To Teach Or Not To Teach Astronomy, That Is The Question: Results Of A Survey Of Québec’s Elementary Teachers

To determine the extent of astronomy teaching in Quebec’s schools, we conducted an online survey of 500 Québec’s elementary (K-6) teachers between January and March 2015. With a 35-items questionnaire, we wanted to find out how these elementary teachers teach astronomy (or not) to their classrooms, what is their background in Science & Technology (S&T), what pre-service education they received, the reasons why they teach astronomy or not to their students, the resources and materials they have at their disposal, their perception of the effectiveness of pre- and in-service training they received, and their perceived needs for in-service training. Results show that the majority of teachers surveyed didn’t study science beyond high school and have had no experience in S&T employment before becoming a teacher. We also found that only half of the teachers surveyed actually teach astronomy to their class, mostly by using reading and writing material, and that 39% of “Astronomy teachers” in our sample teach astronomy to their class between 6 and 10 hours per year. Major hurdles to astronomy teaching perceived by the teachers in our survey are a lack of experience and training in astronomy, a lack of resources and equipment, inadequate classroom arrangement, and their own, self-perceived incompetence in astronomy. Pre-service education in astronomy, in science and in science teaching is also considered mainly unsatisfactory, or non-existent in the case of astronomy; in-service training in astronomy is mainly composed of conversations with colleagues. Most respondents thus consider in-service training in astronomy to be inefficient or inexistent

Conception et évaluation d’une intervention didactique à propos des phases de la Lune dans un planétarium numérique

Depuis l’entrée en vigueur du Programme de formation de l’école québécoise en 2001, l’astronomie est à nouveau enseignée dans les classes du Québec. Malheureusement, l’école est mal outillée pour enseigner des concepts astronomiques complexes se déroulant pour la plupart en dehors des heures de classe et sur de longues périodes de temps. Sans compter que bien des phénomènes astronomiques mettent en jeu des astres se déplaçant dans un espace tridimensionnel auquel nous n’avons pas accès depuis notre point de vue géocentrique. Les phases de la Lune, concept prescrit au premier cycle du secondaire, sont de ceux-là. Heureusement, l’école peut compter sur l’appui du planétarium, musée de sciences dédié à la présentation, en accéléré et à toute heure du jour, de simulations ultra réalistes de divers phénomènes astronomiques. Mais quel type de planétarium secondera l’école ? Récemment, les planétariums ont eux aussi subi leur propre révolution : ces institutions sont passées de l’analogique au numérique, remplaçant les projecteurs optomécaniques géocentriques par des projecteurs vidéo qui offrent la possibilité de se déplacer virtuellement dans une simulation de l’Univers tridimensionnel complètement immersive. Bien que la recherche en éducation dans les planétariums se soit peu penchée sur ce nouveau paradigme, certaines de ses conclusions basées sur l’étude des planétariums analogiques peuvent nous aider à concevoir une intervention didactique fructueuse dans ces nouveaux simulateurs numériques. Mais d’autres sources d’inspiration seront invoquées, au premier chef la didactique des sciences, qui conçoit l’apprentissage non plus comme la transmission de connaissances, mais plutôt comme la construction de savoirs par les apprenants eux-mêmes, avec et contre leurs conceptions premières. La conception d’environnements d’apprentissages constructivistes, dont le planétarium numérique est un digne représentant, et l’utilisation des simulations en astronomie, complèteront notre cadre théorique et mèneront à la conception d’une intervention didactique à propos des phases de la Lune dans un planétarium numérique s’adressant à des élèves âgés de 12 à 14 ans. Cette intervention didactique a été mise à l’essai une première fois dans le cadre d’une recherche de développement (ingénierie didactique) visant à l’améliorer, à la fois sur son versant théorique et sur son versant pratique, par le biais de multiples itérations dans le milieu « naturel » où elle se déploie, ici un planétarium numérique gonflable de six mètres de diamètre. Nous présentons les résultats de notre première itération, réalisée en compagnie de six jeunes de 12 à 14 ans (quatre garçons et deux filles) dont nous avons recueilli les conceptions à propos des phases de la Lune avant, pendant et après l’intervention par le biais d’entrevues de groupe, questionnaires, mises en situation et enregistrement des interventions tout au long de l’activité. L'évaluation a été essentiellement qualitative, basée sur les traces obtenues tout au long de la séance, en particulier sous la voûte du planétarium. Ce matériel a ensuite été analysé pour valider les concepts théoriques qui ont mené à la conception de l'intervention didactique, d'une part, mais aussi pour faire émerger des améliorations possibles visant à bonifier l'intervention. Nous avons ainsi constaté que l'intervention provoque effectivement l'évolution des conceptions de la majorité des participants à propos des phases de la Lune, mais nous avons également identifié des façons de rendre l’intervention encore plus efficace à l’avenir.Since the Quebec Education Program came into effect in 2001, Quebec classrooms have again been teaching astronomy. Unfortunately, schools are ill-equipped to teach complex astronomical concepts, most of which occur outside school hours and over long periods of time. Furthermore, many astronomical phenomena involve celestial objects travelling through three-dimensional space, which we cannot access from our geocentric point of view. The lunar phases, a concept prescribed in secondary cycle one, fall into that category. Fortunately, schools can count on support from the planetarium, a science museum dedicated to presenting ultra-realistic simulations of astronomical phenomena in fast time and at any hour of the day. But what type of planetarium will support schools? Recently, planetariums also underwent their own revolution: they switched from analogue to digital, replacing geocentric opto-mechanical projectors with video projectors that offer the possibility of travelling virtually through a completely immersive simulation of the three-dimensional Universe. Although research into planetarium education has focused little on this new paradigm, certain of its conclusions, based on the study of analogue planetariums, can help us develop a rewarding teaching intervention in these new digital simulators. But other sources of inspiration will be cited, primarily the teaching of science, which views learning no longer as the transfer of knowledge, but rather as the construction of knowledge by the learners themselves, with and against their initial conceptions. The conception and use of constructivist learning environments, of which the digital planetarium is a fine example, and the use of simulations in astronomy will complete our theoretical framework and lead to the conception of a teaching intervention focusing on the lunar phases in a digital planetarium and targeting students aged 12 to 14. This teaching intervention was initially tested as part of development research (didactic engineering) aimed at improving it, both theoretically and practically, through multiple iterations in its “natural” environment, in this case an inflatable digital planetarium six metres in diameter. We are presenting the results of our first iteration, completed with help from six children aged 12 to 14 (four boys and two girls) whose conceptions about the lunar phases were noted before, during and after the intervention through group interviews, questionnaires, group exercises and recordings of the interventions throughout the activity. The evaluation was essentially qualitative, based on the traces obtained throughout the session, in particular within the planetarium itself. This material was then analyzed to validate the theoretical concepts that led to the conception of the teaching intervention and also to reveal possible ways to improve the intervention. We noted that the intervention indeed changed most participants’ conceptions about the lunar phases, but also identified ways to boost its effectiveness in the future

