About
65
Publications
42,936
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
704
Citations
Citations since 2017
Publications
Publications (65)
This article gives an introduction to latent class, latent profile, and latent transition models for researchers interested in investigating individual differences in learning and development. The models allow analyzing how the observed heterogeneity in a group (e.g., individual differences in conceptual knowledge) can be traced back to underlying...
We examined the predictive value and interplay of elementary school students’ understanding of the control-of-variables strategy, a domain-general experimentation skill, and their prior content knowledge for subsequent conceptual knowledge acquisition and conceptual change. Trained teachers provided N = 1809 first to sixth graders with 15 lessons o...
In a quasi-experimental classroom study, we longitudinally investigated whether inquiry-based, content-focused physics instruction improves students' ability to apply the control-of-variables strategy, a domain-general experimentation skill. Twelve third grade elementary school classes (Mdn age = 9 years, N = 189) were randomly assigned to receive...
Psychometric modeling has become a frequently used statistical tool in research on scientific reasoning. We review psychometric modeling practices in this field, including model choice, model testing, and researchers’ inferences based on their psychometric practices. A review of 11 empirical research studies reveals that the predominant psychometri...
Recent research has integrated developmental and dimensional perspectives on epistemic beliefs by implementing an approach in which profiles of learners' epistemic beliefs are modeled across multiple dimensions. Variability in study characteristics has impeded the comparison of profiles of epistemic beliefs and their relations with external variabl...
Hypothesis-based reasoning with conditionals is a skill that is required for engaging in integral activities of modern elementary school science-curricula. The teaching of this skill at this early stage of education, however, is demanding, particularly in whole school classes in which it is difficult to adapt teaching to children’s individual needs...
Latent transition analysis is an informative statistical tool for depicting heterogeneity in learning as latent profiles. We present a Monte Carlo simulation study to guide researchers in selecting fit indices for identifying the correct number of profiles. We simulated data representing profiles of learners within a typical pre- post- follow up-de...
Leising et al. (2022) proposed ten ways how personality science can be improved. In this article, we point out potential drawbacks of some of the proposed steps and the resulting formal system for rewarding good research. We argue that it is ill-advised to use only one measure for a concept. Specifically, we raise awareness of the importance of met...
When introducing electromagnetism in schools, one specific experiment is inevitable: the force on a current-carrying conductor. Predicting the direction of the Lorentz force, the orientation of the magnetic field, and the direction of the electric current often causes difficulties for students. Here we present visual concept-relevant augmentations...
Researchers in Psychology, Education, and related fields are often unsure about whether they should use sum scores, or estimatesfrom latent variable models (e.g., factor analysis, item response theory) in their statistical analyses. I show throughargumentation that sum scores do not automatically imply any of these models and that researchers are f...
Classroom observation systems are a widely adopted tool for measuring the quality of teaching and provide stable conceptualizations of teaching quality that facilitate empirical research. Here, we present four statistical approaches for analyzing data from classroom observations: Factor analysis, Rasch modelling, latent class or profile analysis, a...
Conceptual knowledge is often investigated using sum scores on a test. Yet, conceptual
knowledge is characterized by relations (Goldwater & Schalk, 2016), wherefore network
analysis is suitable to model the relations of students’ answers. We investigated answers
on a concept inventory on magnetism from 2714 students from different school levels
bef...
The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries...
The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries)....
Zusammenfassung
In dieser Längsschnittstudie wurden unterschiedliche Verläufe in der Entwicklung der intrinsischen Wertüberzeugungen in den Unterrichtsfächern Mathematik und Französisch in den Schuljahren 9 bis 11 und deren Zusammenhänge mit Berufsaspirationen untersucht. Bei 850 Schüler*innen von Deutschschweizer Gymnasien (54 % weiblich, Alter T1...
This study examined how working memory (WM) and mathematics performance are related among students entering mathematics-intensive undergraduate STEM programs (N = 317). Among students of mechanical engineering and math-physics, we addressed two questions: (1) Do verbal and visuospatial WM differ in their relation with three measures of mathematics...
In the present research, we evaluate the Wiener diffusion model (Vandekerckhove et al., 2011) as a model of the cognitive process in the Shtulman-paradigm (Shtulman & Valcarcel, 2012). The model separates the observed decision- and reaction time-data into
four parameters representing cognitive processes. A Bayesian hierarchical implementation of t...
