ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a novel approach – Methodology 3A – for analysing and improving classroom teaching and learning (TL). We described a theoretical background for this approach and argued for its research-based, case-based, and content-focused character. The procedure within Methodology 3A consists of three steps: annotation, analysis, and alteration. Annotation is a brief summary of the TL situation and its context, analysis refers to didactic reconstruction of the situation, and alteration is a thought experiment in which an alternative course of action is proposed and discussed. We show how Methodology 3A can serve as a support when analysing content transformation as an interplay between (i) disciplinary content, (ii) the content of students' experience, and (iii) the (trans)disciplinary aims. We argue that the integrity between these three levels is a decisive aspect of the quality of TL. By the end of this chapter, we illustrate how to create didactic case studies to reveal prototypical failures (didactic formalisms) that threaten to compromise the quality of learning and prototypical virtues (didactic excellence) that verifiably support students' learning.
