Completed Projects

Project GanzIn Phase I

Project Bilwiss-Beruf

Project Bilwiss

ANAC Mathe-Projekt

Project Visualisation

Self-Regulated Visualisation of Content as a Learning Strategy in Science Instruction

Applicants for grant: Prof. Dr. Detlev Leutner, Prof. Dr. Elke Sumfleth
Assistant in Project: Claudia Leopold
Project periode: 10/2004 bis 09/2007

The aim of this project is to describe and explain the effects of "interpretive" visualisation (Carney & Levin, 2002) by students reading scientific texts, the condition being that the visualisation is not presented in stimuli, but generated by the readers themselves. Visualisation is a reading/learning strategy in which spatial information about objects or circumstances that is linguistically coded in a text - e.g., the relative positions of individual items - is converted to an image, or visualised. Experiments will be performed to examine whether, and to what extent, the learning efficacy of interpretive visualisations generated by learners can be explained - as in learning with multimedia (Mayer, 2001) - by the integrated processing and storage of linguistic and visual information and the additional role that may be played by other cognitive and/or metacognitive processes. The conditions under which these kinds of visualisation strategies are most effective, and the characteristics of the learners who benefit most from them, will also be explored. The results of these investigations will be used in later phases of the Research Unit to devise and evaluate a training programme promoting visualisation strategies.

(Continuation) Visualization of science text contents

Applicants for grant: Prof. Dr. Detlev Leutner, Prof. Dr. Elke Sumfleth
Assistant in Project: Dr. Hubertina Thillmann, Claudia Leopold, Annett Schwamborn
Project periode: 10.2007 - 09.2010

The purpose of the visualization project is aimed at developing a theoretical basis for a computer-based visualization tool for fostering learning processes in science text comprehension. The visualization tool helps students to construct external visual representations of text paragraphs. The main advantage of such a tool is that it provides specific support during the visualization process and thus reduces time and effort while constructing external representations.

 

Project Learning Processes

Diagnosing and Promoting Learning and Problem-Solving Processes in Science Instruction

Applicants for grant: Prof. Dr. Detlev Leutner, Prof. Dr. Hans E. Fischer
Assistants in Project: Josef Künsting, Dr. Joachim Wirth
Project periode: 02/2004 bis 01/2007

In this project, the regulation of learning processes in which declarative and procedural scientific knowledge is applied to acquire new knowledge about a specific content domain is investigated using a process measure assessed by a computer-based method. Latent growth modelling will be used to model the effects that different goal types and metacognitive pointers given to the learner have on the regulation of the learning process and on the scope and quality of the knowledge acquired. The results will be used in the second phase of the project to develop and evaluate a diagnostic tool assessing procedural aspects of scientific literacy. This tool will then be developed to create an adaptive, computer-based learning environment that fosters the development of knowledge that can be applied flexibly in scientific domains. In the final phase of project, the possibility of implementing both of these procedures in the school context will be investigated and optimised.

(Continuation) Diagnosing and promoting learning process in science instruction

Applicants for grant: Dr. Joachim Wirth, Prof. Dr. Detlev Leutner, Prof. Dr. Hans E. Fischer
Assistants in Project: Jill Gößling, Jessica Marschner
Project periode: 01.2007 - 01.2010

The aim of this project is to improve diagnosing and promoting of the regulation of learning processes in science instruction. Therefore, an already existing computer-based learning environment on "buoyancy in fluids" is to be used to investigate the regulation of learning processes in which declarative and procedural scientific knowledge is applied to acquire knowledge about a specific content domain. In addition, a further computer-based learning environment on "acids and bases" will be developed and evaluated. To foster strategy use and the regulation of learning processes micro-adaptive online-aids will be developed and implemented into the computer-based learning environments. Two different types of adaptive online-aids will be distinguished: (1) aids which foster the appropriate strategy use and (2) aids which foster identification and avoidance of mistakes. On the one hand, the inevitable online-acquisition of these online-aids will be accomplished with the help of already existing computer-based measures of strategy use and regulation. On the other hand, new computer-based measures for diagnosing mistakes will be developed and evaluated.