Recent research has integrated developmental and dimensional perspectives on epistemic beliefs by implementing an approach in which profiles of learners’ epistemic beliefs are modeled across multiple dimensions. Variability in study characteristics has impeded the comparison of profiles of epistemic beliefs and their relations with external variabl...
Latent transition analysis is an informative statistical tool for depicting heterogeneity in learning as latent profiles. We present a Monte Carlo simulation study to guide researchers in selecting fit indices for identifying the correct number of profiles. We simulated data representing profiles of learners within a typical pre- post- follow up-de...
This longitudinal person-centered study investigated the combined role of student (gender, personality, choice of elective major subject) and teacher factors (perceived autonomy support, competence support, social relatedness) in explaining stability and change in profiles of extrinsic and intrinsic value beliefs in Mathematics, German, English, an...
Hypothesis-based reasoning with conditionals is a skill that is required for engaging in integral activities of modern elementary school science-curricula. The teaching of this skill at this early stage of education, however, is demanding, particularly in whole school classes in which it is difficult to adapt teaching to children’s individual needs...
Representational competence is essential for the acquisition of conceptual understanding in physics. It enables the interpretation of diagrams, graphs, and mathematical equations, and relating these to one another as well as to observations and experimental outcomes. In this study, we present the initial validation of a newly developed cross-contex...
We examined whether knowledge about how to revise an explanation or opportunities to deepen content understanding support learners to revise their explanation of a complex science phenomenon. Learners in grades 6 to 10 (N = 147, Mage = 13.20, SD = 0.74) completed an online unit on Global Climate Change and were randomly assigned to one of three con...
In this crowdsourced initiative, independent analysts used the same dataset to test two hypotheses regarding the effects of scientists' gender and professional status on verbosity during group meetings. Not only the analytic approach but also the operationalizations of key variables were left unconstrained and up to individual analysts. For instanc...
In this crowdsourced initiative, independent analysts used the same dataset to test two
hypotheses regarding the effects of scientists’ gender and professional status on verbosity during group meetings. Not only the analytic approach but also the operationalizations of key variables were left unconstrained and up to individual analysts. For instanc...
Zusammenfassung
In dieser Studie wird untersucht, in welchem Ausmaß Schüler*innen der 5. und 6. Klassenstufe in einem „Interaktionseffekte“-Kontext, in dem zwei unabhängige Variablen systematisch miteinander interagieren, in ihrer Argumentation vorgegebene experimentelle Evidenz nutzen. Zusätzlich wird untersucht, ob ein im „Haupteffekte“-Kontext s...
Our study addresses the relationship between teacher talk and children’s conceptual learning in early science instruction. We examined the role of teacher talk in N = 32 kindergarten classes. The teachers were video-recorded at the beginning of a four-week instruction phase while assisting a group of children who were dealing with a learning unit o...
Objectives
Individuals’ social connections and interpersonal experiences can both shape and be shaped by cognitive functioning. This study examines longitudinal within-person associations between quality of social relations, structure of social relations, and cognitive functioning in older age.
Method
We examined 16-year longitudinal data (3 waves...
Das vorliegende Buch basiert auf den wichtigsten Befunden der empirischen Lehrund
Lern-Forschung. Das Ziel unserer Auswahl und Darstellung in den Kapiteln 2
bis 8 war es, die (mittlerweile zahlreichen) Erkenntnisse aus dieser noch relativ
jungen Disziplin für ein breites Publikum, insbesondere natürlich für angehende
und praktizierende Lehrpersonen...
Individuals’ social connections can both shape and be shaped by cognitive abilities in aging process. This study examined bidirectional longitudinal associations between cognitive abilities and social relationships using 12-year longitudinal data (3 waves) from 499 German older adults who were born between year 1930 and 1932. Cognitive abilities we...
Prior research has identified age 9–11 as a critical period for the development of the control-of-variables strategy (CVS). We examine the stability of interindividual differences in children's CVS skills with regard to their precursor skills during this critical developmental period. To this end, we relate two precursor skills of CVS at age 9 to f...
