Susanne Bögeholz

Nature Experience and Its Importance for Environmental Knowledge, Values and Action: Recent German Empirical Contributions.

This article illustrates the importance of nature experience for environmental knowledge, values and action. Recent empirical German research on the importance of nature experience will be analysed with regard to research foci, innovative research contributions and selected research results. Research deficits and challenges will be identified. Recommendations for improving nature experience research will be given. The paper argues that nature experience is one central foundation for the development of knowledge and values in relation to the environment. Nature experience has frequently been shown to influence environmental action in everyday situations with low task complexity. The full challenge for education for sustainable development is posed, however, by situations of high factual and ethical complexity. In this regard, nature experience is also essential because of its role in fostering assessment and judgement competences.

Students’ Socioscientific Reasoning and Decision-making on Energy-related Issues—Development of a measurement instrument

The concept of energy is one key component of science education curricula worldwide. While it is still being taught in many science classrooms from a mainly conceptual knowledge perspective, the need to frame the concept of energy as a socioscientific issue and implement it in the context of citizenship education and education for sustainable development, is getting more and more explicit. As we will be faced with limited fossil fuels and the consequences of global climate change in the future, students have to be supported in becoming literate citizens who are able to reach informed energy-related decisions. In this article, we focus on students’ reasoning and decision-making processes about socioscientific energy-related issues. In more detail, we developed a paper-and-pencil measurement instrument to assess secondary school students’ competencies in this domain. The functioning of the measurement instrument was analysed with a sample of 850 students from grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 using item response theory. Findings show that the measurement instrument functions in terms of reliability and validity. Concerning student ability, elaborate reasoning and decision-making was characterised by the use of trade-offs and the ability to weigh arguments and to reflect on the structure of reasoning and decision-making processes. The developed measurement instrument provides a complement for existing test instruments on conceptual knowledge about the concept of energy. It aims to contribute to a change in teaching about energy, especially in physics education in the sense of education for sustainable development.

Lernförderung durch Anregung der Selbstregulation im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht

In einer quasi-experimentellen Interventionsstudie wurde die Wirksamkeit einer Verzahnung von selbstreguliertem Lernen mit naturwissenschaftlichem Fachunterricht untersucht. In enger Kooperation mit Lehrkraften wurde eine Unterrichtseinheit zum Thema Ernahrung konzipiert und entweder mit oder ohne zusatzliche Anregungen zum selbstregulierten Lernen mit 199 Schulern der siebten Jahrgangsstufe einer Gesamtschule durchgefuhrt. Die Resultate des Pratest-Posttest-Vergleichs zeigen, dass die zusatzlichen Selbstregulationsanregungen zu einem Anstieg selbstregulierten Lernens fuhren. Trotz reduzierter Unterrichtszeit fur fachbezogene Inhalte wurde unter der Bedingung mit Selbstregulationsanregungen fachlich ebenso viel gelernt wie in der Vergleichsgruppe. In einer anschliesenden neuen und fur beide Gruppen identischen Unterrichtseinheit konnte daruber hinaus ein Vorteil der Trainingsgruppe bezuglich des Lernerfolgs nachgewiesen werden.

Entwicklung eines Testinstruments zur Messung von Schülerkompetenzen

Wie gelange ich von der Idee, einen Kompetenztest zu entwickeln, zu einem reliablen und validen Messinstrument? Welche fachdidaktischen bzw. padagogisch-psychologischen Theorien lege ich zugrunde? Wie sollte die Entwicklung von Testaufgaben fur ein Instrument zur Kompetenzmessung erfolgen? Wodurch sind eine gelungene Kompetenzmodellierung und Messinstrumententwicklung gekennzeichnet? Zu diesen Fragen gibt der folgende Beitrag – illustriert am Beispiel der Messung von Bewertungskompetenz beim Bearbeiten komplexer Umweltproblemsituationen – Antworten.

Experts’ Views on Translation Across Multiple External Representations in Acquiring Biological Knowledge About Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution

Translation across multiple external representations (MERs) is essential for the construction of biological knowledge. This study solicited experts’ views on translation across MERs in the development of knowledge in the domains of ecology, genetics, and evolution. A Delphi approach generated experts’ views on specific challenges facing learners for engaging translation in the acquisition of biological concepts and principles. These experts’ opinions were reduced to three-themed viewpoints pertaining to horizontaltranslation across MERs at the same level of biological organization and three themes regarding verticaltranslation between MERs at different levels of organization. Furthermore, experts’ viewpoints on requirements for learners’ effective translation across MERs in the building of biological knowledge were revealed as three overarching ideas. The research suggests that biology teaching must incorporate translation competencies for supporting students’ knowledge construction.

