Students’ Conceptions on the Topic of Desertification. Results of a Qualitative Interview Study with 12- and 13-Year-Old Students

Preconceptions are a crucial factor in the educational learning process. Therefore, the investigation of preconceptions is important for learning and teaching also in the field of geography. This study examines the preconceptions of 12- and 13-year-old students on the major environmental problem of desertification. The students’ preconceptions were collected by conducting problem-centered interviews. These interviews (n=13) were then evaluated using qualitative content analysis. Results show quite complex preconceptions concerning causes, processes, effects and measures to counter desertification. Regarding the causes of desertification, three basic preconceptions were identified: water consumption inducing drought, climate change generating high temperatures and wind blowing sand from deserts to adjacent areas. All in all, natural causes for desertification are dominant in the students’ perspective. In conclusion, some conceptions can be classified as alternative ones, whilst others are almost in line with scientific explanations. Based on the results of the study, implications concerning learning and teaching geography are proposed, such as focusing on the anthropogenic causes of desertification

Eficacia de la enseñanza de la Geografía sensible al lenguaje

Der empirisch mehrfach belegte Zusammenhang zwischen Fachkompetenz und Fachsprache legt nahe, dass fachsprachliche Anforderungen auch im Geographieunterricht explizit adressiert werden müssen, um allen Schülerinnen und Schülern ungeachtet ihrer sozioökonomischen und räumlichen Herkunft Zugang zu fachlichem Inhalt zu gewähren. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt Erkenntnisse zur Wirksamkeit sprachsensiblen Geographieunterrichts auf Basis einer entsprechenden Unterrichtsintervention dar. Im methodischen Rahmen von Design-Based Research wurden Forschungs- und Entwicklungsarbeit im Prä-Post-Follow-up-Design mit Experimental- und Kontrollgruppe (n=185) miteinander verzahnt. Zentrale Erkenntnis ist, dass die Experimentalgruppe in Hinblick auf den Erwerb von Fachwissen und Fachsprache statistisch signifikant und mit mittlerer Effektgröße vom sprachsensiblen Geographieunterricht profitiert.The empirically proven correlation between subject-related knowledge and technical language suggests that technical language requirements need to be explicitly addressed in Geography education to access subject content for all students regardless of their socio-economic and spatial background. This paper presents findings on the effectiveness of language-sensitive Geography teaching based on a corresponding teaching intervention. Within the methodological framework of design-based research, research and development work were interlocked in a prepost-follow-up design with one experimental and one control group (n=185). The central finding is that the experimental group benefits statistically significantly and with a medium effect from language-sensitive Geography instruction concerning acquiring subject-related knowledge and technical language.La correlación empíricamente probada entre el conocimiento específico de una asignatura y el lenguaje técnico sugiere que los requisitos del lenguaje técnico deben abordarse explícitamente en la enseñanza de la Geografía para que el alumnado pueda acceder al contenido de la materia, independientemente de su entorno socioeconómico y espacial. Este artículo presenta hallazgos sobre la efectividad de la enseñanza de Geografía sensible al lenguaje basada en una intervención docente. Basado en investigación basada en el diseño, el trabajo utilizó un diseño de pre-post-seguimiento con un grupo experimental y otro de control (n=185). El grupo experimental se beneficia estadísticamente de manera significativa y con un efecto medio de la instrucción en Geografía sensible al lenguaje en lo que respecta a la adquisición de conocimientos tanto como el lenguaje técnico vinculado con la Geografía.Peer Reviewe

