Knut Schwippert

The Development of Scientific Thinking in Elementary School: A Comprehensive Inventory

The development of scientific thinking was assessed in 1,581 second, third, and fourth graders (8-, 9-, 10-year-olds) based on a conceptual model that posits developmental progression from naïve to more advanced conceptions. Using a 66-item scale, five components of scientific thinking were addressed, including experimental design, data interpretation, and understanding the nature of science. Unidimensional and multidimensional item response theory analyses supported the instruments reliability and validity and suggested that the multiple components of scientific thinking form a unitary construct, independent of verbal or reasoning skills. A partial credit model gave evidence for a hierarchical developmental progression. Across each grade transition, advanced conceptions increased while naïve conceptions decreased. Independent effects of intelligence, schooling, and parental education on scientific thinking are discussed.

TIMSS, PISA, IGLU & CO. VOM SINN UND UNSINN INTERNATIONALER SCHULLEISTUNGSUNTERSUCHUNGEN

Thirty years after the US-Americans had to deal with the so called Sputnik shock Germany found its counterpart in the TIMSS shock. Since in the middle of the nineties the first results of the international mathematics and science study have been published, the Germans had to realize that they are far below the level of education they expected. It was a big surprise because Germany was not participating regularly in international large scale assessments since years. After the shock much more emphasize was put on empirical educational research. The advantage is, that much more research was undertaken in this field again - the disadvantage is that many people started to talk about studies without any appropriate understanding. The article reviews briefly studies undertaken in Germany, some famous miss-interpretations, and gives at the end a prospect about what can be expected from future research and how results can be used both in research and practice.

The Use and Abuse of International Comparative Research on Student Achievement

In more and more European countries the conditions and the output of education are systematically monitored — often every year. These analyses focus on the question of which educational standards are reached by different age groups, the standard of their grades in different subjects, and which conditions moderate the differences in student achievement. The aim is to establish a basis for the discussion on quantity and quality of the educational system of the corresponding country. This is done by implementing national studies or by participating in international studies on school achievement. This kind of output control seems to be necessary for the autonomy of schools. Furthermore, the feedback about student achievement could be an important aid for schools and their staff to improve their own quality management. External evaluation can be seen as an important means of supporting the process of school development. This article is the keynote held at the European Conference on Educational Research, Germany, Hamburg, 15–19 September 2003.

IGLU — Ergebnisse im internationalen und nationalen Vergleich — Erste Konsequenzen für die Grundschule

An der internationalen Lesestudie der International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) beteiligten sich weltweit etwa 150.000 Grundschulerinnen und -schuler aus 35 Staaten. In Deutschland nahmen alle 16 Bundeslander an der internationalen Lesestudie teil. Einige Bundeslander erweiterten ihre Stichprobe (Oversampling), so dass letztlich rund 10.500 Schulerinnen und Schuler an 246 Schulen getestet wurden. Fur die Beteiligung am zweiten Testtag, an dem die Tests in Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften, Rechtschreiben und Aufsatz durchgefuhrt wurden, entschieden sich nur zwolf Bundeslander (vgl. Bos et al. 2003). In sieben Landern der Bundesrepublik Deutschland wurde die Stichprobe so erhoht, dass fur diese Lander die reprasentativen Ergebnisse auch zufallskritisch abgesichert dargestellt werden konnten (vgl. Bos et al. 2004). Da in Thuringen keine Zufallsstichprobe gezogen wurde, sind die entsprechenden Ergebnisse nicht reprasentativ und werden in den Tabellen und Abbildungen abgesetzt berichtet. Fragebogen fur Schulleitungen, Lehrkrafte, Eltern, Schulerinnen und Schuler liefern Informationen uber leistungsrelevante Hintergrundbedingungen.

Doing research with international assessment studies: methodological and conceptual challenges and ways forward

International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) are an influential instrument for assessing and evaluating quality and equity across education systems and informing educational policies. The data collected in studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provide ample opportunity to investigate a broad range of research questions that are most often related to student attainment in specific subjects. In addition, the data enable researchers to examine topics related for instance to the impact of teacher and instructional characteristics on learning and attitudes towards learning, educational inequalities and the effectiveness of school and systemic characteristics (Hopfenbeck et al., 2017). The internationally comparative context in which these questions can be raised and addressed allows us to advance our understanding of the differences and similarities in the learning and teaching environments across national, cultural and regional settings around the world. But also within national borders ILSAs can contribute to a better understanding of the structures and mechanisms of the education system (Schwippert & Lenkeit, 2012). This is particularly true in countries where no or only few experience with national assessments exist. The assessment of reading has been at the forefront in ILSAs (e.g. Reading Literacy Study 1990–1991; PIRLS 2001-ongoing, PISA 2000-ongoing) not least because it is seen as one of the most important cultural techniques in our modern world. Reading skills are not only used to acquire knowledge in schools but more importantly are a necessary ability which guides individuals through their whole life (Motiejunaite, Noorani, & Monseur, 2014). But linguistic patterns, structures and the processes of their acquisition are very different across languages and the assessment of reading in an international context has also triggered critical examinations of the underlying cognitive-psychological concepts associated with the learning processes (Asil & Brown, 2016; Evans & Levinson, 2009; Grisay, Gonzalez, & Monseur, 2009). Language influences on item difficulties and test results have been documented for subjects such as science as well (e.g. El Masri, Baird, & Graesser, 2016), but the assessment of abstract mathematical and scientific concepts may overall be less affected by their translation into different languages as their acquisition follows similar cognitive processes. Recent studies have also shown that ILSA data are used more frequently in mathematics and science education research fields than in research for teaching reading and language (Hopfenbeck et al., 2017; Lenkeit, Chan, Hopfenbeck, & Baird, 2015). With few exceptions, reading research does not seem to utilise ILSA data or publish respective research in subject-specific scientific journals. This seems despite the fact that studies such as PIRLS for example offer a vast amount of information about students’ performance in different reading purposes and processes, all of which can be clearly assigned to individual items. As such, research aiming to enhance our understanding of the effects of the teaching environment and instructional approaches on learning and skill development has so far been more influential for the science and mathematics domains than for reading in ILSAs

