This study examines the experiences of nine hijabi and non-hijabi Muslim girls from diverse backgrounds with curriculum/schooling in public secondary schools in Ontario. The study uses individual interviews and a focus group discussion to delve into how Muslim girls understand their educational experiences. The participants were independent, thoughtful, and conscientious students who were evolving as individuals through their curriculum/schooling experiences. School was a forum where they questioned themselves, discovered their interests, and made sense of their multiple identities. The differences between a participant’s home and school life varied, and each girl had a unique manner in dealing with the various ideological and practical conflicts. As Muslim girls, they were confronted with certain challenges in school; however, this did not detract from the overall positive aspects of their public schooling experiences. My participants felt respected and validated as individuals in their schools and optimistic regarding their futures as Muslim Canadian females.

This study examines the experiences of nine hijabi and non-hijabi Muslim girls from diverse backgrounds with curriculum/schooling in public secondary schools in Ontario. The study uses individual interviews and a focus group discussion to delve into how Muslim girls understand their educational experiences. The participants were independent, thoughtful, and conscientious students who were evolving as individuals through their curriculum/schooling experiences. School was a forum where they questioned themselves, discovered their interests, and made sense of their multiple identities. The differences between a participant’s home and school life varied, and each girl had a unique manner in dealing with the various ideological and practical conflicts. As Muslim girls, they were confronted with certain challenges in school; however, this did not detract from the overall positive aspects of their public schooling experiences. My participants felt respected and validated as individuals in their schools and optimistic regarding their futures as Muslim Canadian females.

In the 21st Century and beyond, it is clear that science and technology will be a catalyst in strengthening economic competitiveness and fostering social cohesion. However, some minoritized students are not engaged in science or related careers in science such as medicine. This study addresses the systemic issue of equitable and accessible science education as a requisite for career acquisition such as medicine. Mentoring is presented as a sociocultural participatory activity for engaging students in science learning. The purpose of this study is to assess the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine Summer Mentorship Program (SMP) and to use the data to theorize on the mentoring phenomenon. In 1994, the SMP was established as a means of ameliorating the traditionally low participation of Aboriginal and Black students in medicine and other health sciences. For the first 10 years (1994 – 2004), 250 participants enrolled in the program. Recently, ten past mentees of the program matriculated into various medical schools (5 in the Class of 2008 at the University of Toronto, this is significant, as the norm is usually 0 or at most 2). The study utilized a qualitative approach, requiring the collection of semi-structured one-on-one interview data and an interpretive phenomenological methodology to evaluate the data. There was an increased level of school and community involvement when students returned to high school and an increased awareness of the academic and career choices available to protégés. Mentees indicated that the influence of the SMP followed them much further than the end of the summer and considered it to be an important and defining moment in their educational journey. Communication could be improved so that mentors get a sense of their own impact and for professional development. Recommendations include conducting a study more focused on the impact of the SMP on Aboriginal students who completed the program. Finally, from a theoretical perspective, further work is recommended in order to fine-tune the proposed Mentoring Oriented Teaching and Learning Strategy (MOTALS) framework that incorporates students as natives in a welcoming community of science practice rather than immigrants in a strange land of non-contextual science knowledge.

This dissertation looks at adolescent male dance students who challenge the dominant perceptions of masculinity by participating in dance, an art form which has been subjected to feminine and homosexual stereotypes. With a multi-methodological approach—qualitative, arts-informed, autobiography, interviews, videotape, and performance—this research investigates and explores the largely unknown realities regarding adolescent male dance students; why they decide to take dance; what makes them continue or stop dancing; how their perceptions of dance are transformed over time; how they feel when they are dancing; the realities they embody in studio and on stage; their message to the public about who they were, who they are, and what they want to be in and through dance. The researcher challenges the socially constructed epistemology that dance is merely an entertainment while exploring the relationship between mind and body; gender, race, and identity; literature and literacy; physical education and dance; the professional and the novice; the hows and the whys; female and male dance educators; dance pedagogy (theory) and curriculum delivering (practice); and the association of homosexuality and heterosexuality in the context of dance and its effect on adolescent male students’ willingness to dance. This study shows that families, friends, teachers, school administrators, dance class environment, media (So You Think You Can Dance), and technology (internet) have all created various levels of impact on adolescent males’ decision to participate in dance at a high school. Data and implication from this research can serve as a catalyst for future studies on adolescent male dance students. Findings can also be applied to dance programs at all levels, curriculum development, and teacher education. This electronic dissertation encompasses graphs, photos, audio and video clips, webpage links, and even a full-length documentary movie to enhance the research finding and maximize the power of a multimodal design (Jewitt & Kress, 2003).

