Many science educators have argued in favour of including socioscientific issues (SSI) in general, and ethical issues in particular, in school science. However, there have been a number of objections to this proposal, and it is widely acknowledged that such teaching places additional demands on science teachers. This study examined the curricula,…

Instructional videos are a popular teaching and learning tool. Teachers use already existing videos and develop their own videos, in which they explain important domain concepts. The effectiveness of these videos depends on their instructional quality. To support future teachers in creating high-quality videos, we developed a training and compared…

Texts and instructional pictures are widely used for facilitating students' understanding of complex content, especially in science subjects. International large-scale assessments repeatedly reveal differences in students' science achievement between countries. Since text-picture material (TPM) plays an essential role in science education, it is…

For plant identification in school biology, many digital and analogue identification methods have been developed to make this demanding and little motivating process more student-orientated. In this experimental field study, we examine two empirically developed tools: the digital identification app "ID-Logics' and the paper-based key,…

Despite widespread efforts to promote Open Educational Resources (OER) in German K-12 education, their adoption remains relatively low. Previous research has identified common enablers and barriers to OER adoption (i.e., OER (re)use, adaptation, and creation) from an international and intercultural perspective while a hierarchy of such predictors…

Until now, geography teaching has only touched upon the way in which students write argumentations focused on geographical topics, and the challenges of doing this. In order to shed light on this process, this study considers the problems and challenges students face when using material-based written argumentation in geography lessons. The results…

Teachers do not directly implement new teaching materials, but rather adapt them. For changing teaching practice, research requires more insights into these adaptions. This study draws on the Theory of Instrumental Genesis to describe the ways teachers adopt the percentage bar model to create different learning opportunities. The results of the…

Changes in the economy and society lead to a growing necessity of financial education. In this context, we investigate the approaches to financial education in secondary schools in the United States and Germany. We seek to answer the question if and how the implementation of financial education is similar and different between the two countries.…

The present paper attempts to reason that social-constructivist spatial theory represents an essential approach for contemporary geography teaching. This approach is essential to show learners how space contributes to the organization of society. By contrast, German geography didactics and teaching practice, which are examined closely here by…

In order to better facilitate scaling up of classroom innovations, two complementary strategies have often been discussed. The "community-based strategy" emphasizes the necessity for professional learning communities and their embedding in institutional settings. The "material-based strategy" starts from well-designed teaching…

The inclusion of human-like shapes like arms or faces in rather abstract pictures triggers the tendency of anthropomorphism, which is defined as the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman objects. Anthropomorphism-triggering features in digital learning materials were found to enhance the performance of students. However, the probability…

Students often have misconceptions about terrestrial carbon flows and there is a lack of coherence in students' explanations regarding the different levels of biological organisation at which these processes occur. In this study, problem-based teaching materials on the topic of terrestrial carbon flows were developed and tested with 15 students…

Setting tasks plays a key role in geography lessons, as they enable students to engage with the subject content, guide lessons towards predefined learning outcomes, and are therefore important for assessment. At the same time, the use of tasks is complex as numerous aspects regarding the content and the students have to be taken into account.…

This study examined the role of history education for nation building in Ethiopia, Germany Rwanda, South Africa, Switzerland, and USA using a comparative research method. Student textbooks and syllabi were the main data sources. Document review was the principal data-gathering tool and the data was analysed qualitatively. Findings revealed that…

The English language plays a major role around the world, making it important to learn English in order to participate and communicate in our globalized age. Adequate foreign language (L2) skills are important for everyday life and can even enhance performance in one's first language (L1). A growing number of very heterogeneous classrooms make it…