Från implicit till explicit – didaktiska modeller som verktyg för att utmana selektiva traditioner rörande undersökande arbete

This study aims to illustrate how didactic models in science education can help in-service teachers to challenge selective traditions in a constructive way. The study was based on a teacher professional development program on inquiry-based science teaching in lower secondary school. Three didactic models were used in both lectures and group reflections to initiate reflections on different ways of interpreting the aims and content associated with inquiry-based science teaching and the consequences of these interpretations. Data was collected from a group of four teachers and consists of written documentation, recordings of group reflections and a group interview. The study shows that the three didactic models helped to make different ideas and underlying assumptions visible and that the teachers could reflect on their meaning and interpretations in a constructive way. Subsequently, the teachers could explicitly separate different ways to interpret the ideas associated with inquiry-based science teacher and make more conscious didactic choices as a result. The study shows that it can be fruitful to provide teachers with reflection tools in the form of didactic models to avoid that ideas introduced in continuing education are selectively adapted to current teaching without critical reflection.