Le système scolaire du Mali, l’un des pays les plus pauvres du monde, connaît de graves difficultés (d’origine économique, socioculturelle, politique…) auxquelles le gouvernement tente de faire face pour relancer le développement. Dans ce pays, la situation de la fille et de la femme est problématique et préoccupante. La sous-scolarisation des filles, une des caractéristiques de l’éducation en Afrique, tend à se réduire mais les inégalités persistent entre les filles et les garçons. Dans les études réalisées en France, l’école apparaît comme le lieu de reproduction de structures idéologiques figées mettant les femmes et les filles dans une position d’infériorité. Les rapports sociaux de sexe qui sont en jeu dans la société façonnent les interactions en classe et réciproquement. Notre étude a comme fondement les sciences du langage, elle s’inspire également de travaux en sciences de l’éducation. Elle a pour objet de décrire, d’une part, les représentations sociales des enseignants et des filles et, d’autre part, les phénomènes langagiers et interactionnels qui se produisent dans la classe. Nous chercherons à déterminer si le fonctionnement de la classe reflète celui de la société, en ce qui concerne le rôle et la place de la fille et de la femme au Mali. Nous nous appuierons sur un corpus, collecté au Mali et comportant des entretiens réalisés avec des enseignants et des filles de 4e et de 9e année, ainsi que des vidéos de classe, filmées dans deux villes du Mali : N’Kourala, village rural, et Bamako, la capitale. / The education system in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, suffers from severe difficulties (stemming from socioeconomic, socio-cultural and political problems) which the government has been trying to address to foster economic development. In this country, the situation of girls and women is problematic and a cause of concern. Although female under-education, a characteristic of Africa, tends to decrease, gender inequalities prevail. Research conducted in France has shown that school appears as the place where fossilized ideological structures placing girls and women in an inferior position are reproduced. In that sense, gender interactions at stake in society shape interactions in the classroom and vice versa. The present study is rooted in linguistics and also relies on research in education. Its aim is to describe on the one hand the girls’ and teachers’ social representations, and on the other hand the linguistic and interactional phenomena that occur in the classroom. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the way the classroom works reflects society, as regards the role and place of girls and women in Mali. This study relies on a corpus collected in Mali, which includes interviews with teachers and 4th-year and 9th-year girls, as well as videos filmed in class in two Malian towns – N’Kourala, a rural village, and Bamako, the capital city of Mali.

There have been many studies on media (mis)representations of the Middle East and Iran. However, the experts and analysts who serve as major sources for those representations (and for government policy making) have not been systematically studied. This project studies discourses and networks of widely published Iran experts during the first year of the presidency of Iran’s Hassan Rouhani (2013-2014), the period during which unprecedented direct U.S.-Iran diplomacy paved the way for the historic nuclear agreement with Iran. Norman Fairclough’s three dimensional critical discourse analysis method and Peter Haas’s Epistemic Community approach are employed to study discursive as well as non-discursive (networked) characteristics of the most widely published U.S. Iran experts during this time period. Results identify five major epistemic communities that, altogether, represent the spectrum of U.S. Iran experts: neoconservatism, liberal interventionism, containment (tactical engagement), strategic engagement, and rapprochement. These five epistemic communities are described in detail throughout the five results chapters. Findings show that these experts influence the terms of media representations as well as the foreign policy making process. Findings also show that experts operate in a web of discursive as well as networked affiliations (i.e., epistemic communities) in order to be able to develop and circulate their discourses. It is however important to recognize that epistemic communities are not uniform in terms of formation stage, cohesion and level.

