RESEARCH PROJECTS "TEACHING AND LEARNING AT SCHOOL"
All our research projects are concerned with issues regarding teaching and learning in a school context. In this respect, we are most interested in identifying the most successful methods of promoting children's cognitive and motivational development at school, and in enabling teachers to create such stimulating learning environments in practice (see COACTIV, IGEL and Thin Slices projects below).
Successful teaching is no doubt a challenging task. Our studies therefore serve to investigate teachers' professional competence and the personal qualities they need to develop in order to be successful in this profession. The theoretical base for our research consists in a multidimensional model of professional competence comprising knowledge and beliefs as well as motivation and self-regulating strategies of teachers. In this manner, our studies also provide an insight into the development of professional competence throughout a teacher's career and tries to identify positive and negative aspects of this development (see COACTIV and COACTIV-R projects below).
It is obvious that professional development of teachers must begin in teacher training. Therefore, our research projects also investigate the effects of certain elements of university teacher training programmes on the professional competence of students (see our studies named Praxissemester, Level and Phi actio). Hence our BilWiss project aims at systematic development of pedagogical knowledge during teacher training (see below). In addition to surveys and longitudinal studies (COACTIV, COACTIV-R, BilWiss), we investigate the development of different aspects of professional competence in lab and experimental studies (studies T-KnoX and Proliefs).
All in all, our research aims to find ways of supporting teachers who seek to improve their teaching and their professional behaviour in view of the many challenges posed by the profession. Our projects may therefore contribute to the improvement of teaching and teacher training as a whole.