L’exploration des effets d’une intervention pédagogique favorisant la mobilisation des habiletés reliées au processus d’enquête en milieu minoritaire francophone au secondaire

Abstract Within the context of pedagogical innovation, using a qualitative research intervention, this study examined the effects of an intervention on the application of scientific inquiry skills. Such skills are essential for the acquisition of scientific literacy, deemed fundamental to the development of a 21st-century skill set. This intervention is necessary because PISA results show that francophone students in New Brunswick have significantly lower scientific literacy scores than other students in Canada. The intervention presented a sequence of activities that inserted students into an active inquiry process involving the application of conceptual, procedural and epistemic knowledge. Results indicate that the intervention created an environment conducive to the application of inquiry skills and demonstrated real potential for change. Our analysis shows that the students were able to recognize a problem, design a test scenario, conduct an experiment and analyze and evaluate a solution. Participant experiences confirm our findings: teachers reflected on their pedagogy and the potential for scientific inquiry to drive learning, while students showed increased engagement, with many discovering a renewed interest in science. These results provide recommendation pathways for teachers and the education system that can enrich science teaching and learning practices in francophone-minority settings.