THE QUESTION OF THE QUALITY IN THE RESEARCH IN DIDACTICS:

THE CASE OF THE RESEARCH IN DIDACTICS OF SCIENCES AND TECHNIQUES IN FRANCE

Pr. Joël LEBEAUME

STEF ENS Cachan INRP Universud Paris

with the collaboration of

Philippe VARRIN

Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, University of Ghent, 19-21 September 2007

1. INTRODUCTION

In the analyses preoccupied by "Enhance Based Research" five major critiques are mentioned: 1) the lack of discussions about the researches that shares the same preoccupation, 2) the ideological foundations of these researches, 3) the lack of consistency in the research process implemented, 4) the methodological choices that often privilege the qualitative analyses and 5) the diffusion very confidential of the results (Scientific and Educational Vigil, 2006). These reports, these judgments or these recommendations develop a discours which purpose in order to control the research in an international perspective and to tempt to bring some argued answers for the education progress from validated facts that would drive for example to the generalization of the "good practices." Thus, the quality is taken in a particular sense that valorizes the satisfaction of the identified or definied service functions by the institutions or the research agencies .

In France, some of the previous points are also noted in the report concerning the the exam of the these dissertations and the works of research of the candidates to the functions of teacher-researchers (Council National of the Universities, section sciences of the education, 2006). These remarks are especially linked with the very big diversity of the researches papers that doesn't appear in a canonical format but that are not for the marks of unquality. Contrary to a widespread idea, Reuter (2007), for example, considers that the researches are not ignored within the community.

In this context, for the research in didactics of sciences and techniques, the presented analysis wishes to examine one of the critiques more especially concerning the process of research.

2. DIDACTIC OF THE DISCIPLINES: FOUNDATIONS AND PROBLEMS

In France, the vast domain of research labelled by "didactics of the disciplines" is organized according to the disciplines or school subjects (math didactics, didactic of French, didactic of the languages, didactic of the history-geography- citizenship education) with different and specific questions linked with their historic foundations and their social and educational stakes and their scientific stakes. The history of the didactics (Sarremejane, 2003) reveals these contrasts of their respective geneses and their specific theoretical positionings that valorize for example for the didactics of the sciences, the anchorage on the historic and genetic epistemology of the sciences. The founding relations between "school disciplines” and problematic of researches imply the development of theoretical frames that take into account the specificity of the disciplines or the contents and the stakes of their teaching-training. These relations are for example at the origin of the strong discussion of the concepts of "didactic transposition" and "social practices of reference".

The foundations of the didactics of the disciplines oppose the perspective of a general didactics. This debated issue questions on one hand the identification of the possible intersections of the didactic (Raisky and Clot, 1996), the inclusions of a compared didactics (Haberdasher; Schubauer-Leoni & Sensevy, 2002) or on the other hand the epistemological specificities of each didactics (IUFM of Aquitaine, 2005). However, the social stakes that regain the domains of research sometimes have the tendency to weaken this epistemological vigilance and to suggest or to borrow an available theoretical frame that has the tendency to transform the school disciplines themselves. The attempt of a compared didactics (Mercier and al., 2002) examines the didactics of the only point of view of the math didactics and its theoretical justifications for example. However, this perspective that essentially privileges the common and disregard the differences risk to ruin the originalities, for example of the teaching of the languages, of the vocational skills or of the visual or musical arts (Milli, 2006) whose contents are with difficulty assimilated to knowledge in text.

The research labelled "didactic of the sciences and techniques" are also susceptible of this alignment that would limit their scientific contributions. On the contrary, the excessive particularization could generate some micro-communities according to the narrow domains of the research and therefore without real external discussion.

In this aim of identifiation of the tendencies in "didactics of the sciences and techniques", the major preoccupation is located on the constructions of the problematic of the researches, their theoritical positioning, the consistency of the research processes and the interactions to the scale of these didactics, of the didactics of the disciplines, of the sciences of the education and more generally of the human and social sciences. This exam only considers the scientific aspects of the research. It doesn't concern the question of the diffusion of researches that would suggest the exam of the offer and of the demand, especially the institutional demand.

3. THE ANALYSE OF THE REFERENCES OF THE PAPERS

In the presented perspective, the purpose is to put in evidence the tendencies of the researches of the community of the didactics of the sciences and techniques. It’s important and necessary to signal distribution unbalanced notably between the three domains of the physical and chemical sciences, of the sciences of life and the universe and the technical geniuses or the technology, in reason of the historic construction of these specialized fields.

