Didactic Research Research Articles

Modelling mathematics for educational research and practice: a comparison of two theoretical approaches

AbstractThe production and use of explicit models of mathematics are important elements of research in Didactics of Mathematics. In this paper, we present and compare two different European approaches to didactical modelling. The first, centred around the notion of basic idea (Grundvorstellung), arose in German-speaking countries as a development within Subject Matter Didactics (Stoffdidaktik). The second is the notion of praxeology from the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic, which originated in France. After presenting the genesis and interpretation of these notions as theoretical modelling tools, we provide a detailed case study of actual models produced with these tools, concerning the notion of limits and derivatives. Furthermore, we identify similarities and differences of both models in how they can support didactical research and practice, for instance, by identifying important phenomena or problems. We conclude that the two approaches offer important, different and, to some extent, complementary positions and perspectives.

New trends in didactic research in university mathematics education

AbstractRecent research in university mathematics education has moved beyond the traditional focus on the transition from secondary to tertiary education and students' understanding of introductory courses such as pre-calculus and calculus. There is growing interest in the challenges students face as they move into more advanced mathematics courses that require a shift toward formal reasoning, proof, modeling, and problem-solving skills. This survey paper explores emerging trends and innovations in the field, focusing on three key areas: innovations in teaching and learning advanced mathematical topics, transitions between different levels and contexts of mathematics education, and the role of proof and proving in advanced university mathematics. The survey reflects the evolving landscape of mathematics education research and addresses the theoretical and practical challenges of teaching and learning advanced mathematics across various contexts.

Doktorské studium didaktiky dějepisu na Katedře historie Filozofické fakulty Ostravské univerzity

On the occasion of the significant jubilee of Professor Miroslav Kmet as an expert in the field of history didactics, the text reflects the areas of didactic research, which have received attention at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ostrava, as well as the current focus of research. It presents the research topics of the graduates of the doctoral studies in didactics of history at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts at the OU presented in their dissertations and a number of journal studies, studies published in collective monographs and journals. The themes of two current students of the study programme were also not omitted.

Contribution to didactic research on the completeness/incompleteness of ordered fields of numbers

Contribution to didactic research on the completeness/incompleteness of ordered fields of numbers

Mellan disciplin och profession.

This article describes and analyzes the formation of subject didactic research through the interaction between different disciplinary starting points and the new demands for profession-oriented interdisciplinary research fields, with subject didactics serving as an example. The focus is on the early development of literature didactics in Sweden. The main research question is: How have early internal factors, such as the discipline of literary studies, and external factors, including changes in the school system, education policy, or the social climate in general, influenced or contributed to the repertoire of research questions, methods, and theories within the field now known as literature didactics? The material analyzed, from the perspective of the history and sociology of science, consists of the scientific production from two early literary didactic contributions (1960–1980). The results follow two lines. The first formulates and develops subject didactic relevant issues from interdisciplinary starting points. The second develops subject didactic research based on the practical aspects of school teaching. Both lines of development in subject didactic research are strengthened and accelerated by external research funding, which also brings them closer together in several respects. The results are discussed based on Fensham's (2003) criteria for when a subject didactic research field can be considered established, Bernstein's (2003) dichotomy between singularities and regions, and Abbot's (2001) fractal theory for the development of new disciplines and research areas. The main conclusion is that the heterogeneity of the current field, in terms of paradigmatic orientations, and its homogeneity in certain theoretical starting points and recurring questions, can be clarified through this prehistory.

INTEGRATING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE IN TEACHING SCIENTIFIC THEORY IN HIGH SCHOOLS IN CAMEROON: CASE STUDY OF THE ATOMIC THEORY

Questions about the Nature of Science (NOS) have long preoccupied scientists, but recently, researchers in didactics, curriculum designers and science teachers have been concerned about how NOS can improve the teaching and learning of scientific concepts and theories. While some authors have argued that science students be taught about the Nature of Science explicitly, others suggest it should be taught implicitly when teaching scientific concepts. However, not much research has been done on how to implicitly integrate NOS principles in teaching scientific concepts in a competencies-based approach context. We believe that for learners to significantly improve their learning of scientific concepts, they need to understand the Nature of Science. Thus, we propose the tenets of NOS be taken into account in the design of teaching and learning activities in the experimental sciences. This reflective article proposes a didactic strategy to implicitly teach NOS when teaching scientific theories like the atomic theory using problem situations in the context of the competencies–based approach prescribed in Cameroon.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0720/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Comparative didactics: Toward a generic model for analyzing content-specific dimensions of teaching quality

Since the 2000s, the Joint Action framework in Didactics (JAD) has been developed in the context of the expansion of the French-speaking research in Comparative didactics. Studies carried out with this framework typically investigate how knowledge content develop in teacher-student classroom interactions. From a quite different perspective, classroom research on teaching quality has also developed considerably in recent years. Despite the many efforts to better understand relations between generic versus subject-specific dimensions of teaching, this dichotomy remains strong in the debates on teaching quality. This contribution explores a comparative model for characterizing the quality of teaching practices from the conceptual categories of the Joint Action framework in Didactics (JAD-MTQ). Based on the comparison of teaching and learning practices in two school subjects—physics and contemporary dance—this paper pursues a twofold objective: (1) proposing a provisional set of generic criteria for capturing content-specific dimensions of teaching quality; and (2) highlighting certain methodological conditions for ensuring qualitative analyses of these dimensions of teaching quality.

