Methods and Samples Design-Experiment (Brown 1992), Didactic Ingeniering (Artigue, 1991)

1. Three Criteria to help Students to Design their own Experimental Procedures for Inquiry-Based-Learning Background, Aims and Framework Results 1:the teaching-design might focus on the experimental tasks that relate to the scientific model Inquiry-Based-Learning (IBL) “… an approach to learning that involves a process of exploration, that leads to asking questions and making discoveries in the search for new understandings” (National Science Foundation, 2000) Labwork consists in linking theoretical and perceptual aspects. The scientific models are intermediaries between these two registers (Bunge, 1975; Walliser, 1977) Research questions (a) What kind of situation do teachers have to implement in the classroom in order to allow the students to design the experimental procedures by themselves? (b) Which information must be given to the students in order to help them to carry out an autonomous work? X X a task tree to describe the experimental procedure Result 2:The teaching design might allow the students to assess the relevance of their experimental procedures Relevance : the experimental procedures must fit the preliminary research question. Methods and SamplesDesign-Experiment (Brown 1992), Didactic Ingeniering (Artigue, 1991) Two labwork courses (1h30) An immunology labwork involved the design of experimental procedures in order to assess the Antibody-Antigen (Ab-Ag) model. The students had to show that the Ab-Ag link depends on the spatial combination of the two molecules. A palaeontology labwork, consisted in the determination of the procedures to characterize the prognathism of an homininea cranium. Students had to define and measure a facial angle. (e.g : Collaborative Learning) Result 3:The teaching design might allow the students to assess the reproducibility and the communicability of the experimental procedure Reproducibility: the experimental procedures lead to obtain high-quality results without variation for a given situation. Communicability:another student can use the written procedures to realize the same labwork. Data sources of the research include audio, video-tape, and written documents from 108 16-18-year-old students. These data were used to assess the success of the students in designing their own experimental procedure, to identify the strategy employed and the difficulties faced. (e.g : exchange of the written procedures) Eric SANCHEZ, Patricia MARZIN, Réjane MONOD-ANSALDI, Daniel DEVALLOIS Projet COPEX, ERIDOB 2008 Utrecht – The Netherland contact : eric.sanchez@inrp.fr BP 17424 - 69347 Lyon Cedex 07 - France