Didactic reconstruction
Didactic reconstruction
Didactic reconstruction
How can a topic be taught in a meaningful and fruitful way?
This is the central question that biology didactics experts are addressing in the "Didactic Reconstruction" research programme. The model was developed in Oldenburg by Ulrich Kattmann and Harald Gropengießer in collaboration with Reinders Duit and Michael Komorek from the IPN (Kiel). By "didactic reconstruction" we mean a theoretical framework for the planning, implementation and evaluation of didactic teaching-learning research.
The model's research tasks are subject clarification, recording learner perspectives and didactic structuring, each of which relates to a selected subject area. The three research tasks interact with each other and are therefore interdependent. The procedure is iterative so that the respective (preliminary) results can be used for further research steps.
The objects of school lessons are not predetermined as such by the scientific field; rather, they must first be produced with pedagogical objectives, i.e. reconstructed didactically. Based on this view, the projects of didactic reconstruction aim to relate subject-related ideas and pupils' perspectives in such a way that teaching objects are developed with which learning can be fruitful. On the one hand it is about learning, on the other hand it is about science. Both sides belong together in specialised didactics. So far, international didactic research has mainly focussed on students' perceptions. This is an important task of didactic work. Subject clarification - i.e. the critical examination of subject-related ideas from a didactic perspective - is the second. The ideas of pupils and academics must be brought together with the intention of teaching. Pupils' ideas should not simply be regarded as "incorrect" and scientific ideas as "correct", rather they should be seen in their respective context and in their particular function.
The third research task - didactic structuring - is central to any lesson planning. It can be carried out on a new basis using the results of the other two research tasks.
The task of didactic reconstruction corresponds to the view that subject-specific didactic work is more than just effective methodological implementation or motivating presentation of scientific knowledge. Fundamental to this is the understanding of biology didactics as part of and in relation to biology.
The Oldenburg working group has carried out numerous research projects on a wide range of biological topics, some of which have been funded by the German Research Foundation, including vision, microbial processes, genetics, evolution, ecology and the environment Since 2001, work on didactic reconstruction has been carried out as part of the interdisciplinary graduate programme "Didactic Teaching and Learning Research - Didactic Reconstruction"(ProDid). Its successor is the doctoral programme on teacher professionalisation "Processes of subject-didactic structuring"(ProfaS) (see doctoral candidates).
The research work has been published in the series "Beiträge zur Didaktischen Rekonstruktion" since 2001. State examination theses in the Oldenburger Vordrucke series.
The main results of research in the field of didactic reconstruction concern the everyday ideas of learners and teachers. They are summarised in the book"Schüler besser verstehen. Everyday ideas in biology lessons".
Since 2019, I have been publishing a series of books for learners at lower and upper secondary levels in which the results of the research on didactic reconstruction are implemented directly for learners. The series is called: Neue Wege in die Biologie (Friedrich Verlag).
Further reading:
DIJK, E. van & KATTMANN, U. (2007). A research model for the study of science teachers' PCK and improving teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 885-897.
DUIT, R. , GROPENGIEßER, H., KATTMANN, U., KOMOREK, M. & Parchmann, I. (2012). The model of Educational Reconstruction - a framework for improving teaching and learning in science. In D. Jorde & J. Dillon (Eds.), Science education research in Europe (pp 13-37). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
KATTMANN, U. (2015). Understanding pupils better. Everyday ideas in biology lessons. Hallbergmoos: Aulis.
KATTMANN, U. (ed.). (2017). Teaching biology with everyday ideas. Didactic reconstruction in teaching units. Seelze: Kallmeyer with Klett.