Didactics plays a fundamental role in teacher training. According to previous studies by Libâneo (2010), Longarezi and Puentes (2010) and Sguarezzi (2010), Didactics is experiencing a decline in its theoretical and scientific field.

The general objective of this study is to analyze the state of research and intellectual production in the area of Didactics, from 2004 to 2010, in three Postgraduate Programs in Education in the southern region of Brazil. We opted for a quantitative-qualitative approach and used the multiple case study methodology.

We carried out an interpretative analysis of the CAPES forms used to evaluate the three programs and the Lattes CVs of their professors. We used the programs' websites as a source of research and collected information on the research projects the professors are involved in and their intellectual output from their Lattes.

We built a database for the project, at a national level, with the name of each program, their lines of research in Didactics, their projects, the professors responsible and their publications. .