Research

There is an important element in research into physics didactics at the University of Regensburg that permeates all of its own research areas: the role of language in teaching. Our projects are deliberately diverse in terms of content, as our students expect a broad range of courses and expertise in teaching, which should also be backed up by their own research where possible. As there is only one professorship for the didactics of physics at the University of Regensburg, as at most universities, a clear specialisation does not seem necessary. Nevertheless, a unifying interest is the question of which linguistic representations can be justified for which addressees and which communication purpose.

The effects of the linguistic design of natural sciences lessons are considered in particular detail in a project on text comprehensibility. In order to support pupils in dealing with written text material, an optimal fit between text, reader and reading purpose is important. One possible approach to meeting this requirement in the classroom is to use texts that are as favourable as possible.

As part of her doctoral project, Katharina Flieser is focussing on linguistic and, in particular, technical language features that have been shown to influence the comprehensibility of non-fiction texts. Through the targeted variation of the feature groups of word choice, sentence structure and personalisation, several versions of a text on electrical voltage are created for intermediate level learners. The aim of the project is to use a questionnaire study to empirically investigate how the text versions affect pupils' perception of the text and their immediate increase in knowledge and, on this basis, to be able to make application-oriented recommendations for optimised text design for teachers.

The research project is part of the Impuls+ project, which, as part of the KOLEG2 project network, is concerned with dealing with heterogeneity in the classroom. KOLEG2 pursues the interdisciplinary goal of optimising teacher training at the University of Regensburg.

Publications on the project: "Text perception of pupils in the natural sciences - analysis and optimisation of the perceived comprehensibility of a physical factual text"

• Short summary_Interim report (PDF, 4p.,2022)
• Dissertation (Link to PDF; 2024)
  

Mathematics plays a central role in physics (Krey, 2012), but poses major challenges for learners in physics lessons (Uhden, 2012). There is often a lack of concrete suggestions on how to promote an understanding of mathematics formulas that goes beyond the purely technical calculation of values and can thus contribute to reducing existing problems. For example, it remains unclear how the appropriate formula should be introduced after an experiment - especially in middle school lessons, where learners still have comparatively low levels of mathematics skills.
Against this background, Marco Schröder's doctoral project - building on the concept of blended sensemaking (Zhao & Schuchardt, 2021; Kaldaras & Wieman, 2023) - developed two approaches and located them in existing literature: (1) The relationships derived from the experiment are systematised step by step and thus transferred into a formula or (2) a given formula is retrospectively plausibilised.
As part of the main study, the two approaches are analysed with the help of Year 8 classes and compared in terms of their contribution to knowledge growth and perceived cognitive load. Individual factors such as the types of thinking according to the Empathising-Systemizing-Theory (Welberg et al., 2024) are also taken into account.

Project 1:

If a lesson is to be planned and carried out, it must be structured in terms of time and, closely related to this, content. The aim is to ensure that the steps taken in the lesson promote suitable learning processes on the part of the pupils. A common tradition for a temporal structure is that the lesson begins with an introduction that refers to a problem that is subsequently worked on. This structure works well for many intentions. However, there are situations that actually call for other structures. In the didactics of physics working group, we work primarily according to the basic model theory of Oser and others. Here, we differentiate between various teaching objectives and make our own suggestions for structuring the time frame. It is an open question to what extent this proposal is suitable and how it compares to other proposals. Dr Christian Maurer's doctoral thesis dealt with this question and produced interesting results.

Publications on Project 1: "Structuring teaching-learning sequences"

• Short summary_final (PDF, 4 p., 2016)
• Dissertation (link to PDF, approx. 200 p., 2016)

Project 2:

When introducing new subject content in physics lessons, there are various ways of structuring lessons in a way that is effective for learning. The common teaching tradition is to start from prior knowledge and lead up to the new concept in small steps. This is often supported by a problem or an observable phenomenon. On the one hand, there are already several well-founded models for such an approach (question-developing lessons, research-developing lessons, learning through self-experience), but on the other hand, studies report an unexpectedly low improvement in the learning effectiveness of such structuring compared to comparison groups. Another method of structuring lessons when introducing new subject content is to present the new concept at the outset and then relate it back to relevant elements of the learners' prior knowledge.

In Paul Unger's current project, an introductory and a retrospective lesson structure on the subject of transformers are being compared. Possible effects on pupils' learning gains, interest and cognitive load are being investigated. The project was motivated by the results of the studies Trendel, Wackermann & Fischer (2007), Seidel, Blomberg & Renkl (2013), Geller (2015), Maurer (2016) and Heinze (2022), among others.