L'annulation de la dette des pays les plus pauvres de la planète : La lutte de Développement et Paix pour le Jubilé 2000

La lutte collective qui est analysée dans le cadre de cette monographie a pris la forme d'une campagne de sensibilisation et de revendication réalisée par l'Organisation catholique canadienne pour le développement et la paix (communément connue sous le nom de Développement et Paix) de l'automne 1998 à l'été 1999. Cette campagne portait, de façon générale, sur la problématique de la dette des pays les plus pauvres de la planète. Développement et Paix s'est alors adressé au gouvernement canadien ainsi qu'aux pays membres du G-8 afin de demander aux dirigeants des pays industrialisés de renoncer à la dette des 51 pays les plus pauvres, et ce avant l'an 2000, puis de prendre des mesures pour que l'endettement ne puisse plus jamais atteindre un tel niveau. Cette lutte est analysée à l'aide de la grille pour la réalisation de monographies portant sur des luttes collectives, telle qu'élaborée par Yvan Comeau (2005)

A Logistic Regression Model Comparing Astronomy And Non-Astronomy Teachers In Québec’s Elementary Schools

Based on the results of an online survey of 500 Québec’s elementary (K-6) teachers conducted in 2015 that probed the way respondents teach astronomy to their classrooms, their background in S&T, their pre-service education, their aims and goals for astronomy teaching, their attitude toward teaching astronomy, the resources and materials they use, their view on the effectiveness of pre- and in-service training, and their need for in-service training, we present a logistic regression model comparing elementary teachers in our survey that teach astronomy to their class (“Astronomy” teachers, N = 244) and those who don’t (“Non-astronomy” teachers, N = 256), to reveal factors that seem to facilitate or hinder astronomy teaching in Québec’s elementary classrooms. Based on the model, several ways to enhance the teaching of astronomy in Québec’s K-6 classrooms are proposed: offer high-quality pre- and in-service training in astronomy to elementary teachers, raise the profile of science teaching in elementary schools, and help teachers realize the importance of teaching astronomy in their classrooms to cover the curriculum standards

Exploring adolescents’ critical thinking aptitudes when reading about science in the news

This research studies the critical thinking skills of six teenagers in their final years of high school. It looks at the way those students use a set of cognitive skills in order to analyze scientific and pseudoscientific information available in online news articles. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six students chosen according to their results in a questionnaire about interest in science topics. Results show a large gap between participants’ use of critical thinking skills. Most of these skills were mainly used for text comprehension, evoking general knowledge, numeracy, arguments assessment and production, and life skills (open-mindedness and metacognition). The participants were often confused when they were asked to justify their stances, and when they had to compare arguments’ value. This exploratory study could lead to a better understanding of teenagers’ strengths and weaknesses in news media literacy, and the part that schools could play in helping students develop them

Identité sociale dans un contexte de diversité culturelle : considérations épistémologiques et résultats d'études comparatives

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Gothic Revival Architecture Before Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill

The Gothic Revival is generally considered to have begun in eighteenth-century Britain with the construction of Horace Walpole’s villa, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, in the late 1740s. As this chapter demonstrates, however, Strawberry Hill is in no way the first building, domestic or otherwise, to have recreated, even superficially, some aspect of the form and ornamental style of medieval architecture. Earlier architects who, albeit often combining it with Classicism, worked in the Gothic style include Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor, William Kent and Batty Langley, aspects of whose works are explored here. While not an exhaustive survey of pre-1750 Gothic Revival design, the examples considered in this chapter reveal how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Gothic emerged and evolved over the course of different architects’ careers, and how, by the time that Walpole came to create his own Gothic ‘castle’, there was already in existence in Britain a sustained Gothic Revivalist tradition

To Teach Or Not To Teach Astronomy, That Is The Question: Results Of A Survey Of Québec’s Elementary Teachers

To determine the extent of astronomy teaching in Quebec’s schools, we conducted an online survey of 500 Québec’s elementary (K-6) teachers between January and March 2015. With a 35-items questionnaire, we wanted to find out how these elementary teachers teach astronomy (or not) to their classrooms, what is their background in Science & Technology (S&T), what pre-service education they received, the reasons why they teach astronomy or not to their students, the resources and materials they have at their disposal, their perception of the effectiveness of pre- and in-service training they received, and their perceived needs for in-service training. Results show that the majority of teachers surveyed didn’t study science beyond high school and have had no experience in S&T employment before becoming a teacher. We also found that only half of the teachers surveyed actually teach astronomy to their class, mostly by using reading and writing material, and that 39% of “Astronomy teachers” in our sample teach astronomy to their class between 6 and 10 hours per year. Major hurdles to astronomy teaching perceived by the teachers in our survey are a lack of experience and training in astronomy, a lack of resources and equipment, inadequate classroom arrangement, and their own, self-perceived incompetence in astronomy. Pre-service education in astronomy, in science and in science teaching is also considered mainly unsatisfactory, or non-existent in the case of astronomy; in-service training in astronomy is mainly composed of conversations with colleagues. Most respondents thus consider in-service training in astronomy to be inefficient or inexistent

L'éducation à la citoyenneté dans des contextes de division: les défis au Québec et en Irlande du Nord

Ce texte propose un examen des particularités de la citoyenneté et de l’éducation à la citoyenneté au Québec et en Irlande du Nord, en comparant les concepts clés et les cadres théoriques qui sous-tendent l’éducation à la citoyenneté dans ces deux sociétés divisées dont l’une peut être décrite comme relativement paisible, et l’autre, comme se dégageant lentement d’un climat de violence politique. Les auteures examinent les théories pertinentes suivant une démarche multidisciplinaire pour cerner le concept de citoyenneté dans des sociétés où l’identité nationale fait l’objet de divergences de vues plus ou moins marquées. À partir de la documentation scientifique et de recherches antérieures, les auteures tentent de déterminer dans quelle mesure diverses dimensions de la citoyenneté trouvent écho dans les initiatives pédagogiques dans les deux sociétés étudiées. Elles examinent et comparent les programmes d’éducation à la citoyenneté dans les deux sociétés pour cerner les différences et les ressemblances entre les mesures éducatives prises pour promouvoir la citoyenneté et les relations communautaires paisibles dans l’une et l’autre société. Enfin, les auteures analysent le sens de la citoyenneté et la valeur de l’éducation à la citoyenneté aux fins de la stabilité sociale et politique dans des sociétés divisées.This article examines the characteristics of citizenship and citizenship education in Québec and Northern Ireland by comparing the key concepts and theoretical frameworks underlying citizenship education in these two divided societies, one of which can be relatively peaceful and the other slowly recovering from a climate of political violence. The authors use a multi-disciplinary process to examine relevant theories in order to identify the concept of citizenship in societies where the national identity is subject to varying degrees of division. Using existing scientific documentation, the authors attempt to determine the extent to which different dimensions of citizenship are reflected in the pedagogical initiatives of the two societies being studied. They examine and compare citizenship education programs in both societies to identify the similarities and differences in educational measures for promoting citizenship and peaceful community relations in each society. Finally, the authors analyse the meaning of citizenship and the value of citizenship education in divided societies for purposes of social and political stability.Este texto propone un examen de las particularidades de la ciudadanía y de la educación a la ciudadanía en Quebec y en Irlanda del Norte, comparando los conceptos clave y los cuadros teóricos subyacentes a la educación a la ciudadanía en esas dos sociedades divididas, una relativamente en paz, la otra alejándose lentamente de un clima de violencia política. Las autoras examinan las teorías pertinentes siguiendo un enfoque multidisciplinario con el fin de circunscribir el concepto de ciudadanía en sociedades en donde la identidad nacional es objeto de divergencias más o menos marcadas. A partir de la documentación científica y de investigaciones anteriores, las autoras tratan de determinar en qué medida las diversas dimensiones de la ciudadanía tiene un eco en las iniciativas pedagógicas en las dos sociedades estudiadas. Examinan y comparan los programas de educación a la ciudadanía en las dos sociedades con el fin de identificar diferencias y similitudes entre las medidas educativas adoptadas para promover la ciudadanía y las relaciones comunitarias pacíficas en dichas sociedades. Finalmente, las autoras analizan el significado de la ciudadanía y el valor de la educación a la ciudadanía para la estabilidad social y política en sociedades divididas