The congres of the “association of the researchers of this domain” (Ardist) constitute privileged moments to seize, certainly at one time, the new productions finished lately. In this regard, the proceedings of these conferences constitute important documents because their gather the selected texts by the scientific committee according, for each of them, to the review of two experts who indicate the wished modifications and give their agreement for the published version. However, these validated scientific papers are not homogeneous in reason of the absence of limitation of the number of references and the absence of a normalized format concerning the text organization although it is recommended the presentation of the main usual parts (introduction, problematic and research question, methodology, results, discussion and conclusion). In a similar way, the scientific meetings of the community of the specialized researchers in the technology and the technological disciplines also constitute an important source.

The presented survey thus focuses on the Ardist Conference (2005) and on the symposium of didactics of the technology and the technological disciplines (2007). On the one hand, the analysis of these papers focuses on the set of the references mentioned in a quantitative and qualitative perspective. The digitalization of the bibliographies enables their sorting according to the frequencies of the quotes and contributes to identify the convened references and to characterize them. On the other hand, the analysis concerns the function of these references. To this effect, about one text on three has been consulted, chosen according to 1) the distinction between the authors (students researchers, statutory researchers, groups of research), 2) between the domains (didactic of the chemical and physical sciences, of the sciences of life and the earth, of the techniques, educational technologies), 3) between the number of quoted references and 4) between the nature of the research presented (descriptive, experimental, engineering). The analysis of the references then focuses on the location of their place in the text while distinguishing 1) the parts that are the problematic, the methodology, the results and their analysis, 2) the various modes of their solicitations by the authors. This analysis is completed by the identification of the nature of these references (thesis, scientific papers, pedagogical documents, schoolbooks). It is not therefore a measure but an exam of the nature and the functions of the references.

4. TENDANCIES

4.1. Presentation of the corpus

The studied corpus is composed of 60 papers : 55 communications and 5 posters (Ardist 2005) and 22 papers (DT 2007). In the two cases, the research directors are represented very weakly to the profit of the researchers and students researchers. The groups of researchers and the collective researches are also very minority. They correspond to interdisciplinary research on contract (Action concerted, technological research team) that concern conceptions of computer environments, researches associating psychologists and didactics researchers, for example. Their co-signed communications distinguish themselves of the other texts to several authors (PhD students and directors). The following pictures only present the analysis of the Ardist conference, the DT symposium being considered like a counterpoint of the analysis.

Students researchers
Master, students / Mr. of conferences / Directors of research / Other (teachers trainers, teachers partners) / Teams
N communications = 55 / 29 / 14 / 2 / 5 / 5
Posters
n = 5 / 5

These papers raise according to the thematic of the research of the didactics of the different

scientific disciplines according to the following distribution.

SVT / Sphys Chi / T / TIC / math / Éduc to / media
Total: 63 / 15 / 29 / 3 / 5 / 2 / 5 / 4

This distribution presents the domains of research connected to disciplinary contents. The total (n = 63) is slightly superior to the number of texts because some papers approach several teachings such as the teaching-learning of the angles by the approach of the intended shades or the use of the technological tools in a disciplinary domain. The column “Education to” is distinguished because of its undisciplinary approach although the more of them is often connected in the SVT as the ecology, health, the sexual education.

4.2. Quantitative analysis of the references mentioned


For the Ardist Conference, the laying down flat and the numeric treatment indicate 815 references, either an average of about 14 by paper. If a communication is without reference and if another indicates 31, the scattering is relatively big as the following histogram indicates it. For the DT symposium, the average is lower because of the constraint of the acts (7,5) but with a big scattering also.

The most important element of this analysis concerns the number of quotes. On the 815 totaled references, 709 are only mentioned one time (Ardist).

Nb / 5 times / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
References / 1 / 6 / 5 / 31 / 709
Nb of papers
N = 60 / 5 / 24 / 15 / 62
Nb references
N = 815 / 5 / 24 / 15 / 62 / 709

Among the 815 references mentioned in the pares, 43 references are mentioned thus in several papers, either about 5%. The compared analysis for the DT symposium indicates the same tendency although it appears the determining orientations of each of the laboratories distinctly.

The references signalled 4 or 5 times appear as fundamental works (synthesis notes, general manuals). Among these, are signalled a manual of didactics of the sciences, a work of psychology (Thought and language, Vygotsky), a work of synthesis of didactics of the physical sciences and psychology and more curiously two founding books of the mathematics didactics (theory of the didactics situations, the didactic transposition). If these last references indicate specific theoretical frame to the works of the domain of the math teaching also presented in this symposium, it remains more astonishing than the title "the didactic transposition to the test" is not mentioned also considering the discussion of the problematic specific to the didactics of the sciences and techniques at the origin of this book.