Instructional Strategies and the Application of Competency-based and Standards-based Approaches in EFL Classrooms in Morocco

This article is a reflection on the teaching practices of English as a foreign language classroom at the secondary school in Morocco. Our observation is that the practices of the majority of teachers do not adhere to the principles of the competency and Standards based approaches that are recommended by the ministerial pedagogical guidelines. These principles are based on the heritage of socio-constructivism and cognitivism. In this perspective, this contribution, which is part of the general context of research in foreign language didactics and that of socio-constructivism and competency-based training in particular, and which attaches great importance to the "field", proposes to observe the practices of teachers of English as a foreign language in the qualifying secondary cycle and to report on the extent to which the new pedagogical orientations are present in classrooms at the present time, The aim is to assess the distance that remains to be covered in order to put into practice a teaching and learning that is truly in line with the spirit of the competency-based approach and standards based approach and, therefore, with the new theories of learning sciences.

On resolving the tension between visiting mathematical works and questioning the quantum world

For the past 40 years, researchers in didactics of mathematics have developed and utilised didactic engineering as a methodology for design-based research. In this article we discuss its second step, the so-called a priori analysis. In the framework of the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic, engineering is in the form of the implementation of a study and research path (SRP), an inquiry-based course. SRPs may be either finalised, that is aimed at the teaching of a particular piece of knowledge, or rather open, that is solely aimed at answering a given question. This tension between sometimes competing goals especially shows in the a priori analysis of SRPs, a phenomenon we address in this paper. Our study is based on pieces of evidence collected by setting up an SRP two years in a row at the interface between mathematics and quantum mechanics, in third year of bachelor's degree. We take a particular care in explicating the rationale behind the a priori analysis and its connection with the preliminary analysis. We bring out the significance of spelling out one's epistemological stance, as didactic engineer, emphasising the value of the notion of reference epistemological models to do so.

Kausalsätze verstehen: Schülervorstellungen zu kausalen Zusammenhängen und kausalen Konnektoren

Research on connectors is an indispensable part of German didactics, since they contribute decisively to the creation of coherence and facilitate the reception of texts. What concepts students have about (causal) connectors is rarely addressed in didactic research. Yet, the elicitation of students' concepts is a central starting point to make new knowledge connectable and to enable knowledge construction (cf. Gropengießer & Marohn, 2018). In this paper, we will discuss the results of an exploratory qualitative study in which language-related student concepts of causality and causal connectors were collected, which is an important starting point of the conceptual change approach (cf. Möller, 2007; Benesch & Winkler, 2016). Via cooperative thinking aloud (cf. Schuttkowski, Rothstein, Schmitz & Gräsel, 2015), the concepts of five student tandems (n = 8 students) on causal connections and causal connectors were videographically elicited and analyzed using content structuring qualitative content analysis (cf. Kuckartz, 2018). The meta-linguistic utterances show that sixth grade students have a broad range of different concepts about causal connections and the function of causal connectors.

Vocational Didactics: Mapping the Terrain in Swedish Upper Secondary Vocational Education and Training

Purpose: The article focuses on the contribution of didactics and didactic theory as a distinct strand in research on vocational education and training (VET). Empirical research is reviewed to further explore what characterizes vocational didactics in the Swedish context of Upper Secondary VET. Approach: Semi-structured and flexible review methodology was used to identify didactic research and map its emergent features. An analytic framework was constructed for this purpose and used iteratively throughout the review process. The framework expresses the constitutive simultaneous interdependence of the relationships A-B-C. They refer to A) the ways of how the actors engage with the content as meaning and matter or relationship between the actors and the content, B) the relationship between the actors and the method through interaction with the content, and C) relationship between the methods embedded in work tasks and school assignments and how they underpin the content. A total of 26 sources was identified and thematized as school-based vocational didactics, collaborative vocational didactics, and work-based vocational didactics. Findings: Four distinct features of vocational didactics in Upper Secondary Vocational Education and Training (USVET) are outlined: 1) Diversification of the use of simulation as a method in school-based education pointing to vocational knowledge and skills 2) broadening of instruction (and reflection) as a method by inclusion of several parties (e.g., supervisors, workplace staff, instructors-practitioners), 3) work tasks as a method pointing to vocational knowledge and skills as content, 4) interaction between several parties using verbal and non-verbal means. Despite a growing interest in the importance of work tasks in their dual affordance of meaning and matter, few sources deal with students' learning processes in alignment with the logic of the production of goods and services. Conclusion: The analytic framework we have put forth strengthens the conceptual boundaries of vocational didactics from a point of view of profession-related learning objectives (content), actors, and methods involved. Applying the didactic theories to review empirical research on VET strengthens the integrity of vocational didactics as a particular field.

