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Effective school leaders significantly influence the performance of their schools. Unfortunately, in many countries worldwide attracting qualified candidates to become school principals is becoming increasingly difficult. This paper reports on several comparative studies that were carried out within the framework of a long-term research cooperation between a German and an US-American University. The aim of these studies was to clarify the motivation of teachers in deciding for or against taking over a position as a principal. For a better understanding of the background, the article also includes a section on the similarities and differences between the school systems of Germany and the USA and the responsibilities of principals.
This paper tries to answer the question whether the promising Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teaching method also has positive effects on the pragmatic competences of CLIL students compared to their peers in mainstream English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. To avoid deviances caused by other factors external to the teaching method, only students who have a similar language background were selected for the study by means of a questionnaire. Data on the articulations of requests, thanks, complaints, apologies, invitations, refusals and advice was collected during videotaped English role plays and role enactments. After the role plays/role enactments, students were interviewed about their performance and were given German Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs) to allow a comparison between respective articulations in their L1 and L2. Furthermore, teachers were questioned about the speech acts they used in CLIL and EFL classes and their judgements about the students’ possible activities.
Der Beitrag thematisiert die Diskothekenanfänge der DDR vom Ende der 60er Jahre bis 1973. Er zeigt die Schwierigkeiten, Provisorien und zunehmende breite gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz dieser Unterhaltungsform. Mit der steigenden Akzeptanz sahen die kulturpolitische Entscheidungsträger wachsenden Handlungsbedarf, so dass die anfänglich relativ freie Entwicklung in die bestehenden Vorstellungen und Strukturen eingegliedert eingepasst und gelenkt wurde. Das wird im Folgenden anhand der Praxis der Eignungsgespräche, des konstruierten Zusammenhangs von Diskothek und FDJ und institutionellen Auswüchsen deutlich gemacht. Als problematisch stellen sich die örtlichen und technischen Disko-Provisorien dar, da weder die staattliche Unterhaltungstechnik noch die bestehenden Räumlichkeiten mit der Entwicklung Schritt halten konnten. Zur weiteren Veranschaulichung werden in einer kursorischen Rundreise die Anfänge der Diskothek in der DDR in fünf größeren Städten rekonstruiert.
In Germany, secondary school students differ greatly in their science achievement, a dispersion that is far above the OECD average (Schiepe-Tiska, Rönnebeck, & Neumann, 2019). Immigrant students tend to be at the lower end of the scale in Germany – on average, they achieve substantially less well in science than non-immigrant students (OECD, 2016d), which is partially due to the German school system (Zoido, 2013). These differences in achievement translate into underrepresentation of immigrants in science-related jobs in Germany (OECD, 2008). Achievement and career choices are closely intertwined with academic self-concept (for an overview see Marsh & Craven, 2006). Regarding science self-concept, the pattern that immigrant students tend to score lower is present in many countries (e.g. Riegle-Crumb, Moore, & Ramos-Wada, 2011).
The goal of the present research project was to investigate these inequalities between immigrant and non-immigrant secondary school students. This was done focusing on secondary school students’ chemistry self-concepts. Chemistry self-concepts were focused on because achievement in chemistry is an important factor for careers in natural sciences (Cohen & Kelly, 2019). Research on chemistry self-concept has concentrated on young adults (e.g. Bauer, 2005; Xu & Lewis, 2011) and so little is known about secondary school students. Besides the impact of students’ migration background, the research project analyses the role that gender plays because gender has important effects on science self-concepts (e.g. Jurik, Gröschner, & Seidel, 2013; Riegle-Crumb et al., 2011; Wan & Lee, 2017).
A big challenge in this context was that the prevailing methods in academic self-concept research are prone to yield biased data (Byrne, 2002; Byrne et al., 2009). Although this was pointed out more than 15 years ago, the problem persists in science self-concept research. The present research project addresses this issue and presents a new mixed methods approach to culture-sensitive academic self-concept research. The term ‘culture’ is used in the sense of migration background, a concept that categorizes people’s migration histories in Germany. A combination of qualitative interview data and quantitative data permit an investigation of certain types of bias defined by Byrne and colleagues (2009). The pilot study operated with a chemistry self-concept questionnaire (N=116) and qualitative interviews (N=43). The main study was based on an extended questionnaire comprising several other scales (N=585) and deeper qualitative interviews (N=48).