Science-P I: Modeling Conceptual Understanding in Primary School

In the Science-P project (Science Competency in Primary School), we aimed at modeling scientific literacy in two dimensions—scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding—to describe science learning in primary school. The present chapter focuses on conceptual understanding exemplified by two content areas: floating and sinking (FS) and evaporation and condensation (EC). Drawing on results from conceptual change research in developmental psychology and science education, we devised a model with three hierarchically ordered levels of understanding—naive, intermediate and scientifically advanced—as the foundation of item and test construction. The two content areas engendered a two-dimensional structure in our test instrument. A validation study underscored that responses to our paper-pencil items were systematically related to responses obtained in interviews. Our test instrument was used to capture the development of primary school students’ conceptual understanding from second to fourth grade, in both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study. For cross-sectional data, students’ proficiency in scientific reasoning was found to predict their conceptual understanding. In future analyses, we will test this finding with our longitudinal data.

Science-P II: Modeling Scientific Reasoning in Primary School

Basic scientific reasoning abilities in primary-school children have been documented in numerous studies. However, an empirically tested competence-structure model has not been developed, most likely due to the difficulty of capturing conceptual understanding in paper-and-pencil tasks. The Science-P project contributes to this research area by constructing and testing a theoretical model of the development of scientific reasoning in primary school. Based on our own competence-structure model, derived from developmental research, we constructed a comprehensive inventory of paper-and-pencil tasks that can be used in whole-class testing. This chapter provides an overview of the development of our inventory, and reports three central findings: (1) the convergent validity of our inventory, (2) the significant development of scientific reasoning in primary school from Grades 2 to 4, and (3) empirical proof of our competence-structure model.

Configurations of multiple disparities in reading performance: longitudinal observations across France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom

Abstract Research provides evidence that gender, immigrant background and socio-economic characteristics present multiple disadvantaging characteristics that change their relative importance and configurations over time. When evaluating inequalities researchers tend to focus on one particular aspect and often use composite measures when evaluating socio-economic characteristics. Neither can fully represent the complexity of students’ various disadvantaging characteristics, which have autonomous associations with attainment and with each other. This paper investigates how the relative importance and configurations of different disadvantaging factors have changed over time to form educational inequalities and how these changes differ across countries. Data from five PISA cycles (2000–2012) for France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom are used and configurations of gender, immigration background, parents’ occupational and educational levels, and the number of books at home evaluated. Results enable us to relate changes (or lack thereof) in configurations of disadvantaging factors to recent reforms targeted at reducing educational inequality after the first PISA results.

Leistungsvergleichs- und Schulqualitätsforschung

In aktuellen Diskussionen uber das deutsche Bildungssystem wird fruher oder spater fast unvermeidlich auf die von der Organisation fur wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (OECD) durchgefuhrte PISA-Studie (Programme for International Student Assessment) verwiesen, die wegen des vergleichsweise schlechten Abschneidens der deutschen Schulerinnen und Schuler eine grundlegende Debatte uber die Leistungsfahigkeit des deutschen Bildungswesens ausgelost hat. Angesichts dieser Debatte und vor dem Hintergrund, dass es ein (Forschungs-)Leben auch schon vor PISA gegeben hat und neben PISA gibt, soll in diesem Beitrag die empirische Leistungsvergleichs- und Schulqualitatsforschung im Hinblick auf ihre Geschichte, ihre methodische und methodologische Verankerung und ihren derzeitigen Stand vorgestellt werden. Dies wird erganzt um einen Ausblick auf eine Auswahl von Forschungsfeldern, die in diesem Rahmen zukunftig relevant sein konnen.

Forty-Six Years of IRE: A Statistical and Documentary Survey

This paper surveys the articles published in IRE between 1955and 2000, analysing and comparing a range of data. Variables analysedinclude the gender and nationality of the authors, the countries andsubjects dealt with, the research methodologies used, and the way inwhich the articles reflect political ideological and social changes.This exercise, which has never before been undertaken in IRE,provides a detailed documentation of significant trends and developmentsin the journal over 46 years.