WIDER DEN ENGLISCH-WAHN. ERHALT DER MEHRSPRACHIGKEIT IN DER EUROPÄISCHEN WISSENSCHAFTSKULTUR AGAINST ENGLISCH DOMINATION. PRESERVING MULTILINGUALISM IN EUROPEAN SCIENTIFIC CULTURE

The problem of everyday scientific language is gaining in importance both in today's linguistic and language didactic research. It will also be central to today's science conception. From the perspective of the current Anglophone scientific community, the article discusses the effects of some standards in scientific practice – including the quantification culture – on publication practices and the associated displacement of the traditionally multilingual European scientific culture. In this context, some measures are discussed that can reduce the influence of English, e.g. in the humanities. In general, this also touches on the question of what effects the language changeover in science will have on smaller research communities and languages.

Entre recherches en didactique et enseignement/formation : transposition ou enrichissement mutuel ?

How can we think about the relationship between didactic research and the development of the teaching profession? If the simplistic idea of application, too often retained by decision-makers, is not appropriate, the concept of transposition does not seem relevant either. We propose here a discussion of these relationships from two points of view, each based on a researcher's and trainer's experience. We thus highlight the indispensable diversity of collaborative work between teachers and researchers, corresponding to different research questions and questions arising from practice.

Перспективные направления дидактических исследований в России

The article presents the findings of the study undertaken as part of the project for the Russian Foundation for Basic Research — Promising Areas of Didactic Research in Russia. The authors discuss social and cultural issues in didactics, such as instability and non-standard living and professional conditions, the dynamism of the professional arena, unexpected intricacy of job responsibilities, and others. The study reveals how the research area has expanded beyond the discovery of common patterns in schooling and higher education to include preschool, postgraduate, corporate, domestic, and senior citizen education, as well as tutoring. It raises new didactic challenges related to the digital transformation of education and describes changes in the methodological regulation of didactic research using V.S. Styopin’s typology of scientific rationality, which encompasses classical, non-classical, and post-nonclassical kinds.
 The authors present a review of didactic research in higher education based on the integration of competency and value-semantic methods that focus on the search and application of perso­nal meanings in both education and subsequent activities. They also discuss the specific features of adult education practices as well as the challenges they pose to didactics, including changes in subjects of education, multi-agency in the educational process, multiple ‘integration points,’ ‘non-cognitive’ types of experience, a shift in the teacher’s position, and the coherence and complexity of didactic theory.

Actuele benaderingen van literatuurdidactiek in het NVT-onderwijs in Hongarije

This article deals with current approaches of teaching literature in NVT studies inHungary. The research examines the coherence of literature and foreign language teaching– in this case Dutch as a foreign language. The general question, which requires boththeoretical and empirical research, is aimed at which methods exist with which foreignlanguage skills can be developed through the teaching of literature and literary skillsthrough foreign language pedagogy. The present article is the first step on this path: itdescribes the situation of literature and foreign language teaching in Hungary and thosetheoretical approaches that should act as the background of future didactic research.

Education of Foreign Languages Examined Using the Semantic Differential

Aim. The main aim of our project is to find out the opinions of selected groups of respondents about the teaching of foreign languages. Methods. For verification, we chose to apply the research method of semantic differential and matched it in relation to psycholinguistics. Semantic differential is a research method aimed at verifying how respondents perceive concepts. We focused on verifying what the term language teaching evokes in three different groups of respondents (pupils/students, parents, and teachers). 16 bipolar terms were chosen, which the respondents had to evaluate on a scale of 1 to 7. The given term was evaluated more positively, the smaller the value of the number was. Didactic research was attended by 231 respondents who were divided into three basic groups: teacher, parent, and pupil/student. Then, the experimentally obtained data was statistically analysed and compared using post-hoc tests to determine which of the groups showed any results of significance. Results. Of the used terms, only 3 were statistically significant: contemporary - outdated, valuable - worthless and cheerful- sad. The statistically significant difference was manifested in the two groups of pupils/students and parents. Pupils/students evaluated the teaching of foreign languages as contemporary, valuable, and fun. By contrast, parents are inclined to answer that teaching foreign languages is outdated, less valuable and sad. Conclusion. The results evoke the implementation of new innovative based methods, for example, on integrated teaching (CLIL method) or new activating teaching methods.