The hypotheses based on the literature were that in Germany, (h1) immigrant students would show more negative chemistry self-concepts than non-immigrant students. (h2) Female students would show more negative chemistry self-concepts than male students. The third hypothesis (h3) was that the home environment has an important impact on students’ chemistry self-concepts. The first two hypotheses (h1 and h2) were not confirmed. Gender and migration background did not show a significant effect on students’ chemistry self-concepts. Instead, gender relations differ depending on the students’ migration background. Among students without a migration background, boys tend to have stronger chemistry self-concepts than girls. In contrast, among students with a Turkish migration background, girls tend to have stronger chemistry self-concepts. Existing science self-concept literature did not explain this.
Literature on gender relations in science in Turkey suggests that this interaction effect could be due to a more gender-neutral conception of science in Turkey. Slightly more women than men work in science in Turkey (OECD, 2009a) and girls achieve substantially better (Batyra, 2017a, 2017b). According to the third hypothesis (h3), the gender conceptions in Turkey could potentially be transmitted to students with a Turkish migration background in the home environment, through their parents or other people.
Science education literature did not provide a satisfying model for conceptualizing the influence of the home environment on students in the field of chemistry that would allow investigating the third hypothesis (h3). Therefore, the concept of chemistry capital was introduced based on the analysis of the interviews in the main study. Chemistry capital was developed based on the concept of science capital by Archer and colleagues (2015). Chemistry capital conceptualizes the resources a person possesses that have value in the field of chemistry. This encompasses social networks (e.g. knowing a chemist) as well as emotional and cognitive resources (e.g. attitudes towards chemistry and chemistry knowledge), and the engagement in chemistry-related activities. In particular, the concept allows analyzing the transmission processes of chemistry from the home environment to the individual student.
The qualitative analyses in the main study showed that the chemistry capital home environment influences the students in the field of chemistry in multiple ways. This supports hypothesis 3 (h3). Further, the data suggest that structural inequalities in the German school system might foster differences in chemistry. Students who already possess little chemistry capital in their home environments are in addition found more often at the type of school (Hauptschule) in which the proportion of chemistry teachers who do not hold a university degree in chemistry is the highest, depriving these students of another possible source of chemistry capital. Vice versa, students who already possess a lot of chemistry capital in their home environments more often attend school types (Gymnasium, Realschule) where also more formally qualified chemistry teachers are available, thus potentially widening the gap.
The mixed methods analysis in the main study suggested that a simple linear relationship between student chemistry self-concept and chemistry capital in the home environment does not exist. A study based on quantitative (or mixed methods) analyses of data of a larger sample on chemistry capital in the home environment and students’ chemistry self-concepts could provide further insights. It is not yet clear if the third hypothesis (h3) is true.
To sum up, the present research project thus advances the field of chemistry education in three regards: (i) it provides an approach to culture-sensitive academic self-concept. This approach proved to increase both the validity and the explanatory power of chemistry self-concept research. It is not chemistry-specific and can, thus, be used in other areas of research as well. (ii) The research discovered an interaction effect of gender and migration background on chemistry self-concept that was unknown in science education literature. (iii) It introduces and defines the concept of chemistry capital which permits to analyze chemistry education from a sociocultural perspective. Employing the concept of chemistry capital helps to shift the focus from the individual student to the resources a student possesses in the sociocultural context that help him or her succeed in the field of chemistry. This allows uncovering social inequalities in the field that need to be addressed in educational policy. Moreover, it can inspire intervention studies and application-focused research (e.g. approaches to culture-sensitive chemistry teaching).
