Qualität der Lehrerbildung an der Universität – Lehrerbefragung zur Ausbildung in Geographie, Geographiedidaktik und in den Erziehungswissenschaften in Bayern

Young teachers were questioned about the quality of their training. The central questions were: How much importance do you attach to your university training in the fields of Geography, Geographical Education and Educational Sciences? How satisfied are you with your training in these fields? Which improvements would you suggest? The judgements of the young teachers were compared with those of the seminar teachers, which had been determined in an earlier survey. All three fields are considered to be highly important. The training in all three fields is considered to be unsatisfactory. Geography would have to offer more methodology and regional geography. Geographical Education should offer more new teaching methods, computer training and didactics for field trips. The Educational Seiences should supply more problemoriented case studies. Concerning the geographical education training, a comparison of the young teachers' judgement with that of the seminar teachers showed that the seminar teachers attach a bit more importance to the training than the young teachers do. The satisfaction, however, does not differ. The importance of the training in Geography received the same judgement from both groups. The seminar teachers, however, are significantly less satisfied than the young teachers

Räumliche Orientierung. Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Relevanz des Kompetenzbereichs aus der Perspektive der Gesellschaft und der Experten

The national standards for education in geography include six areas of competence. One of these areas is spatial orientation. This particular field includes topographical knowledge, categories of spatial imagination, the ability to orient one's self in real space, and the use of maps and patterns of spatial perception. There is no discussion on the meaning of spatial orientation in general, but it is still not determined which elements within the whole of geographical knowledge and abilities must be mastered by German students. This survey aims to feed this discussion. 172 prominent members of society and 110 experts on geography have been asked how they ranked certain topographical knowledges and abilities

Map Use Competence. Theoretical Basis and the Design of a Competence Model

This article aims at designing a theoretically based structural model of map use competence. In addition to the geographical concept of maps the model of reading competence of PISA and other concepts are discussed. In chapter 3 the main results of empirical studies to map use competence are discussed, and chapter 4 displays the competence model as the present result of discussion by the authors. On this basis an empirical study is planned, which is outlined in chapter 5.Peer Reviewe

Students' Conceptions on Circadian and Seasonal Cycles

Every day the change between day and night can be observed. Furthermore, the seasons change during the year at least in the Central European lines of latitude. There is a constant rotation between the warm summers and the cold winters, in which these extreme seasons are superseded by the moderate seasons spring and autumn. In the meantime one can also notice that in December there are people in swimming-suits on the Australian beaches and that in the summer-months of the Northern Hemisphere one can go skiing in the Snowy Mountains. But how are these differences to explain? In Germany pupils start dealing with the topic late in secondary school. Nevertheless, the pupils normally have their own pre-educational concepts which can possibly disturb the learning process at school. According to the theory of conceptual change, a group of 10 to 12 year old Central European students was examined on their pre-curricular conceptions of the circadian and seasonal cycles, a topic which they can observe every day. Furthermore, they were questioned on their ideas of polar night and midnight sun, which they possibly have not yet experienced themselves. The purpose of the study was to show if the pupils have some common misconceptions concerning the above mentioned topics. In addition, it was examined whether wrong ideas can be easily replaced by the scientific facts or if the pupils still prefer using their own conceptions after a geography lesson. Therefore, the students were questioned before and after the lesson, with the result that the pre-educational concepts can be changed into scientific knowledge, though it was easier to make them adopt scientific explanations with topics they had not heard of before

Kalkutta liegt am Ganges, Paris liegt an der Seine… Welches Topographische Orientierungswissen benötigt ein Bundesbürger aus der Perspektive der Gesellschaft und der Geographieexperten?

Within the didactical discussion is no final agreement on a canon that represents the minimum of necessary topographical knowledge. Several authors have made suggestions based on hermeneutics or experience. This article completes these attempts through an empirical approach. 172 prominent members of society and 110 experts in geography have been asked to mark those elements on maps of Germany, Europe and the world that they consider important. The results show a broad consensus among the participants and are helpful in setting standards for topographical knowledge

Making the Campus Sustainable

1 Introduction What does sustainable development look like at universities? What is the current status of its implementation in Germany? Which factors promote it and which difficulties arise in the individual contexts? These are some of the main questions this paper dedicates special attention to. In doing so, the focus is on the Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. 2 Universities and Their Contribution to Sustainable Development Formal, informal, and non-formal education have been e..