From the more qualitative point of view, the authors mention acts of symposia, books, chapters of books, papers of scientific journals, master dissertations, thesis dissertations or empowerment to direct some research and finally different papers of various statutes. The quantitative analysis of the references indicates:

  1. that the three quarters of the references are papers in French language, the other quarter being nearly fully papers in English language;
  2. that some more one reference on three is a paper in scientific journal;
  3. that a few less one reference out of three is a book;
  4. that about one reference out of fifteen is a thesis dissertation or one memory of empowerment;
  5. that about one reference out of ten is a communication in acts of symposium;
  6. that about one reference out of ten is a book chapter;
  7. and that about one reference out of ten is a different statute paper (master dissertation, journal of institutions of diffusion of the sciences and techniques). For the DT symposium, this last point is the only nuance: one reference out of five is a text that doesn't have the scientific publication statute, in reason probably of the weak number of publications in this domain.

The finer analysis reveals that the references to the articles published in the scientific journals distribute themselves fairly between journal in English language and in French language. Without surprise, the journal specialized in Science Education or Technology Education and in Didactics of the sciences are mentioned at the rate of about a third for the publications in English and close to half for the French publications. The most important element is the very weak reference to the more general journals of sciences of the education that only represent about 5% of the mentioned French journals, less 1% of the set of the journals and a petty part on the whole of the references. The same remark is worth for the references to the other didactics.

4.3. Qualitative analysis of the references

The analysis of about a third of the papers chosen according to their diversity (statute of the author, number of references, domain of research) and the more summary consultation of the other, reveals some tendencies on the place and the role of these references. It is important to underline that the papers of the master students are marked distinctly by the stake of appropriation of the research field and therefore of general references such as the books of didactics.

The references generally convened in the beginning of the papers

In the big majority of the papers, the references are localized in the beginning of each of the texts corresponding to the presentation of the research and the problematic. The references are very rarely situated in the methodology, the presentation of the results or their discussion. For the methodology, it is then for example about general books or more specialized books on the analysis of content or the interviews. It is very unusually research papers that describe and argue the choices and the methodological adaptations for an identified research or that discuss the limits of it. The techniques of compilation and analysis of data are specified but without real distance of the methodological tools. When it is about references mentioned in the terminal part of the text, it is generally about situating the validated results in relation to others and therefore to specify the scientific contribution.

A localization of “research on”

In the very big majority of the cases, these references contribute to localize the presented research in the domain. The authors proceed then by progressive reduction, anxious to indicate their preoccupation on a particular aspect of a field identified. The texts are then very

general and the references delimit research.

"Indeed, the research concerning this teaching showed difficulties of conceptual

order (6 references) that can be linked with the didactic transposition (3 references) or again the influences socio-cultural factors (3 references)"

"Since the years 1970, the research on the conceptions (3 references)."

" to construct a scientific knowledge in socio-cognitive conflicts (1 reference)"

The references then are marks for the author and for the reader of the studied theme. However, the relevance of these references is questionable in reason of the mixing of very general papers, education books, teaching papers. This juxtaposition makes prevail the assembly by association of authors and speeches very contrasted, without assuring a consistency. The juxtaposition of a precise paper and a general pedagogy book has the tendency to weaken the chosen orientation. In the same way, the association of a word, as in the last example, to an author whose contribution is not central on the question, recovers more from the anecdotal description than the scientific reference.

This worry of localization of the presented research sometimes aims to situate it in progress in the temporal process of research. The author's references himself contributes to specify the previous reference marks, the continuity of the committed research and his recent evolutions. The references are also the returns allowing the reader interested to take this history in progress and the fundamental points considered like acquirement by the author.

Of the convened authors more frequently than of the convened research

The references are also, as some critiques underline it, of reverences. The presented research

leans then against a recognized author who is susceptible to guarantee the theoretical construction.

"It is while placing us in the theoretical setting of. (2 references) that we are interested in the scientific trainings of it. in particular"

This sentence its textual environment seem to forbid all critical perspective and argumentative on the relevance of this setting for the led research. This affirmed positioning then avoids all controversy in the continuation of the paper that of the lightings could bring more contrasted. If of this shape of writing can be consisted for students researchers who appropriate the problematic of a laboratory or leaders precisely, it is with difficulty for statutory researchers whose mission is to participate in the renewal of the problematic. The weak part of the texts of research directors doesn't permit to compare these writings and to discern the possible contrasts of it.

In other cases, the loan of theoretical frame, although argued not more, is clarified as a course that presents the general orientations and the lexicon. The author informs the reader then on the vocabulary and not on the scientific stakes of research. But this effort of recognition cannot confound itself with a scientific development.

Sometimes and more distinctly in the papers of the students, the references appear in a sort of labyrinth of words and authors. Some sentences draw a contour of research then by association of words that send back less distinctly to the concepts when the references are of very various statutes.

"So that there is problem it must have a question that has the sense there and require an answer that is not known, otherwise there is only recall of knowledge memorized (1 reference), the objective being the training of a scientific knowledge in one reasonable time, it is in situation-problems (1 reference), founded on an objective-obstacle (1 reference) that the pupil is going to be able to construct and to structure the scientific knowledge (1 reference) ".