Perceptions et Opinions d’Enseignants du Cycle Secondaire relatives à l’Enseignement de la Classification du monde Végétal

This paper focuses on identifying the perceptions and opinions of high school teachers about plant classification and its teaching. It also aims at shedding light on the difficulties and obstacles that hinder plant taxonomy teaching at this school level. To this end, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 216 junior high school and senior high school teachers.The analysis of the responses of the teachers has enabled to identify numerous erroneous and diversified conceptions about the scientificity and the importance of the plant taxonomy and its teaching, which could constitute obstacles for student plant taxonomy learning.The analysis of the teachers' responses led to the conclusion that the university and professional training followed by these teachers does not seem to have corrected these misperceptions. The results also show that teachers and their students are too unmotivated to learn classification. Given this situation, it is essential to develop active methods for teaching classification, promoting practical activities that can increase student motivation and address the classification from a scientific perspective, which helps to explain and to show the diversity of parenthood of all living beings taking into account their history.L’étude, objet du présent article, vise à identifier les perceptions et les opinions d’enseignants du cycle secondaire sur la classification des plantes et son enseignement. Elle vise aussi à caractériser les difficultés et obstacles qui entravent l’enseignement de la taxonomie végétale dans ce cycle. Pour ce faire, une enquête par questionnaire menée auprès de 216 enseignants du secondaire collégial et qualifiant. L’analyse des réponses des enseignants a permis d’identifier nombreuses conceptions erronées et diversifiées sur la scientificité, sur l’importance de la taxonomie végétale et son enseignement qui pourraient constituer des obstacles entravant l’apprentissage de la taxonomie végétale par les élèves. Les résultats de cette recherche permettent de conclure que la formation universitaire et professionnelle suivie par ces enseignants semble ne pas avoir permis de corriger ces conceptions erronées. Les résultats montrent aussi que les enseignants et leurs élèves sont démotivés pour apprendre la classification, d’où il est primordial de développer des méthodes actives pour l’enseignement de la classification en privilégiant des activités pratiques qui permettent d’augmenter la motivation des apprenants, ainsi que de traiter le thème de la classification dans une perspective scientifique qui permet d’expliquer et de montrer la diversité et la parenté de tous les êtres vivants en prenant en considération leurs histoire

OPINIONS DES JEUNES MAROCAINS RELATIVES AU TABAGISME

Smoking is a major public health problem. Indeed, the tobacco’s impact on health and the environment is well established both in active smokers than among passive smokers. Morocco is considered as one of the biggest tobacco users in the Mediterranean and young children are the main victims of the tobacco trade. The smoking prevalence rate in Morocco is high among young people. Faced with this situation and therapeutic difficulties, prevention remains the best way to educate young people. We ask the following questions: - What are the causes that lead young people to give to smoking? - Do they know that passive smoking? - Are they aware of the anti smoking law? - In their opinion, what is the most efficient way to fight against this scourge? The tool of investigation and collection of information used is a questionnaire to young people (pupils and students) smokers and nonsmokers whose age varies between 13 and 25 years. The questionnaire was validated and tested well before administration. The results we collect might as well argue that young smokers are given to tobacco under the influence of a peer who push them to try cigarettes or other drugs. Family problems and social pressure were also the source of their smoking behavior and that contributed to the aggravation of tobacco use and the resurgence of the scourge. Similarly non smokers youth think also the same causes of smokers addictive behavior. These young people questioned whether smokers or non-smokers seem to ignore what is passive smoking. They are not aware of the anti-tobacco law that bans smoking in public places as well as its sales to minors and the legal provisions on sanctions. The respondents believe that the most effective way to reduce smoking especially among young people is education. Preventive education addictive behavior in the family, at school and on the streets to develop life skills for young people to make informed and responsible choices for themselves as screw towards others and the environment