The aim of this paper is to compare the subject-specific concepts and their use in two chapters dealing with the subject force in two different physics textbooks for grades 4-6. To achieve the aim, the following questions have been formulated: What subject-specific concepts are used and how often? What representations are used to clarify the subject-specific concepts? To achieve the purpose and the issues raised in the paper, the chapter will be analysed with two different content analysis. The material will then be analysed based on Vygotsky's theory of the development of scientific concepts. The results show that both chapters have about as many subject-specific concepts in comparison to the rest of the words in the chapters. One of the chapters show greater variety of representations with different contexts than the second chapter. Both chapters have used everyday contexts when the subject-specific concepts were explained, but one of the chapters show that different contexts were used depending on the subject-specific concepts.

The purpose of this study was to determine the preferences of two racial and two socio-economic groups for selected aspects of class-oriented reading materials. This was accomplished by checking each subject's visual perception of pictorial representations typical of both the lower-class and the middle-class, and by checking his preferences of story themes typical of both the middle and lower-classes.

The frequency and seriousness of facial injuries during the First World War account for the presence of disfigured men in significant numbers in European interwar society. Physical reconstruction, psychological and social consequences had long-term consequences for experts and lay people alike. Despite the number of wounded men and the impact of disfigurement, the facially injured soldiers of the First World War have rarely been the focus of academic research. This thesis aims to bridge this gap through a careful investigation of the lives and representations of gueules cassées, as they came to be known in France. It examines the experience and perceptions of facial disfigurement from the moment of the injury and throughout the years following, thereby setting the parameters for a study of the real and the mediated presence of disfigured veterans in interwar society. The chronological frame of this study begins in 1914 and ends in 1939, since the perception and representations of facial disfigurement were of particular significance during the First World War and its aftermath. Using a comparative approach to explore the experience and representations of disfigurement, this study investigates the presence of facially injured combatants and veterans in 1920s and 1930s society. With an interdisciplinary perspective, literary and artistic depictions as well as historical documents are examined in order to complement contemporary descriptions with the voices of the men themselves. This study sheds new light on the history of wounded soldiers of the First World War through in-depth analysis of original documents from France, Germany and Great Britain. This thesis provides the first detailed comparative study of British, French and German disfigured men. It emphasises the at times paradoxical situation of veterans who sought to lead ordinary lives but also became symbols of the war. All five chapters highlight the visibility of facially injured men and explore different responses to their presence whilst also interrogating their role and image in wartime and interwar societies. As such it aims to make a contribution to the cultural history of the First World War and its aftermath.

Geometric semigroup theory means different things to different people, but it is agreed that it involves associating a geometric structure to a semigroup and deducing properties of the semigroup based on that structure. One such property is finite presentability. In geometric group theory, the geometric structure of choice is the Cayley graph of the group. It is known that in group theory finite presentability is an invariant under quasi-isometry of Cayley graphs. We choose to associate a metric space to a semigroup based on a Cayley graph of that semigroup. This metric space is constructed by removing directions, multiple edges and loops from the Cayley graph. We call this a skeleton of the semigroup. We show that finite presentability of certain types of direct products, completely (0-)simple, and Clifford semigroups is preserved under isomorphism of skeletons. A major tool employed in this is the Švarc-Milnor Lemma. We present an example that shows that in general, finite presentability is not an invariant property under isomorphism of skeletons of semigroups, and in fact is not an invariant property under quasi-isometry of Cayley graphs for semigroups. We give several skeletons and describe fully the semigroups that can be associated to these.

