German Secondary School Research Articles

Effects of a Digital Math Training Intervention on Self-Efficacy: Can Clipart Explainers Support Learners?

In the mathematics domain, learning from worked examples is a best practice method for initial skill acquisition. However, open questions refer to effective digital training interventions in the field. Subject to these questions are the potential effects of self-explanations on self-efficacy, and the role of clip art explainers currently in vogue (cartoon teachers plus explanations in speech bubbles). We thus developed and field-tested a short-term (approximately 45 minutes) digital training intervention on mathematical proportionality with 113 German secondary school students (Mage: 14.12 years). We applied a quantitative experimental research design to analyse learning processes and outcomes with tests and questionaires. To investigate the potential supportive effects of the clipart explainers, we compared two versions of our intervention: with clip art explainers (clipart condition) and without them (control condition). Our training intervention revealed a significant positive within-subjects effect on the learners’ mathematical self-efficacy related to proportionality tasks. The clipart explainers had a significant negative between-subject effect on the subjective difficulty of the instructional material—with no indications of being detrimental to learning. Finally, we detected self-explanation quality and task engagement to be significant predictors for learning outcomes. Our findings underscore the importance of having learners deeply process the given materials.

The agonizing effects of uncertainty: Effects of announced vs. unannounced performance assessments on emotions and achievement.

Performance assessments play an essential role in performance diagnostics at schools. In practice, both announced and unannounced assessments are regularly used. However, it is unclear whether assessments are better administered announced or unannounced. From a theoretical perspective, it can be argued that announced assessments, mediated by the greater degree of students’ subjective control that accompanies them, should have a more beneficial effect on emotions, as well as the subsequently resulting performance, than unannounced assessments. To investigate these assumptions, emotion (enjoyment, anxiety) and achievement data (grades) were collected from 414 students in 19 lower- and upper-level tracks at a German secondary school on both announced and unannounced performance assessments. Less anxiety and more enjoyment occurred on the announced assessments. Moreover, enjoyment and anxiety were predictors of performance (i.e., school grades), which was better overall on announced assessments than on unannounced ones. The results of our field study suggest that announced assessments have more beneficial effects on emotions than unannounced assessments.

Investigating teachers’ dyadic self-efficacy and its correlations to students’ perceptions of teacher efficacy and student well-being

Most studies, to date, have ignored variance in teachers’ self-efficacy (TSE) in relation to teaching individual students (i.e., student-specific self-efficacy). However, TSE and teacher efficacy differ among students. Thus, this study examines dyadic TSE in four domains and their correlations with students’ perceptions of teacher efficacy and student academic self-concept and well-being. Results of a paper–pencil survey involving 29 teachers and 469 students (39.9% girls, aged 10–17 years) from German secondary schools reveal a moderate overlap between dyadic TSE and students’ perceptions of teacher efficacy. Furthermore, they reveal variance in how teachers’ and students’ ratings are related.

Examining German and American teachers’ perceptions about students’ use of the internet to conduct research

ABSTRACT There is a critical need to understand the factors that influence the development of students’ skills for using the Internet to search for and locate information. Teachers play an important role in this process and there is a related impetus to identify the dynamics of instruction in information-seeking activities. This study investigated German and American middle and secondary school teachers’ perceptions about preparing students to use the Internet as a tool for research. Utilizing theoretical thematic analysis, results indicated teachers from both countries felt specific student attributes contributed to and inhibited processes associated with online information searches. Importantly, there were also similarities and differences in the strategies teachers perceived as necessary for preparing students that were linked to pedagogical and contextually-specific factors. Implications for future investigations include incorporating observations of instruction and collecting teaching artefacts to further identify the pedagogical strategies implemented by teachers from each country.