Fragestellungen zur Konzeptualisierung und Messung professionsbezogener Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften stellen ein hochaktuelles Thema in der mathematikdidaktischen Forschung dar (z.B. Kunter et al., 2013; Kaiser et al., 2015). Trotz unterschiedlicher Ansätze in diesem Bereich besteht weitgehend Konsens darüber, dass Kompetenzen die persönlichen Voraussetzungen zur erfolgreichen Bewältigung berufsspezifischer situationaler Anforderungen beschreiben (Baumert & Kunter, 2013) und prinzipiell erlernbar und vermittelbar sind (Weinert, 2001b). Es gibt jedoch keine „Kompetenz“ per se, da die Beschreibung einer solchen stets einen relevanten berufsspezifischen Kontext voraussetzt (Hartig, 2008). Der Ausgangspunkt zur Beschreibung und Definition einer professionsbezogenen Kompetenz für Lehrkräfte sind folglich die beruflichen Anforderungen, die Lehrkräfte erfüllen müssen, um in Interaktion mit den Schülerinnen und Schülern die Lerngelegenheiten bereitzustellen, die verständnisvolle Lernprozesse ermöglichen (Lindmeier, 2011; Koeppen et al., 2008; Baumert & Kunter, 2013). Für Mathematiklehrkräfte wurde der Umgang mit vielfältigen Darstellungen als eine solche zentrale Anforderung beschrieben (Hill, Schilling & Ball, 2004; Ball, Thames & Phelps, 2008). Zahlreiche Studien weisen darauf hin, dass hierbei die Wechsel zwischen unterschiedlichen Darstellungsformen komplexe kognitive Prozesse erfordern und oftmals für viele Schülerinnen und Schüler zu einer Lernhürde werden (z.B. Ainsworth, Bibby & Wood, 1998; Duval, 2006; Ainsworth, 2006). Lehrkräfte benötigen daher spezifisches Wissen in diesem Bereich, um die Lernenden bei Darstellungswechseln unterstützen zu können (Duval, 2006; Mitchell, Charalambous & Hill, 2014; Dreher & Kuntze, 2015a, b). Lehrkräfte müssen jedoch auch in der Lage sein, Unterrichtssituationen zum Umgang mit Darstellungen zu analysieren, also Beobachtungen in Unterrichtsituationen mit diesem Wissen zu verknüpfen, um potentiell schwierige Darstellungswechsel erkennen zu können (Friesen, Dreher & Kuntze, 2015; Friesen & Kuntze, 2016). Es besteht weitgehend Konsens darüber, dass diese Analyse von Unterrichtssituationen eine wesentliche Voraussetzung dafür darstellt, dass Lehrkräfte überhaupt passende Lernangebote und Hilfestellungen zur Verfügung stellen können (z.B. Sherin, Jacobs & Philipps, 2011; Schoenfeld, 2011; Santagata & Yeh, 2016). Dennoch bleibt in aktuellen Konzeptualisierungen professionsbezogener Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften das Analysieren von Unterrichtssituationen im Hinblick auf potentiell hinderliche Darstellungswechsel weitgehend unberücksichtigt (z.B. Baumert & Kunter, 2013; Kaiser et al., 2015). Im Rahmen dieser Studie wird daher ein solches fachdidaktisches Analysieren von Unterrichtssituationen als wichtige professionsbezogene Kompetenz von Mathematiklehrkräften beschrieben. Da es bislang kaum empirische Studien gibt, in denen eine solche Kompetenz untersucht wurde, soll somit auch ein Beitrag zur Messung fachdidaktischer Analysekompetenz geleistet werden.
Um Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften unterrichtsnah zu erfassen, gelten vignettenbasierte Erhebungen als besonders geeignet (Kaiser et al., 2015; Blömeke, Gustafs-son & Shavelson, 2015). Entsprechend wurde im Rahmen dieser Studie ein vignettenbasiertes Testinstrument mit sechs Unterrichtssituationen aus dem Bereich Bruchrechnung (Klasse 6) entwickelt, in welchen der Umgang mit Darstellungswechseln eine zentrale Rolle spielt. Bislang gibt es wenige Untersuchungen dazu, welche Rolle unterschiedliche Vignettenformate für die Auseinandersetzung mit Unterrichtsvignetten (z.B. für die wahrgenommene Authentizität) und die Analyse zum Umgang mit vielfältigen Darstellungen spielt, dasselbe gilt für unterschiedliche Frageformate. Da die spezifischen Eigenschaften unterschiedlicher Vignet-tenformate und Frageformate bei der Kompetenzmessung jedoch durchaus eine Auswirkung auf die Schwierigkeit der Items haben können (Hartig, 2008), sind Untersuchungen hierzu im Rahmen dieser Studie von besonderem Interesse. Um dem beschriebenen Forschungsinteresse nachzugehen, wurde jede der sechs Un-terrichtssituationen im Testinstrument in drei Formaten (Text, Comic, Video) umgesetzt und offene sowie geschlossene Frageformate zur Analyse des Umgangs mit Darstellungen in den Unterrichtssituationen vorgelegt. Das beschriebene Testinstrument bearbeiteten N = 298 Lehramtsstudierende, Lehramtsanwärterinnen und Lehramtsanwärter sowie praktizierende Lehrkräfte. Die erhaltenen Daten wurden mit Raschmodellen analysiert, um die Qualität der vorgenommenen Kompetenzmessung zu prüfen (Bond & Fox, 2015).
