Conceptions and Reasonings of Beninese Learners in Solving Physics Problems Involving the Object "Acceleration" in the Concept of "Rapidity"

Résumé En

In this work, we describe the modes of reasoning of the learners in order to resolve two types of problems and involving the object "acceleration" in a scientific context and the object "rapidity" in an empirical context or everyday life. These learners are young Beninese students with a scientific G.C.E.A.Level and who have been trained according to the competency approach by qualified teachers with at least five years of experience and with course materials authorized by the inspection directorate education and secondary education. From the different analyzes (lexical and sequential), it emerges that in the resolution of these problems, the concepts, rules and formulas mobilized by these learners appear as concepts and theorems-in-act (Vergnaud, 1994) Categorized profiles and according to the contexts of investigation. Different modes of reasoning stem from their distances from the design intended for the object of investigation. If, according to Rey, Defrance and Kahn (2006) and Carette (2009), reasonings and conceptions are indispensable to be competent, it seems to us that the didactic choices prescribed by the actors of the Beninese education system in the implementation of this new approach will allow Difficult to achieve the objectives of the change of approach.