Current reform efforts, which aim to improve the mathematics abilities of American citizens, call for mathematics instruction that emphasizes sense making, reasoning and argumentation. This study was conducted to understand the outcomes of Collaborative Reasoning, a reform-oriented instructional strategy, in seventh and eighth grade mathematics classrooms. An embedded, quasi-experimental, mixed-methods design was used to investigate: the effects of Collaborative Reasoning on students' mathematics performance, and the ways in which students' reasoning abilities change as a result of participating in Collaborative Reasoning. The quantitative results revealed statistically significant changes in mathematics performance from pre-test to post-test. Post-test analysis showed a statistically significant difference in assessment scores, with the treatment group out-performing their comparison group peers. The qualitative results of the study show that as a result of participating in Collaborative Reasoning sessions, students were choosing reasoning strategies that were more appropriate, were using appropriate reasoning strategies more consistently, and were better able to verbally explain their reasoning. Finally, it was found that as students participate in Collaborative Reasoning their discourse becomes less calculational and more conceptual in nature, and more students become active participants within small group discussions. / Math & Science Education

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This study examined the effects of professional development in the form of a teacher study group and a particular discussion approach, Collaborative Reasoning (CR) (Anderson, et al., 2001) upon teachers' questioning and students' levels of thinking during discussion of text. The study explored how five middle school teachers achieved a deeper understanding of teachers' authentic questioning and the facilitation of CR discussion. The Formative and Design Experiment (FandDE) framework was used in this investigation. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Teachers coded transcripts of one baseline and four CR discussions for each teacher. Transcripts were coded for teachers' CR instructional moves, CR features incorporated by the students in discussion, and the levels of thinking supporting students' responses. Data indicated that the nature of discussions progressed from recitation to more dialogical discussion patterns. Teachers implemented more authentic questioning, and students were observed to use more higher-order thinking in the responses. Students discourse showed a higher incidence of exploratory talk and uptake. Students used multiple kinds of evidence from personal experience, texts, and knowledge from previous reading/lecture/discussion to support their arguments. The data suggest that the implementation of a specific discussion model may enhance teachers' questioning and encourage students to engage in higher-order thinking and reasoning when discussing text. / Ph. D.

Dans une époque marquée par les inquiétudes publiques sur les implications sociétales et environnementales des innovations technoscientifiques, l’enjeu de l’éducation scientifique est de préparer les citoyens à prendre une part active aux choix de société. Tandis que les Inquiry Based Science Education pénètrent les programmes d’enseignements de tous les pays, la généralisation de l’Education au Développement Durable signe l’intégration des enjeux du monde contemporain dans des enseignements problématisés. Dans ce contexte, la scolarisation des Questions Socialement Vives (QSV) place l'incertitude et la complexité au cœur des processus d'enseignement/apprentissage. À la croisée de la didactique des QSV et de la pédagogie numérique, cette thèse vise à documenter les modalités d’apprentissages collectifs de la participation démocratique aux expertises citoyennes de QSV Environnementales. Nous exploitons le potentiel des Environnements Numériques de Travail collaboratifs à élargir les communautés d’apprentissages au-delà des frontières géographiques et des cloisonnements disciplinaires. Nous analysons les évolutions de Raisonnements SocioScientifiques dans une perspective de Durabilité (RSSD) construits collectivement par de futurs enseignants en quatrième année de formation initiale issus de disciplines et institutions universitaires diverses en France et en Australie. L’originalité de ce travail réside dans la mise en relation des interactions socio-discursives avec les niveaux d’approfondissement des RSSD co-construits. Elle révèle l’intérêt majeur des dérangements socio-épistémologiques occasionnés par les rencontres interculturelles. / At a time marked by the public concerns about societal and environmental implications of technoscientific innovations, the purpose of science education is to prepare citizens to take active part on society choices. The generalisation of Education for Sustainable Development signs the integration of world contemporary stakes in problematized Scientific teaching while Inquiry Based Science Education penetrates curriculums of all countries. In such a context, the teaching of Socially Acute Questions (SAQs) incorporates uncertainty and complexity at the heart of the teaching and learning process. Environmental SAQs call for expertises that take stock of socio-ecological interactions at different scales, political and technoscientifical options, interests and values at play, connections between debated problems. At a crossroads of SAQs’ didactics and digital pedagogy, this thesis aims to document forms of collective learning of democratic involvement in citizen expertises of Environmental SAQs. We make use of Digital Work Environment potential to broaden community of learning beyond geographical boundaries and disciplinary compartmentalization. We scrutinize collective SocioScientific and Sustainability Reasoning (S3R) of students in their fourth year of a teacher education degree from different disciplines and Universities in France and Australia. The originality of this work lies in seeing together Socio-Discursive Interactions and improvements of S3R collectively built. It reveals the major interest of socio-epistemologic disturbance occasionned by cross-cultural meetings.

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