AutoFocus – Ein Werkzeugprototyp zur Entwicklung eingebetteter Systeme

Zusammenfassung.   Der Beitrag stellt AutoFocus vor, einen Werkzeugprototyp zur Entwicklung verteilter, eingebetteter Systeme auf der Grundlage formaler Techniken. AutoFocus unterstützt die Systementwicklung mit integrierten, im wesentlichen graphischen Beschreibungstechniken, mit deren Hilfe sowohl unterschiedliche Sichten als auch verschiedene Abstraktionsebenen eines Systems beschrieben werden. Um konsistente und vollst?ndige Beschreibungen sicherzustellen, bietet AutoFocus die M?glichkeit, Konsistenzbedingungen zu formulieren und Systembeschreibungen daraufhin zu überprüfen. Aus ausführbaren Spezifikationen k?nnen Prototypen des entwickelten Systems erzeugt werden und in einer Simulationsumgebung ausgeführt und visualisiert werden. Zur formalen Verifikation von Systemeigenschaften verfügt AutoFocusüber Anbindungen an Modellprüfungswerkzeuge wie -cke oder SMV. Eingegangen am 23. Dezember 1998 / Angenommen am 16. Juni 1999     

Integrated science teaching as a challenge for teachers to develop new conceptual structures

Integrated science teaching is a task which requires that teachers develop new conceptual structures for the science topics they teach. It is often assumed that changes in teaching can be facilitated through reflective practices such as teacher self-assessment. Does self-assessment in fact help teachers develop new conceptual structures in the context of integrated science? We examine this assumption in the research reported in this paper. In the German PING project—an integrated science project for middle schools—teacher in-service education was based on collaborative workshops in which a group of 22 teachers from different types of schools used teaching materials for eight integrated topics for their lesson planning and conducting units over a period of 30 months. During this time concept maps, interviews and questionnaires were used as means to promote teacher self-assessment. We find that this kind of self-assessment in a collaborative framework was a useful basis for helping science teachers develop integrated conceptual structures and we suggest that in-service courses might use self-assessment for reflection on conceptual content knowledge as a basis for supporting integrated science teaching.     

Adolescents' motivation to select an academic science-related career: the role of school factors,individual interest,and science self-concept

Many researchers consider a lacking interest in science and the students' belief that science is too demanding as major reasons why young people do not strive for science-related careers. In this article, we first delineated a theoretical framework to investigate the importance of interest, self-concept, and school factors regarding students' career preferences. Then, we tested the expected effects on a sample of German 9th-grade students (N = 7,813). We focused on two school factors: the amount of (additional) science activities and the real-life applications in science classes. The multi-level analysis showed that school factors were highly relevant for the students' interest in science and science self-concept. In turn, interest in science and science self-concept affect the students' interest in science-related careers. We conclude that focusing on the link between individual and school characteristics is important for the understanding of students' interest in science-related careers.     

Evaluating an Automatically Scorable, Open-Ended Response Type for Measuring Mathematical Reasoning in Computer-Adaptive Tests

The first generation of computer-based tests depends largely on multiple-choice items and constructed-response questions that can be scored through literal matches with a key. This study evaluated scoring accuracy and item functioning for an open-ended response type where correct answers, posed as mathematical expressions, can take many different surface forms. Items were administered to 1,864 participants in field trials of a new admissions test for quantitatively oriented graduate programs. Results showed automatic scoring to approximate the accuracy of multiple-choice scanning, with all processing errors stemming from examinees improperly entering responses. In addition, the items functioned similarly in difficulty, item-total relations, and male-female performance differences to other response types being considered for the measure.     

