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The main research aim of this Ph-D thesis is to develop students�understanding of the nature of science on the background of Alexander von Humboldt's legacy for Grade 5 and Grade 6 classrooms in Baden-Württemberg schools. The Ph-D research questions are: 1.What conceptions do students of the age group 10-12 regarding the nature of science hold? 2.Does students� understanding of science change as a result of discovery-based science activities taken from Alexander von Humboldt� scientific observations during his expedition to Latin America between 1799-1804? If yes, in what way? This was done by: 1.Gathering background information about students� images of scientists and how they work. 2.Designing the most appropriate learning environment for improving their understanding of science. At the beginning of the intervention study, Humboldt�s life was used as a stimulus of student�s thoughts about science at. Students were put in the same situation of a scientist: posing a question about a theme of their interest, designing and realizing an experiment in order to satisfy their curiosity. By doing so, students� understandings of the construction of scientific knowledge would be improved. After a preliminary study between June and July 2002 at the Bammental Gymnasium, a case study took place from March till July 2003 at the Realschule Linkenheim for students of Grade 5. Students� epistemologies about science and scientists at the Realschule Linkenheim were collected by using the current trends in science education research: pre- and post-questionnaires, classroom observation, pre- and post- interviews, the Draw-A-Scientist-Task and portfolio work. This intervention study was realized in 26 school sessions and all the work sessions were also video taped. Students� views about their actual nature of science aspects were characterized and coded using a framework drawing on the following areas: characteristics of scientists, history of science and the epistemology about science and scientists. Finally, students were asked to write about their learning process by using portfolios. As to the recommendations: This study suggests that in order to develop some aspects of the nature of science, students need a free space at school to realize hands-on inquiry and a trained teacher who can translate to his students besides content knowledge, the nature of knowledge and the historical evolution of scientific knowledge.

The quality of education in Mozambique has been faced with several challenges and criticisms. This situation comes from a long time ago. In many studies, it has been revealed that the quality of education is rather low, and there is evidence that students have difficulties in reading, writing, and calculating, especially in primary education. Also, there are weak links between theory and practice in secondary education. These difficulties negatively affect the development of skills and students’ profiles. In addition, this significantly delays the country's scientific, technological, and socio-economic development. The problems of education and other sectors in Mozambique could be solved by creating synergies and establishing joint approaches or actions involving all collaboration partners and as a system. Aware of this, reforms have been carried out in the field of educational sciences to adopt innovative learning approaches through improving learning methodology and promoting contextualized learning according to the authentic needs of society. To enhance the knowledge and understanding of natural sciences and thus improve the quality of education, an interventional study was carried out based on an innovative learning theory made up of a cluster of connectivism, constructivism, and cognitivism. Theory into practice was organized as a systemic approach based on contents found in the Mozambican curricula (teacher education and secondary schools) and integrating science-technology-society approaches. The research was devoted to analysing relevant core elements, institutional preconditions at schools and the university, and pre-service teachers’ pre-conceptions about these approaches and finding out outcomes that can enrich curricula and improve the quality of education in Mozambique. This study was designed to involve pre-service teachers of chemistry and other natural sciences (Biology and Physics) from Púnguè University working together with students of grades 8, 9, and 11 from all (seven) secondary schools existing in Chimoio. These groups would be supported by lecturers and researchers from the university, secondary school teachers, specialists, technicians from partner companies, and communities or individuals belonging to the community who together could contribute to solving a problem in a systemic approach. Because of the Pandemic COVID-19 situation in the country, the sample had to be slightly modified and structured according to the three different stages, organised in the following way: Stage I (preparatory): one hundred and eleven (111) chemistry’s pre-service teachers from three different branches (Manica, Tete, and Sofala) of the Pedagogical University participated and applied a questionnaire. This stage took place in 2019 after the documentary study. It aimed to ascertain the pre-service teachers' preconceptions to understand their preparedness before the fieldwork. For comparative reasons, six questions from the validated VOSTS instrument (Views on Science-Technology-Society) of Aikenhead, Ryan, and Fleming (1989), which is used widely internationally also, were incorporated into this questionnaire. The codification of students´ views was newly adapted to four scores, namely: Realistic (R), Has Merit (HM), Naïve (N), and Neutral (Ne). Stage II (fieldwork/practical work): Sixty-six (66) chemistry pre-service teachers from Manica and Tete participated. This stage took place in 2020 after the restructuring of the former Pedagogical University when the Manica and Tete branches were joined together to create the Púnguè University (UniPúnguè). In this stage, three lecturers from UniPúnguè (two in organic chemistry and one in environmental chemistry) also participated in monitoring and support. Three external people also participated: a building