Multi-DES

The aim of Multi-DES is to investigate systematic design parameters and assessment measures of intervention studies in education in the multi-level context of the German school system. The research results are intended to contribute to the evidence base in education.

For the first time, design parameters and assessment measures are examined in a multi-level context in the german school system.
This is done in four studies based on representative data from three longitudinal large-scale assessment studies conducted in Germany: The National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), the national extension of the international PISA 2003 study (PISA-I+), and the DESI study (Assessment of Student Achievements in German and English as a Foreign Language).

  • Study 1 examines design parameters for cluster-randomized studies for the general student population and for different school types.
  • Study 2 analyzes the extent to which different covariates improve the statistical power and estimation accuracy of cluster-randomized studies.
  • Study 3 examines average skill growth as an assessment measure of effect sizes for the general student population and separately by school type.
  • Study 4 looks at differences in competency between low-performing and average schools as an assessment measure.

VideT

The aim of the project “VideT: Communicating the research process – a video-based transfer tool for students” is to clarify the influence of various parameters on the understanding of research processes and scientific findings, on attitudes and on the credibility of science and researchers. In order to achieve the project goals, this interdisciplinary joint project combines competencies from the natural and social sciences as well as from educational research. The aim of the joint project is to develop a video-based transfer instrument for communicating empirical scientific research processes and to test it prototypically in school laboratories with schoolchildren. In addition to testing the instrument in schools and student laboratories, the accompanying scientific research will analyze parameters that condition and influence the success of the transfer. The topic of the videos is the research of the Leibniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) on the ecology of bats and the effects of human activities on these animals.

ALICE

The Coronavirus Crisis has spurred an urgent need to support students’ learning via digital technologies. Digital technologies can also adapt to learners’ knowledge and skills and can adaptively provide them with learning materials and instruction that are tailored to their competence. However, this requires that the digital learning environment is able to model learners’ understanding and performance during the learning process and make predictions about each individual learners’ potential progress during the learning activity.
This project aims at establishing theoretical and methodological foundations for providing learners with adaptive support during mathematics and science education. To this end, the project combines four research strands, that are

1) developing digital learning materials that is based on learning-progressions in mathematics, biology, chemistry or physics.

2) Collecting authentic data from students who are engaging with this learning material in order to develop predictor models of how learners’ competence develops over time.

3) Reconstructing learners’ learning trajectories, and finally

4) investigating the effectiveness of different learning trajectories and developed instructional support that helps learners achieve their learning goals.

Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)

The Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) investigates the causes and consequences of demographic change.In an advisory capacity, the BiB is in contact with the federal government and federal ministries and advises them on the basis of scientific research. As part of the advisory cooperation, the BiB supports the Federal Government in international cooperation on population issues within the framework of the United Nations. Informing the public about demographic change and the Institute’s research findings is another important task. The Institute was founded in 1973 and is since then is based in Wiesbaden, Hesse.

As part of the advisory cooperation, the BiB supports the Federal Government in international cooperation on population issues within the framework of the United Nations.Informing the public about demographic change and the Institute’s research findings is another central task.

The Institute is a federal departmental research institution and is part of the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs.

Important works and tasks:

  • Research: Research is a central task at the BiB. It is the basis for sound advice and information. One of its core tasks is the continuous monitoring of demographic trends. Other areas of focus include the three research areas of family and fertility, migration and mobility, and demographic change and ageing. In addition, the Education and Human Capital research group, which was newly formed in 2021, investigates the importance of education for population development in Germany. One example of this is the study “Why children from potentially disadvantaged families are less likely to attend daycare – even if they need it” which was conducted on behalf of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
  • Policy advice: On the basis of the institute’s own research findings, the institute advises the federal government and federal ministries. Information, interpretation of demographic trends and the preparation of scientific expertise represent core competencies in policy advice. At the level of international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations, the BiB advises and supports the federal government on population issues.
  • Information: The BiB publishes the results of its research in numerous publications. In more than 430 charts, maps and tables, the BiB regularly publishes information on demographic facts for Germany, Europe and the world.

SchuMaS

In the federal-state initiative SchuMaS – “Schule macht stark”, researchers from 13 institutions are working with a total of 200 schools to develop measures to improve the learning conditions and performance of socially disadvantaged students. The common feature of the selected 200 schools is the socially challenging situation in which the schools find themselves and the more difficult conditions for teaching and learning that accompany this. These conditions are: Increased language support needs, high staff turnover, parent homes at risk of poverty. The current pandemic situation is also not ignored. 

The actual success of the students is the main focus of “SchuMaS”. The overall goal of the project is to improve the educational opportunities of socially disadvantaged students and thus reduce social inequalities.
Particular attention is paid to improving the basic mathematical skills, learning motivation and social skills of the students. 

In relation to the special requirements of the schools, four thematic fields of action are in the foreground, for which individual measures are to be developed in close scientific and practical cooperation. These are:

1. to further develop teaching – with a special focus on mathematics and German,
2. to qualify the pedagogical staff working at the schools in a more targeted way, taking into account the specific conditions of schools in socially challenging situations,
3. further develop schools as an organization, school culture and leadership, and
4. to promote learning outside the classroom and support in the social environment.

