Phenomena and processes having effect on relation to physics knowledge: case of French pupils in grade 10

Abstract

This article concerns the pupil’s involvement in their physics school work. This question, which led Anglo-Saxon research to make a large number of studies about attitudes towards science, is envisaged here using relation to knowledge as a theoretical frame. A previous work had allowed us to built five ideal-typical relations to physics knowledge, characterized by the nature of the mobilisation that we can associate with each of them. This study carries on this work and had led to the identification of certain phenomena and processes which affect these relations to knowledge. The phenomena concern school context, ideas about physics, and professional plan. It has also allowed to examine the articulation between relations to physics knowledge and relations to academic knowledge.