Learning with and against prior knowledge: a concrete example, that of the tangent
Apprendre avec et contre ses connaissances antérieures : un exemple concret, celui de la tangente
Résumé
This article aims to study how students take into account new knowledge which partly break with former ones, by focusing on a specific concept: the concept of tangent. After a brief analysis of the French curriculum, we study the answers given by high schoool stuedents to a test proceeding the concept og tangent in a graphic frame and show that one of the aims of Calculus courses is actually a change in students'conception of the tangent. We then describe various forms of adaptation of former knowledge encountered in this piece of research. this allows us to set up some hypothesis about possible ways of transformation of knowledge and about the role played by old conceptions in the development of new ones.