Die Ergebnisse belegen eine gute Auseinandersetzung der Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer mit den Vignetten in allen drei Formaten (Text, Comic, Video), wodurch eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die Analyse der vorgelegten Unterrichtssituation gegeben war. Es zeigte sich, dass fachdidaktische Analysekompetenz zum Umgang mit Darstellungen unabhängig von den eingesetzten Vignetten-formaten (Text, Comic, Video) als eindimensionales Konstrukt modelliert werden kann. Während die drei unterschiedlichen Vignettenformate keinen systemati-schen Einfluss auf die Analyse der Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer zum Umgang mit Darstellungen zeigten, wurde nachgewiesen, dass die Items aus den geschlossenen Formaten systematisch leichter zu beantworten waren. Die Analyseergebnisse der Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer lassen auf eine eher niedrige Ausprägung fachdidaktischer Analysekompetenz zum Umgang mit vielfältigen Darstellungen schließen, da potentiell problematische Darstellungswechsel in den Unterrichts-vignetten häufig nicht erkannt wurden. Insgesamt konnte festgestellt werden, dass die drei Vignettenformate Text, Comic und Video vergleichbar zur Erhebung fachdidaktischer Analysekompetenz zum Umgang mit vielfältigen Darstellungen geeignet sind.
In the last three decades many research studies focused on the topic of multiple representations and their role for learning mathematics. As a result, there is a broad consensus in the scientific community that dealing with multiple representations in the mathematics classroom is a highly relevant matter. However, research addressing the role of the teachers in this context is still scarce. Consequently, this dissertation study raises the question of how much teachers know about and acknowledge this key role of multiple representations for the mathematics classroom. To this end, not only different aspects of teachers' specific professional knowledge and their views were investigated, but also their noticing of changes of representations in instances of student-teacher interaction, which can be seen as a theme-specific noticing. Using a multi-layer model of professional knowledge, this study addresses in particular questions of how such specific aspects of professional knowledge are interrelated and what components of knowledge and views play a role for the teachers' theme-specific noticing.
These research interests were addressed in the scope of three substudies, each of them including two different subsamples (English pre-service teachers/German pre-service teachers, pre-service teachers/in-service teachers, respectively in-service teachers at academic track secondary schools/in-service teachers at secondary schools for lower attaining students), in order to explore the possible roles of cultural background, teaching experience, and school types.
The different aspects of specific professional knowledge and views were assessed by means of a questionnaire instrument. For eliciting the teachers' theme-specific noticing, vignette-based questions were implemented. The data was analyzed mainly by quantitative methods, was however complemented by a qualitative in-depth analysis focusing on how the teachers' theme-specific noticing was informed by different components of their professional knowledge.
The results of this study suggest that the participants did not fully understand the key role of multiple representations for learning mathematics in the sense of their discipline-specific signicance and thus indicate specific needs for teacher education and professional development. Differences between the subsamples of teachers became apparent especially regarding the teachers' more situated professional knowledge and their noticing with respect to dealing with multiple representations. Furthermore, the findings of this study underpin the assumption that within the spectrum between teachers' situated and global professional knowledge and views regarding dealing with multiple representations, different components may be distinguished and suggest that in particular all of these components may play a role for teachers' theme-specific noticing.
This thesis presents the results of a series of studies (on syllogisms, on the interpretation of mathematical statements and on probabilistic thinking) conducted with the idea that different, legitimate kinds of reasoning are used by humans in a contextual way, and that therefore no single logic (e.g., classical logic) can be expected to account for this diversity.
The crucial role of interpretation is highlighted, showing how intensional and extensional reasoning may be mobilized according to it. In particular, in communication settings, this depends on our adoption of a cooperative, credulous disposition, or on the contrary, of an adversarial, sceptical one.
In reasoning about mathematics in an educational setting, students (and teachers) may be enrolled in a back and forth between believing, doubting, making sense, giving arguments and proving. These changes in dispositions imply changes in the logics used. All the studies presented show, in different ways, evidence for cooperative, intensional reasoning and, in some cases, the possibility of a shift towards the acquisition of an extensional view. This suggest that if we expect as educators the adoption of specific norms and the development of reasoning skills from students, we need first to know well what the point of departure is where they are, and that it is often not at all “irrational”.