The significance of play in kindergarten and early elementary education

Der Artikel untersucht Spiel als Lernerfahrung von Kindern und geht der Frage nach, warum der lerntheoretische Diskurs des Kinderspiels stark von einem normativen Diskurs überlagert wird. Die kurzen Darstellungen von Spielbegriff, Spieltypen und Spielfunktionen im ersten Abschnitt bilden eine Grundlage für die Diskussion der Bedeutung des Spiels. Im Anschluss an die entwicklungspsychologische Sicht auf das Spiel als Entwicklungs- und Lernmotor werden Studien erörtert, die bereichsübergreifende und bereichsspezifische Bildungswirkungen unter Einbezug von Merkmalen des Spiels erforschen; sodann wird das Spiel in ein Angebots-Nutzungsmodell integriert. Darauf folgt die Diskussion verschiedener Faktoren, welche die Bildungswirkungen des Spiels und deren Wahrnehmung beeinflussen. Dies ermöglicht, die normative gesellschaftliche Debatte zur Bedeutung des Spiels vertiefend zu analysieren. (DIPF/Orig.)The article examines playing as a learning experience of children and enquires into the question of why the scientific discourse on children\u27s play is strongly superposed by a normative discourse. The short definitions of the term "play", of different types of play, and of functions of play provided in the first part of the article serve as a basis for the discussion on the importance of play. Following a developmental psychological approach to play as a motor of development and learning, the author examines studies that enquire into the interdisciplinary and domain-specific effects of play by including different characteristics of play. Subsequently, playing is integrated into a model of learning opportunities and its uses. Several factors which influence the educational effect of play and its perception are then discussed. This allows for a deeper analysis of the normative debate on the significance of play. (DIPF/Orig.

Capturing Primary School Students’ Emotional Responses with a Sensor Wristband

The emotions experienced by primary school students have both positive and negative effects on learning processes. Thus, to better understand learning processes, research should consider emotions during class. Standard survey-based methods, such as self-reports, are limited in terms of capturing the detailed trajectories of primary school  children’s emotions, as their abilities of self-reporting are developing and still limited. Emotions can also be tracked by capturing emotional responses as they occur e.g. from physiological reaction measured with sensor wristbands. This technology generates an emotional responsestypology based on continuously captured physiological data, such as skin conductivity and skin temperature. However, such measurement methods need to be validated before being used. The present study thus attempted to validate this instrument with primary school students. We used the BM Sensor Wristband technology, as its emotional response typology is based on the categorical emotion and homeostasis approach. In our research, we focus on the emotional responses that can be distinguished by the BM Typology and that can influence learning processes. These emotional responses are: “joy”, “curiosity”, “attention”, “fear”, “anger” and “passivity”. Therefore, we induced emotional responses in primary school children through specifically developed audio-visual stimuli. Using logistic mixed effects modelling, we investigated the occurrence of opposing reactions. We observed that primary school children’s reactions to audio-visual stimuli could be differentiated. We conclude that primary school children’s emotional responses, such as “joy”, “curiosity”, “attention”, “fear”, “anger” and “passivity”, can be accurately measured by evaluating physiological data

Primarstufenspezifische Didaktik

Didaktik ermöglicht die Begründung und Reflexion einer stufen- und lernsituationsspezifischen Auswahl von Inhalten, Methoden und Medien, mit denen die Lern- und Entwicklungsprozesse von Schülerinnen und Schülern angeregt, unterstützt und gesteuert werden können. Da das Lernen von Kindern der Primarstufe in hohem Maß von Alltagserfahrungen und eigenen Interpretationen beeinflusst wird, soll in diesem Beitrag untersucht werden, wie sich davon ausgehend domänenübergreifend Perspektiven auf die Didaktik der Primarstufe finden lassen und wie diese auf die Domänenspezifität der Fächer bezogen werden können.&nbsp

Förderung des Beschreibens von prozessorientierter Diagnostik im naturwissenschaftlichen Sachunterricht – Evaluation eines auf Text- und Videovignetten basierenden Seminars für Grundschullehramtsstudierende

Die Fähigkeit, diagnostische Maßnahmen einer Lehrperson in verschiedenen Unterrichtssituationen beschreiben zu können, ist ein Teilprozess der professionellen Wahrnehmung von prozessorientierter Diagnostik. Diese Fähigkeit kann als eine zentrale Voraussetzung für das Umsetzen eigener prozessorientierter Diagnostik im naturwissenschaftlichen Sachunterricht betrachtet werden. Ein vignettenbasiertes Seminar für Grundschullehramtsstudierende vermochte das Beschreiben von diagnostischen Maßnahmen nur teilweise zu fördern. Der Beitrag berichtet die Ergebnisse der Seminarevaluation, diskutiert eine denkbare Weiterentwicklung des Seminars und wirft methodische Fragen zum Erhebungsinstrument auf

