Chapter 18 – Didactics

Publisher Summary This chapter describes didactics as pedagogical activities intended to have a direct effect on the student, as opposed to diagnostic activities. Didactics is usually construed more generally as the art or science of teaching, which does not exclude diagnostic activities. A didactic operation is defined as a unit of decision in a didactic process. It is more general than a didactic intervention in that it does not necessarily correspond to actions visible to the student. The chapter focuses on gaining some understanding of the importance of diagnosis as a design and research concern by considering its role in didactic processes. When diagnosis provides constraints for didactic deliberation and resources for constructing tailored didactic operations, there is no simple relation of subordination in either direction; both processes work in synergy. Because didactic capabilities are not fixed but can be enriched by diagnostic resources, they do not rigidly limit the relevance of diagnosis.