Students’ interest and self-efficacy and the impact of changing learning environments

Interest and self-efficacy are two key components of motivation and learning, both of which decrease during adolescence. The situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), recently formulated by Eccles and Wigfield (2020), provides a detailed perspective on critical components of learning situations and the ways in which competence beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy) and value perceptions (e.g., interest) work together to impact students’ achievement. This four-wave study includes data from 754 German secondary school students (MAge = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.4% girls). The study analysis employed two latent change models and a latent neighbor change model with covariates (sex, age, grades) to examine the development and interconnections between interest and self-efficacy. The schools included in the sample expand instruction via two self-directed learning intervals during the school year. During the self-directed learning intervals, learning was driven by the students’ preferences for subject matter rather than curricular objectives. The findings indicate that students’ interest and self-efficacy increased not only during self-directed learning but also over the course of the school year. The results suggest that an instructional environment that has been enriched by SDL intervals benefits the interplay between interest and self-efficacy.

Teacher identity in science education – Results of an empirical study on first- and third-person narratives

We discuss the term teacher identity and its significance for teacher education and teachers’ professional development. From the literature, we derive a definition of the term that associates teacher identity with first- and third-person narratives. In this way, the construct teacher identity becomes operationalizable in empirical studies: Therefore, we conducted a first exploratory study with N = 89 science and non-science teachers at five German secondary schools. This study’s results indicate that the approach of identifying the construct teacher identity with first- and third-person narratives could be fruitful for future empirical research in this field.

What beliefs about writing guide EFL curricula? An analysis of relevant policy documents for teaching English at German secondary schools

Although curricular analyses are of crucial importance for curricular development, documents for teaching writing in English as a foreign language [EFL] in Germany have not yet received much attention. Our study explores what beliefs about writing guide educational policy documents for teaching EFL in Germany. Using Ivanič’s (2004) discourses of writing [DoW] as a theoretical lens, we conduct a curricular analysis of 11 curricula for lower secondary school (Year 9/10) and their guiding superordinate documents. Our data suggest that none of the documents offers a comprehensive conceptualization of writing. The skills and the genre discourses are predominant; the process, the creativity, and the social practices discourses receive little attention, while the sociopolitical discourse of writing is missing. Differences in discourse frequency in curricula among school types and federal states may hinder transitions between educational tracks. The relative neglect of the procedural character of writing and the lack of acknowledgment of the social dimension of learning to write further suggest a misalignment between curricula and current research into (foreign language) writing pedagogy. This may be particularly detrimental for less proficient or socially disadvantaged learners. Implications for curricular development are outlined, suggesting that a more comprehensive approach to writing that covers all six DoW is important. In particular, we highlight the potential of process-oriented writing and also refer to the need to address digital literacy in writing.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in German secondary schools from October 2020 to July 2021: a longitudinal study

PurposeTo quantify the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in students and teachers in 14 Secondary schools in eastern Saxony, Germany. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in study population. Number of undetected cases.MethodsSerial seroprevalence study.ResultsThe role of educational settings in the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic is still controversial. Seroprevalence increases from 0.8 to 5.9% from October to December when schools remained open and to 12.2% in March/April during a strict lockdown with closed schools. The ratio of undetected to detected cases decreased from 0.76 to 0.44 during the study period.ConclusionDuring the second and third wave of the pandemic in Germany, students and teachers are not overrepresented in SARS-CoV-2 infections. The percentage of undetected cases is moderate and decreases over time. The risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 within the household is higher than contracting it in educational settings making school closures rather ineffective in terms of pandemic control measures or individual risk reduction in children and adolescents.Trial registrationDRKS00022455 (July 23rd, 2020).

How tracking gets under the skin: German education system and social consciousness of Turkish descent students in basic secondary school tracks

Students of Turkish heritage are overrepresented in basic secondary vocational schools and underrepresented in university-track academic secondary schools in Germany. Macro-level studies analyzing this achievement gap generally focus on the effects of family resources, institutional practices, and discrimination. Yet, the impact of macro-level factors, such as the effects of institutional mechanisms on students’ identities, remains relatively unquestioned. Drawing on the ethnicization framework and utilizing in-depth interviews and ethnography, this study examines the social consciousness of a group of male Turkish descent students in German secondary school tracks. The study analyzes the relationship between social consciousness and the broader educational context, suggesting that this relationship involves ethnicized oppositional elements stemming not from culture but from class and ethnic stratifications affirmed and lived out in German schools on a daily basis.