In four regional centers of the interdisciplinary research network, the 200 participating schools are advised and supported in mastering their challenges in close cooperation with the state institutes, quality development agencies and school supervisory authorities. The scientific monitoring and evaluation is carried out by other working groups of the project network, the results of which are to be used to produce a recommendation for action after five years, which can be used as a handout to other schools in challenging situations.

Ada*Q

The aim of the research project “Adaptivity and Quality of Teaching in Individualized Classes” (Ada*Q) is to generate scientific and practical knowledge on the productive use of heterogeneity in class together with the award-winning schools of the German School Award of the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Most interesting for the research interest is the adaptivity of teaching. In other words, it is to be examined to what extent teaching concepts of differentiation and individualization can help to create the best possible fitting between teaching offers and the individual learning requirements of pupils. Therefor the importance of teaching quality will also be examined.

ReCo

The project “Automatic Response Coding” (ReCo) centers around text responses in tests. The computer programme ReCo automatically assesses whether a text response is correct, for example “The author aims at saving the trees.” as an answer in the PISA test. Moreover, ReCo extracts further features, for example whether a student adds knowledge to their response beyond the explicit information in the text.

The computer programme ReCo was originally developed at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the ZIB. In cooperation with both institutions, the Centre for Technology Based Assessment (TBA Centre) at DIPF is now developing the software package further. The project comprises the general software development as well as scientific studies employing ReCo. For this, TBA is responsible for the conceptual and technical development on the one hand and acts as the project manager for projects such as ReCo-Multi on the other hand. Also, TBA supports external research groups using the program.

GeLiNu

Low literacy (“functional illiteracy”) and numeracy – that is, difficulties in using mathematics – in adulthood often lead to considerable limitations in the lives of those affected.

To respond to this challenge of low literacy/numeracy, targeted education policy and pedagogical measures are necessary. To achieve this goal, extensive knowledge about the causes of low literacy/numeracy is essential. Unfortunately, no such extensive knowledge exists based on available research, especially regarding the factors causing low literacy/numeracy. The main reason for this is the general lack of longitudinal data. Both in Germany and the rest of the world, extant research is mostly based on studies seeking to analyze the phenomenon with a single instance of data gathering. They are hardly suited to research how low literacy/numeracy emerge – and under what circumstances they can be changed over time.

This cooperation project wanted to identify risk and protective factors for the development and change of low literacy and numeracy in German adults. With the help of data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), two main questions regarding low literacy/numeracy in German adults have been answered:

  1. Changeability: How stable are low literacy/numeracy and how changeable are they? How many people are successful in acquiring competencies over time and thus leave the domain of low literacy/numeracy? How many people slip into this domain over time?
  2. Complex causes: Which individual (e.g., cognitive and non-cognitive basic skills), structural and contextual factors (e.g., employment, family formation) influence the probability of such growths or losses in competencies?

REACH

The cooperation project “REAching young adults with low ACHievment in literacy” (REACH), which was sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), was led by the Stiftung Lesen (German Reading Foundation). REACH was aimed at young adults between 16 and 35 years old who are on the so-called alpha-level 3 – a special group among adults with poor literacy: They profit most strongly from remedial programs for their long-term professional life.

Focus of REACH

The project focused on young adults between 16 and 35 because …

  • They can have the greatest and most sustainable benefit from remedial programs,
  • Addressing them early will hopefully lead to maintaining and strengthening their reading competence,
  • Addressing them will motivate and empower them to become reading role models for their children.

To find ways of access, there was a necessity to identify …

  • (Key) persons and locations through which target groups can be reached,
  • Communicative approaches and pathways such as the media,
  • Content-related links: topics, fields of interest, and activities.

Goals of REACH

  • Reviewing the suitability of access ways, which can already be derived from practical experience,
  • Identification and review through characterizing the target group in the most differentiated and precise way possible,
  • Analysis of living conditions, features, habits, and mindsets (e.g., media usage, activities in social media, living situation, family situation, interests and habits during leisure time, etc.)

To achieve this, no new data was collected, but rather existing data was used as effectively as possible, and linked with each other. Subsequently, a small number of potential ways of accessing and addressing was tested by way of a pilot study and simultaneously evaluated.

Individual Developmental

The research group on ‘Individual Developmental Trajectories and Institutional Contexts Across the Lifespan’ is a collaborative project designed to run six years, established by DIPF and IPN. The team of researchers will primarily be focusing on the analyses of existing datasets from empirical educational research, striving for a comprehensive and overarching perspective on findings and integrating them.

Thematically, the research group focuses on the longitudinal perspective of educational processes and educational trajectories from adolescence to adulthood. On the one hand, this comprehends a descriptive perspective: How do individuals change and how are developmental processes represented in different life spheres from adolescence to adulthood? How can this be described for different groups of people? For instance, in how far are developments similar across different learning contexts and school types, and how do they differ? On the other hand, an explanatory perspective is taken to research the roles of individual variables as well as institutional contexts. Taking the example of gender differences: are differences between boys and girls reinforced during secondary education, and if divergent developments can be described, are these ‘general patterns’ or does tracking in the German secondary school system come into effect?