For a long time now, and with varying degrees of balance and success, science and technology education has been exploring and attempting to combine the different models. We can see that the transmission model persists, even if the subject has nothing to do with the student. The behaviorist model has generally led to the search for objectives and observable behaviors. Well-developed, it has led to major advances in the field of assessment. Constructivism is less exploited. The activities proposed in the laboratories are partly related to it, in the few areas of freedom left to the students. The key points of the programs that would fall under a strategy corresponding to this model are not sufficiently identified. In this chapter, the authors define the notion of pedagogical model, define the different models (eight models to be proposed), and finally, they answer the following question: How can we choose one or more pedagogical models for a teaching activity? This will enable us to move from a pedagogical model to a didactic model.
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The teaching practices of each teacher can be analyzed with reference to the characteristics of the concepts they teach, as well as to the specificities of each establishment. They also refer to a pedagogical model, often implicit, which guides the way in which a teacher proposes to construct the knowledge of his learners, as well as the modalities of his interventions in class.
The term “pedagogical model” designates a theoretical construction coherently articulating a set of projected or real didactic situations, which gives them meaning and specifies the conditions for their implementation within the framework of a global curriculum. It’s about the “Why”. It is a system of thoughts that underlies the logical origin of the choice of methods. It is therefore an interaction between the “why” and the “how”. This is a set of reasoning such as “if we want to obtain such and such a result, then current research suggests working in such and such a way…”.
The educational model is defined on the basis of educational research relating either to the content of the discipline considered, or to the psychology of the learner and the functioning of the act of learning. An educational model always refers, implicitly or explicitly, to a desirable type of individual and society. Subject to the needs of society and research work, the educational model can only evolve over time. Talking about a model does not mean that we are introducing the idea of a standard (model lesson), but rather that we are seeking to model these practices, to initiate a coherence which does not appear at first glance. Indeed, these practices are in complex relationship with a large number of elements: Psychological type component; Epistemological type component; Psycho-sociological type component; Axiological type component.
The word model is used in the sense it has in the exact and human sciences (atomic model, economic model). In all cases, it is an effort at theoretical construction, in order to better account for the overall meaning of the observable elements or practices. An educational model must therefore examine things at a more abstract level, going beyond the material characteristics observable in a session, which can filter the understanding of what is really at stake. It therefore proposes to analyze practices from a a certain number of theoretical questions, and proposes for each a certain number of criteria, from which it seems possible to distinguish several models.
For a long time and with varying balances and successes, scientific and technological education has explored and attempted to combine different models. We see that: The transmission model persists, even if the subject does not concern the student in any way... The behaviorist model has generally resulted in the search for objectives and observable behaviors. Well developed, it has enabled major advances in the field of evaluation. Constructivism is less exploited. The activities offered in the laboratories relate in part to this, in the few spaces of freedom left to the students (because the guide sheets are often very directive and restrictive). The key points of the programs which would fall under a strategy corresponding to this model are not sufficiently identified.
Likewise, technical education allows the emergence of contexts and conditions favorable to learning by managing balances between models according to the structure of groups of students and by offering possibilities for individualization, by giving meaning to learning: the student is questioned by the problem situation proposed or it arouses his interest and curiosity, by confronting the student with a concrete reality (or with a virtual intermediary?), by confronting the student with the ideas of others (coactivity, project, etc.) and by confronting the student with the knowledge of others (networks and exchanges of knowledge, etc.).
Through this chapter, we will define the notion of an educational model, define the different models (six models to be proposed) and finally, we will answer the following question: how can we choose one or more educational models for a teaching activity? learning. This will allow us to move from an educational model to a didactic model.