Analysis of educational interactions in science education: a view from the knowledge quartet

Abstract

In science teaching, it is relevant that teachers' pedagogical knowledge allows practices that transform students' alternative conceptions through effective Educational Interactions (EI). However, in Chile there is still a teaching model centered on the teacher and far from the students' understanding of natural phenomena. This study explores the elements that characterize the pedagogical knowledge of the teacher that are part of the EI in the classroom, through the Knowledge Quartets (KQ) model. Through a qualitative multiple case study, video recordings and interviews with two science teachers from a mixed-financing school in the Metropolitan Region, Chile, are analyzed. From an interpretative approach, the results show three metacategories: conceptual; dialogical-epistemological and reflexive. EI puts teacher knowledge to the test, whose aim is to exchange symbolic elements, mobilizing them to identify, reflect and act in search of the conceptual and epistemological transit of their students. It is concluded that the KQ allows us to delve deeper into EI, although it is necessary to delve into the complexity of EI from the perspective of the teacher-person, their reflexivity, as well as the cognitive and emotional transits of the professional and their students.