Subject Matter Didactics Research Articles

Democratic Society and Education

In March 2010 the Congress of the German Educational Research Association (GERA/DGfE) was held in Mainz. This year‘s topic “Bildung in der Demokratie” (Education in a Democratic Society) touched upon the classic questions and concerns of processes of learning in the domain of the social sciences, i.e. social, economic or political subjects. Therefore, in these conference proceedings we intend to present the research-trends and theoretical profiles that should be of interest especially for teaching the social sciences. Three major trends in the discipline were represented at the conference with their rather different understandings of education in social sciences: knowledge-oriented subject matter didactics, socially-oriented “Demokratiedidaktik” (didactics of democracy), and a systemic and function-oriented sociology of education. Unfortunately, dialogue between these trends was rare at Mainz. The congress proceedings will thus try to show the different approaches they take and to reconstruct the communication that was needed, but often absent. A conceptual and empirical linkage between these positions seems necessary and reasonable. The following report presents a number of research-projects which attempt such linkages and thereby reconstruct and constructively orient the inner logic of pedagogical processes along the road to an empirically founded theory of education.

Reflective development and developmental research: is there a future for action research as a research strategy in German‐speaking countries?

For about two decades only marginal relevance was attributed to action research as a research strategy by large sections of the German social science community. The growing international debate on key concepts such as community participation, community‐based participatory research and participatory action research were largely ignored. In this paper we want to clarify our concept of action research and to provide arguments for the need to re‐evaluate the research potential of this approach. We illustrate the arguments by an analysis of one of the most successful in‐service education of teachers’ courses in Austria, which is based on action research (‘Education and subject matter didactics for teachers’). The second part of the paper argues that the growing number of practical action research examples in German‐speaking countries indicates a social demand for this type of research. The paper ends with a theoretical discussion of frequent objections against action research in the German research tradition.

Competence in the subject matter didactics of evolutionary biology. A interview study with science/biology teachers

Competence in the subject matter didactics of evolutionary biology. A interview study with science/biology teachers