Hängt denn alles mit allem zusammen? Der Ozean als System betrachtet

Der Artenreichtum des Meeres ist riesig und erst teilweise erforscht. Wie gelingt es, dass die vielen verschiedenen Organismen in ein und demselben Lebensraum, dem Ozean, miteinander leben können? Wie ist diese Vielfalt entstanden, und was geschieht, wenn die eine oder andere Art wieder verschwindet? Die verschiedenen Faktoren des Systems Ozean erklärt Professorin Ute Harms in ihrem Vortrag

Instruktionale Unterstützung beim Lernen mit Computersimulationen

In einem Literaturüberblick wird die Effektivität von Maßnahmen der instruktionalen Unterstützung für das Lernen mit Computersimulationen dargestellt. Computersimulationen veranschaulichen anderweitig schwer vermittelbare Sachverhalte in einer hochgradig realistischen Lernumgebung. Lernende können sowohl deklaratives als auch prozedurales Wissen erwerben. Interaktivität und Kontrollmöglichkeiten über die Computersimulation motivieren Benutzer zum selbstgesteuerten Lernen. Die Vorteile von Computersimulationen werden jedoch von Problemen geschmälert, die Lernende auf kognitiver und metakognitiver Ebene zeigen. Entdeckendes Lernen mit Computersimulationen führt i.d.R. nicht zu den gewünschten Lernerfolgen. Vielmehr benötigen Lernende für den erfolgreichen Wissenserwerb mit Computersimulationen instruktionale Unterstützung. Zur interpretativen Unterstützung erweisen sich Arbeitsaufträge und ausgearbeitete Lösungsbeispiele als geeignet. Als experimentelle Unterstützung sind permanent verfügbare Hintergrundinformationen, Führung und abzugebende Begründungen hilfreich. Zur reflektierenden Unterstützung sind differenzierte Rückmeldungen des Lernsystems und die Betrachtung der eigenen Vorgehensweise dienlich. Die Ergebnisse des Literaturüberblicks werden auf der Grundlage der kognitiven Belastungstheorie diskutiert. (DIPF/Orig.)In a review of the literature, the effectiveness of instructional support for learning with computer simulations is presented. Computer simulations depict topics that are oftentimes difficult to teach in a highly realistic learning environment, thus enabling learners to acquire declarative as well as procedural knowledge. Computer simulations provide interactivity and control options that motivate users to self-regulated learning. However, the advantages of computer simulations are diminished due to problems that learners show on the cognitive and metacognitive level. Discovery learning with computer simulations does not typically result in the desired learning outcomes. Rather, for successful knowledge acquisition with computer simulations instructional support is needed. For interpretative support, assignments and worked-out examples prove to be appropriate. Permanently available background information, guidance, and justifications are helpful for experimental support. Sophisticated feedback of the learning system as well as reflecting on one \u27s own procedure are effective for reflective support. The results of the literature review are discussed on the basis of cognitive load theory. (DIPF/Orig.

Del árbol al cloroplasto: concepciones alternativas de estudiantes de 9º y 10º grado sobre los conceptos «ser vivo» y «célula»

El concepto “célula” es fundamental en la biología, tanto para la comprensión de la mayoría de los fenómenos biológicos, como biotecnológicos de actualidad. Considerando que, bajo la premisa actual, se debe enseñar a partir de lo que el estudiante sabe, se vuelve relevante conocer cuáles son las concepciones de los estudiantes sobre este tópico. El presente trabajo indaga en las concepciones de estudiantes de educación secundaria chilenos sobre “célula”, “ser vivo” y la relación entre ambos, antes y después de tratar el tema en el contexto escolar. Los resultados muestran que, aún después de la enseñanza, muchos estudiantes son incapaces de vincular las características y funciones de los seres vivos con las características y funciones de las células, lo que dificulta la comprensión de la célula como la unidad estructural y funcional básica de la vid

ISSUES IN BIOTECHNOLOGY TEACHING - Biotechnology Education in Schools

When students deal with Biotechnology in Science or Biology courses at school they get to know a technology that is on the one hand very old - if we think of techniques of making bread or wine - but that on the other hand - when we think of genetic engineering for example - comprises very new aspects. This "modern" part of biotechnology shows a high potential for solving various problems of our modern world but at the same time it is accompanied by new and especially ethical questions and problems. From the high relevance as well as from the ambivalence of the topic biotechnology a particular responsibility of the science subjects at school concludes. This is the responsibility to - on the one hand - inform the students in a sound way of the scientific and technical aspects of biotechnology and - on the other hand - to qualify them as the decision makers of the future to cope in a reasoned way with the chances and the risks of biotechnology

Students’ Decision-Making in Education for Sustainability-Related Extracurricular Activities—A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies

Equipping students with the capability to perform considerate decision-making is a key competence to elaborate socio-scientific issues. Particularly in the socio-scientific context of sustainable development, decision-making is required for the processing of information and the implementation of sustainable action. Extracurricular activities in education for sustainable development (ESD) offer a suitable format to promote decision-making due to their multidisciplinary and more informal structure. The purpose of this literature review is therefore to analyze empirical studies that explore students’ (1) decision-making in (2) ESD-related (3) extracurricular activities. Following the preferred-reporting of items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic search yielded 19 out of 365 articles, each of them addressing all three components. Despite the theoretical relationship, hardly any empirical enquiry is found examining the trinomial interrelation with an equal consideration of all components. Contrarily, we argue that each is positioned in favor for only one component with the others serving as a backdrop. It follows that the full potential of an equal distribution between all three foci has not been explored yet; even though integrating sustainability-related issues in extracurricular activities displays a promising learning opportunity to optimally foster students’ decision-making. Instead, studies that concentrate primarily on decision-making as a quantitatively measurable competence were predominant