Subjective Theories of Indonesian Agronomy and Biology Teacher Students on Environmental Commons Dilemmas.

Fostering the cognitive skills to analyse environmental “commons dilemmas” is an urgent task of environmental education globally. Commons dilemmas are characterised by structural incentives to overexploit a natural resource; their solution is particularly pressing in threatened biodiversity “hotspot” areas. Solutions to these dilemmas require local actors who command knowledge on the social, ecological, economic and institutional aspects of resource utilisation. This study investigates subjective theories that future Indonesian teachers and agricultural advisors bring to a representative local commons dilemma, the extraction of the non-timber forest product rattan. Based on 19 structured qualitative interviews, we identified prior knowledge concerning rattan extraction. University students expressed subjective theories on the ecological consequences of rattan extraction such as landslides or flooding. In addition to education, students mentioned more effective state administrations to conserve rattan stocks. The need to institutionally balance short-term individual exploitation profits with long-term interests in the preservation of a productive resource at community level, was hardly recognised. While Indonesia strives to include environmental education in its school curricula, the results highlight that future educators themselves are not well equipped to address pressing issues of resource and biodiversity loss.

Modeling and Fostering Decision-Making Competencies Regarding Challenging Issues of Sustainable Development

A model of decision-making competence for secondary school students was developed and validated within the project “Decision-Making Competence Regarding Challenging Issues of Sustainable Development”. The model rests on three pillars: Education for Sustainable Development, decision-making theory, and educational competence modeling. Three dimensions of decision-making competence were identified: (1) “Understanding values and norms” in the context of Sustainable Development (SD), (2) “Developing solutions”, and (3) “Evaluating solutions” for SD problems. The two last-mentioned dimensions stem from decision-making theory, and were adapted to educational purposes. Related measurement instruments were developed according to Wilson’s developmental cycle, using a between-item-multidimensionality approach. The test development procedures and results are described for the dimension “Developing solutions”. Moreover, we started with an experimental validation of a theory of socioscientific decision making. More specifically, we used training-induced strategies to realize experimental variation to differentiate empirically between two decision-making dimensions and problem solving. The results of a pilot study addressing the validation of “Developing solutions” and “Evaluating solutions”, vis-a-vis problem solving, are reported and discussed. We close with considerations of future research, to realign the boundaries of our research program.

Evaluating Sustainable Development Solutions Quantitatively: Competence Modelling for GCE and ESD.

To comprehensively address global environmental challenges such as biodiversity loss, citizens need an understanding of the socio-economic fundamentals of human behaviour in relation to natural resources. We argue that Global Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development provide a core set of socio-economic competencies that can be applied to tackle such challenges. As a central concern of this article, we report on the development of a competence model and its use in an empirical study. The study analyses the ability of German students (n = 268: 232 pupils in senior secondary school and 36 student teachers) to evaluate solutions for real-world Sustainable Development challenges quantitatively. In doing so, we investigate a theoretically described competence dimension, that is, ‘Evaluating and Reflecting Solutions Quantitatively-Economically’. A Rasch partial credit model indicates that ‘Evaluating and Reflecting Solutions Quantitatively-Economically’ can be modelled as a one-dimensional competence. Grade level, general educational performance and high performance in subjects addressing Education for Sustainable Development positively affect ‘Evaluating and Reflecting Solutions Quantitatively-Economically’ scores. Although applying basic economic insights in a quantitative manner to Sustainable Development challenges is within the mathematical skill set of most students, even older or better-performing students find it difficult to do so. Thus, these findings underscore the need for economic competencies to be incorporated in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education.

University Students’ Perceptions of Common-Resource Dilemmas – the Need for Adjusted Curriculum in Indonesia

Many of Indonesia’s forest resources are degraded by over-utilisation due to de facto resources that are common property in the open-access areas. Consequences include social, economic, ecological, cultural as well as worldwide repercussions on resource degradation. The purpose of this study is to examine the pre-concepts of Indonesian biology student teachers and agronomy students on local resource conservation issues – overexploited common-resource dilemmas in Central Sulawesi, especially of the non-timber forest product, rattan.