M1 Science Education

This teaching unit aims to enable students to reinvest and deepen certain theoretical and methodological elements in didactics, mediation, or the history and epistemology of science. The aim is to develop a research project on a theme and issue defined by the student with the help of a supervisor from the teaching team. This work can be seen as a continuation of the work to be carried out for the Master's thesis in the second year. It aims to provide an introduction to research.

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This course proposes to combine historical and epistemological approaches to critically analyze the construction of scientific knowledge, as well as the use of these approaches in teaching. It is based on a presentation of the major milestones in the history of science and introduces fundamental concepts of epistemology, without neglecting the cultural dimensions of scientific knowledge. This historical and epistemological overview of the scientific disciplines cannot claim to be exhaustive.

The program is divided into three parts:

History of science and technology

• introduction to the major trends in the history of science
•  elements of the history of mathematics
•  elements of the history of physics
•  elements of the history of biology 

Epistemology

• logical positivism, verificationism, falsificationism
•  scientific realism and anti-realisms
•  paradigm and scientific revolution

Uses of the history of science and epistemology in teaching

• parallel between the historical evolution of science and the evolution of students' conceptions
• epistemological analysis and investigative approach to science education
• uses of the history of science in the classroom

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This course offers students an introduction to the field of science and technology mediation, focusing on the analysis and discovery of different mediation mechanisms. It will provide an opportunity to explore the different forms and mechanisms used in the process of socio-diffusion of science and to undertake an initial characterization. Beyond that, it will be an opportunity to begin identifying the institutions and actors involved in this field and to define the diversity of objectives and challenges that science mediation faces in its relationship with society. The mechanisms at work in the processing of knowledge in context will be the subject of an initial analysis.

On another level, the originality of this EU lies in bringing together fields of study and research focused on science mediation. Of particular note here is the specific contribution of cross-disciplinary research in science education and communication sciences, whose positioning and complementarity with other fields of research will be highlighted. 

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This course provides an introduction to key concepts in science education, research in science education in general, and their specific discipline in particular. It examines how scientific knowledge is reconstructed in the classroom for teaching purposes.

The aim is to provide academic foundations (theoretical and methodological elements) by combining teaching issues relating to mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology.

It consists of a pragmatic presentation of the various approaches specific to the teaching of these subjects and case studies focused on issues related to the teaching of specific concepts in the subjects studied.

The EU encourages students to work on documents consisting of class corpora, recordings of class sequences, excerpts from textbooks or programs, scientific texts, and educational writings.

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The objective of this course is to provide theoretical tools for analyzing and producing resources intended for teaching and/or mediating scientific knowledge. These contributions combine didactic, ergonomic, instrumental, and communicational approaches to scientific content from mathematics, physics, chemistry, life sciences, and earth sciences.

Based on a learning objective, students work on a project during tutorials.

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Scientific knowledge and research involving human beings raise a range of ethical questions at the intersection of ethics, epistemology, and professional ethics. 
Biology uses animals; in medicine, clinical trials are conducted with patients; in schools, students and teachers test approaches that feed into educational science; citizens and users are exposed to technologies that exploit their personal data; etc. 

Research ethics, in the broadest sense, thus concerns a whole range of issues related to the relationship between science and society, including both long-standing and emerging challenges. The "research ethics" course combines teaching on the fundamentals of research ethics (relationships between science and values; foundations of ethics; concepts of risk and precaution) with more applied aspects. Students will study examples from the history and current events of science (scientific fraud, manipulation and controversy, North/South justice issues, etc.). They will learn about the various regulatory frameworks that seek to govern research activities today, particularly those that directly involve living beings (human or otherwise). They will be made aware of the steps to be taken in their own research (feedback to participants, respect for anonymity, secondary uses of research data, etc.) and will be encouraged to develop their reflexivity skills and learn how to position themselves critically in the "society of innovation." 

In particular, education researchers are increasingly using audiovisual materials to illustrate their work or as research materials. They particularly need to be aware of the legal and ethical framework governing the use of these audiovisual materials (image rights, privacy protection, right to be forgotten, etc.). In some cases, the application of this framework poses particular difficulties, particularly with the development of digital technology and recording capabilities. 

