Functions of quantitative experiments 
in physics teaching at secondary school
Hélène Richoux, 2000
Many questions arise with the importance given to quantitative experiments (involving measuring and data analysis) in science teaching at the secondary level. We decided to investigate teachers' practices in order to identify and specify the various parameters taken into consideration during the design of labwork sessions.
In the first part, we describe our theoretical background and our methodology. Some questions dealing with criteria for scientific recognition are discussed using the theory of "transposition didactique", whereas others dealing with designing learning sessions are considered in light of the theory of "situations" developed in didactics of mathematics. Our work is based on case studies that make use of teachers' interviews and labwork observations.
In the second part, we present the grid we designed for our purpose and we demonstrate that teachers never invoke scientific practices, but give the most importance to planning considerations. A specific analysis of didactical situations shows a great coherence between planning and reasons and led us to a model for how a "teacher-designer" functions.
We focus in the third part on specific quantitative experiments, where our analysis renders explicit the gap in regard to scientific activities : there is a shift from "experimental" (involving a wide range of aspects) to "instrumental" (centered on data collecting), the latter appearing as a major criteria for scientific recognition. Furthermore, our study shows that there is a second gap between what teachers are expecting in terms of cognitive implications and the real activity of students.
In conclusion, we indicate that it is important to take into consideration research on teachers' professional practice, especially in regards to teacher training.