Abstract
The “knowledge operation” is the mental activities through which learners transform their knowledge representation for problem solving. The purpose of this study was to analyze the communication processes between teachers and learners in science classes of the elementary school from the point of view of knowledge operation. The analyses focused on vicarious knowledge operation; a type of knowledge operation that teachers performed partially on behalf of learners. The results were as follows: (1) few learners voluntarily performed the knowledge operation that was desirable in their learning; (2) the use of vicarious knowledge operation in the form of question was effective in promoting the understanding of the learners; (3) the importance of the vicarious knowledge operation was not necessarily self-evident for the teachers. These results suggested that the vicarious knowledge operation had compensatory effects for the learners, and that the performance of the vicarious knowledge operation greatly depended on the teachers’ interpretation of teaching materials.