 

 

DFG-BIQUA

Self-Regulation of Learning Strategies Used to Aquire Knowledge from Expository Texts in Science

Whether doing classwork, homework, or preparing for tests, students are consistently face the challenge of acquiring knowledge from texts through their own independent efforts. It is not only at school that the autonomous acquisition of knowledge plays a key role; this type of learning is also vital in higher education and in vocational and professional training.
 
However, the PISA results have shown that the performance of German students asked to retrieve, interpret and evaluate information from texts is below average. Many of the PISA students are able to read texts, but they do no understand the meaning of what they have read. Numerous explanations have been proposed in the literature, touching on factors such as intelligence, vocabulary, motivation, interest, and the use of learning strategies. This project intends to examine the use of learning strategies in more detail, primarily because this aspect can be trained and thus affords possibilities for classroom intervention.
 
The first objective of the project is to identify the learning strategies that students of different age groups already know and use to glean knowledge from expository texts, and to explore the extent to which their use of strategies is related to the acquisition of knowledge. We will examine whether students who succeed in gaining a great deal of knowledge from a text use different learning strategies or apply certain strategies more rigorously than students who obtain less knowledge from the text. The results will be used to develop a computer-based training programme. The aim of this programme will be to train students to regulate their strategy application autonomously, such that they succeed in achieving the goals pursued with the respective learning strategy.

Selected Publication

Leopold, C. & Leutner, D. (2002). Der Einsatz von Lernstrategien in einer konkreten Lernsituation bei Schülern unterschiedlicher Jahrgangsstufen [The use of learning strategies in a specific learning situation among students of different grades]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 45. Beiheft, 240-258.
further information

Leutner, D., Barthel, A. & Schreiber, B. (2001). Studierende können lernen, sich selbst zum Lernen zu motivieren. Ein Trainingsexperiment [Students can learn to motivate themselves. A training experiment]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 15, 155-167.
further information

OECD-PISA

Assesing Cross-Curricular Competencies in PISA

In addition to assessing the reading, mathematics and science skills of 15-year-olds, the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) evaluates competencies going beyond domain-specific knowledge and skills. These cross-curricular competencies include the ability to engage in self-regulated learning, IT knowledge and skills, social competence, and problem-solving skills.

In Germany, particular attention has been paid to problem-solving skills. Problem-solving ability is understood as the capacity to apply cognitive processes to tackle and solve realistic, cross-curricular problems. These problems are characterised by the fact that the approach to be taken is not immediately apparent and that the domains of knowledge that may help to solve a problem cannot be classified to a single school subject (e.g., mathematics or science).

The German PISA consortium made great efforts to assess problem-solving ability in the first PISA cycle in 2000. Germany was the only PISA 2000 country to invest in the development and evaluation of written and computer-based problem-solving assessments. Whereas the other PISA items tap domain-specific knowledge and strategies, these problem-solving tasks require cognitive strategies of a more general nature (inductive, deductive, analogy-based, combinatory, metacognitive, etc.) to be applied to complex, cross-curricular problems. As such, it assesses competencies that are of particular relevance in the world of work and that reflect general educational goals.

In the second PISA cycle (2003), problem-solving tasks were also implemented in other participating countries. The international problem-solving assessment contains three types of problems:

Decision (e.g., "Pain Killers": Students are presented with a list of pain killers and asked to select the one most suitable for a given patient).
System analysis and design (e.g., "CD Sales": Students have to propose a way of arranging CDs in the shelves of a warehouse such that a given CD can be located easily).
Troubleshooting (e.g., "Air Pump": Students use a diagram of an air pump to identify possible reasons for it failing to work properly).

Students answer these problems - which come from the contexts "Private Domain", "Work & Leisure" and "Local Environment & School" - in writing.

