Development and review evaluation of interactive Conceptual Strand Maps for Science to promote the coherence of the content of chemistry lessons (CoSMaS)

Teachers often perceive teacher education as not coherent in terms of content, but rather as fragmented. From the perspective of the teachers, the topics of teacher education are not related to each other respectively they perceive topics in scope as not relevant for their later profession due to a lack of connection. This often results in prospective teachers hardly creating any links between subject-specific and subject-didactic content.

Conceptual Strand Maps are used in the natural sciences primarily as a basis for structuring the content of curricula and for developing appropriate performance assessments. However, Conceptual Strand Maps offer another potential: the knowledge building blocks of scientific and chemical concepts covered in the Conceptual Strand Maps can be linked interactively and directly in a digital environment to teaching-learning materials for learners that match the building blocks. This gives rise to a potential for using such adapted Strand Maps as a tool in teacher training.

Goal: The goal of the CoSMaS project is to support pre-service teachers in planning coherent learning opportunities in chemistry with the help of Conceptual Strand Maps which serve as a tool for linking subject-specific and subject-didactic knowledge. At the same time, the aim is to increase the coherence of learning opportunities for pre-service teachers.

Outlook: In the medium term, the CoSMaS project should be implemented in the regular study programms for chemistry teachers. In the sense of building up professional knowledge, the method can also be transferred to the preparatory service in chemistry in the long term, in order to ensure the content-related coherence of learning opportunities in chemistry beyond the degree course, but also to increase the content-related coherence of teacher training in chemistry.