Profil
WG Mathematics Education (Secondary Education)
Our research aims at the development of new environments for teaching and learning (also including mathematics education laboratories), which are based on didactic materials, and at further empirical research into mathematical teaching and learning processes. Hence, our mathematics education laboratory "Mathe ist mehr" can be seen as a base for a deeper interconnection between research and teacher education programs, while also focusing on practice and research separately. Our empirical research within the mathematics laboratory focuses, for example, on interconnections between different forms of representation, usage of new technologies (e. g. via the GeoGebra Institute Landau), problem solving strategies, usage of mathematical terminology, handling of functional interrelationships, as well as the usage of our self-developed video tool ViviAn, which is used to research the ability of diagnosing processes within teaching situations and (student) teachers adapting to them accordingly.
Research
Interdisciplinary Research Projects
Our main research projects have a strong interdisciplinary focus. For example, we wer significantly involved in the DFG Graduate College Teaching Processes, in which working groups form subject didactics, psychology, and pedagogics collaborated closely. The same applies to the MoSAiK and WeLT projects, among others.
Math Lab "Math is More"
The contribution of the working group to this research cluster is the empirical investigation of learning processes of students working in the working group's own mathematics laboratory for students. In particular, mathematical conceptualization, the interaction of representational models and computer simulations in the cognitive process, representational competence and mathematical terminology are central research perspectives. Within the framework of the collaborative projects Student Laboratories as Teaching-Learning Laboratories and The Future of STEM Learning, which are funded by the Deutsche Telekom Foundation and in which the working group is also the subproject leader and site spokesperson, empirical studies are being conducted to determine the effect that the involvement of student teachers in the design, implementation and research of student laboratory learning environments has on their professional competence development.
Research in Higher Education Didactics
The working group also conducts research on university didactics. For example, the video tool ViviAn is being (further) developed in several third-party funded research projects. It both serves as a measuring instrument for the assessment of process diagnostic competence, as well as being used as a learning environment based on video vignettes to promote diagnostic competence and the ability to adapt teaching actions in student teachers. In empirical comparative studies, we evaluate to what extent process diagnostic competence of student teachers can be (further) developed during their studies.
Promotion of Young Scientists
Among other things, we support young academics by organizing our own doctoral seminar, the Oberseminars Südwest, which the working group organizes twice a year in cooperation with working groups from six universities in southwest Germany and holds once a year in Landau. In addition, there are bilateral doctoral rounds, such as those organized by the working group with didactic working groups from the University of Giessen (GiLa), which take place twice a year and are held once a year in Landau. In addition, the DdM research workshop is a weekly doctoral colloquium of the two subject-didactic working groups of the Institute of Mathematics. Furthermore, doctoral students are regularly encouraged to participate in summer schools and doctoral seminars, such as those organized by the Society for Didactics of Mathematics.
Teaching
Interlocking of Training Components
The teaching of the working group is characterized by an intensive interlocking of the subject-specific, subject-didactic and practice-related training components in the teacher training courses. This is achieved in particular through the integration of the Mathematics Laboratory "Math is more" into the teaching, but also through close networking with the study seminars and the colleagues at the schools of all types of secondary schools in the region.
Quality Development
The quality of the courses is systematically evaluated and further developed under the leadership of the working group in a lively exchange with the students of the student council, via large-scale surveys among students and in plenary meetings with all lecturers and students of mathematics. For this purpose, further training courses on the design of courses are held with external speakers within the Institute of Mathematics.
Covered Content Areas
The working group is responsible for the mathematics didactics components (modules 1, 5a, 5c, 12a, 12b) and individual modules (modules 1, 4b, MZFB 1, MZFBW 1) of the subject-specific mathematics components in the bachelor's and master's degree programs for teachers at elementary schools, special education schools, Realschulen plus and Gymnasien as well as the two-subject bachelor's degree with the basic subject mathematics or the elective subject mathematics.
What Distinguishes the Working Group
Networking
The Mathematics Education (Secondary Education) working group not only cooperates closely with all working groups of the Institute of Mathematics in terms of science and teaching, it is also networked in research with working groups at other institutes and departments at the university and far beyond. In addition, with its mathematics laboratory "Math is more", it offers a service for schools in the Landau region, which can conduct research on curriculum topics with entire school classes at the university. The Institute of Mathematics also organizes an annual Mathematics Day with competitions for high-achieving pupils under the leadership of the working group.
Teachers/Training
In addition, the working group networks with the region's teacher training colleges and offers them its own training events, such as the GeoGebra Day for teacher training colleges. The working group also organizes training series for moderators throughout the Rhineland-Palatinate, e.g. the MaTeGnu project (teaching mathematics with technology in a sustainable way based on basic concepts). In addition, training materials and training courses are developed and implemented in working groups with small teams of teachers, such as at the GeoGebra-Institut Landau (RLP). It is also fitting that the working group was the state coordinator for RLP of the German Center for Teacher Training in Mathematics (DZLM) for many years. Through these and many other activities, the working group works in and with the region.