The control-of-variables strategy (CVS) is considered a hallmark in the development of scientific reasoning. It holds that informative experiments need to be contrastive and controlled. Prior evidence suggests that CVS is connected to the acquisition of science content knowledge. In a cross-sectional study involving 1283 high school students (grade...
The control-of-variables strategy (CVS) is considered a hallmark in the development of scientific reasoning. It holds that informative experiments need to be contrastive and controlled. Prior evidence suggests that CVS is connected to the acquisition of science content knowledge. In a cross-sectional study involving 1,283 high school students (grad...
Non-significant results have the potential to further our understanding of what does not work in education, and why. We make three contributions to harness this potential and to improve the usage and interpretation of non-significant results. To evaluate current practices, we conduct a review of misinterpretations of non-significant p-values in rec...
Teacher-directed and self-directed learning have been compared across various contexts. Depending on the settings and the presentation of material, mixed benefits are found; the specific circumstances under which either condition is advantageous are unclear. We combined and reanalyzed data from two experimental studies investigating the effects of...
To what extent are research results influenced by subjective decisions that scientists make as they design studies? Fifteen research teams independently designed studies to answer five original research questions related to moral judgments, negotiations, and implicit cognition. Participants from two separate large samples (total N > 15,000) were th...
Die Wirkung von Unterricht hängt aus Sicht der Lehr-Lernforschung
(z.B. Helmke, 2017) davon ab, wie gut es gelingt, mit
Unterrichtsangeboten Lernaktivitäten der Lernenden auszulösen.
Die Nutzung von Unterrichtsangeboten ist jedoch auch von der
Motivation der Lernenden abhängig. Im Gymnasium Helveticum
4/2019 wurde ein Überblick über aktuelle Erkenn...
Intervention studies based on randomized control trials represent a powerful tool for yielding insights into educational and developmental mechanisms. A question that researchers face is according to which standards or framework they should judge the size of an intervention’s effects in order to determine its (cost-) effectiveness. Particularly in...
The relative importance of different factors in the development of human skills has been extensively discussed. Research on expertise indicates that focused practice may be the sole determinant of skill, while intelligence researchers underline the relative importance of abilities at even the highest level of skill. There is indeed a large body of...
Hypothesis tests for which the null hypothesis cannot be rejected ("null findings") are often seen as negative outcomes in psychology. Null findings can, however, bear important insights about the validity of theories and hypotheses. In addition, the tendency to publish mainly significant findings is considered a key reason for failures to replicat...
Statistical hypothesis tests for which the null hypothesis cannot be rejected ("null findings") are often seen as negative outcomes in the life and social sciences and are thus scarcely published. Null findings can, however, bear important insights about the validity of theories and hypotheses. In fact, the tendency to publish mainly significant fi...
Introducing new concepts to learners in an order of increasing complexity appears to be beneficial for learning, but typically introduction of concepts does not always adhere to this principle. We examined whether introducing new algebra concepts in a contrasted manner or in an order of increasing complexity instead of a different more typical orde...
Epistemic concepts of statistic tools like p-values are complex. We investigate educational researchers' interpretations and conclusions when they find that the value of a p-value exceeds the a priori defined cut-off value, commonly p > .05, referred to as non-significant. Non-significant p-values do not allow any conclusion, but researchers in var...
Knowledge representations that result from practicing problem solving can be expected to differ from knowledge representations that emerge from explicit verbalizing of principles and rules. We examined the degree to which the two types of learning improve problem-solving knowledge and verbal explanation knowledge in classroom instruction. We presen...
Background. p-values as statistical tool for testing the predictions of hypotheses have been frequently criticized in recent years. Review studies and methodological discussions have shown up that researchers frequently make mistakes when interpreting p-values, particularly when they indicate a non-significant result. The more important question, w...
In a quasi-experimental longitudinal study, we investigated whether inquiry-based content-focused physics instruction can bootstrap understanding of the control-of-variables strategy, a domain-general experimentation skill. Twelve third grade elementary school classes (Mdnage = 9 years; N = 189) were randomly assigned to an experimental and a contr...
In this guide, we present a reading list to serve as a concise introduction to Bayesian data analysis. The introduction is geared toward reviewers, editors, and interested researchers who are new to Bayesian statistics. We provide commentary for eight recommended sources, which together cover the theoretical and practical cornerstones of Bayesian s...
