Étude des référentiels de géométrie utilisés en classe de mathématiques au secondaire

Durant leur parcours au secondaire (12 à 17 ans), les élèves sont amenés à résoudre des problèmes de preuves en classe de mathématiques (MELS, 2006a, 2006b). En géométrie, ces preuves doivent s’appuyer sur un référentiel théorique composé de propriétés et de définitions (Kuzniak et Richard, 2014). Afin de dégager les particularités des référentiels utilisés en classe, nous avons relevé et analysé les propriétés et les définitions de dix-neuf ouvrages scolaires québécois de 1re secondaire à la 5e secondaire. Chacun des éléments ainsi relevés a été identifié selon les concepts sous-tendus dans leurs énoncés, leurs valeurs épistémiques possibles, leur dépendance à une figure et leur place au sein du chapitre. Cette étude se base sur le concept des paradigmes géométriques (Houdement et Kuzniak, 2006) et le modèle des Espaces de Travail Mathématique (ETM) (Kuzniak et Richard, 2014) où le référentiel fait partie de la genèse discursive engendrée par un travail mathématique. L’étude des référentiels montre que plusieurs modalités discursives dans leur enseignement peuvent générer des difficultés lorsque vient le temps de les utiliser dans une preuve. Cette étude confirme aussi l’oscillation entre les paradigmes géométriques (Gauthier, 2015; Tanguay et Geeraerts, 2012) dans l’enseignement de la géométrie. Enfin, nous proposons un référentiel possible pour un agent tuteur d’aide à la démonstration selon le curriculum québécois.During their high school career (12 to 17 years old), students are required to solve proof-based problems in their mathematics classes (MELS, 2006a, 2006b). In geometry, these mathemactical proofs must be supported by a theoretical referential of properties and definitions (Kuzniak et Richard, 2014). To determine the specifics of the referentials used in classes, we noted and analyzed the properties and definitions of nineteen Quebec secondary school textbooks. Each item was identified according to the concepts underlying in their statements, their possible epistemic value, their reliance on a figure, and their placement in the chapter. This study is based on the concept of geometric paradigms (Houdement et Kuzniak, 2006) and on the Mathematical Working Space model (MWS or ETM in French) (Kuzniak et Richard, 2014) where the referential is part of the discursive genesis generated by a mathematical work. This study on referentials demonstrates that there are many discursive modalities used in teaching, which can produce difficulties when they are required to be used in a proof. This study also confirms the oscillation between the geometric paradigms (Gauthier, 2015; Tanguay et Geeraerts, 2012) when teaching geometry. Furthermore, we propose a possible referential to be used in a demonstration aid tutor in accordance with Quebec’s curriculum

Automating the Generation of High School Geometry Proofs using Prolog in an Educational Context

When working on intelligent tutor systems designed for mathematics education and its specificities, an interesting objective is to provide relevant help to the students by anticipating their next steps. This can only be done by knowing, beforehand, the possible ways to solve a problem. Hence the need for an automated theorem prover that provide proofs as they would be written by a student. To achieve this objective, logic programming is a natural tool due to the similarity of its reasoning with a mathematical proof by inference. In this paper, we present the core ideas we used to implement such a prover, from its encoding in Prolog to the generation of the complete set of proofs. However, when dealing with educational aspects, there are many challenges to overcome. We also present the main issues we encountered, as well as the chosen solutions.Comment: In Proceedings ThEdu'19, arXiv:2002.1189

A Guide to RBF-Generated Finite Differences for Nonlinear Transport: Shallow Water Simulations on a Sphere

The current paper establishes the computational efficiency and accuracy of the RBF-FD method for large-scale geoscience modeling with comparisons to state-of-the-art methods as high-order discontinuous Galerkin and spherical harmonics, the latter using expansions with close to 300,000 bases. The test cases are demanding fluid flow problems on the sphere that exhibit numerical challenges, such as Gibbs phenomena, sharp gradients, and complex vortical dynamics with rapid energy transfer from large to small scales over short time periods. The computations were possible as well as very competitive due to the implementation of hyperviscosity on large RBF stencil sizes (corresponding roughly to 6th to 9th order methods) with up to O(105) nodes on the sphere. The RBF-FD method scaled as O(N) per time step, where N is the total number of nodes on the sphere. In Appendix A, guidelines are given on how to chose parameters when using RBF-FD to solve hyperbolic PDEs

Decision making under severe uncertainty on a budget

Convex sets of probabilities are general models to describe and reason with uncertainty. Moreover, robust decision rules defined for them enable one to make cautious inferences by allowing sets of optimal actions to be returned, reflecting lack of information. One caveat of such rules, though, is that the number of returned actions is only bounded by the number of possibles actions, which can be huge, such as in combinatorial optimisation problems. For this reason, we propose and discuss new decision rules whose number of returned actions is bounded by a fixed value and study their consistency and numerical behaviour

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Altimetry for the future: building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the “Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion