Some learners in South Africa perform poorly in school, especially in Mathematics. In 2010 the Department of Basic Education announced their concern regarding the pass rate. The National Education Department circulated a report in 2008 on some Grade 3 and Grade 6 learners who took part in a research project and only achieved level one and two in literacy (vocabulary), as well as numeracy (Mathematics). Several factors contribute to this shocking situation, such as the absence of the use of meta-cognitive strategies, number strategies, as well as language strategies. The prime goal of this study was to investigate the use of meta-cognitive strategies and Mathematical vocabulary during problem solving by Grade 7 learners. Three primary schools were invited to participate in the qualitative investigation. From these schools three top achievers (one per school) and three under-achievers (one per school) were invited to participate in the quantitative investigation. The study includes the results of the quantitative aspects of the investigation. Learners had to answer questions about predictions, achievements, control, as well as evaluation during the quantitative investigation. During this process, most of the learners predicted that they would do well and evaluated that they did well, but their marks for the questions about their achievements and control were in fact different. It is important to inform Mathematics teachers and learners about meta-cognitive strategies and Mathematical vocabulary, and the influence it can have on the learners’ achievements, as well as the positive effect during the learning of Mathematics. / MEd (Mathematics Education), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Some learners in South Africa perform poorly in school, especially in Mathematics. In 2010 the Department of Basic Education announced their concern regarding the pass rate. The National Education Department circulated a report in 2008 on some Grade 3 and Grade 6 learners who took part in a research project and only achieved level one and two in literacy (vocabulary), as well as numeracy (Mathematics). Several factors contribute to this shocking situation, such as the absence of the use of meta-cognitive strategies, number strategies, as well as language strategies. The prime goal of this study was to investigate the use of meta-cognitive strategies and Mathematical vocabulary during problem solving by Grade 7 learners. Three primary schools were invited to participate in the qualitative investigation. From these schools three top achievers (one per school) and three under-achievers (one per school) were invited to participate in the quantitative investigation. The study includes the results of the quantitative aspects of the investigation. Learners had to answer questions about predictions, achievements, control, as well as evaluation during the quantitative investigation. During this process, most of the learners predicted that they would do well and evaluated that they did well, but their marks for the questions about their achievements and control were in fact different. It is important to inform Mathematics teachers and learners about meta-cognitive strategies and Mathematical vocabulary, and the influence it can have on the learners’ achievements, as well as the positive effect during the learning of Mathematics. / MEd (Mathematics Education), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Cette thèse porte sur les sites internet des musées et plus particulièrement les sections pédagogiques de huit institutions nationales de quatre pays différents et s’attache à montrer que les musées sont, en ligne, des acteurs de contenus pédagogiques. L’enjeu est d’étudier les sections pédagogiques de ces sites en privilégiant une analyse de contenu et en mettant en œuvre une démarche comparative entre les quatre pays et les types de sites internet afin de saisir les pratiques - et notamment ce que Jean Davallon a appelé « l’anticipation par le destinateur » de ce que fera le visiteur (le destinateur visant par exemple à retenir l’intention de ce dernier ou à le guider dans le contenu), la typologie des contenus, les stratégies pédagogiques mises en œuvre par les institutions muséales en ligne. L’offre pédagogique en ligne est ici définie comme une activité permanente à distance de critiques, de construction de savoirs, de consultation et de divertissement, à propos des ressources muséales. Cette offre se construit également selon des règles cohérentes de design Web. Nous avons choisi d’étudier la pédagogie en ligne autrement selon une démarche constructiviste qui nous conduit à privilégier certains concepts clés : parcours d’apprentissage individualisés, processus d’apprentissage, stratégies cognitives, stratégies métacognitives, « learning styles », taxonomie. D’un point de vue méthodologique, cette thèse s’appuie sur une démarche qualitative et privilégie l’analyse de contenu à partir d’une grille d’analyse comportant 11 catégories : le corpus se compose de huit sites internet et de deux types de musées nationaux : les musées d’art et les musées de sciences avec une section pédagogique. La thèse se compose en deux tomes. Le tome 2 contient l’analyse complète des sites et le tome 1 comporte trois parties. Dans une première partie, la thèse se concentre sur la vocation éducative des musées en prenant en compte ses spécificités et ses complexités. Cette