LEAD Graduate School & Research Network

Theory Testing in Educational Field Trials

To this day, supposed innovations are often implemented in classrooms without first being tested for their effectiveness and without an understanding of the underlying processes and conditions that make them effective.

In contrast, numerous promising developments from basic research do not make it into the classroom. Psychological and pedagogical theories of learning and teaching are rarely systematically tested in practice.

The Core Research Area wants to test whether and how the theoretical findings of our research areas are effective in practice. It will also focus on the methodological basis for testing educational and psychological theories in randomized controlled field trials (RCTs).

Selected Research Projects

SchuMaS: Schule macht stark

International school performance studies such as PISA and TIMSS show time and again that socially disadvantaged students still perform less well than their peers.
The best possible educational opportunities for socially disadvantaged students: That is therefore the goal of the joint federal and state initiative „Schule macht stark“ (School Makes You Strong). In this initiative, science and schools work hand in hand on strategies and concepts for schools in difficult social situations.

Hector Kinderakademien

The Hector Kinderakademien offer a voluntary, additional program to promote giftedness for elementary school children in Baden-Württemberg. They are scientifically monitored by a team consisting of members of the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology and the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (DIPF) in Frankfurt.
The aim is to investigate the extent to which the Hector Kinderakademien can contribute to the positive development of particularly gifted and highly talented elementary school children. In addition, generalizable findings in this field of research will be derived.

SEGEL: Subjectivity and emotionality in conversations about literature in German lessons

Conversations about literary texts are a central component of German lessons. However, there has hardly been any empirical research on this topic so far. The focus of the research project SEGEL therefore is the empirical verification of the widespread assumption in literature didactics that subjectivity and emotionality in conversations about literature are of particular importance for their success.