Productive disciplinary engagement according to students’ school levels: a comparative study in gymnastics

The research that we propose in this article is placed within a didactic framework for the analysis of ordinary classroom practices. It seeks to understand and then compare the modalities for productive disciplinary engagement of students in the teaching-learning process in two different institutions in the course of physical education lessons in Tunisia. To this effect, we rely on two theoretical frameworks, namely that of didactic joint action and that of productive disciplinary engagement. Data is derived from ethnographic observations and video recordings, coupled with interviews with two female teachers. The study uses a micro-didactic analysis describing the action of students at significant episodes of their task transformation behavior in the teaching of gymnastics. We show how ruptures in the didactic contract contribute knowledge progression and enable students to contribute to the didactic process in situ. The results characterize the mesogenetic conditions in which contrasted students (strong and weak ones) teach themselves and set into relief some generic patterns likely to enroll students in a productive disciplinary engagement.