In the 21st Century and beyond, it is clear that science and technology will be a catalyst in strengthening economic competitiveness and fostering social cohesion. However, some minoritized students are not engaged in science or related careers in science such as medicine. This study addresses the systemic issue of equitable and accessible science education as a requisite for career acquisition such as medicine. Mentoring is presented as a sociocultural participatory activity for engaging students in science learning. The purpose of this study is to assess the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine Summer Mentorship Program (SMP) and to use the data to theorize on the mentoring phenomenon. In 1994, the SMP was established as a means of ameliorating the traditionally low participation of Aboriginal and Black students in medicine and other health sciences. For the first 10 years (1994 – 2004), 250 participants enrolled in the program. Recently, ten past mentees of the program matriculated into various medical schools (5 in the Class of 2008 at the University of Toronto, this is significant, as the norm is usually 0 or at most 2). The study utilized a qualitative approach, requiring the collection of semi-structured one-on-one interview data and an interpretive phenomenological methodology to evaluate the data. There was an increased level of school and community involvement when students returned to high school and an increased awareness of the academic and career choices available to protégés. Mentees indicated that the influence of the SMP followed them much further than the end of the summer and considered it to be an important and defining moment in their educational journey. Communication could be improved so that mentors get a sense of their own impact and for professional development. Recommendations include conducting a study more focused on the impact of the SMP on Aboriginal students who completed the program. Finally, from a theoretical perspective, further work is recommended in order to fine-tune the proposed Mentoring Oriented Teaching and Learning Strategy (MOTALS) framework that incorporates students as natives in a welcoming community of science practice rather than immigrants in a strange land of non-contextual science knowledge.

Cette thèse s’intéresse aux fondements épistémologiques et à la vision que des enseignants d’histoire au secondaire entretiennent à l’égard de l’enseignement de l’histoire et de la formation citoyenne. La réflexion s’inscrit dans le contexte de la refonte des programmes d’enseignement de l’histoire qui engage dorénavant les maîtres d’histoire à éduquer à la citoyenneté démocratique. Ce projet éducationnel repose sur le postulat suivant : l’apprentissage de l’histoire, de sa pensée et de sa méthode permet de former des individus capables de réflexion critique autonome et informée. Cette vision de l’enseignement de l’histoire implique que les élèves s’exercent à la pensée historienne, à l’analyse des sources et à la construction d’interprétations historiques. Ce faisant, ils développeraient une compréhension du monde fondée sur la maîtrise de concepts et une pensée complexe, ce qui servirait de ce fait la citoyenneté. La recherche a par ailleurs démontré que les maîtres avaient recours à des méthodes pédagogiques plus traditionnelles (Charland, 2003; Martineau, 1997). C’est donc à des changements de pratiques qu’appelle le ministère de l’Éducation. Or un tel changement ne se déclare pas « d’en haut ». Les convictions des maîtres sont lentes à se transformer et ce sont elles qui déterminent la formation historienne et citoyenne que recevront les élèves. Nous en avons fait notre objet d’étude pour cette recherche en recourant à la théorie des représentations sociales. Nous avons adopté le modèle du noyau central (Abric, 1994) et celui des principes organisateurs qui permet d’identifier les relations existantes entre plusieurs représentations. Nous avons effectué une recherche exploratoire de type qualitative. Des entretiens individuels semi-dirigés d’une durée moyenne de 120 minutes ont été réalisés avec un échantillon comptant 18 enseignants d’histoire au secondaire de Montréal, de Québec et de communautés amérindiennes du Québec. L’outil de cueillette et d’analyse des données s’inspire grandement des développements méthodologiques réalisés par la recherche sur les représentations sociales (évocation hiérarchisée continuée ou limitée, schémas conceptuels) (Abric, 1994; 1997). Les résultats permettent d’identifier les fondements épistémologiques et didactiques, le contenu et la structure, de même que les relations existant entre les représentations de l’enseignement de l’histoire et de la formation à la citoyenneté. Ils ont également mis en lumière les convictions idéologiques et pédagogiques des maîtres d’histoire. / This dissertation focuses on the epistemological foundations and the vision of high school history teachers regarding history teaching and citizenship education. The work has to be considered within the context of history curriculum reform that now engages teachers in an education for democratic citizenship. This educational project is based on the premise that learning history, its specific manner of thinking and method, allows the formation of individuals capable of critical thinking and self-awareness. This vision of history teaching implies that students practice historical thinking, analyze different sources and construct historical interpretations. In so doing, it is believed that they will develop an understanding of the world based on the use of concepts and complex thinking, which would also contribute to the objective of citizenship education. However, research shows that teachers use more traditional teaching methods than those mentioned above (Charland, 2003; Martineau, 1997). Consequently, the new programs expect that teachers will change their practices. But such a change can’t be declared "from above". Teachers’ beliefs are slow to change and they greatly determine the historical formation and citizenship education that students receive. These beliefs are the object of this dissertation’s study. I observed these beliefs through the angle of the theory of social representations and the models of “central core” (noyau central) (Abric, 1994) and organizing principles (Moliner, 1996) that allow the identification of existing relationships between different representations. I conducted an exploratory qualitative type research. My research consist of semi-structured interviews, lasting an average of 120 minutes, conducted on a sample of eighteen high school history teachers from Montreal, Quebec City and Natives communities of Quebec. The tool for gathering and analyzing data draws from the methodological developments made in research on social representations (hierarchical evocation continued or limited, conceptual designs) (Abric, 1994, 1997). The results identify the epistemological and didactic foundations, the content and the structure, as well as the relationship between the representations of history and citizenship education. They also highlight teachers’ ideological and pedagogical beliefs.

Selon la théorie des buts d’accomplissement, il est possible que les attitudes et les pratiques pédagogiques des enseignants d’éducation physique influencent la motivation de leurs élèves. Dans cette étude, les objectifs étaient d’abord de documenter l’évolution annuelle de la motivation pour l’éducation physique au début du secondaire en considérant le sexe et le niveau scolaire et de vérifier ensuite la valeur prédictive des buts d’accomplissement induits par les enseignants d’éducation physique et de la perception de ces buts par les élèves sur la motivation de ces derniers, puis d’évaluer l’effet modérateur du sentiment de compétence et du sexe des élèves sur la valeur prédictive des buts d’accomplissement. Les résultats montrent qu’en général les filles sont moins motivées que les garçons dans leurs cours d’éducation physique et que cette motivation diminue avec l’âge, et ce, peu importe le sexe des élèves. Ensuite, nos résultats montrent que les attitudes et les pratiques pédagogiques des enseignants ainsi que la perception des élèves du climat induit par l’enseignant sont en mesure d’influencer certaines caractéristiques motivationnelles des élèves telles que l’adoption de buts de maîtrise et de performance-approche, la motivation intrinsèque, la motivation extrinsèque (par introjection et par régulation externe), l’amotivation et la valeur utilitaire que les élèves accordent à leurs cours d’éducation physique. Puis, il a été montré que la valeur prédictive des buts d’accomplissement et de la perception de ces buts par les élèves était modérée par le sentiment de compétence des élèves pour les variables motivationnelles suivantes : buts de maîtrise, motivation intrinsèque, amotivation et valeur utilitaire. Ainsi, les attitudes des enseignants, leurs pratiques pédagogiques et la perception du climat de classe n’ont une incidence significative que lorsque le sentiment de compétence des élèves est faible. La valeur prédictive des buts d’accomplissement et de la perception de ces buts par les élèves était aussi modérée par le sexe des élèves pour les variables motivationnelles suivantes : buts de performance-approche, buts de performance-évitement et amotivation. Quand le sexe des élèves modifie la relation, celle-ci est généralement inversée selon le sexe des élèves : elle est positive pour les garçons et négative pour les filles. Suite à cette étude, nous constatons que les enseignants d’éducation physique gagneraient à instaurer un climat de maîtrise tout en laissant place aux défis personnels des élèves et en insistant sur l’utilité de la tâche. Afin de répondre aux besoins particuliers de chacun des élèves, il serait intéressant de mettre en place des regroupements selon la compétence sportive des élèves. Ainsi, l’enseignant serait en mesure d’instaurer un climat motivationnel adapté. / According to achievement goal theory, physical education teachers may influence