Teaching As A Reflective Practice: The German Didaktik Tradition

This volume presents a mix of translations of classical and modern papers from the German Didaktik tradition, newly prepared essays by German scholars and practitioners writing from within the tradition, and interpretive essays by U.S. scholars. It brings this tradition, which virtually dominated German curricular thought and teacher education until the 1960s when American curriculum theory entered Germany--and which is now experiencing a renaissance--to the English-speaking world, where it has been essentially unknown. The intent is to capture in one volume the core (at least) of the tradition of Didaktik and to communicate its potential relevance to English-language curricularists and teacher educators. It introduces a theoretical tradition which, although very different in almost every respect from those we know, offers a set of approaches that suggest ways of thinking about problems of reflection on curricular and teaching praxis (the core focus of the tradition) which the editors believe are accessible to North American readers--with appropriate "translation." These ways of thinking and related praxis are very relevant to notions such as reflective teaching and the discourse on teachers as professionals. By raising the possibility that the "new" tradition of Didaktik can be highly suggestive for thinking through issues related to a number of central ideas within contemporary discourse--and for exploring the implications of these ideas for both teacher education and for a curriculum theory appropriate to these new contexts for theorizing, this book opens up a gold mine of theoretical and practical possibilities.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface. S. Hopmann, K. Riquarts, Introduction: Starting a Dialogue: A Beginning Conversation Between Didaktik and the Curriculum Traditions. Part I: Didaktik as a Reflective Practice. I. Westbury, Teaching as a Reflective Practice: What Might Didaktik Teach Curriculum? R. Künzli, German Didaktik: Models of Re-presentation, of Intercourse, and of Experience. Part II: Bildung: Didaktik's Central Idea. W. von Humboldt, Theory of Bildung. C. Lüth, On Wilhel von Humbuoldt's Theory of Bildung. W. Klafki, The Significance of the Classical Theories of Bildung for a Contemporary Concept of Allgemeinbildung. Part III: Sources From the Didaktik Tradition. E. Weniger, Didaktik as a Theory of Education. H. Roth, The Art of Lesson Preparation. W. Klafki, Didaktik Analysis as the Core of Preparation of Instruction. M. Wagenschein, How to Teach Understanding: On the Concept of the Exemplary in Teaching. P. Menck, Content: Still in Question? Part IV: Didaktik as Praxis. S. Hopmann, Klafki's Model of Didaktik Analysis and Lesson Planning in Teacher Education. G.G. Hiller, Levels of Classroom Preparation. C. Senn-Fennell, Oral and Written Communication for Promoting Mathematical Understanding: Teaching Examples From Grade 3. M. Neubrand, Reflecting as a Didaktik Construction: Speaking About Mathematics in the Mathematics Classroom. A. Kirsch, Aspects of Simplification in Mathematics Teaching. M. Wagenschein, The Law of Free Fall as an "Exemplary Theme" for the Mathematicizablity of Certain Natural Processes. P. Reinhold, Open Experimenting: A Framework for Structuring Science Teaching and Learning. S. Gudmundsdottir, A. Reinertsen, N.P. Nordtømme, Klafki's Didaktik Analysis as a Conceptual Framework for Research on Teaching.