Educational Science Teaching and Learning Research Lab

Our Research in the Research Unit Educational Science Teaching and Learning Research Lab

The research conducted in our Research Unit is a combination of educational science, pedagogical-psychological research questions, and research on schools, teaching, and learning, and it includes the respective subject-didactic perspective. Our research approach is characterised by practice-oriented, basic, empirical research and is aimed at gaining knowledge that is both regionally relevant and meets international standards. The Research Units research is primarily quantitative in nature and is supplemented by qualitative survey methods. This multimethod approach has been expanded by the inclusion of innovative, technology-based design and survey methods, such as experience sampling, physiological measurements, eye-tracking, and virtual/augmented reality. In addition to analysing data from large comparative studies (e.g., PISA, Bildungstrend), our research projects are also implemented in the laboratory and, above all, in ecologically valid classroom studies.

Our research addresses the following interconnected focal points:

1. The recording of, interactions with, and the development of multidimensional educational goals

Schools and teaching pursue different educational goals, which can sometimes compete. Such competing goals challenge teachers to figure out how these different goals can be addressed together in everyday school life. Our research focus addresses the questions of how multidimensional educational goals are characterised in an international comparison, how they develop, and how they interact. Furthermore, we deal with the question of how multidimensional educational goals—especially in international comparative studies—can be reliably and validly recorded.

Example publications

Schiepe-Tiska, A., Roczen, N., Müller, K., Prenzel, M. & Osborne, J. (2016). Science-related outcomes: attitudes, motivation, value beliefs, strategies. In S. Kuger, E. Klieme, N. Jude, & D. Kaplan (Eds.), Assessing context of learning. An international perspective (pp. 301-330). New York: Springer.

Schiepe-Tiska, A., Rönnebeck, S., Heitmann, P., Schöps, K., Prenzel, M. & Nagy, G. (2017). Die Veränderung der naturwissenschaftlichen Kompetenz von der 9. zur 10. Klasse bei PISA und den Bildungsstandards unter Berücksichtigung geschlechts- und schulartspezifischer Unterschiede sowie der Zusammensetzung der Schülerschaft. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 20(S2), 151–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-017-0754-2

Schiepe-Tiska, A., Rönnebeck, S., Schöps, K., Neumann, K., Schmidtner, S., Parchmann, I. & Prenzel, M. (2016). Naturwissenschaftliche Kompetenz in PISA 2015 – Ergebnisse des internationalen Vergleichs mit einem modifizierten Testansatz. In K. Reiss, C. Sälzer, A. Schiepe-Tiska, E. Klieme & O. Köller (Hrsg.), PISA 2015. Eine Studie zwischen Kontinuität und Innovation (S. 45-98). Münster: Waxmann.

Strohmaier, A. R., Schiepe-Tiska, A., Chang, Y.-P., Müller, F., Lin, F.-L. & Reiss, K. M. (2019). Comparing eye movements during mathematical word problem solving in Chinese and German. ZDM, 42, 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-019-01080-6

Ziernwald, L., Schiepe-Tiska, A. & Reiss, K. (2022). Identification and characterization of high-achieving student subgroups using two methodological approaches: The role of different achievement indicators and motivational-affective characteristics. Learning and Individual Differences, 100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2022.10221

2. Quality teaching and school framework conditions

A main focus of our research is to address the question of how high-quality teaching must be designed to address other educational goals in addition to knowledge and to consider the heterogeneity of students against the background of equal opportunities. We are analysing the interaction of interdisciplinary and subject-specific teaching characteristics in relation to the achievement of multidimensional educational goals in STEM subjects from an international and national perspective.

In this context, a school’s framework conditions also play an important role as factors for success in high-quality teaching. On the one hand, we are interested in how the type of school—as a differential learning environment—affects how lessons are organised, perceptions of the kind of learning opportunities a school is offering, and the connection with various educational goals. On the other hand, we are interested in how individual schools can create learning environments that support teachers in terms of the designing of high-quality teaching.

Example publications

Forbes, C. T., Neumann, K. & Schiepe-Tiska, A. (2020). Patterns of inquiry-based science instruction and student science achievement in PISA 2015. International Journal of Science Education, 42, 783–806. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2020.1730017 (geteilte Erstautorenschaft)

Kuger, S., Klieme, E., Lüdtke, O., Schiepe-Tiska, A. & Reiss, K. (2017). Mathematikunterricht und Schülerleistung in der Sekundarstufe: Zur Validität von Schülerbefragungen in Schulleistungsstudien. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 20(S2), 61–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-017-0750-6