Geographic and Arts Education. Theoretical Foundations, Principles, Interfaces

Seit den letzten Jahrzehnten erlebt die kulturelle Bildung eine zunehmende Konjunktur. Darunter wird die Auseinandersetzung des Menschen mit praxisorientierten, künstlerisch-kulturellen Angeboten gefasst. Das besondere Potenzial kultureller Bildung wird in der Persönlichkeitsbildung gesehen; sie ermögliche die Entfaltung der Sinne, trage zu ganzheitlichem, lebenslangem Lernen bei und garantiere kulturelle Teilhabe (u.a. ERMERT, 2009). Ausgehend von kurzen definitorischen Annäherungen an die Begriffe Bildung, Ästhetik und Kultur werden im Beitrag kulturelle und geographische Bildung mit ihren jeweiligen Prinzipien vorgestellt. Auf dieser Basis werden im nächsten Schritt Schnittfelder und Grenzlinien beleuchtet und abschließend Thesen zum Verhältnis sowie Zukunftsperspektiven geographischer und kultureller Bildungspraxis formuliert, die sinnlich-ästhetische Dimensionen berücksichtigen, um fachliche Bildung in einem ganzheitlichen Sinne auszugestaltenThere has been an increasing interest in Arts Education over the last decades. Arts Education includes practice-oriented and artistic-cultural activities of human beings. Its special potential lies in ‘personal education’; it is assumed to develop learners’ senses, contribute to holistic and lifelong learning and lead to cultural participation. The paper starts by introducing brief conceptual overviews of education, aesthetics and culture along with central principles of Arts and Geographic Education. It outlines similarities and differences of both fields and finally elaborates hypotheses on the relation and future prospects in Geographic and Arts education that consider sensual-aesthetic dimensions in order to develop subject-specific education in a holistic way.Peer Reviewe

Students’ Conceptions of the Nature of Geography

The establishment of national educational standards and the re-orientation towards the achievement of competencies as the main goal of geographic education have raised the importance of meta-cognitive knowledge on geography as a subject. While in the area of school politics a general, yet controversial understanding of the subjectís nature has been developed through the national educational standards, only little is known by now about pupilsí conceptions on geography as a subject. In order to examine the studentsí perspective on geography, semi-structured interviews were conducted in the study followed by a qualitative content analysis of the transcribed interviews. The results show big differences between the studentsí and the scientific concept of geography. However, starting points for relating the different concepts to each other were recognized as well.Peer Reviewe

Do Attentional Lapses Account for the Worst Performance Rule?

The worst performance rule (WPR) describes the phenomenon that individuals’ slowest responses in a task are often more predictive of their intelligence than their fastest or average responses. To explain this phenomenon, it was previously suggested that occasional lapses of attention during task completion might be associated with particularly slow reaction times. Because less intelligent individuals should experience lapses of attention more frequently, reaction time distribution should be more heavily skewed for them than for more intelligent people. Consequently, the correlation between intelligence and reaction times should increase from the lowest to the highest quantile of the response time distribution. This attentional lapses account has some intuitive appeal, but has not yet been tested empirically. Using a hierarchical modeling approach, we investigated whether the WPR pattern would disappear when including different behavioral, self-report, and neural measurements of attentional lapses as predictors. In a sample of N = 85, we found that attentional lapses accounted for the WPR, but effect sizes of single covariates were mostly small to very small. We replicated these results in a reanalysis of a much larger previously published data set. Our findings render empirical support to the attentional lapses account of the WPR

„Geographiedidaktische Forschungen“ 1977-2017 – ein Spiegel geographiedidaktischer Entwicklungen und Diskurse in Deutschland?

Der vorliegende Beitrag wirft anlässlich des vierzigjährigen Bestehens der Schriftenreihe „Geographiedidaktische Forschungen“ des Hochschulverbandes für Geographiedidaktik (HGD) einen Blick zurück auf die Entwicklung der Reihe und beleuchtet zugleich mit Blick nach vorne zukünftige Handlungsfelder. Dabei liegt der Fokus neben Informationen zur Zielstellung, zu den Gründungskontexten sowie zu formalen und personellen Veränderungen der Schriftenreihe auf einer Dokumentation der 67 bislang erschienenen Bände, ihrer thematischen Schwerpunkte und Beitragsformate. Im Rahmen des Beitrags soll zudem der Frage nachgegangen werden, inwiefern die Schriftenreihen einen Spiegel geographiedidaktischer Entwicklungen und Diskurse in Deutschland repräsentiert

