We explain what didactics is and how it is developed in the educational field. Also, how can this science be classified.
What is didactics?
the word didactics comes from Greek didasko. In the first instance, didactics can be defined as the science of learning and teaching. Within this science of teaching and learning, the combination of doing and didactic knowledge is necessary, that is, theory and practice.
Practice is very important since it is known that human beings learn through experience. It is also normal to teach from it. However, it is important not to rely exclusively on teachings using this technique. That is why it is so important to complement it with theory.
It is essential to emphasize that a good theory must be able to be carried out, that is, it must be applicable to reality. There are authors who affirm that it is not necessary to fall back into the dichotomy of theory and practice, that both must go hand in hand, since praxis itself is both action and reflection.
Being a science, didactics has a formal object and a material object.
- The formal object can be defined as the approach with which the material object is observed. The latter refers to the learning and teaching process.
- The material object can be identified with the various strategies and methods that are used in the process.
See also: Pedagogy
Didactics in teaching
Although the concept of didactics can be applied in various aspects, it is normally used in school organizations. Through this science tries to organize and argue the teaching techniques. To do this, the student and the teacher are usually distinguished on the one hand, and the curriculum and the context in which they learn are added.
Within didactics there is a classification of it:
- Differentiated teaching Also known as differential. It receives this name because it is used particularly in each case, depending on the person or the characteristics of the group in which one works. It is considered that this is the didactics that should be used in any case, that is, one that adapts to the diversity of individuals.
- General didactics It encompasses the rules and principles that govern didactics. To do this, it is responsible for analyzing the elements that tend to be repeated on various occasions and studying the different didactic currents. Once this task is completed, it presents certain prototypes to explain what was analyzed, and to be able to apply it in the groups in a general way.
- Special didactics It takes up the previously mentioned norms, created by general didactics, and applies them specifically in a particular subject, that is, in the social sciences, in the natural sciences, in mathematics, in physical education, etc. That is why this one is even more specific than the first.