Dimensionality and Disciplinary Differences in Personal Epistemology

A growing body of work addresses the nature of epistemological development and epistemological beliefs: how individuals come to know, the theories and beliefs they hold about knowing, and the manner in which such epistemological premises are a part of and an influence on the cognitive processes of thinking and reasoning. This study investigates the dimensionality of personal epistemology as hypothesized in a recent review of the literature as well as the nature of disciplinary differences. First-year college students responded to a set of questionnaires that included an adaptation of a domain-general epistemological instrument and a discipline-focused questionnaire. Results suggest that there is an underlying dimensionality to epistemological theories that cuts across disciplinary domains, but that students, at least by the 1st year of college, discriminate as to how these theories differ by discipline. Disciplinary differences were strong, suggesting that 1st-year college students see knowledge in science as more certain and unchanging than in psychology, are more likely to regard personal knowledge and firsthand experience as a basis for justification of knowing in psychology than in science, view authority and expertise as the source of knowledge more in science than in psychology, and perceive that in science, more than in psychology, truth is attainable by experts. This contradicts existing research that suggests that epistemological development is domain general and that epistemological beliefs do not differ by discipline.     

Early social relationships: a psychobiologist's view

This article outlines a strategy for studying early social relationships in relatively simple animal model systems. It describes some of the differences in approach between neuroscientists and human developmentalists in dealing with the same research problems. These ideas are then illustrated in work from our laboratory on the processes of early social attachment in young rats and on their responses to separation from their mothers. We have found evidence for a novel mechanism by which the mother appears to be a regulator of physiological and behavioral systems of the infant so that many of the prolonged responses to separation represent withdrawal or release phenomena. Finally, I will describe some surprising results from our studies on the organization of nursing that reveal an unexpected degree of synchrony and reciprocity in this apparently simple interaction that is so basic to being a mammal.     

Wie schneiden SINUS-Schulen bei PISA ab?

In Reaktion auf die Ergebnisse der TIMS-Studie wurde das BLK-Modellversuchsprogramm SINUS konzipiert und 1998 mit 180 Schulen über fünf Jahre betrieben. Im vorliegenden Beitrag berichten wir über zentrale Ergebnisse der summativen Evaluation des Programms. Ziel des Programms war es, (1) die Professionalisierung der Lehrkr?fte zu unterstützen, (2) die Qualit?t des mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichts zu verbessern und (3) die Lernprozesse und Lernergebnisse der Schülerinnen und Schüler zu f?rdern. Zur überprüfung der Ausgangslage und der Wirkungen des Programms diente ein Vergleich mit einer repr?sentativen Schulstichprobe. Dazu wurden an den SINUS-Schulen Erhebungen mit nationalen PISA-Instrumenten durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse der Abschlusserhebung im Jahr 2003 zeigen, dass SINUS im Verlauf der Programmzeit auf allen untersuchten Ebenen Wirkungen entfaltet hat. Dies betrifft die erfolgreiche Umsetzung der Projektinhalte auf Seiten der Lehrkr?fte, die positive Wahrnehmung des Unterrichts auf Seiten der Schülerschaft sowie die Interessen, Haltungen und Kompetenzen der Schülerinnen und Schüler an SINUS-Schulen. Die schulartspezifischen Analysen zeigen jedoch, dass SINUS nicht in allen Schularten die gleiche Wirksamkeit erzielt hat. In erster Linie scheinen die Hauptschulen, die Schulen mit mehreren Bildungsg?ngen und die Integrierten Gesamtschulen profitiert zu haben.     

Betreuung und Bewertung wissenschaftlicher (Doktor-)Arbeiten

Das UnivG 2002 sieht keine ausdrücklichen Bestimmungen betreffend die Betreuung und Beurteilung wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten mehr vor, sondern stellt die Regelung dessen dem autonomen Satzungsgeber anheim. Bei der Gestaltung der betreffenden Satzungsinhalte spielen Aspekte der Gesetzeskonformit?t, Treffsicherheit und Sachgerechtigkeit eine wesentliche Rolle. Dies gilt vor allem für Dissertationen, die eine besondere Betreuungs- bzw Beurteilungsintensit?t aufweisen sowie vermehrten Zulauf aus dem FH-Bereich verzeichnen und jüngst zunehmend ins Zentrum hochschulpolitischer Reformerw?gungen gerückt sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund kommt auch der Frage nach der M?glichkeit und Zul?ssigkeit externer Dissertations-Betreuer besondere Bedeutung zu.