Wege in die Wissenschaft

Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel besch?ftigt sich mit einem Themengebiet, das in der erziehungswissenschaftlichen Wissenschafts-, Hochschul-und Berufsforschung bislang kaum analysiert worden ist. Unter Bezug auf die Ergebnisse einer schriftlichen Befragung von rund 3.800 Absolventen erziehungswissenschaftlicher Hauptfachstudieng?nge (Diplom, Magister) in ganz Deutschland wird die Frage untersucht, wie gro? die Gruppe der Studierenden aus diesen Studieng?ngen ist, die sich einige Jahre nach dem Studienabschluss im Arbeitsfeld Hochschule und Forschung beruflich platzieren kann bzw. promoviert, durch welche Merkmale diese Gruppe gekennzeichnet ist und welche Bedingungsfaktoren den Weg in die Wissenschaft beeinflussen. Nach einem überblick über den bisherigen Stand der Forschung und der Darstellung zentraler Resultate des Diplom-und Magister-Surveys zum Weg in die Wissenschaft werden abschlie?end einige Konsequenzen diskutiert, die sich aus den Befunden für eine Reform der bisherigen Hauptfachstudieng?nge bzw. für die zukünftige Gestaltung neuer Studieng?nge mit Blick auf eine Verbesserung der Nachwuchsf?rderung für das Fach Erziehungswissenschaft ergeben.

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Summary Paths into Science: The Results of a National Survey of Graduates from Diplom and Magister Programs in Educational Science This article examines a topic which has hardly been dealt with in the field of Educational Science. A survey of around 3,800 graduates of Educational Science in both Diplom and Magister programs in Germany asked what proportion of graduates went on to work or commence a Ph.D. in higher education. It also investigated the characteristics of such graduates and the conditions which determined their path into science. Following an overview of preceding research in this area and a presentation of the central results of the survey, the consequences of the findings for a reform of courses and an improvement in the training of academics in the field of Educational Science will be discussed.

     

The impact of stereoscopic imagery and motion on anatomical structure recognition and visual attention performance

Gross anatomy is located in a three‐dimensional space. Visualizing aspects of structures in gross anatomy education should aim to provide information that best resembles their original spatial proportions. Stereoscopic three‐dimensional imagery might offer possibilities to implement this aim, though some research has revealed potential impairments that may result from observing stereoscopic visualizations, such as discomfort. However, possible impairments of working memory such as decreased visual attention performance due to applying this technology in gross anatomy education have not yet been investigated. Similarly, in gross anatomy education the impact of stereoscopic imagery on learners’ recognition of anatomical‐spatial relationships and the impact of different presentation formats have only been investigated in a small number of studies. In this study, the performance of 171 teacher trainees working on the anatomy of hearing was examined, either with non‐stereoscopic or stereoscopic imagery. Static and dynamic picture presentations were applied. Overall, benefits for stereoscopic imagery on estimating anatomical‐spatial relations were found. The performance on a visual attention test indicates that the impact of stereoscopic visualizations on the human cognitive system varies more from person to person compared to non‐stereoscopic visualizations. In addition, combinations of temporarily moving pictures and stereoscopic imagery lead to decreased visual attention performance compared to combinations of moving pictures and non‐stereoscopic imagery. Anat Sci Educ 11: 15–24. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Individual Development Plans as Governance Tools – Changed Governance of Teachers’ Work

Auditing, accountability, and transparency are concepts that greatly impact the working conditions of today’s public sector professionals, including teachers. Documentation requirements have been on the increase for some time, which can be seen in the education sector’s Individual Development Plans (IDPs), for example. These IDPs are pedagogical tools, but can also be seen as governance tools, which is how we will treat them here. In this conceptual paper, we argue that to improve knowledge of education policy changes, there is a need to consider the changed documentation requirements from the perspective of sociology of professions. To this end, we use Evetts’ occupational and organisational logics and Abbott’s three aspects of professional work.     

Non-parametric adaptive locally asymptotically optimum detection in additive noise

In this paper, a new approach to non-parametric signal detection with independent noise sampling is presented. The present approach is based on the locally asymptotically optimum (LAO) methodology, which is valid for vanishingly small signals and very large sample sizes, and on semi-parametric statistics. Its unique feature and essential difference from other techniques is that LAO non-parametric detectors are optimum according to the Neyman-Pearson criterion by being asymptotically uniformly most powerful at false alarm level α (AUMP (α)) and adaptive in the sense that no loss in Fisher's information number is incurred when the underlying noise process is no longer parametrically defined. Accordingly, they are robust against deviations from the postulated noise model and, unlike other non-parametric detectors, are distribution-free under both hypotheses H₀ (“noise only present”) and H₁ (“signal and noise present”). Non-parametric LAO detectors are derived from an asymptotic stochastic expansion of the log-likelihood ratio for coherent and narrowband incoherent “on-off” signals. Moreover, under the present framework it is shown that, in direct contrast to already known results, the non-parametric sign detector is AUMP (α) and adaptive even for non-constant signal samples.     

Converging Subjective and Psychophysiological Measures of Cognitive Load to Study the Effects of Instructor‐Present Video

Many online videos feature an instructor on the screen to improve learners' engagement; however, the influence of this design on learners' cognitive load is underexplored. This study investigates the effects of instructor presence on learners' processing of information using both subjective and psychophysiological measures of cognitive load. Sixty university students watched a statistics instructional video either with or without instructor presence, while the spontaneous electrical activity of their brain was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). At the conclusion of the video, they also self‐reported overall load, intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load they experienced during the video. Learning from the video was assessed via tests of retention and transfer. Results suggested the instructor‐present video improved learners' ability to transfer information and was associated with a lower self‐reported intrinsic and extraneous load. Event‐related changes in theta band activity also indicated lower cognitive load with instructor‐present video.     

Research-based interventions in the area of proof: the past,the present,and the future

The concept of proof has attracted considerable research attention over the pastdecades in part due to its indisputable importance to the discipline of mathematics and tostudents’ learning of mathematics. Yet, the teaching and learning of proof is an instructionallyarduous territory, with proof being recognized as a hard-to-teach and hard-to-learn concept atall levels of education. Prior research has examined, documented, and cast light on theprocesses underpinning different problems of classroom practice in the area of proof, buthas paid less emphasis on acting upon such problems to generate possible solutions throughresearch-based interventions in mathematics classrooms. In this Editorial, we first situate thecontributions in this Special Issue in a brief chronological account of scholarly work on research-based interventions in the area of proof, and we conclude with a proposal for somehigh-leverage directions for future research.     

The Role of Metaphor in Scientific Epistemology: A Constructivist Perspective and Consequences for Science Education

I examine the role played by metaphor, in supporting andconditioning our thinking about theoretical models of learning in science education.Some examples are given, of cases where the use of inappropriate metaphors can actually counteract a properunderstanding of the topic being learnt. With special reference to von Glasersfeld's theory of radicalconstructivism, it is argued that much of the controversy appearing in the academic discussion of this theorystems from the injudicious use of metaphors of ``truth' and ``reality', concepts that are in a sense inheritedfrom the domain of Law. These metaphors are often taken too literally, as representing ``obvious' and henceindisputable constraints on scientific investigation; and they then strongly favour the adoption of an epistemologyof scientific realism, which is at variance with the theory of knowledge that is proposed by radical constructivism.However, it is argued that this realist epistemology is not compelling, since it rests on a somewhat contentiousmetaphoric base, and that a radical-constructivist epistemology offers a better strategy for the purposesof science education.