Didactic triad: characteristics and components of this educational model.

A pedagogical model represented by a triangle formed by: teacher, learner and knowledge.

There are different pedagogical and psychological models that try to explain how teaching is transmitted and how learning occurs. The didactic triad is a pedagogical model which has its roots at the end of the 19th century, and which focuses on three components: the learner, the teacher and knowledge.

In this article we will analyze the characteristics of the model also known as the pedagogical triangle, its components, and the relationships (called "processes") that occur among them. Finally, we will mention the criticisms that the didactic triad has raised.

How do we learn?

It is said that we learn every day of our lives. Learning implies acquiring knowledge and skills; it also allows us to modify previous beliefs and to be enriched by the stimuli of the environment. As we have mentioned there are different orientations or models to explain how we learn.

Models of learning

Classical or traditional models models allude to passive processes, where the student received the information to be learned and reproduced it in the corresponding exam (in fact, the (in fact, the current evaluation model in the educational system is based on this method).

However, later on, other models emerged: behaviorist models, for example, which are based on the assertion that knowledge is managed or "controlled" by the teacher, who offers it to the students themselves, but forgetting the more cognitive or emotional variables.

Later on, the following emerged cognitivist models, which focused their attention on how the learner processes information when learning, giving a central role to cognitive abilities (attention, memory, perception,...).The cognitive models, giving a central role to cognitive abilities (attention, memory, perception,...).

On the other hand, we find the progressive models, which focus on the learner himself as an active agent in explaining the teaching-learning processes.

Finally, we have the model of the didactic triad, which presents characteristics of all models, and which implies an integrative approach, but more of a constructivist type. This orientation defends that the learner constructs his or her own knowledge while maintaining an active role in the teaching-learning process.. Let's see the most important characteristics of the model.

Didactic triad: characteristics

The didactical triad is a pedagogical model proposed by Jean Houssaye, a French teacher, in 1986.. It was in that year when he presented his thesis, which alluded to the relationship between three components in every pedagogical or educational act. These three components are: the teacher (or professor), the student and the knowledge.

Houssaye's thesis was the starting point to begin to develop this psycho-pedagogical model, although in fact it was years before, in the mid-nineteenth century (1850), when the first ideas of this theory began to appear.

The didactic triad moves away from behaviorist models that focus on the role of the teacher as "controller" of knowledge.. This model aims to explain the teaching-learning processes based on bidirectional relationships between three elements that influence each other: the teacher, the learner and the knowledge.

Components of the pedagogical triangle

As we have seen, the components that form the didactic triad are: the teacher, the student and the knowledge.. According to this model, these three elements are essential for learning to take place, i.e., any pedagogical act that implies that someone teaches something to someone else (in this case, teacher and student).

1. Teacher

The first component of the didactic triad, the teacher or professor, is the person who conveys knowledge to the learner through a series of educational strategies. He is the reference figure for the student in terms of his growth at a cognitive and educational level, since he will allow him to assimilate and understand new concepts, which will enrich his culture and his person.

2. Student

Within the didactic triad, the learner is the one who "receives" the knowledge; but it is not a passive reception, but rather it consists in the fact that the student himself plays an active role in the learning process.The learner learns, giving meaning to what he/she internalizes.

In other words, the student learns, acquiring knowledge that he/she did not previously have, but in order to do so, he/she must be motivated and open to knowledge. but in order to do so, the student must be motivated and open to knowledge.. This is the active agent of the triad.

3. Knowledge

Knowledge is the material to be learned. It is not a physically tangible material, but a set of information, data, experiences, theories and ideas. a set of information, data, experiences, theories and ideas that the teacher will that the teacher will transmit to the student, making him/her participate in it so that he/she finally apprehends it (to apprehend goes a little beyond learning, and implies to assimilate, to understand something).

Relationships or processes

Between the components of the didactic triad, there are bidirectional relationships. These relationships are called processes, and three of them occur simultaneouslyThe processes of learning: between teacher and knowledge (teaching), between teacher and learner (training/practice) and between learner and knowledge (learning).

Let us analyze each of these processes:

1. Teaching

In the didactic triad, teaching is the process that arises as a consequence of the relationship between the teacher and knowledge.. These two components are fundamental for teaching to occur; thus, the teacher imparts knowledge to teach the learner.

2. Training

Also called practice, it is the relationship that takes place between the teacher and the learner.. Depending on how this relationship is, learning will be more or less easy.

If the relationship is favorable and fluid, communication will be easier and the training, that is, the process that originates between these two components will be more positive, making it easier for the student to take advantage of the teaching situation.

3. Learning

The third relationship of the didactic triad is between the student and the knowledge. That is, it has to do with how the learner interacts with the knowledge imparted by the teacher, how he/she manipulates that information, how he/she uses it, how he/she takes advantage of it. how he/she manipulates that information, how he/she takes advantage of it, etc.etc.

If the relationship is profitable, the student will end up learning, that is to say, the learning will take place, and the pedagogical act will have been successful, since it will have fulfilled its purpose.

Criticisms of the model

Although the didactic triad offers a very complete explanation to illustrate the teaching-learning processes, like any model or theory, it has also attracted some criticism..

Those who are not so much in favor of the didactic triad as an explanatory model of this type of processes allude to three arguments:

1. Context

This model neglects the context in which learning takes place. Critics of the didactic triad argue that context is also a fundamental part of understanding how one person learns, and/or how another teaches, transmitting knowledge.

2. Knowledge as something tangible

Critics also argue that knowledge is not really something tangible, physical or "touchable" (as the didactic triad advocates). That is to say, it is not something that can be "acquired" and it is not something that affects the other components of the learning process, unlike what the didactic triad claims.Unlike what the triad model affirms.

3. Teacher independence and knowledge

Another criticism made by the detractors of the model is that they consider that the teacher and knowledge are not really independent components, and that it cannot be asserted that the teacher and knowledge are independent.and that this cannot be affirmed, as the model claims.

Bibliographical references:

• Coll, C.; Palacios, J.; Marchesi, A. (2003). Psychological development and education. 2. Psicología de la educación escolar. Alianza: Madrid.
• Román, C.F. and Naranjo, M.P. (2015). The didactic triad in a constructivist education model. Writings in the Faculty: Pedagogical Reflection, 109: 56-57.
• Sampascual, G. (2007). Psicología de la Educación. 2 Volumes. UNED: Madrid.
• Uljens, M. (1997). School Didactics And Learning. East Sussex: Psychology Press.