Axinja Hachfeld

Diagnostische Fähigkeiten von Lehrkräften bei der Einschätzung von Schülerleistungen und Aufgabenschwierigkeiten bei Lernmedien mit instruktionalen Bildern

Diagnostische Fahigkeiten von Lehrkraften gelten als wichtige Voraussetzungen fur die adaquate Vorbereitung, Durchfuhrung und Nachbereitung des schulischen Unterrichts. Fur den Unterricht sind wiederum in vielen Fachern Lernmaterialien grundlegend, die Texte mit instruktionalen Bildern enthalten. Vor diesem Hintergrund diente die vorliegende Studie der Untersuchung von zentralen Forschungsfragen zu Niveau und Zusammenhangen der diagnostischen Fahigkeiten von Lehrkraften im Bereich der Text-Bild-Integration, zu moglichen lehrer- bzw. materialseitigen Moderatorvariablen sowie zu Determinanten im diagnostischen Urteilsprozess. Es nahmen 116 Lehrkrafte mit 48 Klassen der Stufen 5 bis 8 unterschiedlicher Schulformen an der Studie teil. Zentrale Ergebnisse waren eine schwache bis moderate Gute der diagnostischen Lehrerurteile bei einer Tendenz zur Unterschatzung der Schulerleistungen, ein heterogenes Befundmuster bezuglich der Zusammenhange mit fachdidaktischem Wissen und Berufserfahrung sowie eine Bedeutung vo...

Mathematics teachers' beliefs

Teacher beliefs are thought to play a decisive role in the provision of classroom instruction (Richardson. Handbook of research on teacher education. Macmillan, New York, pp 102–106, 1996). This chapter investigates mathematics teachers’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge (epistemological beliefs) and about mathematics teaching and learning. To this end, 328 mathematics teachers from the COACTIV study were administered 44 Likert items tapping their professional beliefs. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that epistemological beliefs and beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning tend to co-occur into two characteristic, and negatively correlated, patterns of beliefs: a transmissive orientation and a constructivist orientation. The results of multilevel structural equation modeling confirmed the relevance of teacher beliefs for instructional practice and student learning outcomes: Constructivist beliefs were positively related to instructional quality and student achievement, whereas the potential for cognitive activation mediated the relationship between teacher beliefs and students’ achievement. Tentative implications for practice are drawn in the Discussion, followed by an outlook on two other aspects of teacher beliefs investigated in COACTIV: beliefs about the role of the teacher and beliefs about the cultural diversity of the student population.

The Diagnostic Skills of Mathematics Teachers

Teachers apply their diagnostic skills when grading students’ work as well as when preparing lessons and monitoring students’ understanding during the learning process. Previous research on teachers’ diagnostic skills has focused on teachers at elementary level. Drawing on a large German sample of mathematics teachers at secondary level, this chapter empirically addresses three key questions on teachers’ diagnostic skills (depending on the research question, the number of teachers with valid data varied between n=155 and n=331). The results showed that (a) the accuracy of teachers’ judgments of their classes’ achievement level, distribution of achievement, and motivation is relatively low, (b) diagnostic skills do not represent a one-dimensional but a multidimensional construct, and (c) teachers’ diagnostic skills (in terms of tasks-related judgment error and diagnostic sensitivity) have a positive influence on their students’ achievement gains in mathematics. Training and fostering teachers’ diagnostic skills seems thus to be highly relevant for the valid assignment of grades and for student progress.

Triggering parental involvement for parents of different language backgrounds: the role of types of partnership activities and preschool characteristics

Home and educational institutions are childrens most important external influences and a positive partnership between the two can positively affect childrens cognitive and non-cognitive development. Quality of family–preschool partnership (FPP) can depend on preschool and family characteristics. For Germany, studies show that immigrant parents perceive a lack of positive FPP. The present study addresses the following research questions: (1) How do parents and teachers in Germany rate FPP? (2) Do ratings of FPP differ between parents who do or do not speak German at home? (3) Is there a relation between the structural quality of the centre and ratings of FPP for teachers and parents? Results reflect positive ratings of FPP (1). Mean comparisons confirmed differences between parent groups (2). Multilevel regression analyses indicate that percentage of children who do not speak German at home is positively associated with parents’ ratings of FPP, but negatively with teachers’ satisfaction about FPP (3).