Reading and writing to engage high school students in the understanding of challenging issues

Abstract

In Argentinean high school education content areas teachers usually teach through lectures, ask students to answer questionnaires and check in a hurry, assuming that they have achieved an understanding of the subject that is not so. As an alternative, we collaboratively designed a didactic sequence with teachers to engage students in the laborious task of understanding a complex topic in Molecular Biology. The sequence implemented 1) approached the topic through different levels of abstraction and generality (problematisation-contextualisation, decontextualisation, and recontextualisation), 2) intertwined reading, writing, viewing of animations and dialogue, 3) recreated in class study practices and language practices of extracurricular social use with diverse sources, 4) included the use of animated representations, 5) devoted sustained work time to the relevant content, 6) delimited what was known from what needed to be learned. The micro-analysis of a lesson observation extract illustrates how this approach modifies the usual classroom task and teacher-student interaction: to facilitate students formulating and justifying their knowledge under construction. The teacher initially does not expound his or her knowledge but intervenes to engage the students in a joint intellectual work of developing understanding.