Since the coronavirus COVID-19 was identified as an international public health emergency in 2020... more Since the coronavirus COVID-19 was identified as an international public health emergency in 2020, many studies on the perceptions of students in higher education have been published concerning it. Although young students’ perceptions also influence decision making and actions, their perceptions of COVID-19 have, so far, been little studied. Therefore, to increase knowledge about their understanding of COVID-19, a cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted as a drawing survey in two schools in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, Morocco. The participants were 94 high school students (aged 14–19). The drawings were analyzed by inductive and deductive content analysis. The findings show that the majority of the students knew the archetypal representation of COVID-19. They had a good grasp of the COVID-19, how it spreads, and how to stop it from spreading. Some students were aware of the potential dangers associated with COVID-19. Admittedly, misrepresentations related to fear and...
Plant taxonomy includes the identification, description, and classification of plants at the leve... more Plant taxonomy includes the identification, description, and classification of plants at the level of species or other taxa. This study aims to analyze the views of university teachers on plant taxonomy and its teaching, the causes of the shortage of plant taxonomists, and the challenges encountered by students in learning plant taxonomy. University teachers in Morocco (n = 24) responded to a survey consisting of fixed and open-ended questions. The data was analyzed by inductive and deductive content analysis. The results showed that all university teachers considered a taxonomist as a scientist and plant taxonomy as a dynamic and highly scientific, and descriptive discipline. They stated that the taxonomist community is in crisis because of the shortage of plant taxonomists and the decrease in the quality of training provided at the university. The biggest challenges in learning plant taxonomy were the prevalence of traditional teacher-centered methods, the inadequacy of time and d...
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
In this study, we are interested in teachers’ practices related to health education (HE) in schoo... more In this study, we are interested in teachers’ practices related to health education (HE) in school. In our survey, we used a questionnaire as an investigative tool with a sample of 300 teachers from three levels of education: Primary, middle and qualifying high schools. According to the teachers' statements, our study reveals that the majority practice HE in class despite having no training in this area. They generally practice it in a thematic approach that is limited to pedagogical sequences within the framework of the program. In addition, it appears that teachers’ training and seniority have a positive effect on their practice and the self-assessment of their competence in this area. This study also suggests that a school’s lack of openness with the family and other external partners. These factors constitute some of the main obstacles that prevent the implementation of HE in class, in addition to training, lack of time and lack of adequate teaching materials.
The Moroccan university is increasingly experiencing a strong growth in the numbers of students. ... more The Moroccan university is increasingly experiencing a strong growth in the numbers of students. This process of massification alters the quality of learning, especially in open-access institutions where human resources and the capacity to host are increasingly limited. To improve the quality of learning, which first involves improving the quality of teaching within the University, Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech (UCAM) launched a platform of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) in 2013. In this article, we question the opening of the Moroccan university on this technology. Our study is anchored in the context of the Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech. We are particularly interested in the following question: what are the perceptions of students and teachers about this device? Do they feel that using MOOCs “changes something”? Our methodological approach describes all the stages of data collection and processing including the content analysis model. We distributed a questionnaire ...
ABSTRACT Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less co... more ABSTRACT Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less connected to innate ideas and reductionism. Unique reference to genetic determinism has been replaced by the interaction between the genes and their environment (epigenetics). Our analyses relate to how current school biology textbooks present this new paradigm in 16 different countries (12 from Europe, and Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, and Lebanon). Two precise criteria were used to analyse and compare the chapters dealing with the topic Human Genetics. The first criterion was the occurrence of the expression “genetic program” (which is typical of innate values). This was present in the textbooks of some countries, but were totally missing in some others. The existing differences seem to support the following: (i) in Eastern European countries, the absence is long-standing, and it is possibly linked to a previous influence of Lyssenko, (ii) in some other countries, the absence could be linked to various reactions during the Nazi period, (iii) in other cases, the observed diminution might be due to a modernisation of the scientific content, and, finally, (iv) in several countries, the notion of “genetic program” is still present, without any attempt for change. In contrast, there were no differences between countries with relation to the second criterion, that is, the twins’ pictures present in the textbooks. The monozygotic twins were always dressed identically, and had the same hairstyle and body posture, as if these features could be genetically determined, providing thus evidence of a persistent implicit deterministic ideology. These results are discussed as interactions between implicit values and taught scientific knowledge.
