Running projects
Organizing Self-Regulated Learning with AI
"Studium" - Studium: A Generative AI-Driven Learning Platform
The web App "Studium", redefines learning by harnessing the power of cutting-edge generative AI. This project go beyond a static feature set, offering a constantly evolving suite of tools that personalizes the learning experience for every student and teacher. This isn't just about AI, though. Studium fosters a dynamic learning environment where you can choose your preferred learning approach and language.
Unleash your creativity with advanced note-taking and presentation tools, leverage the built-in AI assistant for ongoing guidance, and streamline workflows with automation features. Collaborate seamlessly with built-in Miro boards, fostering teamwork and knowledge sharing in a stimulating environment.
"Studium" empowers self-regulated learning by recognizing that every student has unique learning journey and cognitive strengths. That's why the project provides a customizable toolbox that allows the student to take charge of your learning.
We are actively researching the impact of "Studium". We want to see how this unique blend of generative AI, traditional features, and customization options empowers students to create their own personalized learning environment. Our goal is to assess how effectively "Studium" helps students understand concepts, motivates them in the learning process, and ultimately allows them to achieve their academic goals.
Smita Singh
GreenCHEM
The innovative transfer space for green chemistry in the capital region - Berlin
GreenCHEM is a multi-sectoral consortium of 29 partners united by one mission: to develop the sustainability impact of green chemistry for the benefit of the planet. To do so, we aim to transform the chemical industry into a circular economy based on renewable raw materials; this T!Raum initiative connects science and industry as well as other stakeholders. On its way to the market, it accompanies sustainable chemical innovations from the idea to implementation, from the first experiment to industrial production. GreenCHEM aims to establish an ecosystem for green chemistry innovations in the capital region of Berlin that is financially self-supporting, achieves a measurable sustainability impact and has European appeal.
Goals and transfer approach
The team develops, tests and optimizes innovative and tailor-made transfer formats in order to implement them in five different target areas: "research push", "industry pull", "teaching", "further education" and "stakeholders". One of the central guiding principles is to take an integrated view of the target areas and always work in an interdisciplinary manner.
In the area of teaching, we aim to fundamentally redesign the course of study in the field of green chemistry. Technical skills are to be combined with entrepreneurial skills and transfer skills. The transfer formats will cover the training of future teachers as well as the teaching content of Bachelors and Masters degree courses and the training of doctoral students.
Another education area is the "further training" of industry representatives with regard to innovative technological content and collaborative innovation approaches. By increasing the level of knowledge and experience, an increased openness towards transfer formats is to be achieved, thus generating positive effects for "pull innovations".
Nikki Man
The greenCHEM project is part of the T!Raum initiative by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Collaborative problem solving in Chemistry
Development of a quantitative assessment tool
Collaboration is a complex skill that consists of multiple sub-skills. Proficient collaborative problem solving (CPS) skills are a necessary condition for success in universities and workplaces. Chemistry is an experiment-based discipline, which means that collaborative skills are the key to solving problems.
The project quantitatively examines the impact of covariables (such as cognition, motivation, etc.) on CPS skills, and to what extent these variables can predict students' CPS skills. To avoid the difficulty of pen-and-paper tests in recording students' attitudes and communication processes in the real environment, a computer agent technology will be used to develop tasks in a chemical environment. A qualitative study will be carried out before designing the items, thus ensuring the standardization of the evaluation.
Yico Ying
Supported by the China Scholarship
Systems thinking in chemistry education
Analyzing teaching possibilities by sustainable chemistry
Systems thinking in chemistry education holds promise in improving students’ higher order thinking skills, supporting meaningful conceptual learning, promoting interest, presenting misconceptions and developing chemical thinking skills.
