Study workshops and teaching-learning laboratories

Study workshops form a complementary part of teacher training at the University of Kassel. Teaching materials are developed, tested and collected here and teaching videos are created. Some of the study workshops are included in teaching, also as part of the practical school studies. Study workshops can also serve as models for learning workshops in schools and are used for teacher training. For the total of 20 study workshops, there is a working group coordinated by the ZLB, in which those responsible for the study workshops discuss conceptual and organizational issues and coordinate with the Centre for Teacher Education on resource requirements, insofar as these cannot be covered by the departments. The joint development work has led to the study workshops becoming a profile feature of teacher education in Kassel.

Teaching-learning labs represent a new format in teacher training. They form the framework for a theory-based and evaluative examination of the conditions of teaching and learning. In teaching-learning labs, students identify typical teaching-learning situations and use them to design authentic learning environments for small groups of students that can be implemented in less than one lesson. The concept is tested in direct contact with a small group of students (analog or online), evaluated and finally further developed in a reflective manner for re-testing with another small group of students. In this iterative development process, scientific knowledge (subject-specific and subject-didactic, pedagogical and didactic as well as teaching-learning theory knowledge) and action knowledge (organization of teaching-learning processes, appreciative attitudes, reflection, activation and motivation, challenging tasks) are combined to create an intermediate experimental space. Quality development takes place by reflexively evaluating a designed teaching-learning environment in the sense of research-based learning after each new trial based on the evaluation results.

The aim of the PRONET² sub-project is to further develop study workshops into teaching-learning laboratories, both in the STEM subjects and in the humanities, social sciences and aesthetics. The teaching-learning lab work consists of students developing challenging teaching-learning settings for small groups of students - usually as part of courses - with a focus on cognitive activationand the use of digital media. The developed learning environments are then tested with small groups of students who are invited to the university. These are complexity-reduced practical situations in which the students guide, support and observe the students in their learning. These teaching-learning situations can also be videotaped for subsequent evaluation. This is followed by a criteria-based evaluation and theory-based reflection on the learning settings implemented. The results are incorporated into the further development of the teaching-learning settings for re-testing with another small group of students.