This paper will present some of the results from my Doctoral thesis ”Mimesis, Didaktik and digital media” (Willbergh, 2008). The thesis shows how there are strong similarities between poetics and teaching (Aristotle et al., 1995) (Ricoeur, 1984): Both forms of communication strive to create certain imaginings in the receiver, using concrete expressions, like speech, writing, images, objects and other media. Both forms of communication are mimetic. By asking, “How can digital media contribute to the pupil’s Bildung in teaching?” the thesis establishes new set of concepts on digital media in teaching usable to optimise ICT-based instruction and learning. The mimetic perspective shows the need for a general didactic perspective that takes both the teacher, the pupils and the content into consideration: When media are used by the teacher to represent or illustrate content in the classroom, they are not teaching methods neutral to meaning, they have great influence on how meaning is created in teaching. By their appeal to the senses they create imaginings of time and space, that the pupils are exposed to. In the tradition from the media esthetics of Marshall McLuhan, the medium is the message (McLuhan, 2001). Teaching with digital media, the teacher must reflect on what content they are suitable for and how they can be used in the classroom without the pupils loosing track of the teaching that goes on. In this paper I will concentrate on one of the findings in my thesis, namely the challenges for the teacher posed by the digital screen inviting the pupils to enter a fictional space, often competing with the teachers teaching. This challenge can be met by a reflective teacher being conscious to stage the screen in the classroom, preventing the dissolution of the physical classroom space needed for teaching in a meaningful way. Because from a general didactic perspective meaning is created here and now by the teacher and the pupils together (Klafki, 2000). Central concepts used to describe this finding is Anschauung in teaching (in English meaning that insight comes from seeing something), mimesis (imitation or representation) and the concept of depiction (iconic representation) from make-believe-theory (Walton, 1990).

The method of the thesis is hermeneutic discussion and comparison of the meaning of concepts, theories and texts. It’s sources are philosophic texts on the concept of mimesis, Didaktik theory (German Allgemeine Didaktik) and relevant concepts on digital media. The theoretical basis of mimetic Didaktik is the Aristotelian-Ricoeurian concept of mimesis, Didaktik Analysis by Wolfgang Klafki (Klafki, 2000) and media esthetics in the tradition of Marshall McLuhan (McLuhan, 2001).

The conclusion of the thesis is formulated as follows: Digital media can contribute to the pupil’s Bildung in teaching, if the teacher in her showing or telling: 1. takes digital media’s esthetics and appeal to the senses seriously, and 2. is able to restrain or frame what is told or shown (Hopmann, 2007). The challenges of the digital screen presented in this paper illustrates both these points: The teachers staging of the screen in the classroom implies knowledge of its appeal to the senses, and knowledge of how to restrain its invitation to the pupils to enter a fictional space competing with their attention to teaching content.