Using longitudinal models to describe preservice science teachers’ development of content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge

Cross-sectional studies have revealed the importance of university teacher education for science teachers' professional knowledge. However, a detailed understanding of the development of this knowledge is lacking. Our analysis addresses this gap by applying longitudinal models to elucidate how preservice science teachers’ content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) evolve. Our results revealed a nonlinear growth for CK and PCK. We found that both interact during their development and that this interaction changes over the course of teacher education. Also, individual (grade point average) and institutional (teacher education program, second science subject) factors are related to their development

The Simulated Classroom Biology—A simulated classroom environment for capturing the action‐oriented professional knowledge of pre‐service teachers about evolution

Background: The professional knowledge of pre-service teachers is highly important for effective and successful teaching. In recent years, many research groups have been engaged in developing simulated classroom environments to capture especially the pedagogical knowledge (PK) of pre-service teachers, neglecting the content-related facets of professional knowledge such as pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Objectives: In the present study, we describe the development of a simulated class- room environment — the Simulated Classroom Biology (SCR Bio) — and provide evidence regarding its validity to assess pre-service biology teachers' action-oriented PCK in the area of evolution. Methods: This study examined the evidence supporting the validity of using the SCR Bio to investigate action-oriented PCK of pre-service biology teachers. The (1) evidence based on test content (expert ratings) and the (2) evidence based on relation to other variables (known-groups comparison) was obtained. We tested the SCR Bio with N = 76 German pre-service biology teachers. Results and Conclusions: Our results show the successfully operationalized PCK in the SCR Bio through explicit allocation of specific misconceptions to each virtual student's answer and the valid measurement of pre-service biology teachers' action-oriented PCK. This results in a validated simulated classroom environment for pre-service but also in-service teachers. In the future, the SCR Bio will be developed from an assessment instrument to a training tool to simulate explicit teaching situations. This allows to complement the predominantly theoretical components of university-based teacher education with practice-based simulated classroom environments

I’m fine with collecting data: Engagement profiles differ depending on scientific activities in an online community of a citizen science project

Digital technologies facilitate collaboration between citizens and scientists in citizen science (CS) projects. Besides the facilitation of data transmission and access, digital technologies promote novel formats for education in CS by including citizens in the process of collecting, analyzing, and discussing data. It is usually assumed that citizens profit more from CS the more they participate in the different steps of the scientific process. However, it has so far not been analyzed whether citizens actually engage in these steps. Therefore, we investigated citizens’ actual engagement in different scientific steps online (i.e., data collection and data analysis) in two field studies of a CS project. We then compared them with other CS projects. We analyzed behavioral engagement patterns of N = 273 participants with activity logs and cluster analyses. Opportunities to engage in different steps of the scientific process increased participants’ overall commitment compared to contributory CS projects. Yet, despite their increased commitment, participants’ engagement was only more active for data collection but not for data analysis. We discuss how participants’ perceived role as data collectors influenced their actual engagement in the scientific steps. To conclude, citizens may need support to change their role from data collectors to data inquirers

Scientific reasoning skills predict topic-specific knowledge after participation in a citizen science project on urban wildlife ecology

In citizen science (CS) projects, citizens who are not professional scientists participate in scientific research. Besides serving research purposes, CS projects provide participants opportunities for inquiry-based learning to promote their topic-specific knowledge and scientific reasoning skills. Previous research suggests that participants need scientific reasoning skills to engage in scientific activities and to learn from inquiry in CS projects. Participants' scientific reasoning skills, therefore, might enhance the resulting topic-specific knowledge at the end of a CS project. On the other hand, scientific reasoning skills themselves are a learning outcome of CS projects. Hence, they might play a double role in CS projects: as a learning outcome and as a prerequisite for acquiring knowledge. In the informal education context of CS, it has not yet been investigated whether scientific reasoning skills predict topic-specific knowledge or vice versa. To address this question, the research presented here used a cross-lagged panel design in two longitudinal field studies of a CS project on urban wildlife ecology (N = 144 participants). The results indicated that participants' scientific reasoning skills positively influenced their topic-specific knowledge at the end of the project, but not vice versa. Extending previous research on individual learning outcomes of CS projects, the results showed that inquiry-based learning in CS projects depends on certain prerequisites, such as participants' proficiency in scientific reasoning. We discuss the implications for future research on inquiry-based learning in CS projects and for further training of CS participants in acquiring scientific reasoning skills

To know about science is to love it? Unraveling cause–effect relationships between knowledge and attitudes toward science in citizen science on urban wildlife ecology

Nowadays, citizens collaborate increasingly with scientists in citizen science (CS) projects on environmental issues. CS projects often have educational goals and aim to increase citizens' knowledge with the ultimate goal of fostering positive attitudes toward science. To date, little is known about the extent to which CS projects strengthen the positive interrelationship between knowledge and attitudes. Based on previous research, it has been suggested that the knowledge–attitude relationship could be further examined by focusing on different aspects: (1) different attitudinal domains, (2) topic-specific knowledge, and (3) its direction. Our study contributes to the clarification of the interrelation between scientific knowledge and attitudes toward science within the specific domain of urban wildlife ecology using cross-lagged panel analyses. We collected survey data on five attitudinal domains, topic-specific knowledge, scientific reasoning abilities, and epistemological beliefs from N = 303 participants before and after they participated in a CS project on urban wildlife ecology. Participants collected and analyzed data on terrestrial mammals in a German metropolitan city. Our results provide evidence for the relationship between knowledge and attitudes due to the topic-specificity of knowledge in CS projects (e.g., wildlife ecology). Our method provided a rigorous assessment of the direction of the knowledge–attitude relationship and showed that topic-specific knowledge was a predictor of more positive attitudes toward science. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Association for Research in Science Teaching