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AbstractThis study of 2 700 articles which appeared in Science Education and in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching over the last 25 years demonstrates the importance of research related to the science teacher as compared to studies of other components of the classroom context. The author presents a global description of the 388 articles directly related to the science teacher. The conclusion points out the increasing role, although still seen as secondary, for the science teacher in research and the progression, over the years, of the themes presented in these articles.

SummaryThis study presents a portrait of the self-regulated learning-by-reading strategies of 20,545 secondary level students (aged 12 to 17) from 59 Francophone schools in low socio-economic areas in Quebec. The authors applied an evaluation questionnaire, “Lire pour apprendre” (Cartier et Butler, 2003). Results show that students understand the complexity of a situation based on their interpretation, their objectives and their performance criteria. The learning aspect in the situation is less targeted. However, students present self-regulated learning strategies that are inadequate. Differences in self-regulation by students at the beginning and at the end of the secondary level were found.

Keywords: autorégulation, apprentissage par la lecture, secondaire, milieux défavorisés, recherche descriptive, self-regulation, learning-through-reading, secondary level, low socio-economic milieu, descriptive research, autorregulación, aprendizaje por la lectura, secundaria, medios desfavorecidos, investigación descriptiva

SummaryThis article is about the importance of environmental citizenship as a factor of socio-professional insertion for students who terminate their schooling without a secondary or professional training diploma, in order to prevent that their school exclusion leads to a social exclusion. Results of a research on a socio-professional insertion program for youth that integrates environmental and sustainable development issues and the Corporate Training and Recuperation Centres Network (CFER) are presented and discussed. Those results tend to demonstrate that the students' involvement in an environmental cause increases their empowerment towards complex social issues.

Keywords: éducation à l'environnement, insertion socioprofessionnelle, écocitoyenneté, difficultés d'apprentissage et d'adaptation, éducation au développement durable, environmental education, socio-professional insertion, environmental citizenship, learning and behaviour difficulties, education for sustainable development, educación al medio ambiente, inserción socioprofesional, eco-ciudadanía, dificultades de aprendizaje y de adaptación, educación al desarrollo duradero

AbstractThis study examines the teaching of the natural sciences at the primary level from the teacher's perspective. The author first presents some aspects of the teaching situation that are problematic, followed by a description of those factors, both group and individual, that affect the teacher. As one hypothesis, the author proposes a model describing a hierarchy of these factors and the direct and indirect relationship that could affect science teaching.

Many studies point to the presence of ethnic discrimination of visible minorities in Canada. They have shown that minorities with high levels of qualification hold jobs that receive less recognition and lower incomes than other Canadians. However, few studies are interested in ethnic discrimination from the angle of the relationship between the job and the level of qualification. This article examines, using data from Statistics Canada's national survey of university graduates from the year 2000, this question among visible minorities who hold university degrees obtained in Canada, and compares the situations of respondents residing in Quebec to those from Ontario. According to the results, assuming equivalent levels of schooling, members from visible minorities are more likely than others to hold jobs for which they are over-qualified. However, this finding varies depending on the province of residence and the minority group in question. These results call on us to question, at least in part, the human capital theory and to consider other theories, in particular social capital theories and discrimination theories for their interpretation.

Keywords: insertion professionnelle, qualification, diplômés, université, immigrant, etchnicité, professional insertion, qualification, university graduates, university, immigrant, ethnicity

AbstractThis article presents the results of a study of the way teachers of French conceptualize instructional content as related to classroom interaction. Specifically, teacher's perceptions of the management of their interactions was mediated through a verbal report on planning. Improvisation is reported to be a frequent behavior adopted by teachers in their responses to students' reactions. Instructional planning is mostly mental and emphasizes functional connections: content aspects are related to each other according to the needs of students. At the cognitive level, teacher planning seems to be the result of an accomodation between the instructional organizers and the potentially disorganizing aspects of the context. These descriptive results, supported by numerous excerpts, corroborate results noted in other disciplines and thus attain a certain level of generalisability.

AbstractBased on a telephone survey targeting management personnel in manufacturing companies of 50 or more employees in Québec, this article examines the dissemination of new work models. A presentation of the dissemination of organizational innovations is followed by the construction of five work configurations or models. Some of them show a break from Taylorism, through the substantial use of a new technical / productivity paradigm and through considerable use of participatory work systems. These configurations are then linked with human resources and labour relations management practices. Finally, the work models are situated in relation to economic and social performances. The models most noted for their innovation are also those that show the highest economic and social performances.

The multiple conceptualizations of learning assessment have led to a wide variety of practices, and it is difficult to determine which ones promote student learning. The purpose of this research is to attempt to identify best practices in formative assessment in the context of elementary and secondary education. A systematic review, which identified and analyzed 35 articles, revealed five practices that are recognized as being effective in promoting student learning in the classroom. Two other practices appear promising but require further research. Implications for policies, practices and research are discussed.

Keywords: pratiques évaluatives, évaluation des apprentissages, évaluation formative, données probantes, enseignement primaire et secondaire, assessment practices, assessment of learning, formative assessment, evidence, elementary and secondary education, prácticas evaluativas, evaluación de los aprendizajes, evaluación formativa, datos probatorios, enseñanza primaria y secundaria

This article, presented in the form of an experiential narrative, reports on a project being conducted in a multi-age class of 26 students in a Montessori elementary school. The project consists of the students conducting an interview with an elderly family member and writing a narrative. First, we describe the place of oral history in the social science program at the elementary level. Second, we outline the theoretical framework that guides our research, which relates to the relevance and modalities of oral history in social science education, as well as the distinctions between life stories and historical narratives. In the third part, we report on the progress of the project and the first results. They concern the possible contributions of this type of approach to motivation and learning in social sciences.

