Newly Qualified Teachers' Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Testing a Social Support Intervention Through Design-Based Research.

Around the world, newly qualified teachers are leaving the profession after only a short time working at school. This not only has a negative effect on the capacities of the respective education systems, but also for the teachers themselves, as it often due to factors such as stress and burnout that leads to this decision. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this situation by adding to the teachers' workload, uncertainty, and stress. Previous research has investigated strategies that may help teachers improve their well-being and, among other factors, found social support to be an important condition. In this mixed methods design-based research study, we developed a design to enhance social support among newly qualified teachers in their first months working at school. Our quantitative and qualitative results show that the design has positive effects on many aspects of teachers' well-being in the intervention group both longitudinally (before and after the intervention) and when compared to a comparison group. The findings are being discussed considering the recent changes in the working conditions of teachers as imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic

Massive Open Online Courses as enablers of service learning

MOOCs offer the possibility of flexible and independent learning processes. Using MOOCs at universities is often seen in the context of blended learning and inverted learning. But the use of MOOCs in other didactic formats, such as service-learning, is less common. Service-learning describes the combination of social engagement with the training of students, i.e., the teaching of technical, methodological and social skills. The aim of this article is to reflect on the use of MOOCs in service-learning and to provide suggestions for further researc

Service-Learning im Lehramt. Das Konzept der Teaching Clinic und Fallbeispiele aus Universität und Hochschule

Der Beitrag präsentiert das Konzept der „Teaching Clinic“ und illustriert anhand von Fallbeispielen, wie Service-Learning hier umgesetzt wird. Lehrkräfte können in der Teaching Clinic Fragestellungen zu beruflichen Herausforderungen aus ihrer Praxis einreichen. Diese Fragen werden dann als Forschungsfragen von Lehramtsstudierenden in Projekten bearbeitet. Ziel ist es, für die Lehrkräften Lösungsansätze zu erarbeiten. (DIPF/Orig.

3D-reconstructions of a motion detecting pathway with serial block face scanning electron microscopy (SBEM)

Einige Mechanismen aus dem Tierreich lassen sich vielversprechend für mögliche technische Anwendungen einsetzen. Unser Interesse gilt einem neuronalen Schaltkreis, der es Heuschrecken ermöglicht herannahende Feinde, meistens Vögel, schon früh zu erkennen. Unser Ziel ist es den gesamten Mechanismus zu verstehen, um die, für die Entwicklung von technischen Anwendungen, benötigten Grundlagen zu stellen. Diese technischen Hilfsmittel sollen später blinden Menschen im täglichen Leben eine Hilfestellung bieten. Zur Umsetzung unserer Idee nutzen wir das LGMD-Neuron (Lobula Giant Movement Detector) von Locusta migratoria, welches sich durch das Herannahen von Objekten erregen lässt. Das LGMD wird von einer großen Zahl an TmAs (transmedullären afferenten Zellen) durch Synapsen stimuliert, die Änderungen des Lichteinfalls am Komplexauge in Form von synaptischen Potentialen weitergeben. Nachdem die Verzweigung und die synaptische Konnektivität der TmAs noch unbekannt ist, umfasst unser Projekt sowohl die Rekonstruktion einer gesamten TmA, ab ihrem Kontakt zum LGMD, als auch die Visualisierung des synaptischen Verschaltungsmusters. Mithilfe von SBEM (Serial Block Face Scanning Electron Microscopy) ist es uns heute möglich serielle Schnitte und dazugehörige Aufnahmen aus Kunstharzblöcken zu generieren. Anhand der Schnitte kann sowohl der Verlauf der Zelle verfolgt werden, als auch für die Verschaltung wichtige Synapsen lokalisiert werden. Diese Daten sind somit zusammen mit den neurophysiologischen Ergebnissen und dem Wissen um die natürliche Umgebung der Heuschrecke essentiell für zukünftige technische Anwendung für sehbehinderte Menschen oder Kollisionsdetektoren in der Autoindustrie. Diese Arbeit beinhaltet erstmals eine vollständige Rekonstruktion einer TmA mit der Gesamtheit aller ihrer Synapsen. ^Aufgrund der verzeichneten Verzweigungen ist ein weiteres unbekanntes Neuron mit wesentlicher Bedeutung in der Verschaltung des Bewegungssensors sehr wahrscheinlich.Various simple mechanisms found in wildlife provide promising use in technological applications based on bio-inspired design. Our research interest focuses on a neuronal circuit of grasshoppers, which uses a motion detection pathway to warn these animals of impeding objects mostly triggered through avian predators. We want to understand the overall network that will give us crucial knowledge for constructing a technical device that could find application in every day life of blind and visually impaired people. For this approach we exploit a visual neuron of Locusta migratoria, the Lobula Giant Movement Detector (LGMD), which is excited by images of approaching objects. During this process a large number of TmAs (afferent neurons) target the LGMD with synapses, which signal changes in light levels in distinct spatial directions. Because the branching pattern and connectivity of the TmAs was previously unknown, our project consists of the reconstruction of a whole TmA, tracing it from its connection with the LGMD to its origin closer to the compound eye, and visualising its synaptic connectivity pattern. With the use of Serial Block Face Scanning Electron Microscopy (SBEM) it is now possible to scan serial micrographs of resin-embedded samples at nano scale. From the serial micrographs the cell can be tracked and its synapses can be delineated that carry important information about how the circuit could work. Together with neurophysiological data and locust behavioural understanding overall understanding of this visual circuit can help us build future applications that can be applied in various fields like the car industry or devices for blind people. This is the first description of a whole TmA with all its synapses. Moreover, the branching and connectivity pattern lead us to speculate that a further, previously unknown, neuron is involved in this movement detection circuit.Ulrich HobuschAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZsfassungen in dt. und engl. SpracheGraz, Univ., Masterarb., 2015(VLID)84262

Education for Sustainable Development: Impact and Blind Spots within Different Routes in Austrian Teacher Education

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is increasingly being perceived as the educational paradigm of our time. Here, teachers act as multipliers in the dissemination of that new paradigm into practice. The question arises, however, as to how far teachers themselves are exposed to ESD issues in their initial teacher training and education. In this exploratory, mixed-methods study, we investigate the exposure of students to ESD-related topics in different routes of teacher education in Austria. We do so by means of a quantitative survey instrument, which was specifically developed for this investigation in a qualitative pre-study. Within the investigated routes we note different distributions of ESD-related topics. These findings serve as a starting point for deeper analyses, as well as an impetus to question existing curricula in different teacher education routes with regard to different ESD-related topics