the motivation of their students with their attitudes and the teaching practices they use. The goals of this study were first to document the annual evolution of motivation in physical education students at the beginning of their secondary education according to gender and school level; then to verify the predictive value of the achievement goals induced by physical education teachers as well as the perception of these goals by the students themselves; and finally to evaluate the moderating effect of the perceived competence and student gender on the predictive value of the achievement goals. The results show that female students are generally less motivated than male students in physical education classes and that motivation decreases as the students age, regardless of gender. Our results also show that the attitudes and teaching practices of the teachers as well as the students' perception of the climate induced by the teachers can influence certain motivational characteristics of students like adopting mastery and performance-approach goals, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation (through introjection and external regulation), amotivation and the utility value they give to their physical education classes. The research also demonstrates that the predictive value of the achievement goals and of the perception of these goals by the students was moderated by the students' perceived competence for the following motivational variables: mastery goals, intrinsic motivation, amotivation and utility value. Thus, the teachers’ attitudes and teaching practices as well as the perception of the class climate have a significant effect only if the perceived competence of the students is low. The predictive value of the achievement goals and of the perception of these goals by the students was also moderated by the gender of the students for the following motivational variables: performance-approach goals, performance-avoidance goals and amotivation. When student gender changes the relation, this is generally reversed according to the gender of the students: it is positive for male students and negative for female students. The results of this study lead us to believe that physical education teachers would be well advised to implement a mastery climate in their classes and to allow students to meet personal challenges, insisting on the value of the task. In order to satisfy the special needs of every classmate, it would be interesting if students could be grouped according to their abilities in sports. By doing so, the teachers would be able to establish a motivational climate better suited to the class.

Les difficultés scolaires ont des conséquences importantes, tant au plan personnel que sociétal. De plus, les adolescents d’origine haïtienne semblent particulièrement à risque de vivre des difficultés scolaires. Pourtant, très peu d’études canadiennes se sont intéressées au vécu scolaire des élèves de cette communauté. Cependant, des études menées auprès d’autres groupes minoritaires ont fait état de l’importance de l’influence des amis et des parents en ce qui a trait au rendement scolaire de l’adolescent. Par conséquent, l’objectif général de ce mémoire est d’examiner les pratiques parentales en lien avec l’école comme modératrices de la relation entre le désengagement scolaire des amis et le rendement scolaire chez les élèves haïtiens fréquentant une école en milieu défavorisé. Dans le premier chapitre, nous avons dressé un portrait statistique de l’immigration au Québec et discuté de certains aspects du vécu scolaire des élèves issus de l’immigration. Ces données nous indiquent que les difficultés scolaires que peuvent éprouver ces élèves constituent un phénomène complexe impliquant de nombreux facteurs. Le second chapitre expose en quoi les parents et les amis sont des acteurs cruciaux de la réussite scolaire de l’élève haïtien provenant d’un milieu défavorisé. Nous avons ensuite évalué l’effet modérateur des pratiques parentales sur la relation entre le désengagement scolaire des amis et le rendement en français. Cela a permis de montrer que le désengagement des amis et certaines pratiques parentales en lien avec l’école permettent de prédire le rendement en français. Dans le troisième chapitre, nous avons abordé le rôle du psychoéducateur appelé à intervenir auprès d’élèves haïtiens. Force est de constater qu’il existe un grand nombre d’interventions pouvant être mises en œuvre tant auprès des amis, des parents, que des enseignants, afin de favoriser le succès scolaire des élèves haïtiens. Les résultats de ce mémoire ont mis en lumière l’importance de la prise en compte du désengagement scolaire des amis et des pratiques parentales dans l’étude des difficultés scolaires chez les élèves haïtiens issus de milieux défavorisés. Toutefois, d’autres études seront nécessaires afin de comprendre les mécanismes régissant les interactions entre ces acteurs. Ces études devront inclure des échantillons plus vastes et compter des jeunes de tous les statuts socioéconomiques