This article gives an introduction to latent class, latent profile, and latent transition models for researchers interested in investigating individual differences in learning and development. The models allow analyzing how the observed heterogeneity in a group (e.g., individual differences in conceptual knowledge) can be traced back to a mix of un...
Scientific thinking is a predicate for scientific inquiry, and thus important to develop early in psychology students as potential future researchers. The present research is aimed at fathoming the contributions of formal and informal learning experiences to psychology students’ development of scientific thinking during their 1st-year of study. We...
Scientific thinking is a predicate for scientific inquiry, and thus important to develop early in psychology students as potential future researchers. The present research is aimed at fathoming the contributions of formal and informal learning experiences to psychology students' development of scientific thinking during their 1st-year of study. We...
We examined the predictive value and interplay of elementary school students’ understanding of the control-of-variables strategy, a domain-general experimentation skill, and their prior content knowledge for subsequent conceptual knowledge acquisition and conceptual change. Trained teachers provided N = 1809 first to sixth graders with 15 lessons o...
In this guide, we present a reading list to serve as a concise introduction to Bayesian data analysis. The introduction is geared toward reviewers, editors, and interested researchers who are new to Bayesian statistics. We provide commentary for eight recommended sources, which together cover the theoretical and practical cornerstones of Bayesian s...
In a longitudinal study based on an intervention-control design with altogether 283 elementary school children we focus on the relationship between general scientific thinking skills and the acquisition of content-specific concepts in physics. Seven third-grade classes got an intensive inquiry-based instruction on four physics curricula on the topi...
Science education aims at developing students' knowledge of scientific concepts and principles. However, students differ in their prior knowledge and cognitive skills and thus follow different learning pathways. We examined whether and how experimentation skills predict elementary students' pathways of conceptual knowledge development in science ed...
Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that adolescents engage in risk behaviour to gain mature status, thereby becoming popular among their peers. Using a cross-sectional design with 20 school classes from higher secondary schools in Austria and the Netherlands, associations between risk behaviour and social status in late adolescence were exa...
Musso et al. (2013) predict students' academic achievement with high accuracy one year in advance from cognitive and demographic variables, using artificial neural networks (ANNs). They conclude that ANNs have high potential for theoretical and practical improvements in learning sciences. ANNs are powerful statistical modelling tools but they can m...
Projects
Projects (7)
CESAR is an interdisciplinary research project funded by SNF (Schweizerischer Nationalfonds) and DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). In this project, physics education researchers and empirical education researchers investigate the effects of augmented reality in learning with multiple representations in student physics experiments on electromagnetism.
Klagen über die (fehlende) Motivation von Schülerinnen und Schülern im Jugendalter sind verbreitet und reichen zurück bis zum Beginn der Schulgeschichte. Ergebnisse aus der internationalen Forschung zur Motivationsentwicklung während der Schulzeit konnten eine graduelle Abnahme der Motivation mit zunehmendem Alter bestätigen. Da bisher keine längsschnittlichen Studien existieren, welche die spezifischen Bedingungen des Schweizer Gymnasiums berücksichtigen, wissen wir bisher noch nicht, wie sich die Motivation in der Gymnasialzeit entwickelt.
Die EMMA-Studie widmet sich daher den folgenden Untersuchungsfragen:
- Wie entwickeln sich an Gymnasien der Deutschschweiz die extrinsische (d.h. Lernen für externe Anreize wie z.B. Noten) und die intrinsische Motivation (d.h. Lernen aus innerem Antrieb heraus, unabhängig von der Note) von Schülerinnen und Schülern vom 9. bis zum 11. Schuljahr in den Unterrichtsfächern Mathematik, Deutsch, Englisch und Französisch?
- Wie stehen wahrgenommene Merkmale der Unterrichtsumgebung (z.B. Autonomieerleben), zentrale Persönlichkeitsmerkmale (Big Five) und das Schwerpunktfach der Schülerinnen und Schüler mit der Entwicklung der extrinsischen und der intrinsischen Motivation in Zusammenhang?
Datenbasis ist eine Studie des SNF (Projektnummer 131713): http://p3.snf.ch/project-131713.