Inquiry-based science education: Between teacher guidance and student autonomy in learning physics Available to Purchase

Faced with the phenomenon of disaffection for scientific studies, numerous reports published at the international level generally propose to renew teaching methods. But how to teach physics in compulsory school? Would the teaching methods based on the physics problem (investigation, problem situation, problem-solving, etc.), which are very present in current curricula, be the solution? This article proposes to study the case of inquiry-based science teaching. A review of the literature shows that there is no consensus in curricula or in science didactics research on a precise definition of what this type of teaching would be. Moreover, there is considerable scientific controversy about the effectiveness of this type of teaching. Based on a French-speaking theoretical approach developed by Chevallard, we present our own vision for the case of physics teaching in secondary schools. Then, we discuss the distribution of possible roles between the teacher and his students in this type of classroom activity to allow learning. Indeed, learning physics implies a negotiation between the rationality of physics and that of common sense. As a result, teaching physics implies not only the mastery of disciplinary knowledge but also of the modes of transmission at stake and knowledge of epistemology in order to understand the questions (and answers) to which physics is attached. Based on research conducted in France, we finally discuss the types of