Rethinking Quality Science Education for Climate Action: Transdisciplinary Education for Transformative Learning and Engagement

Latest findings of the IPCC highlight the fact that there is an urgent need for climate action on both individual and societal levels, because political regulations and technical advances just would not be enough to counter climate change. Acknowledging young people’s role as present and future decision-makers, their engagement is absolutely imperative in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 13, “Climate Action.” Therefore, new methods of teaching and learning are necessary, and they need to encourage transformative learning, which, it is assumed, will lay foundations for transformative engagement. Research in the field of science education credits scientific literacy vision III as fostering transformative learning and engagement. In this study, transdisciplinary education is analyzed as a promising concept that enables exchange of knowledge, experiences, and perspectives between students and scientific partners while they jointly complete research on real-world issues. A quantitative analysis capturing scientific literacy and transformative engagement for climate action of Austrian and German secondary school students (N= 162) is carried out alongside a literature review. This study reveals that the didactical concept of transdisciplinary education notably contributes to the implementation of scientific literacy vision III as well as vision II. According to the results, the three visions of scientific literacy are predictors for transformative engagement for climate action, assuming to be preceded by a transformative learning process. These encouraging findings need to be replicated by further scholars in other contexts.

Exploring German Secondary School Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Density

This article reports on the development and piloting of a German version of a concept test to assess students’ conceptual knowledge of density. The concept test was administered in paper-pencil format to 222 German secondary school students as a post-test after instruction in all relevant concepts of density. We provide a psychometric characterization of the instrument based on the student responses. Therefore, we use methods from classical test theory and item response theory. Our analysis shows that our concept test has good psychometric properties. Furthermore, it is shown to enable a reliable (α= 0.77) survey of students’ conceptual knowledge of density. Finally, we use the student responses to identify secondary school students’ difficulties with the density concept. We replicate student difficulties on density from the literature, but our study also reveals some new difficulties.

Uncovering everyday dynamics in students’ perceptions of instructional quality with experience sampling

Within-student dynamics in perceptions of instructional quality have been neglected, although student states constitute a major share of these perceptions. The present study examined the structure and correlates of student state perceptions of the three basic dimensions, teacher support, cognitive activation, and classroom management. We conducted a three-week experience sampling study using state measures in four subjects (observations: nmathematics = 2,681, nphysics = 1,555, nGerman = 2,026, nEnglish = 1,835) and analyzed data from 372 German secondary school students (Mage = 15.3 years), conducting two-level confirmatory factor analyses. Against more parsimonious solutions, the postulated three-factor structure was confirmed within- and between-students across subjects, entailing 51% within-student variance on average. Similar to trait-like perceptions, state perceptions were positively related to grades and academic interest. Our results support the factorial and convergent validity of state student perceptions of instructional quality, expanding upon between-person-based literature and uncovering opportunities to enhance teaching effectiveness.

Adolescent school injuries and classroom sex compositions in German secondary schools

BackgroundSchool injuries are an important adolescent health problem. Previous research suggests that relevant risk behaviors for school injuries, risk-taking and aggression, are highly susceptible to peer effects. Specifically, evidence suggests that the ratio of men and women in peer groups (sex ratio) affects individuals’ propensity for aggression and risk-taking. However, potential associations of classroom sex ratios with adolescent school injury risks have not been studied so far. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association of classroom sex compositions with adolescent school injuries.MethodsWe investigate the association of classroom sex ratios with school injuries in a longitudinal survey dataset containing 13,131 observations from 9,204 adolescent students (ages 13-16) from secondary schools in Germany. The data also allow us to identify injuries due to aggressive behavior and analyze these injuries in detail. We use multilevel logistic regression models to analyze risks of both overall and aggression-related school injuries.ResultsAdolescent students’ risk for school injuries is significantly and positively associated with male-skewed classroom sex ratios (OR = 1.012, p=0.012). Specifically, the risk of sustaining a school injury increases by 33.5 percent when moving from the 10th to the 90th classroom sex ratio percentile. Moreover, we find an even stronger positive association between male-dominated classrooms and aggression-related injury risks (OR = 1.022, p=0.010). Compared to classroom sex ratios at the 10th percentile, the risk of an aggression-related injury is 78 percent higher in classrooms with a sex ratio at the 90th percentile. Finally, we find that both boys’ and girls’ injury risks equally increase with a higher proportion of male students in their classroom.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that sex composition of classrooms is an important contextual factor for adolescent school injuries, in particular school injuries resulting from aggression. These findings illustrate the need to integrate a contextual perspective on school injuries among adolescent students both into research and into intervention planning.

