Selection and Transformation of Resources by Physics Teachers: How to Explain the Diversity of Choices Processes?
Résumé
The French national curriculum globally frames the content of each subject. Teachers, however, have a pedagogical freedom during the implementation of the prescribed programs. They make their own choices during the selection, transformation, and re-arrangement of teaching resources. Part of the ReVEA project, the research presented in this chapter aims at documenting and understanding activities of high-school Physics and Chemistry teachers during their lesson elaboration. We analyzed differences and similarities in resources selected and transformed by teachers. The results are based on interviews conducted with three high-school Physics and Chemistry teachers and explore the tenth grade (students aged 15–16 year) as well as on classroom observations conducted during mechanics lessons dedicated to the principle of inertia. The various pedagogical resources, such as worksheets, real or virtual objects, and films, provided to students are described in terms of distance and compliance to French textbooks and curricular instructions. The exemplary portrayal of three teachers visualizes their resource choices, some of which involved participation processes.