It is called didactic unit to a series of programming elements that are used in the field of education and that are developed in a certain period. It is a job proposal that tries to tackle a complete teaching and learning process.
The didactic unit seeks to cover the entire learning process: from the establishment of the initial objective, to the verification of the achievements related to said learning. To achieve this, the didactic units are made up of a list of goals that address from the educational approach to its development and completion..
The didactic units are widely related to constructivist theories of learning. These advocate the delivery of a set of tools to students in order for them to formulate skills that allow them to build their own procedures; These should be used in a problematic situation.
These units are used mainly in initial or "basic" educational levels, such as in early childhood or preschool and primary education. In this case, the didactic unit works as a planning method in which the activities and goals to be carried out in a given time (a quarter, a semester or a year) are established..
Despite the fact that didactic units are more used in the first educational cycles, these learning elements can be used in all kinds of teachings and at any educational level, whether formal or informal..
For the development of the didactic unit to be satisfactory, several elements must be taken into account when establishing the goals or objectives. Some of these aspects to take into account are the diversity of the students - the different options that each student has to approach knowledge-, the sociocultural environment, the available resources, etc..
By considering these elements, it is possible to effectively build a didactic unit, since these variations are essential when organizing the contents and discerning the objectives and the methodology to be used; In addition, they are also useful in the preparation of the evaluations of the concepts or blocks.
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The didactic unit is a widely used tool in current educational methods because it allows organizing and planning the learning and teaching processes that take place in the classrooms.
In this way, the teacher or instructor can keep their educational work under control for a period and thus avoid improvisations and unintended actions, which in many cases lead to failure..
The didactic units also serve for the teacher to reflect on their educational practice. Through this tool, the teacher will be able to identify some aspects that they want to correct or improve, always with a focus on the primary purpose, which is for their students to achieve academic success..
For example, didactic units have the ability to make the objectives more pedagogical or make them more flexible, depending on the needs of the students. In this context, it is likely that the teacher must adjust his teaching method to the requirements of his students..
Likewise, some educators suggest that the didactic units allow establishing a series of questions that will facilitate the structure of the knowledge to be taught..
Consequently, the teacher can start from some premises or questions such as: what to teach? How should I teach it? How and when should I evaluate it? Under what objectives or activities should the evaluation be done? aim to seek to improve the teaching method.
The teaching units are made up of a series of elements that function as a kind of backbone; This means that it has a set of factors that build its structure and that guarantee the success of the learning method. These elements are the following:
The description is one of the fundamental parts of the teaching unit. There, the name or subject of said unit should be placed together with the knowledge or tools that the students must have before starting the project..
Likewise, in this section the activities that aim to motivate student learning should be listed and explained..
Within this section, the number of blocks or total sessions that make up the didactic unit must also be placed..
In addition, you can specify to whom the project is directed, the duration of each of the blocks and the date on which the sessions will be taught, as well as an approximate date of the completion of the unit.
In this section of the unit, the main objectives of the knowledge to be imparted are placed. These objectives are commonly divided into 'general' or 'specific' and can be between six or ten, ensuring the entire teaching unit.
It should be noted that the objectives must be expressed in capacity clauses, taking into account the specific needs and abilities of the group of students in question..
The contents are intended to address the knowledge or discipline that you want to teach in classrooms or other academic environments.
In general, the contents are linked to the procedures and concepts together with the aptitudes or capacities that are desired to be developed in the students..
To maintain order and cohesion, these contents must be extracted from the objectives that were raised previously. In this way, coherence is guaranteed during the learning and teaching process..
In addition, this section should also explain the procedures that both the students and the teacher must follow. The purpose of this is to ensure the learning and acquisition of knowledge and skills.
In this part of the structure of the didactic unit, the succession, sequence or chain of the learning process must be established. For example, this section shows how the activities to be carried out are related to each other; it can also be explained why one activity should succeed the other.
Again, in the sequence of activities, the duration of the blocks or sessions is established along with the number of students to whom these sessions are directed..
Likewise, all the instruments and procedures that are required to carry out the activities must be reflected. To carry this out, the gestation of a possible curricular adaptation must be taken into account (in case some kind of improvisation arises).
In the methodology, the teacher or instructor must explain how the contents will be taught and what the procedures will be.
In turn, this section will also have to stipulate the organization of time and space that the development of the didactic unit requires, taking into account both particular and general aspects.
In this element of the didactic unit it should be indicated in detail what are the resources and materials necessary to be able to develop the didactic unit. Not just a block or session of the project, but the whole.
This is to encourage activities to take place on a regular basis, avoiding setbacks or difficulties when starting the learning process.
In the evaluation of the didactic unit, the indicators and evaluation and assessment criteria must be placed, whose objective is to know and record the level of learning of the students.
In this section the teacher has the freedom to choose any type of evaluative activity; These activities can be final projects, exams, debates or open questions, among others.
The purpose of these activities is to allow teachers to assess student learning progress. In this way, conclusions can be drawn about whether the methods used were successful or not..
Currently there are many ways to carry out a teaching unit. One of the most used methods is to select a main topic, from which all other aspects or precepts will derive.
This means that the teacher must start from a premise or main knowledge that will be subdivided into different areas or blocks..
For example, the main topic of a teaching unit for a group of primary school children may be “animals”; other factors or blocks such as "mammals", "oviparous", "herbivores", "carnivores", "vertebrates" and "invertebrates", among others, derive from this theme..
After having selected the main topic, the teacher must bear in mind that every teaching unit must be flexible. The reason is that it adapts to the students and also to the way of working of the educational institution.
Subsequently, the educator must establish to which group of students the knowledge he wishes to teach is directed; must be certain about the school year and the ages of each of the students.
This step is very important, since the academic information is notably influenced by the age ranges of the students..
After having established the ages of their students, the teacher must establish the objectives of their didactic unit; these can be separated into major and minor.
For example, the main objective of teaching the topic “animals” may be “to educate students about the importance of fauna for the ecosystem”. On the other hand, a secondary objective may be "to know how to distinguish the different categories of animals that exist on planet Earth".
All teachers must establish the materials and tools that students will need when approaching the main subject or knowledge. For this, the teacher can use all kinds of audiovisual or written support.
For example, to instruct a group of primary school children on the topic "animals", a visual material must necessarily be used that allows students to distinguish the different types of animals that exist in the ecosystem..
To achieve this, the teacher can use children's books with pictures or electronic slides that can be displayed on a video projector or video beam..
After having determined and listed the materials that will be used during the learning process, teachers have to make a schedule. This serves to determine the activities and evaluations that will be carried out during the academic period..
In turn, the activities must be scheduled for a specific date, as this facilitates successful academic preparation. In addition, it is important to add that these activities must be attractive and pedagogical in order to motivate students to learn..
Regarding evaluations, there are two modalities used by teachers: continuous evaluation and final evaluation.
- Continuous assessment is responsible for recording the entire educational process.
- The final evaluation consists of the application of a final test to verify that the knowledge was successfully imparted during the stipulated period.
Although they follow a very specific and organized structure, the didactic units can have their variations depending on the group of students to whom the information is directed. Here are some examples of teaching units:
A didactic unit for teachers in charge of the first educational levels can be "the zoo", whose theme is recommended to be applied in children of four years.
The objective of this unit is for students to identify the different species of animals found in zoos.
An example of a didactic unit theme that is used in elementary school children can be "solving quantity problems", whose objective is to develop the numerical and operational skills of the students.
For this unit, teachers can carry out pedagogical activities and evaluations such as counting the books in the library or organizing the objects found in the classroom through a numerical classification..
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