M1Didactics of Science

The aim of this teaching unit is 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 problem 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 dissertation in the second year of the Master's program. The aim is to provide an introduction to research.

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

The program is divided into three parts:

History of science and technology

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

Epistemology

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

History of science and epistemology in didactics

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

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This course introduces students to the field of science and technology mediation, with a focus on the analysis and discovery of different mediation mechanisms. It will provide an opportunity to take an interest in the different forms and devices used in the process of socio-diffusion of science, and to carry out an initial characterization. It will also provide an opportunity to begin identifying the institutions and players involved in this field, and to define the diversity of objectives and challenges that science mediation faces in its relations with society. The mechanisms at work in the treatment of knowledge in context will be the subject of an initial analysis.

On another level, the originality of this UE is to enable the meeting of study and research fields taking as their object the mediation of science. The specific contribution of cross-disciplinary research in science didactics and communication sciences will be highlighted, as will their positioning and complementaritý with other fields of research. 

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This course provides an initial introduction to key concepts in the didactics of scientific disciplines, and to research in the didactics of science in general, and of their discipline of origin in particular. The aim is to examine how scientific knowledge is reconstructed in the classroom, with a view to teaching.

The aim is to provide an academic foundation (theoretical and methodological elements) by crossing didactic issues relating to mathematics, physical, chemical and biological sciences.

It consists of a pragmatic presentation of the various approaches specific to the didactics of these disciplines, and case studies focusing on issues linked to the teaching of concepts specific to the disciplines studied.

In this course, students will work on documents made up of classroom corpora, recordings of class sequences, extracts from textbooks or programs, scientific texts and didactic writings.

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The aim of this course is to provide theoretical tools for the analysis and production of resources for teaching and/or mediating scientific knowledge. These contributions articulate didactic, ergonomic, instrumental and communicational approaches to scientific content from mathematics, physical and chemical sciences and life 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 whole range of ethical questions, at the crossroads of ethics, epistemology and professional deontology.
Biology makes use of animals; in medicine, clinical trials are conducted with patients; at school, pupils and teachers test approaches that feed into the educational sciences; citizen-users are exposed to technologies that exploit their personal data; and so on. 

Research ethics, taken in its broadest sense, thus concerns a whole range of questions linked to science-society relations, and both old and emerging issues. The "Research Ethics" UE combines teaching on the foundations of research ethics (science/value relationships; foundations of ethics; concept of risk and precaution) with more applied aspects. In particular, students will study examples taken from the history or current events of science (scientific fraud, manipulation and controversy, North/South justice issues, etc.). They will become familiar with the various normative frameworks that seek to regulate the conduct of research activities today, particularly those that directly involve living beings (human or otherwise). They will be made aware of the approaches to be implemented in their own research (restitution to participants, respect for anonymity, secondary uses of research data, etc.) and will be led to develop their reflexivity skills and know how to position themselves critically in the "innovation society". 

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

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

The module will focus on case studies from the field of educational research. It will also involve confrontation with ethical review frameworks developed in universities abroad (e.g. Canada, Holland, etc.) and reflection on their relevance to research practices in education and the social sciences. 

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The aim of this UE is to introduce students to a professional environment through observation of activities. In view of the research-based training provided by the Master's program, this observation is more specifically oriented a priori towards discovering the workings of research teams in the field of science didactics, but without being exclusive.

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This course is an extension of Semester 1, focusing on the didactic and epistemological questions and issues addressed in the previous semester. Students will be invited, on the basis of a few examples, to analyze and explain certain specificities and common points (didactic and epistemological) of these fields of study discovered in the first semester. They will be invited to refine their knowledge of the characteristics linked to a didactic approach to questions of conceptualization, modeling and dissemination of scientific knowledge. The aim is to highlight, on the basis of a few examples, the interest for didactics of a discipline of epistemological and historical studies that enable us to look back at the ways in which its concepts are developed within the parent discipline, in interaction with other disciplinary fields and other approaches and issues arising from the didactics of other disciplines. 

• Didactics of mathematics : 
  • Decimal numbers 
  • Modeling 

• Didactics of physics and chemistry : 
  • Optics 
  • Chemical elements 

• Science didactics : 
  • Introduction to the didactics of scientific ecology 
  • The investigative approach 
  • Understanding and solving scientific tasks 

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The aim of this course is to provide theoretical tools for the analysis and production of resources for teaching and/or mediating scientific knowledge. These contributions articulate didactic, ergonomic, instrumental and communicational approaches to scientific content from mathematics, physical and chemical sciences and life and earth sciences.

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

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The aim of the UEO (UE d'Ouverture) is to enable students to discover courses that are different from and complementary to those linked to their course, and to recognize, by means of a grade taken into account in the semester average, the investment made by students in activities designed to personalize their curriculum.

Depending on the type of openness chosen, this teaching may be designed to deepen disciplinary knowledge and develop cross-disciplinary skills to support academic success, employability and/or the full exercise of citizenship.

In special cases, where the student has already completed and validated a Master's-level course, this opening UE can be the subject of a validation of acquired experience (VAE), thus exempting the student from taking this UEO.

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This course is a continuation of the one offered in Semester 1.

It enables students to continue their discovery of 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 relations with the scientific sphere in relation to society. It pursues the same goals, namely to identify the institutions and players involved in this field, and to discover other issues and objectives that the mediation of science and technology has set itself. The mechanisms at work in the processing of knowledge in context remain a priority. In addition, we'll be looking at a number of specific aspects, such as specific ways of mediating science in nature, through comic strips, the heritage of contemporary scientific objects, and the issues involved in exhibiting living things or astronomy. The originality of this course lies in the fact that it brings together fields of study and research in the field of science mediation. The specific contribution of cross-disciplinary research in science didactics and communication sciences will be highlighted, as will their positioning and complementarity with other fields of research. 

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This teaching unit is a continuation of the previous semester's and 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 problem 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 dissertation in the second year of the Master's program. The aim is to provide an introduction to research.

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