Abstract: Concepts of genetics are often difficult to teach, specifically the central concept of ... more Abstract: Concepts of genetics are often difficult to teach, specifically the central concept of gene. Even the scientists disagree when defining this concept. This paper investigates university students’ understanding about the gene and its functions. The results show the dominance of two conceptions of the gene: the Neoclassical model and the Mendelian model. The existence of hybrid conceptions and the lack of the modern model show that students are unable to mobilize the knowledge taught in biology. These results suggest to improve the teaching methods of genetics, for instance, by developing activities that bring students face to face with their conceptions. Key words: gene concept; gene functions; genetic determinism; historical models; students’ conceptions
This study aims to assess learning outcomes and identify students’ misconceptions in plant classi... more This study aims to assess learning outcomes and identify students’ misconceptions in plant classification. We conducted a questionnaire survey with undergraduate and master’s students. The qualitative analysis of the students’ responses made it possible to shed light on the difficulties of assimilation of many notions and also to identify the different misconceptions constructed during their learning courses about plant organisms. The findings indicate that some students are not motivated to take the course on plant classification. This demotivation is reinforced further by students’ perceptions of plant classification, especially that it is not important and not useful for learning other biology specialities. The findings also show that more than half of the students who participated in this study consider plant systematics a difficult subject. We also note that some of the students surveyed seem not to have acquired many concepts of plant biology including concepts related to the ...
Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less connected t... more Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less connected to innate ideas and reductionism. Unique reference to genetic determinism has been replaced by the interaction between the genes and their environment (epigenetics). Our analyses relate to how current school biology textbooks present this new paradigm in 16 different countries (12 from Europe, and Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, and Lebanon). Two precise criteria were used to analyse and compare the chapters dealing with the topic Human Genetics. The first criterion was the occurrence of the expression “genetic program” (which is typical of innate values). This was present in the textbooks of some countries, but were totally missing in some others. The existing differences seem to support the following: (i) in Eastern European countries, the absence is long-standing, and it is possibly linked to a previous influence of Lyssenko, (ii) in some other countries, the absence could be linked to vari...
The current conception of the Health Education is at the heart of education of the person and cit... more The current conception of the Health Education is at the heart of education of the person and citizen (WHO 1997 and 1999), in a learning perspective of freedom and of « living together », rather that integration of normative precepts. The Health Education and Sexuality course is directly affected by school teaching practices, but also by the conceptions that teachers have been built on health issues, sexuality and their mission. This paper presents, firstly, a content analysis of textbooks dealing with subjects with high educational outreach related to the Health Education and sexuality, in order to identify the values transmitted by these manuals. In a second step, we sought to analyze, using a questionnaire, the conceptions of current and future teachers and to identify the values reflected in these conceptions. Detailed results are presented and discussed.
Résumé Dans les programmes scolaires, l'éducation à l'environnement (EE) a été introduite... more Résumé Dans les programmes scolaires, l'éducation à l'environnement (EE) a été introduite dans la plupart des disciplines. Le concept Écosystème est abordé souvent dans les manuels scolaires. Dans cet article, nous présentons dans quelle mesure, les manuels scolaires partagent les perspectives de l'EE et contribuent efficacement à leur mise en oeuvre dans l'enseignement. Les manuels scolaires doivent aborder les questions liées à l'écologie et à l'EE d'une manière qui reflète leur complexité Cette simplification identifiée par les analyses montre que les manuels mettent l'accent sur le contenu plutôt que sur le développement de la pensée critique chez les élèves, ce qui est contraire aux objectifs de l'éducation à l'environnement. Abstract In school programs, environmental education (EE) has been introduced in most disciplines. The ecosystem concept is often discussed in textbooks. In this article, we present how, textbooks share the perspecti...
Abstract: Conceptions are analyzed as being the emergences from interactions between three poles:... more Abstract: Conceptions are analyzed as being the emergences from interactions between three poles: scientific knowledge (K), values (V) and social practices (P). The teachers’ beliefs and values have a direct influence on the way of understanding and teaching a topic. These beliefs must be taken into account in the content and strategies of the teacher’s formation. In this paper, the authors discuss the importance of studying and analyzing these conceptions and present the results of the research on teachers’ and future teachers’ conceptions about sexual health education. In this topic, the conceptions could be deeply rooted not only in scientific knowledge but also in value systems and social practices, because teachers often refuse to teach the ethical, psychological, economic and social issues not strictly reducible to biology, such as sexuality health. The authors used a questionnaire prepared jointly within the European project Biohead-Citizen. Key words: conception; sexuality e...
Since the coronavirus COVID-19 was identified as an international public health emergency in 2020... more Since the coronavirus COVID-19 was identified as an international public health emergency in 2020, many studies on the perceptions of students in higher education have been published concerning it. Although young students’ perceptions also influence decision making and actions, their perceptions of COVID-19 have, so far, been little studied. Therefore, to increase knowledge about their understanding of COVID-19, a cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted as a drawing survey in two schools in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, Morocco. The participants were 94 high school students (aged 14–19). The drawings were analyzed by inductive and deductive content analysis. The findings show that the majority of the students knew the archetypal representation of COVID-19. They had a good grasp of the COVID-19, how it spreads, and how to stop it from spreading. Some students were aware of the potential dangers associated with COVID-19. Admittedly, misrepresentations related to fear and...
