REPORT

Didactics – more than the art of teaching?

The contribution gives an overview of the historical terms of didactics. With the background of changing paradigms, drawn is the entry of the didactical term into adult education and its development since the 1960s. One focus of the consideration is on the didactical change from ”teaching” to ”formation of learning contexts”, which was influenced by the discussion on constructivism. Concluding, the author elaborates on the state of research on didactics and ascertains that by far not all questions have been answered concerning the proportion of teaching and learning as well as of adoption and construction of knowledge.

Didactical shift of epoch?
Needs for clarification for the further development of didactical thinking, with regard to a DFG-supported research

This contribution deals with the question, what science should clarify, explore and do in order to tackle a possible stagnation of didactical thinking (and therewith also its practical possibilities of impact). In spite of the fruitful provocation with which the didactical discussion has been revived in the last decade, especially from sides of constructivistical approaches, the proclaimed
change of paradigms seduces also to skip previous restraints of development of (adult educational) didactics instead of working on them: the idealization of learning instead of its empirical exploration, the polarization between ”natural” learning and institutionalized learning instead of a description of its true variety, the narrowed view on the learning scene instead of inclusion of the economic, organizational and macro-didactical changes, the danger of a theoretical reduction instead of further working on a – obviously exhausted – formation of models. In order not to leave these deliberations on the claim level only, an example of own research practice is sketched.

Biography orientation and didactics
Deliberations for the guidance of biographical learning in adult education

In the practice of adult education methods and concepts of biographical learning have since long been integral part of didactical deliberations and they are newly made subject of discussion again and again with changing reasons and terms. For some time the concept of "Biographizität" is referred to in these discussions without the relevance of this term, which was developed in the context of research, being clarified for the educational practice. The contribution wants to stimulate the discussion of this question. Going out from the interest in the role of the learners in the present constructivistically inspired adult pedagogical discourse, one focus of the presentation lies in the explicit biographical dimension of learning processes.

The didactical gap in the ”didactical self choice”

In adult education didactics are closely conglomerated with learn theoretical concepts without clearly naming its own questions in content. This becomes especially obvious in the newly research on e-learning. After the failure of the technically possible, the call for didactics has become loud. When one regards the pertinent publications, one finds remarkably many which take their didactical foundation from the learn theory and therewith hardly include the didactical classics. Thereby the legitimation of the contents is pushed harshly to the edge. This thesis is to be proved in this contribution. At the same time a discussion shall be initiated concerning the ”primacy of content”.

When gender meets didactics…
Learning and teaching in context of social constructions

This contribution combines didactical and gender-related deliberations and sketches the emphases of the respective discourses. It uses the constructive character of gender in order to take the constructivistically orientated didactics at its word. With the experiences of a model event, didactical steps are presented exemplary which are able to meet the requirements of the special reference between gender and health. By this way accents are added to the present discussed general questions of the proportion of learning and teaching, which highlight the potentials of didactical a

The day after tomorrow
Didactical deliberations on the andragogical value chain

Educational events should create value, be effectively sustainable in the ”time after”. Even if ”value” can mean most different things, it is always about the creation of value in educational work. Afterwards something has to be better than before. This article wants to show that for a value creating educational work, a row of didactical decisions need to be reflected upon and arranged. Therewith the focal point lies in the ”after course phase”, which is widely a blank space in the didactical map of adult education.