Using organizing purposes to plan and analyse learning progressions in context-based science teaching

Abstract

During the last years the didactical model organizing purposes have provided important insights about how the teacher in jointly action with the students can create a moment-to-moment learning progression in science lessons, laboratory work and teaching activities. In the present study, organizing purposes were used in practice to plan a lesson within a context-based unit in Biology in which the Ebola disease was the overarching context. The lesson was planned in two main parts. In the first part, the students worked with a model that simulates the spread of the Ebola disease; in the second part, the model was discussed and compared with the real disease. The analysis of the enacted lesson shows that the students’ experiences from the model were effectively used by the teacher to establish a learning progression towards the learning goals. This was done by eliciting questions, comparisons between the model and real diseases, and recalling specific situations that allowed the use of students’ everyday experiences and incorporation of scientific concepts. Moreover, through these actions the teacher constantly directed the discussion towards the learning goals having the context of the unit in focus.