerebral network underlying the affective component of empathy overlaps with the salience network, including regions such as the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. The network underlying the cognitive component of empathy converges with the mentalizing network, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. A distinction between the ability (maximum capacity of an individual) and propensity (tendency to use this ability) to empathize has been suggested. This distinction emerges from the fact that an individual's empathy can be affected by multiple individual and contextual factors. The main objective of the thesis was to deepen the theoretical, methodological and empirical knowledge on the concepts of ability and propensity for empathy. The first chapter of the thesis aimed for a better understanding of empathic ability and propensity by modulating contextual factors and investigating the interaction between these factors and certain individual characteristics. Using two behavioural studies, the results suggested that an instruction encouraging empathy and a cognitive load could increase empathy compared to a passive observation condition. However, this effect was significant only in some individuals, notably according to age, self-reported psychopathic, autistic, alexithymic and empathy traits, as well as men for the cognitive load. These individuals would thus be less consistent in the use of their empathy, using it fully only in some contexts. In order to better understand the processes underlying empathic propensity, the objective of the second chapter was to assess the cerebral functional connectivity patterns that covary with the cognitive and affective components of empathy, according to some individual characteristics that are associated with the propensity to empathize (i.e., age and sex). In individuals with a high empathic propensity (i.e., adults and women), the results showed that the functionnal connectivity of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex recruited regions typically associated with the cognitive component of empathy, while the connectivity patterns of the anterior insula recruited regions that underlie the cognitive and affective components of empathy. These patterns were very different in individuals with a low empathic propensity (i.e., adolescents and men), for whom the connectivity patterns were diffuse and less integrated, which might vi contribute to their weaker empathy in some situations. Finally, the third chapter of the thesis sought to deepen the theoretical foundations of empathy, in particular the definition of the concept and its components, the notions of ability and propensity, as well as the self-report, behavioural, neurophysiological and neuroimaging methods to evaluate it. A quantitative review of the questionnaires that exist to measure empathy was performed and highlighted that, while several authors view empathy as an ability, most tools actually measure the propensity to empathize. Thus, this chapter raised the idea that several tools currently used to measure empathy are not optimal and do not consider all components of empathy, as such recommendations to overcome these limitations were provided. A decision tree was also suggested to help future researchers in the selection of the most appropriate scale of empathy according to their research question and the components they wish to assess. Overall, the thesis deepened the current theoretical and methodological knowledge on empathy, and more precisely the concepts of ability and propensity to empathize. The thesis also suggested a novel definition of empathy and a more holistic step-by-step theoretical model of this concept, including more components and constructs related to empathy. Thus, the empirical results of the thesis, as well as the discussed theoretical aspects can be used to deepen the knowledge about empathy in the field of social and cognitive neuroscience, with the ultimate goal to adequately measure empathy and even optimize it in individuals with a low propensity
    corecore