BE Profile

Second-year mathematics curriculum, portion taught at Lycée Joffre:

# Review of Linear Algebra and Additional Concepts in Euclidean Geometry

# Advanced Probability

# Further Analysis of Functions of a Single Variable

# Functions of Several Variables

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General Knowledge (Epistemology and Philosophy):

# History of Ideas

# Epistemology of Science and Digital Technology

#Argumentation and Communication

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Introduction to the Use of Data Mining Methods:

# Motivations, Areas of Application

# Data mining tasks (classification, estimation, prediction, etc.)

# Data Processing (Pre- and Post-Processing)

# Supervised learning (Bayesian method, k-nearest neighbors, neural networks, etc.)

# Unsupervised Learning (k-means)

# Evaluation of Methods

# Data mining software (R, Scikit, Weka, etc.)

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The course builds on the L2 S3 course, focusing on describing the morpho-anatomical characteristics of the major organizational levels of metazoans found in present-day and past faunas, as well as explaining their origin and the dynamics of their emergence through the acquisition of skills in paleontology and zoology. In S4, the course will primarily explore the major subdivisions within protostome organisms—namely the Lophotrochozoa (annelids, mollusks, brachiopods, etc.) and the Ecdysozoa (arthropods, nematodes, etc.)—while emphasizing their phylogenetic relationships as well as their socio-economic significance and impacts. The course unit is traditionally divided into lectures, tutorials—which will primarily aim to illustrate and support aspects related to the biodiversity of taxons—and laboratory sessions designed to develop skills, notably and mandatorily through the performance of certain dissections.

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This course continues to provide students with training in applied mathematics, particularly in the use of statistical tools:

# Concepts of Populations and Random Samples.

# Estimators.

#Mean Square Error and Bias-Variance Decomposition.

# Empirical estimators of the mean and variance. Construction of estimators using the method of moments. Maximum likelihood.
Interval estimation.

# Hypothesis testing: null hypothesis, alternative hypothesis. Type I and Type II errors. Test power. Test statistic, rejection region. Examples of classic tests.

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The objective of this course unit is to understand evolutionary processes at both the micro- and macro-evolutionary scales.

Using examples, hands-on activities, and accessible modeling, the course will aim to present, in a concrete and quantitative way, the effects of the four evolutionary forces operating at the individual and population levels (mutation, migration, selection, and genetic drift). The integration of these microevolutionary processes into larger timescales (e.g., lineage differentiation, speciation) will then be addressed. Finally, the course unit will include an introduction to phylogenetic tools (interpreting and constructing phylogenetic trees) that enable the study of macroevolutionary events (diversification, extinction) and the tracing of changes in character states, particularly by incorporating fossil data.

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- Physiology of Major Body Systems: Anatomy and Functions of the Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Renal, and Digestive Systems.

- Cellular and Molecular Biology 3: cytoskeletal function, cell adhesion, protein trafficking and methods of study, cell cycle regulation, immunoprecipitation, fluorescence video microscopy, RNA interference, overexpression, regulation of gene expression: transcriptional regulation (repressors, activators) and attenuation in prokaryotes, mechanisms of expression regulation in eukaryotes.

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The 10th-grade computer science course offered at the high school focuses on advanced concepts in algorithms and programming:

# Tree Data Structures: Binary Trees, Heaps, ABR, Priority Queues

# Sorting into piles, lower bound on the sort

# Graph Structures: Representations (Adjacency Matrices, Edge Lists, Neighbor Lists)

# Basic Algorithms (Connectivity, Breadth-First and Depth-First Search, Topological Sorting)

# Distance Calculation (Dijkstra, Heap Implementation)

# Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming (encapsulation, late binding, classes, methods, etc.)

# Python Programming

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The EU addresses the various groups of plants (“algae,” “cryptogams,” and spermatophytes”), specifying for each group its phylogenetic position and nature (monophyletic or paraphyletic), its origin, and its distinctive features in terms of morphology, anatomy, reproduction, and ecology.

The 4th-grade classes cover the different groups of plants: 4th grade, diversity of “algae”; 5th grade, life cycles of “algae”; 6th grade, “cryptogams”; 7th grade, spermatophytes.

Six tutorials cover cross-cutting concepts through oral and written exercises: Tutorial 1, Biological Cycles; Tutorial 2, Endosymbiosis; Tutorial 3, Interactions; Tutorial 4, Adaptation; Tutorial 5, Polyploidy; Tutorial 6, Phylogeny.

Six lab sessions illustrate the concepts covered in lectures and tutorials using living specimens: Lab 1, “Algae” 1; Lab 2, “Algae” 2; Lab 3, “Bryophytes”; Lab 4, “Pteridophytes”; Lab 5, Gymnosperms, vegetative system; Lab 6, Gymnosperms, reproduction.

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The Functional Ecology course aims to provide a solid foundation in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, with a particular focus on the role played by living organisms in material flows within these ecosystems. The main processes covered are primary production, consumer relationships—particularly herbivory—and the decomposition and transformation of soil organic matter. For each of these processes, special attention is given to (1) the link between organisms’ strategies and their function within the ecosystem, and (2) basing the presentation of concepts on field observations, highlighting characteristics of organisms or the ecosystem that students might encounter during field trips.

This course thus bridges a broader introduction to ecology in the first semester (HLBE304) and introduces concepts necessary for the third-year course on community ecology.

The focus is on practical aspects, particularly through a series of group-based hands-on activities, in which a simple but scientifically relevant hypothesis will be tested experimentally using an appropriate protocol.

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This modern language course focuses on the written and spoken use of English, with a particular emphasis on speaking.

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This course, similar in spirit to the first-year project, is an introduction to the research process that goes deeper than the first-year course: it includes immersion in a research laboratory, a literature review, and the completion of a project involving the study of a biological context, the collection of experimental or observational data, and the implementation of a modeling and/or numerical simulation approach.

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