Visit-Math 2 – Fostering diagnostic competencies of pre-service teachers: Individual learning potentials throughout their course of studies and adaptation effects of prompts as scaffolds

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The first funding period of the project Visit-Math was directed towards examining the diagnostic competencies of teacher students in the area of mathematical argumentation using video-based simulation environments. In particular, relations between students’ individual characteristics and their diagnostic competencies were investigated. Moreover, the project has created first evidence regarding the effectivity of prompts as scaffolding to support the acquisition of diagnostic competencies. First results show that the created video-based simulation environment was perceived as an authentic representation of school practice, that the simulation was motivating and cognitively involving, and that the diagnostic competencies of the students could be measured validly at the same time. Of particular importance for the second funding period is the result that there are considerable interindividual differences in students’ diagnostic competencies so that a custom-tailored support, which is adapted to the learners’ characteristics, appears consequential. This is supported both by theoretical arguments and by recent meta-analytic results that underline the discriminative effectiveness of different approaches to support diagnostic competencies depending on the prior proficiency.The research project, thus, examines (FF1) how sensitive the created video-based simulation environment is regarding changes of students’ professional knowledge base and their diagnostic competencies throughout the course of their university studies and (FF2) which types of prompts used as scaffolding are particularly effective on different levels of proficiency. To answer these questions, four empirical studies will be conducted. Study 1 (FF1) focuses on the sensitivity of the created simulation and examines students quasi-longitudinally throughout their course of studies to determine learning trajectories of their diagnostic competencies and professional knowledge and to investigate if these go along with the content of the students’ curricula. Studies 2 & 3 (FF2) examine the macro adaptation of scaffolding based on students‘ professional knowledge and the accuracy of their diagnosis, respectively. Results will allow conclusions on the differential effectivity of instructional-activating and conceptual-connecting prompts. Additionally, the exploratory study 4 (FF2) examines if a micro adaptation of the employed scaffold based on process measures can lead to a further optimization of the learning environment.In the second funding period, thus, a continuing research agenda is created that integrates current results from research in the area of scaffolding and video-based simulation environments. The project will contribute to creating cutting-edge evidence, especially when considering the conceptual framework and the interdisciplinary collaboration of the COSIMA research group, how simulation-based learning environments can be effectively designed and used in teacher education.