Didactics

The word didáctica comes from the ancient Greek διδάσκειν (didáskein), which means to teach, to instruct. For the Greeks, teaching was both art and science. Currently, it is understood that the purpose of didactics is to study the teaching / learning processes.

Didactica Magna

The word didactic (it was used for the first time in relation to teaching in 1629, by the German Wolfgang Ratked in his book (written in Latin) Aphorisma Didactici Precipui or Main Didactic Aphorisms. Juan Amós Comenio also made his contribution in the search to find a definition of the meaning of Didactics, defined it as "the fundamental artifice to teach everything to everyone, to teach solidly, not superficially, not with mere words, but directing the disciple to the true ones, to the soft ones." customs".

Distinction between didactics and pedagogy

Herbart (1935) referred to Didactics as the result of scientific study or the combination of teaching and instruction and considered the former as the way to strike to achieve the instructive and the latter as a means of concretion of Education. Aebli (1958) wrote that Didactics is an auxiliary and applied science of Pedagogy for carrying out educational tasks whose purpose is to deduce psychological knowledge from the processes of intellectual formation and to reveal the most appropriate methodological techniques for the development of such knowledge. process. From this point of view, no limits are established between Pedagogy, Didactics and methodology; They are the same. Gottler (1962) stated that Didactics is a theory whose center of attention is educational instruction. He conceptualizes it as science, but with a speculative character. Alves (1962) considers that Didactics is the pedagogical discipline of a practical and normative nature, the systemic set of principles, norms, resources and specific procedures that serve to learn the contents in close connection with the proposed educational objectives. Buyse (1964) says that Didactics is the branch of Pedagogy in charge of establishing the regulations for the development of teaching practice. Stocker (1964) specifically says: "General didactics raises the general questions of all teaching common to all subjects, tries to expose the principles or postulates that are presented in all subjects and that must be the object of considerations fundamentals" and Tomachewski (1967) assumes a position in which he states that Didactics is the general theory of teaching and that it is therefore focused on the set of principles and techniques that have a general character insofar as they are applicable to all disciplines of teaching. This process. Pacios (1982) assures that Didactics is a speculative and technological science. Pérez (1982) considers it as science and technology of the intentional communication system, where teaching-learning processes are developed, aimed at optimizing intellectual training. Fernández Enguita defined the teaching context at the beginning of Modernity -16th and 17th century- in Europe, from the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation; being this central historical conjuncture to understand the development of ideas and pedagogical practices up to the present. Benedito (1987) believes that Didactics is on the way to being science and technology at the same time, that it is built, from theory and practice, in organized environments of relationship and intentional communication, where teaching and learning processes are developed for student training. Rosales (1988) alleges that it is the science of the systematic teaching process, insofar as it optimizes learning, and Contreras (1990) sees it as the discipline that explains the teaching-learning processes to propose their realization, consistent with educational purposes.. Díaz Barriga mentions that the new processes in the construction of knowledge and learning are generating a new didactics, that is, "a movement in development, with different aspects, which seeks not to exclude the sense of knowledge, of work teacher, while recovering the importance of work, the desire and the construction of a personal project by the student. He defines Didactics as a theoretical, historical and political discipline. It is both a discipline that aims to guide practices and at the same time can be thought of as a theoretical field in itself, since it enables and asks questions about the validity of the interventions it proposes. As long as it responds to conceptions about education, society, the subject, knowledge and science; it is historical, since its proposals respond to specific historical moments and it is political because its proposal is framed in a social project. For this reason it is said that didactics is in charge of articulating theory with the practice of teaching.

Sacristán (1989) offered a new point of view "Didactics, as a scientific discipline that guides teaching, has a normative and a prescriptive component (...) it is science, art and praxis". Vasco (1990) reveals a criterion from whose point of view he considers "Didactics not as the practice of teaching itself, but as the more or less limited sector of pedagogical knowledge that deals explicitly with teaching";. Carvajal (1990) wrote that Didactics "It is the science of education that studies and intervenes in the teaching-learning process in order to achieve the intellectual formation of the student, (...) it is part of the pedagogy that is interested in knowledge, is dedicated to training within a specific context through the acquisition of theoretical and practical knowledge, contributes to the teaching-learning process, through the development of theoretical-practical instruments that serve for the research, training and comprehensive development of the student". De la Torre (1993) defined Didactics as a pedagogical discipline whose center revolves around training processes in deliberately organized contexts. Álvarez (1993) does not hesitate to recognize the condition of Didactics as a science and frames its evolution within the search for solutions to the problems contemplated in the teaching-educational process of educational institutions, whose function is to prepare the human being for the challenges of life in a systemic and efficient way. For this author, Didactics "(...) is a social, humanistic science and its laws have a dialectical nature. Camilloni (1994) from his theoretical position ensures that Didactics is the theory of teaching, heir and indebted to many other disciplines, which by dealing with teaching constitutes a provider and giver of theories in the field of social action and of knowledge. In these three definitions, the identification of Didactics with one of the essential components of its systemic nucleus is obvious; teaching. For Álvarez (1997), Didactics is also a science, under construction, which is nourished by the educational reality subjected, in turn, to the analysis and reflection of educators and students. In her proposal, the author defends the close relationship between Didactics and Pedagogy and ensures that it feeds on collective reflection, analysis and observation of the complex educational reality and for its development she applies methods and techniques, typical of the research that she enrich and contribute to their theoretical-practical growth. For her part, Edith Liwin adds to these previously raised debates that in order to problematize what knowledge is in the classroom, it is necessary to consider two classic and inseparable dimensions of the didactics agenda: content and method.