Plant taxonomy includes the identification, description, and classification of plants at the leve... more Plant taxonomy includes the identification, description, and classification of plants at the level of species or other taxa. This study aims to analyze the views of university teachers on plant taxonomy and its teaching, the causes of the shortage of plant taxonomists, and the challenges encountered by students in learning plant taxonomy. University teachers in Morocco (n = 24) responded to a survey consisting of fixed and open-ended questions. The data was analyzed by inductive and deductive content analysis. The results showed that all university teachers considered a taxonomist as a scientist and plant taxonomy as a dynamic and highly scientific, and descriptive discipline. They stated that the taxonomist community is in crisis because of the shortage of plant taxonomists and the decrease in the quality of training provided at the university. The biggest challenges in learning plant taxonomy were the prevalence of traditional teacher-centered methods, the inadequacy of time and d...
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
In this study, we are interested in teachers’ practices related to health education (HE) in schoo... more In this study, we are interested in teachers’ practices related to health education (HE) in school. In our survey, we used a questionnaire as an investigative tool with a sample of 300 teachers from three levels of education: Primary, middle and qualifying high schools. According to the teachers' statements, our study reveals that the majority practice HE in class despite having no training in this area. They generally practice it in a thematic approach that is limited to pedagogical sequences within the framework of the program. In addition, it appears that teachers’ training and seniority have a positive effect on their practice and the self-assessment of their competence in this area. This study also suggests that a school’s lack of openness with the family and other external partners. These factors constitute some of the main obstacles that prevent the implementation of HE in class, in addition to training, lack of time and lack of adequate teaching materials.
The Moroccan university is increasingly experiencing a strong growth in the numbers of students. ... more The Moroccan university is increasingly experiencing a strong growth in the numbers of students. This process of massification alters the quality of learning, especially in open-access institutions where human resources and the capacity to host are increasingly limited. To improve the quality of learning, which first involves improving the quality of teaching within the University, Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech (UCAM) launched a platform of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) in 2013. In this article, we question the opening of the Moroccan university on this technology. Our study is anchored in the context of the Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech. We are particularly interested in the following question: what are the perceptions of students and teachers about this device? Do they feel that using MOOCs “changes something”? Our methodological approach describes all the stages of data collection and processing including the content analysis model. We distributed a questionnaire ...
ABSTRACT Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less co... more ABSTRACT Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less connected to innate ideas and reductionism. Unique reference to genetic determinism has been replaced by the interaction between the genes and their environment (epigenetics). Our analyses relate to how current school biology textbooks present this new paradigm in 16 different countries (12 from Europe, and Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, and Lebanon). Two precise criteria were used to analyse and compare the chapters dealing with the topic Human Genetics. The first criterion was the occurrence of the expression “genetic program” (which is typical of innate values). This was present in the textbooks of some countries, but were totally missing in some others. The existing differences seem to support the following: (i) in Eastern European countries, the absence is long-standing, and it is possibly linked to a previous influence of Lyssenko, (ii) in some other countries, the absence could be linked to various reactions during the Nazi period, (iii) in other cases, the observed diminution might be due to a modernisation of the scientific content, and, finally, (iv) in several countries, the notion of “genetic program” is still present, without any attempt for change. In contrast, there were no differences between countries with relation to the second criterion, that is, the twins’ pictures present in the textbooks. The monozygotic twins were always dressed identically, and had the same hairstyle and body posture, as if these features could be genetically determined, providing thus evidence of a persistent implicit deterministic ideology. These results are discussed as interactions between implicit values and taught scientific knowledge.
Abstract: Concepts of genetics are often difficult to teach, specifically the central concept of ... more Abstract: Concepts of genetics are often difficult to teach, specifically the central concept of gene. Even the scientists disagree when defining this concept. This paper investigates university students’ understanding about the gene and its functions. The results show the dominance of two conceptions of the gene: the Neoclassical model and the Mendelian model. The existence of hybrid conceptions and the lack of the modern model show that students are unable to mobilize the knowledge taught in biology. These results suggest to improve the teaching methods of genetics, for instance, by developing activities that bring students face to face with their conceptions. Key words: gene concept; gene functions; genetic determinism; historical models; students’ conceptions
This study aims to assess learning outcomes and identify students’ misconceptions in plant classi... more This study aims to assess learning outcomes and identify students’ misconceptions in plant classification. We conducted a questionnaire survey with undergraduate and master’s students. The qualitative analysis of the students’ responses made it possible to shed light on the difficulties of assimilation of many notions and also to identify the different misconceptions constructed during their learning courses about plant organisms. The findings indicate that some students are not motivated to take the course on plant classification. This demotivation is reinforced further by students’ perceptions of plant classification, especially that it is not important and not useful for learning other biology specialities. The findings also show that more than half of the students who participated in this study consider plant systematics a difficult subject. We also note that some of the students surveyed seem not to have acquired many concepts of plant biology including concepts related to the ...
Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less connected t... more Genetic concepts have significantly evolved over the last ten years, and are now less connected to innate ideas and reductionism. Unique reference to genetic determinism has been replaced by the interaction between the genes and their environment (epigenetics). Our analyses relate to how current school biology textbooks present this new paradigm in 16 different countries (12 from Europe, and Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, and Lebanon). Two precise criteria were used to analyse and compare the chapters dealing with the topic Human Genetics. The first criterion was the occurrence of the expression “genetic program” (which is typical of innate values). This was present in the textbooks of some countries, but were totally missing in some others. The existing differences seem to support the following: (i) in Eastern European countries, the absence is long-standing, and it is possibly linked to a previous influence of Lyssenko, (ii) in some other countries, the absence could be linked to vari...
The current conception of the Health Education is at the heart of education of the person and cit... more The current conception of the Health Education is at the heart of education of the person and citizen (WHO 1997 and 1999), in a learning perspective of freedom and of « living together », rather that integration of normative precepts. The Health Education and Sexuality course is directly affected by school teaching practices, but also by the conceptions that teachers have been built on health issues, sexuality and their mission. This paper presents, firstly, a content analysis of textbooks dealing with subjects with high educational outreach related to the Health Education and sexuality, in order to identify the values transmitted by these manuals. In a second step, we sought to analyze, using a questionnaire, the conceptions of current and future teachers and to identify the values reflected in these conceptions. Detailed results are presented and discussed.
Résumé Dans les programmes scolaires, l'éducation à l'environnement (EE) a été introduite... more Résumé Dans les programmes scolaires, l'éducation à l'environnement (EE) a été introduite dans la plupart des disciplines. Le concept Écosystème est abordé souvent dans les manuels scolaires. Dans cet article, nous présentons dans quelle mesure, les manuels scolaires partagent les perspectives de l'EE et contribuent efficacement à leur mise en oeuvre dans l'enseignement. Les manuels scolaires doivent aborder les questions liées à l'écologie et à l'EE d'une manière qui reflète leur complexité Cette simplification identifiée par les analyses montre que les manuels mettent l'accent sur le contenu plutôt que sur le développement de la pensée critique chez les élèves, ce qui est contraire aux objectifs de l'éducation à l'environnement. Abstract In school programs, environmental education (EE) has been introduced in most disciplines. The ecosystem concept is often discussed in textbooks. In this article, we present how, textbooks share the perspecti...
Abstract: Conceptions are analyzed as being the emergences from interactions between three poles:... more Abstract: Conceptions are analyzed as being the emergences from interactions between three poles: scientific knowledge (K), values (V) and social practices (P). The teachers’ beliefs and values have a direct influence on the way of understanding and teaching a topic. These beliefs must be taken into account in the content and strategies of the teacher’s formation. In this paper, the authors discuss the importance of studying and analyzing these conceptions and present the results of the research on teachers’ and future teachers’ conceptions about sexual health education. In this topic, the conceptions could be deeply rooted not only in scientific knowledge but also in value systems and social practices, because teachers often refuse to teach the ethical, psychological, economic and social issues not strictly reducible to biology, such as sexuality health. The authors used a questionnaire prepared jointly within the European project Biohead-Citizen. Key words: conception; sexuality e...
This study aims to assess learning outcomes and identify students' misconceptions in plant classi... more This study aims to assess learning outcomes and identify students' misconceptions in plant classification. We conducted a questionnaire survey with undergraduate and master's students. The qualitative analysis of the students' responses made it possible to shed light on the difficulties of assimilation of many notions and also to identify the different misconceptions constructed during their learning courses about plant organisms. The findings indicate that some students are not motivated to take the course on plant classification. This demotivation is reinforced further by students' perceptions of plant classification, especially that it is not important and not useful for learning other biology specialities. The findings also show that more than half of the students who participated in this study consider plant systematics a difficult subject. We also note that some of the students surveyed seem not to have acquired many concepts of plant biology including concepts related to the biology, reproduction and evolution of plants. Thanks to this, we could see different types of problems in plant classification, which constitute misconceptions hindering learning. Initial training in plant biology does not appear to have a significant effect in modifying students' misconceptions related to plant classification.
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