ABSTRACT. This paper outlines some theoretical categories (i.e. the meso-, topo-, chronogeneses, the "milieu", the didactical contract and the learning games), providing a model to study mathematics teacher's action. In order to show what this model brings to the didactical analysis, we present the action of two teachers, on the same content, and we attempt a threefold description, covering different scales of analyses of the teaching processes. To amplify the phenomena that are to be observed, we suggested the teachers include the "Race to 20" situation in their teaching. We expect that implementing an unusual teaching device should lead the teachers to take decisions and explain them more easily than in everyday lessons.

ABSTRACT. This paper outlines some theoretical categories (i.e. the meso-, topo-, chronogeneses, the "milieu", the didactical contract and the learning games), providing a model to study mathematics teacher's action. In order to show what this model brings to the didactical analysis, we present the action of two teachers, on the same content, and we attempt a threefold description, covering different scales of analyses of the teaching processes. To amplify the phenomena that are to be observed, we suggested the teachers include the "Race to 20" situation in their teaching. We expect that implementing an unusual teaching device should lead the teachers to take decisions and explain them more easily than in everyday lessons.

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One strand of comparative didactics aims at discussing the relationships between the theoretical constructions developed within subject didactics and how these can contribute to research about teaching and learning. This article explores the relationships between categories for analysing joint actions of teacher and students (didactic contract, milieu, mesogenesis, topogenesis, chronogenesis) and categories used in the pragmatist approach of classroom discourse analysis (practical epistemology and epistemological moves). We combine both frameworks to feature different types of breaches in the didactic contract and the building of continuity in teaching and learning actions for dealing with these breaches. Analyses are carried out through examples of classroom events in science education and physical education. We argue that these frameworks, when elaborated on and compared, enable us to characterise both generic and specific dimensions of teaching and learning in different subjects.

This special issue of the European Educational Research Journal presents a series of research papers reflecting the trends and evolutions in conceptual frameworks that took place within the EERA 27 ‘Didactics – Learning and Teaching’ network during its first ten years of existence. Most conceptual tools used in this field were elaborated in different socio-historical contexts for education and schooling delineated by nations and/or linguistic regions in Europe. This issue suggests possible integrative paths between certain frameworks debated in the Network 27 through co-authored papers. Crossed perspectives on the papers highlight certain important foci in the study of learning and teaching processes: (i) ‘Bildung’ discussed within didactics as a European research field; (ii) Educational goals, content and teaching methods expressed in curricula; (iii) Curriculum making processes; (iv) Teaching qualities, teaching (joint) actions and classroom discourses; and (v) Collaborative practices in teacher professional development. Finally, two strands of comparative research in didactics are sketched for increasing synergies in the field.