partie précise le contexte historique de la fonction éducative des musées qui ont très tôt développé une stratégie pédagogique en direction du public. Elle s’attache aussi à montrer la spécificité du musée dans l’éducation informelle en le situant en tant que lieu d’apprentissage de concepts et de développement qui développe deux types de médiation. Le musée favorise la formulation de questions, il oriente la réflexion et suscite des interrogations. Elle montre ensuite le musée en tant que partenaire important et complémentaire de l’école. Enfin, cette partie précise le contexte historique des musées en ligne dans les quatre pays de notre analyse et le développement progressif des politiques culturelles d'aujourd’hui et les actions progressives mises en opération par les musées. Dans un second temps, la thèse porte sur l’analyse thématique des sites internet et de leurs sections pédagogiques et s’attache à montrer les étapes successives de l'analyse de contenu via la grille d’analyse conçue pour cette recherche. Dans un premier, temps, il s’agit donc de présenter l’ergonomie générale des sites pour progressivement arriver au traitement général des sections pédagogiques des sites c’est à dire d’identifier les mécanismes sous jacents des sites internet et de leurs sections pédagogiques et dans un second temps d’identifier les différences entre les types de musées et les pays. Enfin, la troisième partie de la thèse attache de l’importance à la typologie des contenus pédagogiques en ligne et se focalise sur les stratégies mises en œuvre sur les sites ainsi que sur la pédagogie déployée. Les sites internet sont ainsi vus comme des éléments interconnectés, destinés à un public cible et renforçant le rôle social du musée. Les publics scolaires et les enseignants sont publics privilégiées, une place prépondérante à ces publics est soulignée. / This research studies museum internet sites and in particular the pedagogy of eight national institutions in four different countries and suggests that online museums are educational content players.The interest is to investigate the educational content of the internet sites using a content analysis and implementing a comparison between the four countries and the types of internet sites to be able to understand the practices – and especially what Jean Davallon calls « the anticipation by the “sender” » that the visitor will engage in (the sender aiming for example to keep the attention of the latter or to provide guidance in the contents), the typology of content and the teaching strategies put in place by the online museum institutions. The online educational offer is defined here as a permanent activity as a source of building knowledge, consultation, criticism, and entertainment, from the museum resources. This offer is also constructed according to the consistent rules of Web design.We have chosen to study the online pedagogy according to a constructivist approach that drives us to privilege certain key concepts : individual learning ways, learning processes, cognitive strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, {learning styles}, taxonomy. From a methodological point of view, this thesis relies on a qualitative approach and privileges a content analysis from an analysis grid with eleven categories : the corpus is composed of eight internet sites and of two types of national museums : the art museums and the science museums with an educational section. The thesis is composed of two tomes. The tome 2 contains the complete analysis of the sites and the tome 1 includes three parts. In the first part, the research discusses the educational role of museums with its specificities and complexities. This part defines the historical context of the educational function of museums that very early on developed an educational strategy for the public. It also shows the specificity of museums in informal education as a place of learning concepts and development that develop two types of mediation. The museum favours the formulation of questions; it orientates reflexion and raises questions. It then shows the museum as an important partner and complementary to school. Finally, this part precises the historical context of online museums of the four countries from our analysis and the progressive development of the cultural policies of the present and the progressive actions put into place by the museums.Secondly, the research focuses on the thematic analysis of the internet sites and on their educational sections and attempts to show the successive steps of the content analysis via the analysis grid constructed for this research. Firstly, it is about showing the ergonomics of the sites to progressively arrive upon the general treatment of the educational sections of the sites, that is to say to identify the mechanisms of underlying internet sites and of their educational sections and secondly to identify the differences between the types of museums and their countries. Finally, the third part of the research attaches importance to the typology of the online educational content and focuses on the strategies put into place in the sites as well as the pedagogy deployed. The internet sites are thus viewed as interconnected elements, intended for a target audience and reinforcing the social role of the museum. The schools and the teaching body are a privileged population; a prominent place for them is underlined.