Interdisciplinary Approach to Research in Didactics: Possibilities, Assumptions, and Challenges of Realization

The results of the analyses show that in addition to the differences that exist between different disciplines, there is generally a trend of an increase in the number of researches conducted as a team and a decrease in the number of individually conducted research. Therefore, the paper aimed to look at the possibilities, assumptions, and challenges of achieving an interdisciplinary approach to basic, developmental, and applied research in didactics using the method of theoretical analysis and synthesis. Basic research is applied not only in didactics, but also in disciplines closely related to didactics (psychology, sociology, philosophy, cybernetics...) and forms the basis for establishing didactic regularities, and has the task of determining didactic knowledge of capital value and significantly influences the development of didactic theories, educational and teaching practices in all types and levels of schools and other educational institutions and forms of organized learning and teaching. An interdisciplinary approach to developmental research, which refers to the investigation of the regularities of the application of research results obtained through basic research, can directly contribute to the improvement of didactic theory and practice. Through applied didactic research of an interdisciplinary character, researchers find solutions for specific practical questions and problems of educational and teaching practice in certain conditions based on known didactic knowledge. Certain assumptions and challenges in the realization of interdisciplinary research in didactics aim to ensure methodological competence, scientific objectivity, and the integration of several disciplines. In the concluding remarks, it was emphasized that research methodology in didactics that has an interdisciplinary approach is not realized in isolation, but in dynamic and creative cooperation with other disciplines. With integrated basic, developmental, and applied didactic research of an interdisciplinary character, we contribute to the development of scientific theory and progressive changes in teaching practice and the educational process in general.

Report of Meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences

The meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences was held in Oradea, Romania, at Partium Christian University, from 31 March to 2 April, 2023. It was organized by the Doctoral School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences of the University of Debrecen and Partium Christian University. The 85 participants – including 18 PhD students – came from 9 countries and represented 30 institutions of higher and secondary education. There were 4 plenary and 53 session talks in the program.

‘The existential tendency’ in climate change education: an empirically informed typology

Climate change education (CCE) brings about existential concerns of students. Teachers in turn are confronted with didactic demands to take into account the existential challenge climate change elicits. However, conceptual haziness about how to understand ‘the existential’ in CCE complicates didactic research on the topic, impedes researchers to get a nuanced understanding of ‘the existential’ in CCE, and, thus, hinders the development of empirically grounded knowledge that can offer guidance for teachers. Therefore, this article presents an empirically informed typology that categorises and illustrates diverse expressions of the existential dimension of CC in concrete educational practice. It employs a methodology inspired by Wittgenstein’s user perspective on language, focusing on ordinary and basic traits in our use of language to identify and classify diverse recognisable ways in which the existential is expressed in educational practices. The empirical material comes from case studies of 15 CCE courses in higher education in Belgium. The results distinguish Existential moment, Life quake, Existential dilemma, Existential deliberation, Existential reflection on existential questions, Existential reflection on existential experiences and Existential norm. This typology can be seen as an analytical tool for didactic research on how to recognise and handle expressions of the existential tendency in practice.

Portuguese research on physical education and sport didactics-a critical discussion.

This article presents a discussion of research in Physical Education and Sport Didactics in Portugal. It starts by situating it from an historical perspective, placing the 1980s as the beginning era, mainly based on the studies provided by the two first Physical Education higher education institutes of the country. The initial research, first based on master and doctoral dissertations, progressed to ongoing projects that have been disseminated in international and national journals and books. This development is also reported from the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological perspectives, showing how it has informed the quality of Physical Education and teacher education as the two main research strands to be described, however, acknowledging that a strand on sports coaching and coach education exists. On teaching Physical Education, the article discusses the elements relative to the teacher and to the student, focusing from the immediate and short-term to the distant and long-term events that lead into young adulthood's active lifestyles. In this analysis, research on curriculum and assessment are also reported. On physical education teacher education, the article shows the prevalence of the post-primary Physical Education to argue for the need for more research on primary-level education, and discusses the diverse foci from initial teacher education to in-service education practises. In line with current trends in research, we suggest a set of four features for the future research agenda: (1) addressing short to long-term outcomes of Physical Education; (2) adopting multifactorial and multi-layered perspectives of analysis; (3) embracing inter- and multidisciplinary designs; and (4) taking comparative perspectives within and between European countries, and between Europe and other continents. We conclude that these features need to focus on four levels of integration and cooperation: (a) integration between the research initiatives and the needs of the professional field; (b) integration between research on teaching and learning, teacher education and the curriculum; (c) cooperation between the different national higher education and professional institutions; and (d) integration in the international research agenda by leading and participating in project partnerships which are needed to fully and effectively implement such agenda.