The project empirically tests the effectiveness of graphical learning tools, specifically systems-oriented concept maps extension approaches in supporting systems thinking in chemistry education. Using mixed design methods, the project assesses the bachelor and masters’ modules on “Sustainability in chemistry” pilot under the Co-operation project “greenCHEM”, in which systems thinking approaches are being applied. The research is focused on:
The differences in the quality of knowledge represented by cognitive structures of experts and novices
A comparison of students’ self-perception on their learning against the teaching objectives and against students’ achievements in class assessments and examinations
Estimating the effects of graphical learning tools on students’ achievements in class assessments and examinations
Tashi Paarek
The greenCHEM project is part of the T!Raum initiative by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Critical Thinking in Higher Education
Fostering a 21st century skill in a graduated lab work course
Critical thinking is actively reflecting upon one’s own experience and knowledge and searching for necessary information in the process of inquiry. Shifting science teaching from the rote-passive-learning to using critical thinking skills as a primary component in facilitating learning, is necessary for inquiry-based learning and for making reasoned argumentation in science. This study focuses on a physical chemistry undergraduate lab course and aimes at examining whether cognitive prompts in the context of CT enhance students’ CT-skills and CT-dispositions. Cognitive prompts were added to the original laboratory manual of the course. The qualitative study was conducted within a pre- and post-experimental design using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) and the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) as dependent variables.
Lilian Danial
funded by "SALSA Graduate School" of the German Science Foundation (DFG)
Experimental competence of chemistry teacher students
Investigate and fostering the experimental competence of chemistry teacher students in the context of Green Chemistry
Experimental competence is an essential part of the process of scientific inquiry and plays an important role for chemistry teachers, as it enables them to practically investigate scientific questions. Additionally, it forms the foundation for a practice-oriented teaching of chemistry content in school.
The aim of this project is to investigate and fostering the experimental competence of chemistry teacher students in the context of Green Chemistry. In cooperation with the greenCHEM project, a teaching module will be developed that features various experiments suitable for school settings, considering the principles of Green Chemistry. A special focus is placed on fostering the ability to independently plan, conduct, and analyze experiments. The acceptance and attitude of student teachers towards Green Chemistry will be also examined.
By linking Green Chemistry with experimental skills in this project, future teachers should furthermore enhance their awareness of sustainable practices in chemistry and pass this knowledge on to their future students.
Lilly Bliesener
The greenCHEM project is part of the T!Raum initiative by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Model-eliciting activities in Chemistry Education
A stimulating environment to think and learn in and with models
Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) are understood in the field of mathematics and technology didactics as tasks in which students independently design, test and revise models as a team in order to solve problems. Here, the use of mental models plays a decisive role in successful processing. The students have to actively deal with a realistic problem and go through several phases of problem solving.
In this project, an MEA on a chemical content area is developed and tested with students. Using the example of ocean acidification, the students will investigate the relationships between the carbon dioxide content of the air, the pH value of the oceans and the effects on the marine ecosystem. Both the transformation into a chemical context and the quality of the solutions and models created will be examined using a mixed-method approach and qualitative content analysis.
Lisa Bering
"MINT-Town" - Critical Thinking Trainings
Fostering critical thinking by a gamification approach
We develop and validate (in a quantitative study) a modern, game-oriented, digital learning environment (“MINT-Town”) to foster two of the 21st century skills - critical thinking and problem solving - in the context of STEM education. The embedded gamification elements (i.e. quests, dialogs, avatars) increase the students’ engagement to work on complex problems.
The game consists of two parts: 1) the tutorial, and 2) the chemical part.
In part one, the player is confronted with a general STEM oriented problem situation; he has time to learn the basic controls of the game and several critical thinking subskills while the questline leads him through the problem-solving process.
In part two, the player has to transfer the acquired abilities to a specific chemical context.
The game is free to use at LehrerOnline:
https://www.lehrer-online.de/unterricht/sekundarstufen/naturwissenschaften/chemie/unterrichtseinheit/ue/mint-town-spielbasierte-foerderung-von-kritischem-denken-in-der-chemie/
Christian Dictus
Supported by "Deutsche Telekom-Stiftung"