Teaching methods

• Method exhibition. To present a topic through oral language, with visual support.
• Method Socratic....
• Storytelling....
• Method the case...
• Learning by doing....
• Project-based learning (ABP)....
• Learning-service....
• Problem-based learning.

As we can see, Didactics is a response to the need to find a balance that harmonizes the relationship between educators' ways of teaching and the learning of their disciples; a contradiction yet to be resolved. There are many authors who have referred to the subject in question.

Didactic action

Concept

Didactics is a discipline of the pedagogical field of a theoretical-practical nature, whose object of study are the teaching processes, whose purpose is the integral formation of the student through the passage of a cultural heritage that can be re-created by East.

The available literature offers a varied and numerous volume of definitions of Didactics. In edition No. 23 of 2014 of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language, a lexicographical work of the Academy, Didactics is conceptualized as "Belonging or relative to Didactics or teaching. Own, adequate or with good conditions to teach or instruct. A method, a very didactic teacher. Its main purpose is to teach or instruct. didactic genre. Art of teaching".

Current Didactics is that field of knowledge, research, theoretical and practical proposals that focus, above all, on the teaching and learning processes" (Addine et al., 1998). Díaz (1999) explains that Didactics can be defined as the science that explains and applies what is related to teaching as an intentional and systematic task and as an expeditious strategy to achieve the formation of man.. Gervilla (2000) conceives it as the science of education that studies everything related to teaching: design of the best conditions, environment, climate, to achieve exceptional learning and the complete development of the student. Sevillano (2004) considers it as the theoretical-normative science that intentionally guides the optimizing teaching-learning process, in a specific and interactive context and enables the apprehension of culture in order to achieve the integral development of the student. Zabalza (2007) takes up the analysis of teaching and learning as a process associated with Didactics and defines it as that field of knowledge, research, theoretical and practical proposals that focus on teaching and learning processes: how to study them, how to put them into practice in good conditions and how to improve the whole process. Pla, R (2010) establishes a relationship between Pedagogy and Didactics, stated that "Didactics is a branch of Pedagogy, which acquires the character of science to the extent that it studies a qualitative level of organization of the process. Educational that has peculiarities, which have to do with the internal relationships that occur between the educator and the student mediated by the components: objectives, contents, methods, forms, means, evaluation from a precise object of knowledge.

Scope

Didactics can be understood as a pure technique or applied science and as a theory or basic science of instruction, education or training. The different didactic models can be theoretical (descriptive, explanatory, predictive) or technological (prescriptive, normative).

The history of education shows the enormous variety of didactic models that have existed. Most of the traditional models focused on teachers and content (process-product model). The methodological aspects, the context and, especially, the students, remained in the background.

As a response to verbalism and the abuse of memorization typical of traditional models, active models (characteristic of the new school) seek understanding and creativity through discovery and experimentation. These models tend to have a more scientific and democratic approach and aim to develop self-training capacities (mediational model).

Currently, the application of cognitive sciences to didactics has allowed the new models to be more flexible and open, showing the enormous complexity and dynamism of the teaching-learning processes (ecological model).

Division of didactics

According to Juan Amos Comenius, in his "Great Didactic", this is divided into three forms:

• Mathematical: Which refers to who learns. The didactic should be clear to the one who is directed the learning and based on which needs will be executed.

• Systematic: It refers to learning objectives and subjects to be studied. So didactic serves as a means of achieving these goals.

• Method: It is the time when didactic is executed. The teacher performs a very important work in this division, since he must be an actor by nature, use an adequate level of voice, etc.

Classification

It should be distinguished:

• General teachingwhich focuses on defining systematic forms of education; mediating between the social objectives of schooling and the abilities of students.
• Specific didacticswhich focuses on the applicable standards and methods for learning a specific subject.
• Differential teachingwhich takes into account the evolution and characteristics of the individual, so that the teaching is personalised according to it.

Regarding the specific didactics, Alicia Camilloni lists some differentiation criteria of the particular regions of the world of teaching as follows:

1. Specific teaching according to the different levels of the educational system.
2. Specific teaching according to the ages of the students.
3. Specific teachings of disciplines.
4. Specific didactics according to the type of institution.
5. Specific didactics according to the characteristics of the subject.