En étudiant le rôle d'un état émotionnel négatif stable, apparenté à la peur, sur l'élaboration des représentations sociales du travail et du chômage nous avons pu observer et décrire plusieurs phénomènes importants. Tout d'abord, ce type d'état émotionnel contribuerait à orienter la sélection des éléments d'information constituant le champ représentationnel. Il orienterait cette sélection dans le sens d'un accroissement de l'attention en direction d'éléments relatifs à des préoccupations individuelles au détriment d'éléments relatifs à des questions sociales au sein des représentations du travail et du chômage. Ensuite, une partie de la représentation est congruente avec cet état émotionnel. Cette congruence affective concernait la dimension psychologique de la représentation du chômage. En plus de l'effet de congruence, cet état émotionnel stabiliserait le poids des éléments d'information contenus dans cette dimension psychologique. Enfin, ce type d'état contribuerait à structurer les représentations. L'état émotionnel négatif stable contribuerait à augmenter le nombre des éléments contenus dans le noyau de la représentation du travail. / By studying the role of a stable negative emotional state, like fear, on the social representations elaboration of unemployment and work, we could to observe and describe several important phenomena. Firstly, this type of emotional state guides the informationnal elements selection forming the representational field. It would guide the selection in the direction of increased attention towards items related to individual concerns at the expense of items relating to social issues in the representations of work and unemployment. Secondly, a part of the representation is congruent with this emotional state. This emotional congruence concerned the psychological dimension of the unemployment representation. In addition to the effect congruency, this emotional state stabilizes the weight of the information elements contained in thispsychological dimension. Finally, this state type would take part in structure representations. The stable negative emotional state would increase the number of elements contained in the kernel of the representation of work.

TITLE: Developing activity and creativity in teaching fractions in grades 6 to 7 AUTHOR: Bc. Lenka Svobodová DEPARTMENT: Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Education SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Marie Tichá, CSc. ABSTRACT: The thesis consists of a theoretical and an empirical part. The theoretical part looks at the cognitive process of pupils and possible ways of their motivation during fractions teaching. Furthermore, it outlines causes of lack of understanding of fractions and re-education interventions. The empirical part is based on a qualitative research whose main objective was to determine how the pupils are able to solve fractions exercises independently and creatively and what mistakes they make. Various methods of data collection were used, such as interview with teachers on issues of fractions teaching in elementary schools, non- standardised test with fractions exercises and additional interview with the tested pupils. This part also describes the preparation of the research, the research itself and its results KEYWORDS: fractions, interpretations, representations, models, misunderstandings, mistakes, teaching approaches

Cette thèse aborde les représentations sociales du handicap et surtout de l’inclusion scolaire des enfants et adolescents en situation de handicap chez les enseignants. En effet, c’est à partir des représentations sociales et des pratiques qu’elles génèrent que l’inclusion scolaire est analysée. Mieux, l’analyse de l’inclusion scolaire est réalisée à travers le discours et les pratiques des enseignants. La recherche est menée au sein de douze écoles dont dix situées à Rome et deux à Cagliari dans la région de Sardaigne. Toutes ces écoles accueillent des élèves en situation de handicap et cherchent au mieux à respecter la singularité irréductible de chaque élève. Le recours à une triangulation des techniques de collecte des données (questionnaire, guide d’entretien, focus groupe et observation directe) a permis de saisir l’influence des représentations sociales sur les pratiques éducatives et les comportements individuels et collectives dans le sens de l’inclusion scolaire. L’investigation empirique réalisée établit une corrélation entre l’univers de la pensée (représentations sociales) et l’univers de l’action (pratiques éducatives). La perception que les enseignants se font du handicap et de l’inclusion scolaire a favorisé la mise en œuvre concrète de pratiques pédagogiques prenant en compte les besoins éducatifs spécifiques des élèves en situation de handicap. L’accueil et la prise en compte du handicap à l’école résultent d’une mutation tant dans le domaine des idées que celui de l’organisation et de la pratique pédagogique. Outre l’étude de l’inclusion scolaire à travers le dire et le faire des enseignants, nous avons aussi cherché à comprendre les rapports existants entre les acteurs impliqués dans la réalisation du projet d’inclusion. L’examen discursif et les observations de terrain révèlent que la collaboration entre enseignants, voire entre intervenants en inclusion reste encore un chantier de travail. En dépit des contradictions et des ambivalences observables, l’inclusion est considérée comme une plus-value pour tous et les enseignants interrogés sont bien acquis à sa cause. / This thesis deals with social representations of disability and mainly with school inclusion of children and teenagers living with disabilities in teachers’ practices. In fact, it is important to notice that this school inclusion is analysed from the social representations and the practices they bring about. Better, the analysis of school inclusion is made via the discourse and practices of teachers.The survey is conducted in twelve schools, ten of them located in Rome and the two others in Cagliari in the region of Sardinia. All these schools host students living with handicap and they seek to do their best to observe every student’s irreducible singularity. A resort to a triangulation of the techniques of data collection(questionnaire, interview guide, group focus and direct observation ) has been of great importance to us in grasping the true influence of social representations about the educational practices and the behaviours, individual as well as collective in the sense of school inclusion. This achieved empiric investigation establishes a link between the universe and the thought(social representations) in one hand, and the universe and the action(educational practices) on the other hand. The perception teachers make about handicap and school inclusion has engendered the concrete setting of pedagogic practices which take into account the specific educational needs of students living with disabilities. The welcome and way of dealing with disability at school result from a transformation both in the field of ideas and the organization of the pedagogic practice.Above the study of school inclusion via what teachers do and say, we have also tried to understand the existing links between the actors taking part in the realization of the project of inclusion. The discursive examination and the observations on the ground unveil that the collaboration between teachers , even between the different participants on the field of inclusion still requires a lot of doing. Despite the contradictions and ambivalences noticeable, inclusion is considered as a profit to all and the teachers interviewed are completely behind it.