Another need, shared across all fields of academic research, concerns plagiarism—a phenomenon that is also linked to digital technology and current changes in documentation and resource sharing practices. 

The module will place a strong emphasis on case studies from the field of educational research. It will also examine ethical review frameworks developed at universities abroad (e.g., Canada, Holland, etc.) and consider their suitability for research practices in education and the social sciences. 

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This course unit aims to introduce students to a professional environment through observation of activities. Given the research-based training provided by the master's program, this observation is more specifically focused on discovering how research teams work in the field of science education, but is not limited to this area.

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This course builds on the course from semester 1. It explores in greater depth various didactic and epistemological issues and problems addressed in the previous semester. Students will be asked to analyze and explain certain specific features and commonalities (didactic and epistemological) of these fields of study discovered in the first semester, based on a few examples. They will be asked to refine their knowledge of the characteristics associated with a didactic approach to issues of conceptualization, modeling, and dissemination of scientific knowledge. The aim is to use a few examples to highlight the value, for the didactics of a discipline, of epistemological and historical studies that enable us to review how its concepts were developed within the parent discipline, in interaction with other disciplinary fields and other approaches and issues arising from the didactics of other disciplines. 

• Mathematics education: 
  • Decimal numbers 
  • Modeling 

• Teaching physics and chemistry: 
  • Optics 
  • Chemical elements 

• Science education: 
  • Introduction to the teaching of scientific ecology 
  • The investigative approach 
  • Understanding and solving tasks related to scientific culture 

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The objective of this course is to provide theoretical tools for analyzing and producing resources intended for teaching and/or mediating scientific knowledge. These contributions combine didactic, ergonomic, instrumental, and communicational approaches to scientific content from mathematics, physics, chemistry, life sciences, and earth sciences.

Based on a learning objective, students work on a project during tutorials, which they present at the end of the semester orally and in writing.

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The aim of the Openings (UEO) is to enable students to discover different and complementary courses to those related to their training, and to reward students' investment in activities aimed at personalizing their curriculum with a grade that counts towards their semester average.

Depending on the type of opening chosen, this teaching may be aimed at deepening disciplinary knowledge and developing cross-disciplinary skills to promote academic success, employability, and/or full exercise of citizenship.

In specific cases where the student has already completed and validated a master's level course, this introductory course unit may be subject to validation of prior learning (VAE), thereby exempting the student from taking this UEO.

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This EU is a continuation of the one proposed in semester 1.

It invites students to continue exploring the field of science and technology mediation, this time focusing on institutions (museums, science centers, associations, etc.) and, more specifically, on the evolution of their mission and their relationship with the scientific sphere in relation to society. It pursues the same objectives, namely identifying the institutions and actors involved in this field and discovering other issues and objectives of science and technology mediation. The mechanisms at work in the processing of knowledge in context remain a priority. We will also look at a few specific topics, such as specific methods of science mediation in nature, through comic books, the heritage status of contemporary scientific objects, issues related to the exhibition of living organisms or astronomy, etc. The originality of this course unit lies in its continued focus on bringing together fields of study and research that deal with science mediation. We will highlight here the specific contribution of cross-disciplinary research in science education and communication sciences, whose positioning and complementarity with other fields of research will be identified. 

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The internship corresponds to a temporary period of work experience in a professional environment
during which the student acquires professional skills and applies the
acquired during their training with a view to obtaining a diploma or certification and promoting their
professional integration. The intern is assigned one or more tasks in line with the educational project
defined by their educational institution and approved by the host organization
.

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This teaching unit follows on from the previous semester and aims to enable students to revisit and deepen their understanding of certain theoretical and methodological elements in teaching, mediation, or the history and epistemology of science. The aim is to develop a research project on a theme and issue defined by the student with the help of a supervisor from the teaching team. This work can be seen as a continuation of the work to be carried out for the Master's thesis in the second year. It aims to provide an introduction to research.

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