Classe de Mathématiques, réalité et communication

This study focuses on an inquiry-based teaching experience in mathematics, with 5th grade students in which we have established a strong connection with reality and intensified student’s ability to communicate, while promoting problem solving and mathematical reasoning. Mathematics lessons are organized into four phases: (i) Launching the task for students; (ii) Development of the task; (iii) Discussion of the task; and (iv) Systematization of mathematical learning. To prepare task discussion, the teacher implements a “gallery of tasks” through which students have their first contact with their colleague’s resolutions: they can ask questions and make comments in the presented sheets. This article presents the results of a lesson on percentages, in which students worked on the task entitled “Discount at Bit- @ - Byte”. The analysis of this task and the results of similar tasks of reality made throughout the school year shows that the inquiry-based teaching allows improvements in mathematics, namely learning concepts and capabilities such as reasoning, communication and problem solving

Asynchronous Non-Invasive Brain-Actuated Control of an Intelligent Wheelchair

In this paper we present further results of our asynchronous and non-invasive BMI for the continuous control of an intelligent wheelchair. Three subjects participated in two experiments where they steered the wheelchair spontaneously, without any external cue. To do so the users learn to voluntary modulate EEG oscillatory rhythms by executing three mental tasks (i.e., mental imagery) that are associated to different steering commands. Importantly, we implement shared control techniques between the BMI and the intelligent wheelchair to assist the subject in the driving task. The results show that the three subjects could achieve a significant level of mental control, even if far from optimal, to drive an intelligent wheelchair

The relationship between dewlap size and performance changes with age and sex in a green anole (Anolis carolinensis) lizard population

Abstract Ornaments are believed to signal an individual's ability to reproduce successfully and/or survive. Since an individual's fitness is often influenced by multiple traits (e.g. number of copulations, ability to acquire nest sites or to escape predators), which are difficult to quantify simultaneously, we examine performance traits (bite force, jumping performance) believed to be relevant to an individual's fitness. Specifically, we ask whether variation in dewlap size is related to variation in body size, bite force and jumping ability in the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Our results show that dewlap size is correlated with jumping capacity across all individuals, whereas the relationships between dewlap size, body size and bite force differ depending on sex/age class. We argue that selection against relatively large dewlaps at the transition between small mature and large mature males might be responsible for the lack of a relationship within large males. The absence or presence of a correlation between dewlap size and bite force, on the other hand, might be explained by differences in behaviour, such as territory establishment, anti-predator tactics, and/o

Burrowing and subsurface locomotion in anguilliform fish: behavioral specializations and mechanical constraints

International audienc

Continuous Brain-Actuated Control of an Intelligent Wheelchair by Human EEG

The objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of controlling an asynchronous and non-invasive brain-actuated wheelchair by human EEG. Three subjects were asked to mentally drive the wheelchair to 3 target locations using 3 mental commands. These mental commands were respectively associated with the three wheelchair steering behaviors: turn left, turn right, and move forward. The subjects participated in 30 randomized trials (10 trials per target). The performance was assessed in terms of percentage of reached targets calculated in function of the distance between the final wheelchair position and the target at each trial. To assess the brain-actuated control achieved by the subjects, their performances were compared with the performance achieved by a random BCI. The subjects drove the wheelchair closer than 1 meter from the target in 20%, 37%, and 7 % of the trials, and closer than 2 meters in 37%, 53%, and 27 % of the trials, respectively. The random BCI drove it closer than 1 and 2 meters in 0 % and 13 % of the trials, respectively. The results show that the subjects could achieve a significant level of mental control, even if far from optimal, to drive an intelligent wheelchair, thus demonstrating the feasibility of continuously controlling complex robotics devices using an asynchronous and non-invasive BCI