DIDACTIC IMPLICATIONS OF USING HISTORICALAPPROACH IN TEACHING THE CONCEPT OF GENE

In this study, we present the results of the application of a historical approach in teaching the concept of gene. However, this is one of the most problematic concepts of genetics in both secondary and university levels. The approach consists of identifying and bringing out the conceptions of preservice teachers of biology. It aims in confronting the various historical models of the concept of "gene" built since its invention by Wilhelm Johansen in 1909 until the advent of molecular biology. These pre-service teachers act as scientists by carrying out a critical analysis of each of the six models listed in the literature. Also, they discussed its internal and external consistency as well as its limits. They suggest an alternative model which will be in turn analyzed and modified to reach the current model. Pre-service teachers are well aware of the cognitive processes and historical construction of this concept. They have the opportunity to review their spontaneous conceptions that hinder the construction of knowledge, in the consideration of historical scientific models. A test was administered to pre-service teachers before and after the activity. It consisted of a questionnaire about the concept of gene, its functions, and its related concepts. The same test was administered to a control group of pre-service teachers who received a classical instruction on the same subject. Therefore, this approach is more effective than the classical method because it allows an evolution of the conceptions of pre-service teachers

POINTS DE VUE ET PERCEPTIONS D’ADOLESCENTS MAROCAINS SUR L’ALIMENTATION ET L’OBESITE

This research aims to identify the representations of pupils about diet and obesity in the outlook for of health education. We have tried to understand the dietary practices through their representations on feeding. Interpretation and discussion of the data could lead to the idea that the viewpoints and perceptions might be connected with social representations. In order to collect data to answer to our problem namely, "what are the perceptions of diet and obesity, how to analyze and to describe them ? " we selected a sample of pupils from private secondary education and another among public school students and we used the questionnaire as a data collection tool. In the practice, paradoxically, young people do not necessarily act in relation to the definitions they give of eating well. The definitions encountered a healthy diet come from common norms in our society. Pupils perceive the food implication in the development certain disease (obesity, diabetes). They consider themselves well informed about the dangers of obesity and consequences of overweight. The results of our research showed that teens surveyed do not seem to be disparaging glances towards obese children

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT CELL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS

This study aims to assess the level of understanding of biology students and to identify their misconceptions about cell concepts. Participants of the study (n=160) were students enrolled in biology undergraduate level. Data analysis showed that the students had cell-related misconceptions. The misconceptions were found in four basic competencies of the cell concepts. The most common misconceptions (55.68%) among students are those related to the relationship between the structure and function of the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum. We denote that most of the students have assimilated the concepts related to the chemical constituents of the cell. There are several potential factors that cause the occurrence of misconceptions among the participants in this study, including low retention of knowledge obtained in previous school levels, lack of learning resources, incomprehensible terms, and low interest of biology students in cell concepts.  Article visualizations

Les valeurs transmises par les manuels scolaires marocains et par les enseignants à travers l'éducation à la santé et à la sexualité

Atelier 8 : transmission et genreLa conception actuelle de l'Éducation à la Santé est au coeur de l'éducation de la personne et du citoyen (WHO, 1997, 1999), dans une perspective d'apprentissage de la liberté et du " vivre ensemble ", plutôt que d'intégration de préceptes normatifs. L'Éducation à la Santé et à la Sexualité est directement conditionnée par les pratiques pédagogiques scolaires, mais également par les conceptions que les enseignants se sont construits sur les questions de santé, de sexualité et sur leur mission. Ce travail présente, dans un premier temps, une analyse de contenu de manuels scolaires traitant des sujets ayant trait à l'Éducation à la santé et à la sexualité, dans le but d'identifier les valeurs transmises par ces manuels. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons cherché à analyser les conceptions d'enseignants et de futurs enseignants à propos de l'éducation à la santé et à la sexualité et à identifier les valeurs qu'expriment ces conceptions. Les données nécessaires ont été collectées à l'aide d'un questionnaire. Des résultats détaillés sont présentés et discutés

L’inclusion De L’éducation À La Santé En Éducation Physique Et Sportive: Représentations Et Contributions Des Enseignants

Physical and Athletic Education (PAE) provide students with knowledge and skills and contributes to their Health Education (HE). Its effects are to be invested outside the school in daily or professional activities and in the practice of physical activities. Health Education is part of a variety of health intervention strategies such as disease prevention and health promotion. In schools, it is presented in several forms and is articulated with several school disciplines. This research focuses on the inclusion of Health Education in Physical and Athletic Education in schools, particularly in secondary schools. It focuses on studying the representations that the teachers of the Physical and Athletic Education in this cycle convey about Health Education and Physical and Athletic Education. It aims to: (1) identify and describe those representations; (2) identify the objectives of the Physical and Athletic Education according to those teachers, and (3) identify the pedagogical approaches that these teachers use to teach Physical and Athletic Education in relation to Health Education. In order to carry out our qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research, we carried out semidirected interviews with ten (10) PAE teachers. Among our salient results is that there is a diversity of representations of teachers in HE education and PAE. On the other hand, majority of these teachers stated the need to mobilize the PAE to contribute to pupil’s HE. The results also show that their pedagogical practices are out of step with the prospect of the inclusion of HE in the field of PAE

How MOOCs Are Perceived by Moroccan Students and Teachers?

The Moroccan university is increasingly experiencing a strong growth in the numbers of students. This process of massification alters the quality of learning, especially in open-access institutions where human resources and the capacity to host are increasingly limited. To improve the quality of learning, which first involves improving the quality of teaching within the University, Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech (UCAM) launched a platform of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) in 2013. In this article, we question the opening of the Moroccan university on this technology. Our study is anchored in the context of the Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech. We are particularly interested in the following question: what are the perceptions of students and teachers about this device? Do they feel that using MOOCs “changes something”? Our methodological approach describes all the stages of data collection and processing including the content analysis model. We distributed a questionnaire to a group of students and conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers. The questionnaires collected and the interviews made it possible for answers to be provided to the questions asked. The most salient results show that the students as well as the teachers who participated in our study appreciate the use of MOOCs as a support to the face-to-face class. However, this technology has disadvantages including lack of exchanges with teachers and between students. Ongoing product improvements were called for, including the design in association with MOOC of student activities, assessments and discussion forums, and on the other hand, recording the videos in the presence of the student

University students' conceptions about the concept of gene: Interest of historical approach

International audienceConcepts of genetics are often difficult to teach, specifically the central concept of gene. Even the scientists disagree when defining this concept. This paper investigates university students' understanding about the gene and its functions. The results show the dominance of two conceptions of the gene: the Neoclassical model and the Mendelian model. The existence of hybrid conceptions and the lack of the modern model show that students are unable to mobilize the knowledge taught in biology. These results suggest to improve the teaching methods of genetics, for instance, by developing activities that bring students face to face with their conceptions

L'éducation à la santé : analyse comparative des manuels scolaires de biologie de 3 pays méditerranéens

International audienceCe travail présente une analyse comparative de manuels scolaires de trois pays méditerranéens (France, Liban et Maroc) en utilisant la même grille spécifique d'analyse. Nous travaillons principalement dans le domaine de la biologie et de la santé. Notre point de vue est résolument didactique, c'est à dire que nos analyses (et donc nos instruments) sont centrés sur des contenus et objectifs relatifs à un enseignement disciplinaire et à un thème précis au sein de cette discipline, celui de l'éducation à la santé et de la prévention. Quelle est la nature des images pour l'éducation à la santé ? Quel modèle d'éducation à la santé et de prévention est privilégié dans ces manuels? Quels sont les styles pédagogiques utilisés ? Telles sont les trois questions qui sont au centre des enjeux de la promotion et de l'éducation à la santé à l'école et auxquelles nos analyses essaient d'apporter une réponse