Fostering preservice teachers’ expectancies and values towards computational thinking

Theory Digital technologies have become an integral part of everyday life that children are exposed to. Therefore, it is important for children to acquire an understanding of these technologies early on by teaching them computational thinking (CT) as a part of STEM. However, primary school teachers are often reluctant to teach CT. Expectancy-value theory suggests that motivational components play an important role in teaching and learning. Thus, one hindrance to teachers’ willingness to teach CT might be their low expectancies of success and high emotional costs, e.g., anxiety towards CT. Aims We investigated whether a specifically designed seminar on CT affected preservice teachers’ expectancies and values towards programming.Method: A total of 311 German primary school and special education preservice teachers took part in the study. The primary school preservice teachers received a seminar on CT and programming with low-threshold programming tasks, while the special education teachers served as a baseline group. The seminar was specifically designed to enhance expectancies and values and decrease emotional costs, following implications of research on expectancy-value theory. Results The preservice teachers who visited the seminar gained higher expectancies and values towards CT and programming compared to the baseline group. Moreover, their emotional costs decreased. CT was positively related to change in expectancies and values and negatively related to emotional costs. Discussion Interventions with low-threshold programming tasks can support primary school preservice teachers in finding trust in their abilities and values towards CT. Moreover, their anxiety towards CT and programming can be alleviated. Thus, first steps in preparing preservice teachers to teach CT in their future classrooms can be taken in university

The impact of a construction play on 5- to 6-year-old children’s reasoning about stability.

Theory: Young children have an understanding of basic science concepts such as stability, yet their theoretical assumptions are often not concerned with stability. The literature on theory theory and theory-evidence coordination suggests that children construct intuitive theories about their environment which can be adjusted in the face of counterevidence that cannot be assimilated into the prior theory. With increasing age, children acquire a Center theory when balancing objects and try to balance every object at their middle, succeeding with symmetrical objects. Later, they acquire the basic science concept of stability through learning that the weight distribution of an object is of importance. Thus, they acquire a Mass theory and succeed in balancing asymmetrical objects as well. Fluid and crystallized intelligence might contribute to children’s acquisition of Mass theory. Moreover, their Mass theory might be supported by implementing a playful intervention including (a) material scaffolds and (b) verbal scaffolds. Aims: We investigated which theories children have about stability and whether these theories can be adjusted to Mass theory by implementing a playful intervention. Method: A total of 183 5- to 6-year-old children took part in the study with a pre-post-follow-up intervention design. Children’s Mass theory was assessed with an interview in which children explained constructions’ stabilities. The children received a playful intervention with two differing degrees of scaffolding (material scaffolds or material + verbal scaffolds) or no scaffolding. Results: At first few children used a Mass theory to explain their reasoning. However, after being confronted with counterevidence for the asymmetrical constructions, children changed their explanation and applied a Mass theory. More children in the play group with the highest degree of scaffolding, i.e., material + verbal scaffolds, acquired a Mass theory compared to the other groups. Fluid as well as crystallized intelligence contributed to children’s acquisition of a Mass theory. Discussion: Counterevidence can support children in their acquisition of a Mass theory. A playful intervention with scaffolding supports children even more

Measuring university students’ ability to recognize argument structures and fallacies

Theory: Argumentation is crucial for all academic disciplines. Nevertheless, a lack of argumentation skills among students is evident. Two core aspects of argumentation are the recognition of argument structures (e.g., backing up claims with premises, according to the Toulmin model) and the recognition of fallacies. As both aspects may be related to content knowledge, students studying different subjects might exhibit different argumentation skills depending on whether the content is drawn from their own or from a foreign subject. Therefore, we developed an instrument to measure the recognition of both argument structures and fallacies among the groups of preservice teachers and business economics students in both their respective domains (pedagogy and economics), and a neutral domain (sustainability). For the recognition of fallacies, we distinguished between congruent and incongruent fallacies. In congruent fallacies, the two aspects of argument quality, i.e., deductive validity and inductive strength, provide converging evidence against high argument quality. In incongruent fallacies, these two aspects diverge. Based on dual process theories, we expected to observe differences in the recognition of congruent and incongruent fallacies. Aims: We investigated whether these two abilities are domain-specific and whether the recognition of fallacies depends on the congruence of two aspects of argument quality. Methods: 267 preservice teachers and 56 business economics students participated in the study. For the recognition of argument structures, participants assigned the five statements constituting one argument to the corresponding component according to the Toulmin model. For the recognition of fallacies, we created arguments and incorporated a common fallacy into some of them: formal fallacy, overgeneralization, irrelevance, or circularity. Participants rated whether the argument was cogent or not, which was followed by a brief justification. Results: Domain specificity could not be found for either of both abilities. For the recognition of fallacies, two dimensions were found: a congruent dimension (formal fallacies and overgeneralizations) and an incongruent dimension (irrelevance and circularity). Discussion: The instrument measures the recognition of both argument structures and fallacies in these two groups across domains. The recognition of fallacies differs depending on whether the deductive validity and the inductive strength of the argument are equally indicative of argument quality or not

