Lärandeprogression för kraftfulla fotosynteskunskaper : En exemplifiering av hur den didaktiska modellen organiserande syften kan ge stöd för lärares planering.

Sammanfattning

Photosynthesis is challenging for teachers to instruct, both among younger and older students. Students find it difficult to comprehend its chemical and biological significance for plants and ecosystems. Additionally, it is challenging to make the teaching of photosynthesis relevant and useful for students, ena-bling them to understand and engage with issues related to their everyday life and society. The purpose of this study is to exemplify how organizing purposes can be used as a support for professional experimentation to address didactic questions in one's own practice, concerning how teaching can make photosynthesis knowledge powerful for primary school students. A didactic modeling was conducted with a qualitative research approach inspired by action research, to demonstrate how the model of organizing purposes can support teachers in planning, implementing, and evaluating teaching that promotes students' pow-erful knowledge in photosynthesis. To illustrate the supportive role of organizing purposes in didactic analysis and teaching design, we conducted two complete lessons and initiated a third one. Data were collected through video recording so that the design could be evaluated, analyzed and transcribed. The teaching was conducted in a fifth-grade classroom, with a total of fourteen stu-dents participating. The instruction consisted of chemical concepts and explan-atory models, the chemical processes in photosynthesis, combustion and cellular respiration, and finally, photosynthesis related to the chemical reactions occurring in animals and plants.The results exemplify how the model of organizing purposes provided support for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the content of the lessons. In the analysis, the conceptual framework supported improvements in the teaching design. The model guided the instruction towards continuity and pro-gression and enabled clear reflection and revision of the content. One conclu-sion of the study is that exemplification demonstrates how organizing purposes can serve as a support for reflecting on how to adapt and combine the teacher’s overarching goals with the instruction, bridging to the more student-centered immediate purpose. Therefore, it is a didactic tool that can assist teachers in creating photosynthesis instruction that is relevant and interesting for students and, in many ways, enable their scientific knowledge to become powerful.