Learning with Geographic Information (Systems) from the Point of View of Geography Teachers in Germany

Given Germany’s low frequency of GI(S) use in its secondary schools’ geography classrooms, we surveyed 410 teachers on their point of view of main impediments to wider implementation of GI-applications and the chances they see in the usage of GI(S) in the geography classroom. We did this in the framework of a larger cumulative mixed methods study which aims at improving the implementation of GI(S) in the classroom by developing well-founded implementation strategies and concrete measures for implementation. In this paper we present the results from the quantitative part of the study (impediments and chances from the point of view of the teachers) and later offer an overview of similar studies in other countries, followed by some concluding thoughts.Peer Reviewe

Challenges in Coagulation Management in Neurosurgical Diseases: A Scoping Review, Development, and Implementation of Coagulation Management Strategies

Bleeding and thromboembolic (TE) complications in neurosurgical diseases have a detrimental impact on clinical outcomes. The aim of this study is to provide a scoping review of the available literature and address challenges and knowledge gaps in the management of coagulation disorders in neurosurgical diseases. Additionally, we introduce a novel research project that seeks to reduce coagulation disorder-associated complications in neurosurgical patients. The risk of bleeding after elective craniotomy is about 3%, and higher (14-33%) in other indications, such as trauma and intracranial hemorrhage. In spinal surgery, the incidence of postoperative clinically relevant bleeding is approximately 0.5-1.4%. The risk for TE complications in intracranial pathologies ranges from 3 to 20%, whereas in spinal surgery it is around 7%. These findings highlight a relevant problem in neurosurgical diseases and current guidelines do not adequately address individual circumstances. The multidisciplinary COagulation MAnagement in Neurosurgical Diseases (COMAND) project has been developed to tackle this challenge by devising an individualized coagulation management strategy for patients with neurosurgical diseases. Importantly, this project is designed to ensure that these management strategies can be readily implemented into healthcare practices of different types and with sustainable integration

Budesonide orodispersible tablets maintain remission in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of patients with eosinophilic esophagitis

Background & Aims: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory disorder. Swallowed topical-acting corticosteroids are effective in bringing active EoE into remission. However, it is not clear whether these drugs are effective for long-term maintenance of remission. Methods: We performed a double-blind trial to compare the efficacy and safety of 2 dosages of a budesonide orodispersible tablet (BOT) vs placebo in maintaining remission of EoE. Maintenance of remission was defined as absence of clinical and histologic relapse and no premature withdrawal for any reason. Two hundred and four adults with EoE in clinical and histologic remission, from 29 European study sites, were randomly assigned to groups given BOT 0.5 mg twice daily (n = 68), BOT 1.0 mg twice daily (n = 68), or placebo twice daily (n = 68) for up to 48 weeks. Results: At end of treatment, 73.5% of patients receiving BOT 0.5 mg twice daily and 75% receiving BOT 1.0 mg twice daily were in persistent remission compared with 4.4% of patients in the placebo group (P < .001 for both comparisons of BOT with placebo). Median time to relapse in the placebo group was 87 days. The frequency of adverse events was similar in the BOT and placebo groups. Morning serum levels of cortisol were in the normal range at baseline and did not significantly change during treatment. Four patients receiving BOT developed asymptomatic, low serum levels of cortisol. Clinically manifested candidiasis was suspected in 16.2% of patients in the BOT 0.5 mg group and in 11.8% of patients in the BOT 1.0 mg group; all infections resolved with treatment. Conclusions: In a phase 3 trial, up to 48 weeks of treatment with BOT (0.5 mg or 1.0 mg twice daily) was superior to placebo in maintaining remission of EoE. Both dosages were equally effective and well tolerated. EudraCT number; 2014-001485-99; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02434029