Keywords: structuring, prior knowledge, interest, cognitive load

Publications on project 2: "Comparison of analysing and elaborating structures"

• Brief summary_status quo (PDF, 4p., 2024)
• Poster presentation research project (PDF, 2022)
  

Project 1:

Although good explanation is obviously at the core of the teacher's craft, it has not yet been extensively researched in the subject of physicists. In this project, the question of how general criteria for good explanation, as found in the literature, are perceived in concrete examples by pupils, teachers and didactics experts will be examined: Do they all see its well-structured nature as central? Or is it perhaps linguistic aspects that are more important after all? In order to investigate such questions, short explanatory videos are presented to different addressees. Subsequently, questions about quality, as it has ever been perceived, are answered. In addition to the general criteria, the significance of educational language aspects in the orally realised explanation will be examined.

Jana Heinze is working on this project in close cooperation with 10 other subjects, German linguistics and linguistics. This overarching project FALKE is part of an even more comprehensive project KOLEG, the overall conception of which was largely in the hands of physics didactics.

Publications on project 1: "Perception of language in physics teaching explanations"

• Short summary_final (PDF, 4p.,2020)
• Dissertation (link to PDF and Logos Verlag; 2022)

Project 2:

The explanatory video is a multimedia form of explanation. In times of distance learning and hybrid forms of teaching, this form of instruction offers an alternative to classic explanations by teachers. However, there is currently still a lack of concrete didactic advice: How should an explanatory video be structured so that it optimally supports pupils in their learning? Does it help to explicitly address student misconceptions or is it better to deal with an application example? As part of the research project, explanatory videos are created and used in a teaching sequence lasting several hours. Teaching takes place in the "flipped classroom" - the videos take over the instruction in the pupils' home environment.

Patricia Breunig is working on this topic as part of her doctorate in the "FALKE-digital" project. Together with six other didactics departments, she is investigating explanatory videos in the flipped classroom. FALKE-digital is part of L-DUR (Lehrkräftebildung Digital an der Universität Regensburg), which is being funded in the third period of the "Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung" (teacher training quality campaign) following KOLEG and KOLEG 2. The explanatory videos are made available to pupils on a cross-project learning platform and the usage data is analysed in the form of log files after the intervention has been completed.

Publications on project 2: "Explanatory videos in the flipped classroom:
Multimedia learning in physics lessons"

• Short summary_Project (PDF, 4p.,2022)
• Short summary_ Flipped Classroom (PDF, 4p. 2023)
• Short summary_ First results (PDF, 4p. 2024)
  

Anyone planning lessons is always faced with the task of anticipating the effects of the planned actions in the classroom. It is obvious that planning is more successful if the planning teacher is accurate in their judgements and draws appropriate conclusions. In this project, students are specifically confronted with the challenge of becoming aware of their own perspectives on teaching and putting themselves in the shoes of their pupils. In doing so, they plan lessons that are not based on traditional examples. The aim is to ensure that it is not teaching traditions or habits that essentially determine the shape of the lesson.

Stephanie Neppl also works together with a colleague from the physics department, who confronts and instructs the students on a topic that is still new to them. Teachers come to the seminar on selected dates and scrutinise the teaching materials created by the students, which are then improved. Finally, the plans and materials are tested by these same teachers in their lessons. Feedback from the pupils being taught then provides an opportunity to rethink the planning, in particular to consider the extent to which the adoption of the pupils' perspectives has been successful. The project is a sub-project of KOLEG.

Publications on the project: "Lesson planning with perspectives"

• Short summary_final (PDF, 4p., 2020)
• Dissertation (link to PDF and Logos Verlag, 2024)
  

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aims to empower people to understand the impact of their actions on the world and to make responsible, sustainable decisions. ESD deals with complex sustainability issues such as: What impact does how I consume in my everyday life or what means of transport I use have on the climate, society and the economy? ESD is not a new subject, but should be dealt with as a cross-cutting topic in all subjects. Natural sciences lessons offer a good thematic basis for exploring questions of sustainable development. At the same time, this field is challenging for teachers, as ESD topics are typically those that cannot be assigned to one (natural) science discipline alone. An obvious approach would therefore be for teachers to plan ESD lessons together in order to be able to address complex sustainability issues in their subject lessons in an interdisciplinary way.

Dominique Holland teaches the didactics of physics and the interdisciplinary subject of science and technology (an area that introduces students to scientific content and issues from an interdisciplinary perspective). Her research interest is the development and investigation of a new co-operative seminar format for student teachers. In her project, she compares the different qualities of disciplinary (student teachers specialising in physicists) and interdisciplinary (student teachers from different subject areas) cooperation in the planning, implementation and reflection of ESD lessons. The seminar will be scientifically evaluated with the help of qualitative guided interviews with the students. The aim is to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of disciplinary vs. interdisciplinary cooperation and to create a basis for future research on effective ESD seminar development. In the long term, this should contribute to the integration of ESD in university teacher training programmes.

Publications on the project: "Cooperatively shaping education for sustainable development: lesson development in the virtual learning research laboratory"

• Brief summary (PDF, 4p.,2021)
• Dissertation (link to PDF and Logos Verlag, 2023)