et de toutes les régions du Québec. De plus, elles devront faire appel à plusieurs informateurs et considérer des facteurs intrinsèques à l’élève, comme par exemple sa motivation scolaire ou son estime de soi. Mots clés : Rendement scolaire, pratiques parentales, désengagement scolaire des amis, adolescents haïtiens, pauvreté. / School underachievement has important consequences, both individual and societal. Haitian adolescents seem particularly at risk of experiencing such academic difficulties. Yet, very few Canadian studies have focused on the academic experience of students in this community. Studies conducted with other minority groups have however reported the important influence of friends and parents in regard to these adolescents’ achievement. The objective of this paper is to examine how school-related parenting practices moderate the relationship between peers’ disengagement in school and academic performance among economically disadvantaged Haitian adolescents. In the first chapter, we have made a statistical portrait of immigration in Quebec and discussed different aspects related to achievement among immigrant students. These data indicate that the academic difficulties that some of these students experience are complex and involve many factors. The second chapter explains how parents and friends are key actors in the academic success of Haitian students coming from disadvantaged background. We then assessed the moderating effect of school-related parenting practices on the relationship between peers’ disengagement in school and adolescents’ achievement in literacy. Results reveal that parental practices and peers’ disengagement toward school contribute directly (positively or negatively) to adolescents’ academic experience. In the third chapter, we finally discussed the role of the psychoeducator who intervene with Haitian students. It appears that there are many interventions that can be implemented with friends, parents, and teachers to promote the academic success of these students. Our results highlighted the importance of considering peers’ disengagement from school and parenting practices in the study of academic difficulties among Haitian students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. Further studies are however needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the contribution of these actors on adolescents’ achievement. These studies ought to include larger samples of participants coming from all regions of Quebec and all socio-economical backgrounds. In addition, these studies ought to rely on several informants and consider factors intrinsic to the student, such as his academic motivation or self-esteem. Key words: School achievement; Parental practices; Peers’ disengagement from school; Haitian adolescents; Poverty. / Ce mémoire contient un article ayant été soumis à la Revue de Psychoéducation. Cet article a été rédigé avec comme co-auteur Michel Janosz

Notre recherche vise à décrire les connaissances grammaticales élaborées par des élèves de première secondaire au cours de l’enseignement/apprentissage de l’accord du verbe. Cette description se fonde sur l’observation des interactions didactiques entre les élèves, et leur enseignant autour de l’objet de savoir « accord du verbe » : elle concerne plus particulièrement l’interaction entre les pôles « élève » et « savoir ». Notre recherche s’inscrit dans le courant de la grammaire pédagogique moderne. La théorie de la transposition didactique de Chevallard (1985/1991) constitue également la pierre angulaire de nos travaux : les concepts de transposition didactique externe (le passage du savoir savant au savoir à enseigner) et interne (le passage du savoir à enseigner au savoir effectivement enseigné) agissent à titre d’analyseurs des interactions didactiques. L’observation, la description et la théorisation des interactions didactiques imposent une démarche écologique pour la collecte des données. Pour notre recherche, les données ont été recueillies grâce à la captation vidéo de séquences didactiques portant sur l’accord du verbe : elles consistent en des interactions verbales entre élèves ou entre les élèves et leur enseignant. L’analyse des données s’est effectuée selon une perspective macro et micro : (1) L’analyse macro indique que les connaissances antérieures des élèves résistent à l’institutionnalisation des savoirs puisque le savoir enseigné n’est pas celui qui est exclusivement mobilisé. Les élèves recourent à un vaste éventail de connaissances de types procédural et déclaratif pour l’identification du verbe et du sujet, dont la réussite n’est par ailleurs pas assurée. De plus, les connaissances qu’ils ont élaborées autour de la règle d’accord et du transfert des traits morphologiques sont également nombreuses et variées et ne les conduisent pas à accorder le verbe avec constance. (2) L’analyse micro suggère que l’élaboration des connaissances relatives à l’accord du verbe dépend de la manière dont les outils de la grammaire (manipulations syntaxiques et phrase