Preschool teachers' pedagogical content knowledge predicts willingness to scaffold early science learning.

peer reviewedBACKGROUND: The importance of diagnostic and scaffolding activities for early science learning has been shown consistently. However, preschool teachers scarcely engage in them. We developed an instrument to assess preschool teachers' willingness to engage in diagnostic and scaffolding activities in science learning situations and examined its relation with teachers' knowledge, beliefs and practice. AIMS: We validate an instrument to assess willingness to engage in scaffolding and diagnostic activities and study the interplay between willingness, learning beliefs, content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the context of science learning, particularly block play. SAMPLE(S): A total of N = 151 preschool teachers from 41 kindergartens in Germany participated in our study. METHODS: Preschool teachers completed a questionnaire, which took approximately 1 hour of time. We drew a subsample of N = 73 teachers and observed their practice during a 30 min block play episode. RESULTS: With our instrument, we were able to distinguish between preschool teachers' willingness to diagnose and to scaffold. Preschool teachers' co-constructivist beliefs and PCK predicted willingness to engage in diagnosing, PCK also predicted willingness to engage in scaffolding. Associations between learning beliefs and practice were inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights aspects of the association between preschool teachers' PCK and their willingness to engage in diagnosing and scaffolding. However, we found inconsistencies between preschool teachers' beliefs and practice, which call for further clarification.4. Quality educatio

First Insights into Preschool Teachers’ Instructional Quality in Block Play and Its Associations with Children’s Knowledge, Interest, Academic Self-Concept and Cognitive Aspects

peer reviewedResearch Findings: Promoting children’s science knowledge by adequate measures such as guided or free play is a cardinal goal of preschool. However, there is considerable variability in preschool teachers’ instructional quality in block play, which might be associated with children’s domain-specific science skills but also their mathematic and language achievement. To examine preschool teachers’ instructional quality in a free block play episode we used a video-based assessment. We assessed children’s knowledge in block play along with mathematics, language capacity, self-concept and cognitive skills. In order to obtain first insights into the association between teachers’ practice and children’s knowledge, we took a correlational approach. The sample consisted of N = 73 preschool teachers and N = 431 children. The results revealed considerable differences between preschool teachers’ instructional quality. Overall instructional quality during block play as well as specific dimensions such as the use of spatial language, math language and cognitive activating scaffolding were positively associated with children’s stability knowledge in block play. Moreover, preschool teachers’ general language use and stimulation of communication as well as their sensitivity were positively associated with children’s self-concept in block play. Practice and policy: Our study emphasizes the importance of preschool teachers’ support for children’s knowledge and self-concept and expands prior findings on early science learning.4. Quality educatio

Fostering preservice teachers’ expectancies and values towards computational thinking

Theory: Digital technologies have become an integral part of everyday life that children are exposed to. Therefore, it is important for children to acquire an understanding of these technologies early on by teaching them computational thinking (CT) as a part of STEM. However, primary school teachers are often reluctant to teach CT. Expectancy-value theory suggests that motivational components play an important role in teaching and learning. Thus, one hindrance to teachers’ willingness to teach CT might be their low expectancies of success and high emotional costs, e.g., anxiety towards CT. Thus, introducing preservice teachers to CT during their university years might be a promising way to support their expectancies and values, while simultaneously alleviating their emotional costs. Prior CT competences might contribute to these outcomes. Aims: We investigated whether a specifically designed seminar on CT affected preservice teachers’ expectancies and values towards programming. Method: A total of 311 German primary school and special education preservice teachers took part in the study. The primary school preservice teachers received a seminar on CT and programming with low-threshold programming tasks, while the special education teachers served as a baseline group. The seminar was specifically designed to enhance expectancies and values and decrease emotional costs, following implications of research on expectancy-value theory. Results: The preservice teachers who visited the seminar gained higher expectancies and values towards CT and programming compared to the baseline group. Moreover, their emotional costs decreased. CT was positively related to change in expectancies and values and negatively related to emotional costs. Discussion: Interventions with low-threshold programming tasks can support primary school preservice teachers in finding trust in their abilities and values towards CT. Moreover, their anxiety towards CT and programming can be alleviated. Thus, first steps in preparing preservice teachers to teach CT in their future classrooms can be taken in university