Schiepe-Tiska, A., Heine, J.-H., Lüdtke, O., Seidel, T. & Prenzel, M. (2016). Mehrdimensionale Bildungsziele im Mathematikunterricht und ihr Zusammenhang mit Basisdimensionen der Unterrichtsqualität. Unterrichtswissenschaft, 44, 211-225. https://doi.org/10.3262/UW1603211

Holzberger, D., & Schiepe-Tiska, A. (2021). Is the school context associated with instructional quality? The effects of social composition, leadership, teacher collaboration, and school climate. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2021.1913190

Hofer, S., Holzberger, D., Heine, J.-H., Reinhold, F., Schiepe-Tiska, A., Weis, M. & Reiss, K. (2019). Schulische Lerngelegenheiten zur Sprach- und Leseförderung im Kontext der Digitalisierung. In K. Reiss, M. Weis, E. Klieme & O. Köller (Hrsg.), PISA 2018: Grundbildung im internationalen Vergleich (S. 111-128). Münster: Waxmann.

Schiepe-Tiska, A. (2019). School tracks as differential learning environments moderate the relationship between teaching quality and multidimensional learning goals in mathematics. Frontiers in Education, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00004

3. Motivation and emotions in specific teaching-learning situations

When designing analogue and digital learning environments to achieve multidimensional educational goals, it is necessary to consider the individual learning requirements of the students and the situation-specific quality of the experience. One focus of our research is on the question of how teaching can appropriately address students’ different motivational and emotional learning requirements and the extent to which heterogeneous characteristics interact with different motivational and emotional characteristics and developmental trajectories. This research focus also examines the question of how and under what conditions teaching can adaptively address different motivational and emotional learning requirements as well as situation-specific motivation and emotions.

Example publications

Lazarides, R. & Schiepe-Tiska, A. (2022). Heterogenität motivationaler Merkmale im Unterrichtskontext. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 25, 249-267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-022-01082-3

Reinhold, F., Hoch, S., Schiepe-Tiska, A., Strohmaier, A. R. & Reiss, K. (2021). Motivational and emotional orientation, engagement, and achievement in mathematics. A case study with one sixth-grade classroom working with an electronic textbook on fractions. Frontiers in Education, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.588472

Schiepe-Tiska, A., Schattke, K., Seeliger, J. & Kehr, H. M. (2021). Distal and proximal motivational processes related to flow experience: Investigating the role of implicit motives, affective and cognitive preferences, and perceived abilities. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01409-z

Strohmaier, A. R., Schiepe-Tiska, A. & Reis, K. M. (2020). A comparison of self-reports and electrodermal activity as indicators of mathematics state anxiety. Frontline Learning Research, 8, 16–32. https://doi.org/10.14786/flr.v8i1.427

4. Professionalisation of teachers

In order to design analogue and digital learning environments so that they will support the achievement of multidimensional educational goals, teachers' skills, knowledge, motivational and emotional orientations, as well as situation-specific emotions and motivation must also be considered. In the context of adaptive teaching, the diagnostic skills of the teacher play a special role. In particular, a question that arises is: What didactic and pedagogical-psychological knowledge that is explicitly related to motivational and emotional processes do teachers need?

Example publications

Heinle. A., Schiepe-Tiska, A., Reinhold, F., Heine, J.-H. & Holzberger, D. (2022). Supporting student motivation in class: The motivational potential of tasks. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 25, 453–470. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-022-01090-3

Schiepe-Tiska, A., Dzhaparkulova, A. & Ziernwald, L. (2021). A mixed method approach to investigating social and emotional learning at schools: Teachers’ familiarity, beliefs, training, and school culture. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.518634

Current Research Projects

PISA-Ceco

PISA-Ceco investigates the relationships between teachers’ professional competence, the implementation of standard-oriented teaching, and the achievement of multiple educational goals in mathematics and science. The study is being conducted as a companion study to the 2022 PISA survey.

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ImplEyCit

Linking implicit eye movement measurements with explicit response behavior in questionnaires, comparing Germany and Taiwan.

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STEM career aspirations

The development of STEM career aspirations compared between Germany and Canada from PISA 2006 to PISA 2015 and its relationship with motivation, realistic career expectations, and science education." ImplEyCit: "Linking implicit eye movement tracking with explicit response behavior in questionnaires, comparing Germany and Taiwan.

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QUAKOU

This dissertation project addresses the topic of tasks as a way of recording teaching quality characteristics in the context of standard-oriented STEM lessons.

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Biopsychological teaching and learning laboratory

The bio-psychological teaching-learning laboratory investigates technology-based survey and design tools to investigate how learning environments can address students' motivational and emotional learning requirements appropriately. It also examines to what extent heterogeneous characteristics interact with different motivational and emotional characteristics and developmental processes.

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