The dynamics of a students’ groupwork in the Physics classes, their relationship to the knowledge, and the teacher’s interventions

Abstract

We present the learning-teaching process case of a group of High School students and emphasize their relation with physics subject-matter, the interventions of the teacher (presential and institutional) and the difficult situations faced by them within the group. We used Pichon-Rivière’s theory of operative groups to analyze this data. In this theory, some important elements are: the task of the group, the bond and the roles the members play. We made a diachronical analysis of the group, raising the hypothesis of the dependence from the teacher, and we made a synchronical analysis from one class to reveal some details of the group process. We concluded that the members’ dependence was related to “not knowing Physics” whose teacher was the one who could solve their problems. Lastly, we discuss teacher’s intervention function in a students’groupwork during physics classes.