engineer and a pipe connection specialist (representing the water supply company/FIPAG), and the municipal councillor for education and culture (representing the municipality); Two secondary school teachers also participated in the study (one in chemistry and one in agriculture and cattle breeding); Stage III (Science Motivation Questionnaire): the original questionnaire questionnaires from Glynn, Taasoobshirazi, and Brickman (2009) and Sotiriou, Mordan, Murphy, and Lovatt (2017) were in English, and it was necessary to translate them into Portuguese to apply to the chemistry´s pre-service teachers (main group). For this reason, the questionnaire was translated by fifty-three (53) pre-service teachers of English courses in a pilot study before administering it to the main group. After checking the reliability of the translation (Cronbach´s Alpha = .928), the sixty-six (66) pre-service teachers who participated in practical activities filled in the questionnaire. This questionnaire intends to assess intrinsic motivation and personal relevance; Intrinsic motivation and personal interest; Perceived Competence; Effort/Importance; Value/Usefulness, and Collaborative Work Relatedness. The outcomes from local interventions were collected by mixed methods research involving qualitative (documentary study, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and participatory-based research) and quantitative (questionnaires and interviews with fixed questions) methods. Data collected by quantitative methods were processed using the statistical package SPSS versions 20.0 and 25.0. The results of the six questions taken from the VOSTS instrument show that most pre-service teachers do not present a realistic view (R), but rather a view with some legitimacy/merit (HM) in most questions (four) and with a cumulative average of about 54%, and in the case of the other two questions, the results indicated for an inappropriate view (Naïve/N) with the cumulative average of 49%. With respect to science motivation, it was found that after practical activities, pre-service teachers have developed high levels of motivation, with the subcategory "the value/ usefulness of practical activities" scoring highest (80%) and the subcategory "collaborative work-relatedness" scoring lowest (49%). These findings may be the result of ethnic and tribal conflicts that negatively interfere in the friendship between people, but also of the traumas caused by unpleasant and shocking memories of the use of technology in the war that lasted for about sixteen years and the repeated armed conflicts, kidnappings, and murders where science and technology have not been able to bring solutions. This study also revealed that the pre-service teachers could not put these new approaches into practice right from the beginning, and almost none of them had heard of the systemic approach before. Additionally, in the practical activities, it was found that despite the lack of knowledge about how to design and carry out learning activities using Science-Technology-Society integration and the systemic approach, all students (100%) were satisfied. The practical activities carried out show that applying knowledge collaboratively and by a systemic approach to solve everyday problems in communities promotes the development of skills and makes knowledge lasting, establishing contextualized, effective, and emotional learning. In practical activities, several projects were developed, such as the production of soap based on ash as a saponification agent and other products such as lettuce, cabbage, alcohol, etc. Both the knowledge and the products resulting from these projects have been presented at national and international public events (conferences, workshops, seminars, etc.) Further education of university students on the job led to several individual qualifications as bachelor's degrees (Licenciatura), of which five of them have already been defended with relevant monographs. Finally, it is concluded from the findings that it will be possible to transfer this approach to other universities and schools in Mozambique and elsewhere, contributing, therefore, to help develop communities, improve learning and the profile of both students and teachers, as well as the profile of universities and schools.

In der vorliegenden Studie wurde ein standardisiertes Testverfahren zur Erfassung des fachdidaktischen Wissens im Leseunterricht bei angehenden Lehrkräften entwickelt und validiert. Dazu wurden basierend auf der lesedidaktischen und kognitionspsychologischen Forschung Testaufgaben in Form von Unterrichtssituationen (sog. Vignetten) erstellt, die von angehenden Lehrkräften hinsichtlich einer fachdidaktisch relevanten Fragestellung in einem geschlossenen Antwortformat bewertet werden sollten. Die inhaltliche Validität der Testaufgaben wurde durch eine mehrstufige Expertenbefragung mit qualitativen (N = 7) und quantitativen (N = 87) Befragungen sichergestellt. Zur Überprüfung der psychometrischen Eigenschaften wurden Deutschstudierende aller Semester und Referendare mit dem Fach Deutsch (N = 581) sowie Kontrollgruppen (fachfremdes Lehramt, Germanistik, Psychologie; N = 147) untersucht. Die Analysen zur Datenstruktur zeigen den guten Modellfit eines eindimensionalen Modells des lesedidaktischen Wissens (χ² (N = 578, df = 54) = 73.67, p = 0.04, χ²/df = 1.36, RMSEA = 0.03, CFI = 0.93). Der Vignettentest wurde anschließend mit dem Partial Credit Model skaliert. Die Infit- und Outfitindices bescheinigen eine sehr gute Passung der Vignetten zum Modell (Werte zwischen 0.98 und 1.00, alle ps ≤ 0.05). Die Reliabilität des Testverfahrens ist als akzeptabel zu bezeichnen (EAP-Reliabilität = 0.59). Weiterführende Analysen zur Validität des Testverfahrens haben gezeigt, dass sowohl die Lehrerfahrung als auch die Nutzung spezifischer Lerngelegenheiten die Testleistung der Studierenden signifikant vorhersagen (alle ps ≤ 0.05). Zudem weisen Deutschstudierende einen signifikant höheren Testscore als die Psychologiestudierenden und die Germanistikstudierenden (p ≤ 0.05) und einen deskriptiv höheren Testscore als die Studierenden fachfremder Lehrämter auf. Diese Ergebnisse sollen durch anschließende Studien mit teilweise längsschnittlichen Fragestellungen und Designs ergänzt und präzisiert werden.

