Impact of European projects on engineering education

Various European programmes represent invaluable help and source of experience for universities in Central and Eastern Europe. Being an emerging university that was established just 8 years ago, we welcomed the chance to be involved in numerous projects that introduced us to the area of European cooperation. Last summer two very interesting projects concerning our university were finished (in terms of financing from the sources mentioned above) and so it is a good occasion to evaluate the progress of our international co-operation in the last 3 years and to look forward towards further development of our established links. The first project was financed by The British Know How Fund and its aim was to bring together the University of Hull, UK, and the Faculty of Informatics and Management UHK in Hradec KrÁlové (FIM). The second project, called INSYPA, was a Joint European Project within the frame of the TransEuropean Mobility Programme for University Studies (Tempus). Both projects were extremely fruitful for us but so different one from another that we think it might be interesting to compare them. The contribution describes our original plans, their development, evolution of our partnership, the problems which arose and were solved. The main stress is given to expertise obtained, methods of assessment, persistent links and their influence on our integration to EU educational and research programmes.     

Die professionelle Kompetenz angehender Physiklehrkräfte in verschiedenen Ausbildungsformen

A nation-wide measurement of competencies in teaching training programs was carried out in order to find suggestions for optimizing university study programs for students on teacher training programs in the subject of physical sciences. 430 physical science teacher training students were surveyed using a standardized test, which covered knowledge of physical sciences, didactic knowledge for physics, general pedagogic knowledge, beliefs and motivations. This contribution, firstly, compares the competencies of students of teacher training colleges with the competencies of students of teacher training in universities. Parallel investigations have already found that the students of different training programs also differ in their performance. The resulting differences are then analyzed using regression models in an attempt to find the determinants of subject-related competencies in teacher training programs. The findings point to the significance of individual personality characteristics and the amount of time spent on learning opportunities in the university. The article closes with a discussion of the implications for optimizing teacher training programs.     

How hypertext reading sequences affect understanding of causal and temporal relations in story comprehension

The goal of this study is to examine the comprehension of global causal and temporal relations between events that are represented in single hypertext documents. In two experiments we examined how reading sequences of hypertext nodes affects the establishment of event relations and how this process can be supported by advanced organizers that provide either temporal or causal pre-information. In the first experiment we could show that discourse structure affected recall of temporal event sequences only when causal relations were absent. In a second experiment, the comprehension of either temporal or causal relations was facilitated by providing different types of pre-information (advanced organizer). Temporal pre-information facilitated recall of temporal event sequences without underlying causal relations. In contrast, causal pre-information facilitated recall of temporal event sequences with causal relations. The results demonstrate that readers use causal information to construct temporal event sequences.     

Students’ reasoning about electricity: combining performance assessments with argumentation analysis

Our study monitored the cognitive and motivational effects within different educational instruction schemes: On the one hand, teacher‐centred versus hands‐on instruction; on the other hand, hands‐on instruction with and without a knowledge consolidation phase (concept mapping). All the instructions dealt with the same content. For all participants, the hands‐on approach as well as the concept mapping adaptation were totally new. Our hands‐on approach followed instruction based on “learning at work stations”. A total of 397 high‐achieving fifth graders participated in our study. We used a pre‐test, post‐test, retention test design both to detect students' short‐term learning success and long‐term learning success, and to document their decrease rates of newly acquired knowledge. Additionally, we monitored intrinsic motivation. Although the teacher‐centred approach provided higher short‐term learning success, hands‐on instruction resulted in relatively lower decrease rates. However, after six weeks, all students reached similar levels of newly acquired knowledge. Nevertheless, concept mapping as a knowledge consolidation phase positively affected short‐term increase in knowledge. Regularly placed in instruction, it might increase long‐term retention rates. Scores of interest, perceived competence and perceived choice were very high in all the instructional schemes.     

Researching the impact of teacher professional development programmes based on action research,constructivism, and systems theory

This paper deals with the topic of professional development programmes’ impact. Concepts and ideas of action research, constructivism, and systems theory are used as a theoretical framework and are combined to describe and analyse an exemplary professional development programme in Austria. Empirical findings from both quantitative and qualitative studies regarding the programme’s impact are provided and discussed. Moreover, implications for future programmes’ planning and implementation are provided.     

Teaching Gene Technology in an Outreach Lab: Students’ Assigned Cognitive Load Clusters and the Clusters’ Relationships to Learner Characteristics, Laboratory Variables, and Cognitive Achievement

This study classified students into different cognitive load (CL) groups by means of cluster analysis based on their experienced CL in a gene technology outreach lab which has instructionally been designed with regard to CL theory. The relationships of the identified student CL clusters to learner characteristics, laboratory variables, and cognitive achievement were examined using a pre-post-follow-up design. Participants of our day-long module Genetic Fingerprinting were 409 twelfth-graders. During the module instructional phases (pre-lab, theoretical, experimental, and interpretation phases), we measured the students’ mental effort (ME) as an index of CL. By clustering the students’ module-phase-specific ME pattern, we found three student CL clusters which were independent of the module instructional phases, labeled as low-level, average-level, and high-level loaded clusters. Additionally, we found two student CL clusters that were each particular to a specific module phase. Their members reported especially high ME invested in one phase each: within the pre-lab phase and within the interpretation phase. Differentiating the clusters, we identified uncertainty tolerance, prior experience in experimentation, epistemic interest, and prior knowledge as relevant learner characteristics. We found relationships to cognitive achievement, but no relationships to the examined laboratory variables. Our results underscore the importance of pre-lab and interpretation phases in hands-on teaching in science education and the need for teachers to pay attention to these phases, both inside and outside of outreach laboratory learning settings.     

Pupils' Interest Before,During, and After a Curriculum Dealing With Ecological Topics and its Relationship With Achievement

We surveyed interest in ecology prior, during, and after an ecological unit of 14 lessons (“Ecosystem Lake”). Achievement was assessed in a pretest (T-1), a class test (T-2; used for grading), and a retention test (T-3). We found a main effect of stratification on the level of interest in ecology after the educational unit (pupils from the highest stratification were more interested) but not of gender. As expected, the pre-treatment interest scores showed a highly significant influence on the post-treatment scores. Apart from interest prior to the study, situational interest measured during the educational unit also significantly influenced interest after the treatment. Positive correlations between all 3 interest scales and between interest scales and achievement scores were found. Thus, both predisposition and situational interest influence achievement. However, using regression revealed that prior interest had the strongest impact on achievement.     

Wirkungen des Lernens mit Videofällen bei Lehrkräften

Case-based learning with videos is regarded as a promising way to promote the analytical abilities of teaching staff as a basis for their professional actions. For that purpose, the competence to assess and diagnose situations of learning and instruction is crucial, i.e., especially the ability to apply conceptual knowledge to pedagogical cases and to take teacher as well as learner perspectives into account. The article reports on the results of an experimental field intervention study aimed to convey this competence effectively by providing different forms of instructional support to over 100 students of English Studies (2?×?2 design, conceptual knowledge: present/not present; teacher and learner perspectives: present/not present). The central focus is on identifying further effects that personal characteristics (individual learning conditions, e.g., prior knowledge, tolerance of ambiguity) and process characteristics (cognitive load; cognitive, emotional, and motivational activation) have on the development of this competence, and how strong these effects are. Multiple linear regression analyses show that this type of learning with case-based videos places less demand on personal factors, and that the quality of the learning process plays a decisive role.