Investigation of a Limited but Explosive COVID-19 Outbreak in a German Secondary School.

The role of schools as a source of infection and driver in the coronavirus-pandemic has been controversial and is still not completely clarified. To prevent harm and disadvantages for children and adolescents, but also adults, detailed data on school outbreaks is needed, especially when talking about open schools employing evidence-based safety concepts. Here, we investigated the first significant COVID-19 school outbreak in Hamburg, Germany, after the re-opening of schools in 2020. Using clinical, laboratory, and contact data and spatial measures for epidemiological and environmental studies combined with whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis, we examined the causes and the course of the secondary school outbreak. The potential index case was identified by epidemiological tracking and the lessons in classrooms with presumably high virus spreading rates and further infection chains in the setting. Sequence analysis of samples detected one sample of a different virus lineage and 25 virus genomes with almost identical sequences, of which 21 showed 100% similarity. Most infections occurred in connection with two lesson units of the primary case. Likely, 31 students (12–14 years old), two staff members, and three family members were infected in the school or the typical household. Sequence analysis revealed an outbreak cluster with a single source that was epidemiologically identified as a member of the educational staff. In lesson units, two superspreading events of varying degrees with airborne transmission took place. These were influenced by several parameters including the exposure times, the use of respiratory masks while speaking and spatial or structural conditions at that time.

Evaluating Accents of English in ELT Textbooks Used at German Secondary Schools

Evaluating Accents of English in ELT Textbooks Used at German Secondary Schools

Out-of-school learning levels prior achievement and gender differences in secondary school students’ motivation

Motivation for school generally declines over the years. At the same time, self-determined motivation is most beneficial for learning, achievement, and well-being. Therefore, it is crucial to support and maintain student motivation in the school context. This holds especially for science, where motivation is often low. Out-of-school learning settings may support self-determined motivational regulation. However, not every out-of-school learning setting motivates in the same way, and additional factors like gender and prior knowledge might interact with the way a learning setting motivates. We investigated differences in self-reported motivational regulation and predictors of intrinsic motivation between N=88 German secondary school biology major students (M=17.71 years, SD=0.74, n=60 women) at a biological-ecological out-of-school learning setting and during regular biology classes. We found complex main and interaction effects of the learning setting and gender on motivation. Differences in higher- and lower-achieving males’ intrinsic motivation were leveled in the out-of-school learning setting. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of self-determination theory.

Translation and validation of an extended German-language version of the Perceived Locus of Causality Questionnaire (PLOCQ-G) in a sample of physical education students

The aims of this study were to translate and validate an extended German-language version of the Perceived Locus of Causality Questionnaire (PLOCQ), a questionnaire that assesses behavioural regulations in the physical education (PE) context. Items assessing integrated regulation were added given that the original PLOCQ omits this factor. The sample consisted of 223 students from different German secondary schools. Psychometric analyses provided support for the six factors and 24-item model. Inter-correlations among the factors predominantly mirrored a simplex-like structure, except for the correlations between introjected and identified regulation and integrated regulation and its adjacent forms of regulation. Construct validity was demonstrated with positive correlations between the autonomous forms of regulation on the one hand and task orientation, perceived competence, and enjoyment on the other. Overall, this study showed that the PLOCQ‑G with six factors and 24 items has good psychometric properties and can be used to assess behavioural regulations in German PE students.