Quel rôle joue la gravité dans les représentations internes de l'action ? Au-delà des contraintes d'équilibre, le vecteur gravitaire influence-t-il l'action de façon globale, jusqu'à la perception des mouvements de nos semblables ? Ces questions ont été celles qui ont guidé mes travaux de thèse. L'originalité de notre approche a été de placer l'exécution et la perception de l'action dans un « continuum fonctionnel » s'articulant autour des représentations internes de l'action. Pour ce faire, l'outil de choix qui est commun aux trois expériences de cette thèse est la microgravité (0G). Les expériences de cette thèse ont montré que les représentations internes de l'action se nourrissaient des informations graviceptives pour se construire et s'adapter constamment. Cependant, dans certaines conditions telle que la 0G à court terme, apparaît un ordre de priorité. En effet, le SNC est capable de mettre en place des solutions immédiates et efficaces pour l'exécution, comme en témoigne la repondération sensorielle rapide qui s'opère en 0G dans une tâche d'orientation posturale. Cependant, un temps de latence est observé dans la recalibration des modèles internes sur la base des afférences sensorielles fortement perturbées. C'est ce que nous avons montré grâce à un protocole d'imagerie motrice, mettant en évidence une perte de l'isochronie entre les mouvements exécutés et imaginés en 0G. Enfin, nous avons mis en évidence, chez des sujets sans expérience aucune de microgravité, que la perception du mouvement humain est efficace même lorsque ce dernier est exécuté en apesanteur, bien que des réseaux cérébraux différents soient mis en jeux. / What is the role of gravity in the internal representations of action? Beyond the constraints of balance, does the gravity vector influence the action globally, up to the perception of our peers' movement? These issues have guided my thesis work. The originality of our approach was to place the execution and the perception of action in a "functional continuum" built around the internal representations of the action. To do this, the tool of choice, that is common to all three experiments presented here, is microgravity (0G). The experiments of this thesis showed that the internal representations of action are fed with graviceptive information to build and adapt constantly. However, under certain conditions such as short-term 0G, an order of priority appears. Indeed, the CNS is able to implement immediate and effective solutions, as we demonstrate it with the fast sensorial reweighting observed during a postural orientation task. However, a lag is observed in the recalibration of internal models based on sensory inputs severely disrupted. This is what we have shown through a protocol of motor imagery, showing a loss of isochrony between executed and imagined movements under 0G. Finally, we have demonstrated in subjects without any experience of microgravity, that the perception of human movement is effective even when it is performed in weightlessness, although different cerebral networks are involved.