de base) sont utilisés par les élèves. Plus précisément, le savoir piétine ou recule lorsque les manipulations syntaxiques ne sont pas appliquées dans la phrase ou qu’elles ne sont pas adaptées dans certains contextes syntaxiques; le savoir fait des bonds en avant dans les classes où les élèves sont en mesure de recourir à la phrase de base pour soutenir leur analyse grammaticale. Les descriptions proposées dans le cadre de notre thèse conduisent à discuter de leurs implications pour la transposition didactique externe et, plus généralement, pour la didactique du français et de la grammaire. / The purpose of our work is to describe the grammatical knowledge formulated by first- year high school students during the teaching/learning of verb agreement. This description is based on the observation of didactic interactions between students, their teacher and the knowledge element, “verb agreement”: it’s main focus is on the interaction between students and knowledge. Our research lies within the mainstream of modern pedagogical grammar. The didactic transposition theory put forward by Chevallard (1985/1991) also serves as a foundation: didactic transposition concepts, both external (from scholarly knowledge to knowledge to be taught) and internal (from knowledge to be taught to knowledge actually taught) act as didactic interaction analyzers. The observation, description and theorization of didactic interactions require an ecological approach to data collection, which was done by capturing video clips of didactic sequences on verb agreement. These consisted of verbal interactions between students or between students and their teacher. The analysis of this data was performed from both a macro and micro perspective: (1) The macro analysis denotes that the students' previous knowledge is resistant to the institutionalization of learning, since taught knowledge is not being called upon. In their identification of verbs and subjects, students employ a wide range of declarative and procedural knowledge types, even without some form of success being ensured. Moreover, while the knowledge they formulate relative to the agreement rule and the transfer of morphological characteristics is both substantial and varied, it does not consistently lead them to verb agreement. (2) The micro analysis suggests that knowledge formulated relative to verb agreement depends on how the students make use of grammar tools (syntax and basic sentence manipulation). More specifically, knowledge can get underfoot or even take a step ! "#! backward when syntactic manipulations are not applied in the sentence or cannot be adapted to certain syntaxic contexts, and can leap forward in classes where students are able to support their grammatical analysis through resorting to basic sentences. The descriptions put forward within the context of our thesis lead to a discussion of their implications for external didactic transposition and more generally, to the teaching of French and of grammar.

Le Renouveau pédagogique, mis en place au Québec en 2005 à l’ordre secondaire, a eu pour effet de forcer plusieurs enseignants à remettre en question leurs pratiques pédagogiques avec l’approche par compétences. Considérant que les recherches sur l’ancien programme d’histoire ont démontré que les enseignants utilisaient la plupart du temps le manuel comme outil unique, que les manuels contenaient peu de sources primaires et que l’usage de sources est maintenant prescrit par le ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, nous analysons dans cette recherche l’usage des sources primaires dans les nouveaux manuels d’Histoire et éducation à la citoyenneté du niveau secondaire. L’analyse de nos résultats nous a permis de fournir les outils nécessaires afin de répondre à notre question de recherche. Nous avons constaté la présence majoritaire des sources primaires dans les manuels. Par contre, celles-ci n’étaient pas toujours incluses dans une situation d’apprentissage avec au moins une compétence disciplinaire et, dans encore moins de cas, dans une tâche complexe en lien avec la méthode historique. / Educational Renewal, established in Quebec in 2005 at the secondary level had the effect of forcing many teachers to question their teaching practices with the skills approach. Considering that research on the old history program showed that teachers used mostly textbook as a unique tool, that contained few primary sources and these sources are now prescribed by the ministry of Education, Recreation and Sport, we determine in this research the use of primary sources in the new history and citizenship education textbooks of at the secondary level. The analysis of our results allowed us to provide the tools necessary to answer our research question. Our first observation was to note the presence of the majority of primary sources in the textbooks. They were not always included in a learning situation, including at least one of disciplinary skill and, in even fewer cases, in a complex task in connection with the historical method.