2010-2014: Uncertain Evidence in Science Education
This project aims to reconstruct teachers’ perspectives on uncertain evidence in science education.
Students should be able to participate in a democracy based society. Therefore, they need to develop relevant competencies that include adequate beliefs about the nature of science in general and particularly about the tentative, contingent and possibly conflicting nature of scientific evidence. Hence science education has to provide appropriate learning opportunities. Science teachers, in particular are responsible for the quality of learning arrangements. As their perspectives on uncertain evidence in science education has not yet been investigated, the aim of this project is to focus on them using a qualitative design.
Data collection is based on problem-centerd semi-structured interviews. They include short videos from developed scripts and several steps of expert validation. The videos show classroom situations in which uncertain evidence arises and which end without a solution. Teachers should talk about possible and preferable ways of dealing with these situations. Additionally, personal variables (personal need for structure, self-efficacy beliefs, teaching goals and beliefs about teaching and learning) are investigated using a questionnaire. data analyses will first focus on reconstructing teachers’ perspectives regarding single cases. Secondly, different cases will be compared to build a typology.
Publications:
Ruhrig, J. & Höttecke, D. (2015). Components of Science Teachers’ Professional Competence and Their Orientational Frameworks when Dealing with Uncertain Evidence in Science Teaching. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, special issue.
Ruhrig, J. & Höttecke, D. (2015). Was, wenn das Experiment nicht klappt? Unsichere Evidenz als Lerngelegenheit nutzen [What to do, when practial work goes wrong? Uses of uncertain evidence for learning]. Unterricht Physik, 144, 32-35.
Ruhrig, J. & Höttecke, D. (2014). Lehrerperspektiven auf unsichere Evidenz im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht. In S. Bernholt, Zur Didaktik der Chemie und Physik, GDCP-Jahrestagung in München 2013 (S. 186-188).
Ruhrig, J. und Höttecke, D. (2013), teachers' practical epistemologies, paper presented at the IHPST Conference 2013 in Pittsburgh.
Ruhrig, J.; Ohlsen, M. und Höttecke D. (2013), Lehrerperspektiven auf unsichere Evidenz I: Projektziele, -design und Erhebungsinstrumente. In: Bernholt, S. (Hsg.) (2013), Inquiry based learning - Forschendes Lernen, Reihe: Gesellschaft für die Didaktik der Chemie und Physik, Jahrestagung in Hannover 2012, IPN Kiel.
Krüger, J; Ruhrig, J. und Höttecke D. (2013), Lehrerperspektiven auf unsichere Evidenz II: Ergebnisse einer Gruppendiskussionsstudie. In: Bernholt, S. (Hsg.) (2013), Inquiry based learning - Forschendes Lernen, Reihe: Gesellschaft für die Didaktik der Chemie und Physik, Jahrestagung in Hannover 2012, IPN Kiel.
Ruhrig, J. und Höttecke, D. (2011), Aspekte professioneller Kompetenz von Lehrpersonen naturwissenschaftlicher Fächer im Umgang mit konfligierender Evidenz im Unterricht, Dokorandenkolloquium der GDCP in Freiburg 04.-06.11.2011.