Within special or specific didactics, Technological Didactics is located, since with the incorporation of different technologies in education, it was necessary to think about teaching strategies and forms of appropriate use that allow better links with knowledge. Starting in the 1990s and with the contribution of different theories (linguistic, cultural and cognitive) the approach of educational technology and didactics was greater. For this reason, the field of technological didactics was formed as a body of knowledge related to new teaching practices. But this theoretical body needed and constantly needs to incorporate empirical works, analyzed in the light of theoretical debates and practices related to the teaching task (Litwin Edith; Educational Technologies in Internet Times; 1995; Amorrortu Editores).

Within the specific didactics, the didactics of Social Sciences constitutes an emerging area of knowledge, which is included in the broader field of Educational Sciences. In the words of Pagés (1993: 128): “The Didactics of Social Sciences has its own specific knowledge that emanates from a practice -that of teaching to teach Geography, History and Social Sciences teachers-."

The didactics of mathematics or educational mathematics studies the didactic activities, that is, the activities that are aimed at teaching, in what they have as specific to mathematics. The intense process of scientific acculturation of recent times has produced effects that make appropriate educational modifications necessary for them, with the consequent progress in this discipline.

One of the main characteristics of corporate education, which distinguishes it from traditional education, is the possibility of adopting a differential didactics. The characteristics of the learning public can be known in detail.

A teaching situation can be observed through the relationships that are «played» between three poles: teacher, student, knowledge, because it is analyzed:

• The distribution of the roles of each.
• The project of each one.
• The rules of play: what is allowed, what is really demanded, what is expected, what to do or say to show you know.

Models

Very schematically, three reference models are described:

• The model called “normative”, “reproductive” or “passive” (centered in the content). Where teaching consists of transmitting a knowledge to the pupils. Therefore, pedagogy is, then, the art of communicating, of "passing knowledge".
  • The teacher shows the notions, introduces them, provides the examples.
  • The student, first of all, learns, listens, must be attentive; then imitates, trains, exercises and at the end, applies.
  • The knowledge is finished, it is already built.
• The model called "incitative" or "germinal" (focused on the student).
  • The teacher listens to the student, arouses his curiosity, helps him to use information sources, responds to his demands, seeks a better motivation (half centers of interest of Decroly, Freinet's living calculation).
  • The student seeks, organizes, then studies, learns (often close to what is programmed teaching).
  • Knowledge is linked to the needs of life, of the environment (the very structure of that knowledge passes to a background).
• The model called "approximate" or "constructive" (centred in the construction of knowledge by the student). It is proposed to depart from models, from existing conceptions in the student and to test them to improve, modify, or build new ones.
  • The teacher proposes and organizes a series of situations with different obstacles (douctic variations within these situations), organizes the different phases (action, formulation, validation, institutionalization), organizes the communication of the class, proposes at the right time the conventional elements of knowledge (notations, terminology).
  • The student will teach, seek, propose solutions, confront them with those of his peers, defend them or discuss them.
  • Knowledge is considered in its own logic.

Components

There are six important components that make up the didactic act:

• The teacher or teacher: Person who promotes and guides learning,
• Dissent or student: Person to whom teaching is directed.
• Them learning objectives: Educational goals that reflect the learning achievements that are expected in the disciples.
• Subject: Contents to be taught and learned. They are foretold in the curriculum.
• Them teaching methods: Procedures followed to promote learning. Answer the question of how to teach.
• The learning context: Scenario where the teaching-learning process is carried out; it includes the social, cultural and geographical environment.

The school curriculum is a system of institutional backbone of the teaching and learning processes, and it basically has four constitutive elements: objectives, contents, methodology and evaluation. Although there are countries that, in their educational system, the "content" element derives it into three, such as declarative, attitudinal and procedural contents. It is important to take into account the so-called hidden curriculum that, unconsciously, has a powerful influence on what are the authentic contents and objectives in which the students are trained. For example, a teacher has to know the CNB (National Base Curriculum) of his country (because not all of us have the same needs) to work efficiently according to what is needed locally.

Teachable moments

The teaching process is made up of three moments that occur cyclically, which is why as a whole they are also called the teaching cycle. The didactic moments are: planning, implementation and evaluation.

Didactic planning is the moment in which all the necessary elements are foreseen to implement an educational program. Among these elements we can mention the objectives, contents, strategies, didactic resources, times, among others.

Implementation is the part of the process in which the educational program is put into operation, that is, it is taught with the students. Here the planning carried out is implemented, but making the pertinent adjustments to guide learning, according to the needs of the students and other conditions that were different from what was planned.

The evaluation is a didactic moment in which the scope of the learning objectives is assessed, although it has a determining relevance at the end of the process, it is essential that it be carried out simultaneously with the implementation, in order to respond to the learning needs of students throughout the process.