Autonomy-related Parenting Profiles and their Effects on Adolescents’ Academic and Psychological Development: A Longitudinal Person-oriented Analysis

The important role of parenting is widely acknowledged, but as most studies have understood and examined it as a stable attribute (e.g., parenting style), the stability of and changes in parenting are less well understood. Using longitudinal person-oriented approaches (i.e., latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses), this study aimed to examine the stability of and changes in autonomy-related parenting profiles and their effects on adolescents’ academic and psychological development. Four autonomy-related dimensions (i.e., autonomy support, warmth, psychological control, conditional regard) were chosen to identify parenting profiles on the basis of Self-Determination Theory. Using five-year longitudinal data from 789 German secondary school students (50.06% female, Mage at T1 = 10.82 years, age span = 10–17), four autonomy-related parenting profiles were found: Supportive (~17%), Controlling (~31%), Unsupportive-Uncontrolling (~17%), and Limited Supportive (~35%). The results suggest that the Supportive profile contributes to adolescents’ positive academic and psychological development, whereas the Controlling profile, which thwarts autonomy development, exacerbates the development of psychopathology, and impairs academic achievement. More importantly, the Limited Supportive profile is as maladaptive as the Unsupportive-Uncontrolling profile. Regarding parenting profiles’ stability and changes, the results showed that about half of each profile stayed in the same group. Overall, it could be observed that parents became more supportive and less controlling over time. However, the findings also indicate that parenting profiles are less stable than expected and can still change during early-to-mid adolescence.

The achievement gap in reading competence: the effect of measurement non-invariance across school types

BackgroundAfter elementary school, students in Germany are separated into different school tracks (i.e., school types) with the aim of creating homogeneous student groups in secondary school. Consequently, the development of students’ reading achievement diverges across school types. Findings on this achievement gap have been criticized as depending on the quality of the administered measure. Therefore, the present study examined to what degree differential item functioning affects estimates of the achievement gap in reading competence.MethodsUsing data from the German National Educational Panel Study, reading competence was investigated across three timepoints during secondary school: in grades 5, 7, and 9 (N = 7276). First, using the invariance alignment method, measurement invariance across school types was tested. Then, multilevel structural equation models were used to examine whether a lack of measurement invariance between school types affected the results regarding reading development.ResultsOur analyses revealed some measurement non-invariant items that did not alter the patterns of competence development found among school types in the longitudinal modeling approach. However, misleading conclusions about the development of reading competence in different school types emerged when the hierarchical data structure (i.e., students being nested in schools) was not taken into account.ConclusionsWe assessed the relevance of measurement invariance and accounting for clustering in the context of longitudinal competence measurement. Even though differential item functioning between school types was found for each measurement occasion, taking these differences in item estimates into account did not alter the parallel pattern of reading competence development across German secondary school types. However, ignoring the clustered data structure of students being nested within schools led to an overestimation of the statistical significance of school type effects.

Tool-HLCA: An intervention to promote the health literacy of school-aged children

BackgroundSchool-aged children are often exposed to health-related information from digital sources. However, there are no interventions in schools to help them deal with these appropriately. Installing health literacy in schools succeeds more easily if it can be linked to existing curricular requirements. This study aims to implement a toolbox to address (digital) health literacy of school-aged children (grades 7 and 8) in German secondary schools by combining existing media frameworks with health literacy.MethodsBased on analysing a mandatory curriculum on media literacy in the state of North-Rhine-Westphalia in Germany and elaborating its commonalities with health literacy, we developed the toolbox for strengthening (digital) health literacy in school-aged children. Currently, the toolbox is being piloted in the school-setting in order to gain feedback from children and teachers.ResultsThe mandatory media literacy framework for classroom teaching in German schools addresses the health literacy core competencies find, understand, appraise and use information. By using that framework and integrating health as a topic, this toolbox fits to the German core curriculum and will ensure that the toolbox is familiar and can be used with low thresholds by schoolteachers. The toolbox addresses digital health literacy including exercises to evaluate health-related information on different online platforms. It provides topic-specific tasks (e.g. coronavirus, vaccination, nutrition) and evaluation criteria for identifying mis- and disinformation.ConclusionsThe toolbox is an opportunity to enhancing (digital) health literacy in school-aged children by highlighting the intersections of the mandatory curriculum on media literacy and the core competencies of health literacy. In the long term, this kind of curriculum analysis serves as a methodological blueprint for educationalists to integrate health literacy into schools in many ways.