Keywords: histoire orale, récit de vie, temps historique, motivation, classe multiâge, oral history, life story, historical time, motivation, multi-age classroom, historia oral, relato de vida, tiempo histórico, motivación, clase multi-edad

Annual minimum discharges represent a crucial hydrologic parameter for the health of aquatic ecosystems. They determine the volume of available habitat for aquatic species and influence the concentration of pollutant within the fluvial system during low flows. They are also of importance for instream infrastructures and for the regulation of fluvial transport. For these reasons, the minimum discharges constitute the main hydrologic parameters for which clear regulation have been defined in several countries. In the province of Québec, albeit the large amount of dams on several important fluvial systems, there seems to exist a lack of studies examining their effects on the annual minimum discharges. This paper is aiming at highlighting the effects of dams (1) by examining their effect on the characteristics of annual minimum discharges for artificialised flow regimes in Québec, and (2) by comparing those discharges with recommended instream flows to protect fish habitats.Firstly, the effect of dams on annual minimum discharges is examined for the three types of artificialised flow regimes found in Québec. From the analysis of seasonal and monthly discharges, ASSANI et al. (2004) documented the three types of artificialised hydrologic regime downstream from dams: the inversion, the homogenization, and the natural type flow regimes. The inversion flow regime presents high monthly discharge values in winter and low monthly discharge values during spring. This type of regime occurs solely on the north shore of the St-Lawrence River and pertains to rivers with large reservoirs feeding in hydropower stations. The homogenization flow regime presents small annual fluctuations of the monthly discharge. The maximum monthly discharges are recorded during spring where- as the minimum monthly discharges frequently occur during fall. This type of regime is often associated with reservoirs created on large streams for which the storage of spring water is less important. This regime is observed mainly on the north shore of the St-Lawrence river. In the natural type flow regime, the maximum monthly discharges take place during spring snowmelt while minimum monthly discharges occur either during summer or winter. The annual natural flow characteristics are thus conserved albeit the existence of the dam. This regime pertains to dams with small reservoirs and it is found on both side of the St-Lawrence River.Secondly, annual mimimum discharges are compared with minimum instream flows recommended by BELZILE et al. (1997). These ones defined the minimum instream flows based on the different species of fish and their life cycle. Downstream from dams, the instream flows (Qr) can be estimated using the following relation:Qr = ek.Sawhere S represents the drainage area upstream from the dam; a and k are respectively regional and seasonal parameters. These parameters are associated to the ecohydrological region, to the season as well as to the critical phases of life cycle for the fish species found within the ecohydrological regions.From the Historical Stream Flow Summary of Environmental Canada, the distribution of discharge from 107 stations were selected and analysed. From those, 72 were located on rivers with dams and 75 on rivers with no regulation. On regulated rivers, 26, 18 and 28 were identified as belonging to the inversed, homogeneous and natural type regimes, respectively. All stations were located in the St-Lawrence drainage area. To highlight the effect of dams, we performed a comparison between the annual minimum discharges for stations on artificialised rivers to those from stations belonging to rivers with no regulation. The comparison is performed according to the size of the drainage basins (proportionality method) and uses a set of parametric and non-parametric statistical tests depending on the type of data. The proportionality method was chosen because of the non-availability of the discharges for the pre-dam periods. According to RICHTER et al. (1996), river flows can be described using several parameters relating to the daily discharges: the magnitude, the frequency, the duration, the timing and the rate of change (amplitude of the variability). The daily discharges required to compute these parameters were not available. The date of occurrence of annual minimum discharges, their magnitude, the interannual variability of the magnitude and the skewness of the distribution could however be obtained from the Historical Stream Flow Summary of Environmental Canada.The analysis of annual minimum discharges for the three types of artificialised flow regimes highlights several key elements associated with the effect of dams. For the inversion flow regime, the presence of dams increases and decreases significantly the occurrence of annual minimum discharges during spring and summer, respectively. For drainage area smaller than 10 000 km2, the magnitude of the annual minimum discharge is decreased significantly. Finally, the between-year variability is increased and the distribution presents a strong skewness. For the natural type flow regime, an increase in annual minimum discharges during the period between November and January can be observed as well as a significant decrease in magnitude for the small fluvial systems (drainage area < 6000 km2). For the homogenization flow regime, the frequency of annual minimum discharge is increased during spring and fall while decreased during summer time. However, in contrast with the two previous artificialised flow regimes, there is an increase in magnitude for the minimum annual discharges.Finally, for the three types of artificialised flow regime and for the four seasons, the minimum annual discharges released downstream from the dams appear to be systematically smaller than the instream flows recommended by BELZILE et al. (1997). The main differences are observed during spring and summer for drainage basins > 10 000 km2.

Keywords: Débits annuels minimums, débits réservés, magnitude, période d'occurrence, variabilité inter-annuelle, asymétrie, inversion, homogénéisation, type naturel, barrages, Saint-Laurent, Québec, Annual minimum discharges, instream discharges, magnitude, timing, interannual variability, skewness, inversion, homogenization, natural type, dams, Saint-Laurent, Quebec