Die Konzeption eines Moduls zur Ausbildung diagnostischer Kompetenzen in der ersten Phase der Lehrerbildung an pädagogischen Hochschulen war Ziel dieser Studie. Diagnostische Kompetenzen ermöglichen es Lehrkräften nicht nur, die Fähigkeiten und Potenziale der Schüler und Schülerinnen genauer einzuschätzen, sondern auch zu verstehen, warum ein Kind bestimmte Fähigkeiten zeigen oder eben nicht zeigen kann. Dieses Verständnis dient dann dazu, Lernprozesse optimal zu unterstützen. Der Prozess der diagnostischen Arbeit muss grundsätzlich von einer selbstkritischen Haltung der diagnostizierenden Person gegenüber den eigenen diagnostischen Entscheidungen begleitet sein. Wie wichtig eine frühzeitig angelegte Ausbildung diagnostischer Kompetenzen ist, zeigen wissenschaftliche Studien über die gegenwärtige Situation an den Schulen, die den Lehrkräften auf diesem Gebiet mangelhafte Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten bescheinigen. Die Gründe dafür sind aber nicht bei den Lehrern zu suchen, sondern vielmehr in der Lehrerbildung, die eine entsprechende Ausbildung jahrelang versäumt hat. Die Ausbildung diagnostischer Kompetenzen ist in allen Fächern und allen Schularten wichtig. In dieser Studie konzentriere ich mich aber auf Verfahren, die zur Diagnose der mündlichen Sprachkompetenz im Fremdsprachenunterricht der Grundschule geeignet sind. Das Einschätzen der mündlichen Fähigkeiten ist ein besonders schwieriger Bereich der Diagnostik, weil die mündlichen Beiträge der Schüler und Schülerinnen flüchtig sind und anderen Bewertungskriterien unterliegen als die schriftlichen Beiträge. Die Komplexität der Diagnostik und die Tatsache, dass der Fremdsprachenunterricht der Grundschule vorwiegend auf der Basis der mündlichen Sprache verläuft, macht eine fundierte diagnostische Ausbildung auf diesem Gebiet besonders dringlich. Hier angemessene Werkzeuge und Prinzipien zu finden, die es ermöglichen, diagnostisches Arbeiten in seinen Grundprinzipien zu erlernen, auch wenn das Feld der Diagnostik äußerst umfangreich ist, war Teil dieser Studie. Die Auswahl und Entwicklung der Ausbildungsprinzipien und -werkzeuge gründete auf Ergebnissen verschiedener Forschungsmethoden: So beantworteten Ergebnisse leitfadengestützter Experteninterviews zunächst die Frage, welche Kompetenzen Grundschullehrer im Fremdsprachenunterricht für die diagnostische Arbeit konkret benötigen. Wie diese benötigten Kompetenzen dann anhand eines Ausbildungsmoduls erlernt werden können, wurde anhand von Aktionsforschungszyklen ermittelt. Im Rahmen dieser Aktionsforschungszyklen stellten Fallstudien einen besonders wichtigen Forschungsansatz dar. Hier wurde deutlich, welche Prinzipien und Werkzeuge des Ausbildungsmoduls aus der Sicht der Teilnehmer Lernprozesse in Gang setzten und inwiefern die erlernten Kompetenzen als nachhaltig empfunden wurden, indem sie auch noch nach Abschluss des Ausbildungsmoduls die diagnostische Arbeit der Studierenden im Berufsalltag unterstützen konnten. Als eine zentrale Aufgabe des Ausbildungsmoduls hat sich die Erstellung eines Lernerprofils herausgestellt, da es das umfangreiche Feld der diagnostischen Arbeit sinnvoll zusammenführen konnte. Unter einem Lernerprofil wird im Rahmen dieser Studie ein schriftliches Dokument über einen Lerner verstanden, das dessen Kompetenzen möglichst umfassend und zutreffend darstellt. Für die Profilerstellung werden sowohl Daten zu den Lernleistungen und dem Lernprozess, sowie zu den individuellen Lernvorlieben, -strategien und -voraussetzungen des Schülers über einen längeren Zeitraum hinweg gesammelt, geordnet und nachvollziehbar dokumentiert. Die Arbeit mit Lernerprofilen sollte zu einem in sich stimmigen Gesamtbild des Schüler mit seinen Fähigkeiten und Potenzialen führen und so dem Schüler gerecht werden.