The German national problem-solving assessment involves computer simulations of complex and dynamic systems. The students' first task is to find out how these systems work. They then apply this knowledge to a series of tasks. Unlike the written items of the international problem-solving assessment, the knowledge applied in the computer-based assessment is not merely input, it is also output of the problem-solving process itself. Thus, these kinds of problem-solving processes have much in common with the processes of self-regulated learning.

This kind of computer-based assessment makes it possible to go beyond a straightforward assessment of the outcomes of the problem-solving process, and to investigate the processes that characterise learning and problem solving in a much more direct way. Because of the complex logistics and technical requirements of this part of the assessment, it was only implemented in a small subsample of schools on a third day of testing in PISA 2003. A secondary aim of the assessment was to investigate whether and to what extent computer-based testing could be used on a broader scale in PISA 2006.

Selected Publication

Klieme, E., Funke, J., Leutner, D., Reimann, P. & Wirth, J. (2001). Problemlösen als fächerübergreifende Kompetenz [Problem solving as a cross-curricular competence]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 47(2), 179-200.
further information

Lernstand 8

Centralised Assessment of eight Grader´s Achievement Across North Rhein-Westphalia

In line with the growing trend towards giving individual schools a greater degree of autonomy, a shift is taking place away from input-driven management (based on guidelines, detailed curricula, directives, timetables, approved text books, etc.) towards output-driven management, where the focus is on learning outcomes.
In the context of this move towards outcome-driven management of schooling and instruction, centralised assessments of student competencies are being carried out in all eighth-grade classrooms across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The results of these assessments provide schools, teachers and students with insights into student performance in selected domains of mathematics, German and English, and thus form a basis for the quality development and quality assurance of lower secondary education.
The assessments focus on the standards attained by students in the subjects under investigation. Student performance in the centralised assessments can be compared with formal standards that have been laid down (e.g., in guidelines and curricula, in the educational standards of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder [KMK] and - from the 2004/05 school year onwards - in the new core curricula) and with the results attained by other student groups; e.g., within the same school or in other schools with similar background conditions. State-wide comparison of schools of the same type is also possible.

Further aims of the centralised assessments are as follows:

  • identifying weak areas and possible points of intervention in the domains of German, English and mathematics under investigation
  • enhancing the diagnostic competence of teachers
  • providing guidance where the grading of students' performance is concerned
  • advancing instruction in schools
  • supporting the implementation of the new core curricula
  • identifying schools that may not be achieving their full potential
  • providing (supplementary) information for system monitoring purposes to complement the findings of student achievement studies such as PISA-E

The Department's role in the centralised assessments entails

  • helping with test development by advising and mentoring the teachers responsible for developing the test items,
  • scaling and analysing the performance data and
  • preparing the feedback given to students, teachers, schools and parents.

Selected Publication

Fleischer, J., Spoden, C., Wirth, J. & Leutner, D. (2008). Flächendeckende Lernstandserhebungen: Spezifische Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze - Das Beispiel lernstand 8 in Nordrhein-Westfalen. In W. Böttcher, W. Bos, H. Döbert & H. G. Holtappels (Hrsg.), Bildungsmonitoring und Bildungscontrolling in nationaler und internationaler Perspektive (S. 195-207). Münster: Waxmann.

Leutner, D., Fleischer, J., Spoden, C. & Wirth, J. (2007). Landesweite Lernstandserhebungen zwischen Bildungsmonitoring und Individualdiagnostik. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 8. Sonderheft, 149-167.

Spoden, C., Fleischer, J.& Leutner, D. (2010). Lernstandserhebungen im Fach Mathematik: Zumdifferenzierten Umgang mit Herausforderungen. In mnuDeutscher Verein zur Förderungdes mathematischenund naturwissenschaftlichenUnterrichts e.V., Gaby Heintz (Hrsg.), Lehrerkompetenzen in der Mathematik-Lehrerausbildung (S. 72-91). Neuss: Seeberger.