Geoscience topics are playing an increasingly important role with regard to the future of our planet. Consequently, they have been moving into the educational foreground because of their societal relevance. The question is, however: Are pupils interested in these topics? This is important didactically, for interest is both a prerequisite and a goal of any effective learning process. What are the topics and methods that will interest students and what are those that will not? What contexts are particularly suitable for introducing children and adolescents to geoscientific topics and methods? Do pupils show a private interest in geoscientific issues? A questionnaire was submitted to 333 German senior grammar school students aged between 17 and 19. The study generally shows a medium interest in geoscientific topics with students. The most interesting topics are those that are related to human beings or environmental threat, respectively, such as "earthquakes" or "climatic changes". The interest in a topic correlates with the context that it is related to. Young adults share a relatively high interest in the topics "individual", "society" as well as "social responsibility". Concerning special methods in class there is a particular tendency towards action-oriented working methods like the carrying out of geoscientific experiments. In their spare time youths seldom occupy with geoscientific subjects. This underlines the important role of school lessons in raising the student's interest in these fields. In german school geography covers geoscientific contents far more than biology, while chemistry and physics insufficiently deal with them.

Geowissenschaftliehe Fragestellungen spielen eine zunehmend große Rolle für die Zukunft unseres Planeten (vgl. Meissner 1996, Wefer 2002). Damit rücken Sie auch als gesellschaftlich relevante Bildungsinhalte in den Vordergrund. Finden sie aber auch das Interesse der Schülerinnen und Schüler? Welche Themen und welche Arbeitsweisen interessieren sie, welche eher nicht? Welche Kontexte sind besonders geeignet, Kindern und Jugendlichen geowissenschaftliehe Inhalte und Methoden nahe zu bringen? Welche unabhängigen Variablen haben Einfluss auf das Interesse? Welche Rolle spielen die einzelnen Fächer, insbesondere der Geographieunterricht, bei der Vermittlung? Beschäftigen sich Schüler und Schülerinnen auch außerschulisch mit geowissenschaftliehen Themen? Die hier vorgestellte empirische Interessenstudie will Antworten auf diese Fragen geben. Sie ist Teil des vom Leibniz-Institut für die Pädagogik der Naturwissenschaften (IPN) in Kiel koordinieren Projekts "Forschungsdialog System Erde".

[Der Beitrag berichtet aus einem Projekt des DFG-Schwerpunktprogramms Bildungsqualitat]. Hintergrund fur dieses Projekt sind ... die Befunde aus internationalen Vergleichsstudien (TIMSS, PISA). Die Studie untersucht den deutschen Physikunterricht und die Lernprozesse, die in diesem Unterricht ermoglicht werden. Ziel ist es, eine erste Bestandsaufnahme der didaktischen Orchestrierung von Physikuntericht vorzunehmen und insbesondere die Moglichkeiten fur verstandnisvolles Lernen zu untersuchen ... . Mit theoriegeleiteten Analysen von Unterrichtsbeobachtungen und von erganzenden Daten aus Befragungen und Tests soll geklart werden, wie sich Bedingungen bzw. Muster des Physikunterrichts auf Lernprozesse und Bildungsergebnisse auswirken. Der Beitrag konzentriert sich auf die Zielorientierung und die Lernbegleitung. (DIPF/Orig.)

Many interest studies have shown the decline of students' interest in physics during secondary education, particularly among girls. Research into physics-related interests of students suggests applying different measures to reduce or reverse that trend such as: (a) suggesting curricular changes that do justice to the specific interests and experiences of girls, (b) improving the ability of teachers to support girls in the development of a positive physics related self-concept, and (c) changing to an organizational setting that gives girls a better chance to improve their self-concept about physics. The purpose of this study was to examine whether these hypothetically effective measures lead to an improvement of the situation for girls when implemented in the physics classroom. The intervention took a whole school year of some 60 one-hour lessons and comprised 12 experimental and 7 control classes of seventh graders (age about 13). Their immediate and long-term achievements, as well as their change of interest in physics, their subjectively experienced competence, and their physics-related self-concept were assessed by written tests at various stages of the intervention. The intervention proved successful and significantly improved most of these indicators for girls (and boys) in the experimental group. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Particularly in the so called "hard" science subjects the supposedly equal treatment offered by coeducation in schools proves to be, on closer inspection, an extremely subtle form of unequal treatment. The syllabus and the modes of behavior of both male and female teachers are mainly influenced by the interests, knowledge and abilities of the boys.Based on empirical findings an intervention project aimed at giving girls a better chance in science was carried out focusing on the initial courses of physics in secondary level I (grade 7). Three aspects of innovation were involved: (1) development of new teaching units and materials based on empirical results on the specific interests and experiences of girls; (2) development of strategies to check ones' own (teacher's) classroom behavior; and, (3) alternating single sex with coeducational teaching vs. coeducational teaching only. The effects of the intervention measures are evaluated in a longitudinal design. Gender specific differences in interest and achievement in physics will be discussed depending on personality characteristics and classroom characteristics as well as the developed curriculum and its motivational impact. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Zusammenfassung. Vorangegangene Studien zur Veränderung des Interesses von Schülerinnen und Schülern an Physik lassen aufgrund von Quasi-Längsschnitten nur eingeschränkte Aussagen über Veränderungen zu. Ausgehend von den Daten einer echten Längsschnittstudie werden deshalb erstmals Ergebnisse zu individuellen Veränderungen des Interesses von Schülerinnen und Schülern an Physik vorgestellt. Für acht Gebiete der Physik wurden die Veränderungen in einer kategorialen Typen-Variable für Jungen und Mädchen mit Hilfe des latenten Markov-Modells in seiner Mehrgruppen-Version modelliert. Wesentliche Gemeinsamkeiten über die acht Gebiete hinweg sind: 1) Zu Beginn des Prozesses gehören Jungen eher dem Typ “Interesse an Physik als formalisierter Naturwissenschaft“ an, Mädchen eher dem Typ “Interesse an Anwendungen und gesellschaftlichen Bezügen von Physik“. 2) Diese Differenz in der Verteilung der Typen zwischen Jungen und Mädchen vergrößert sich über die Zeit aufgrund eines für die Geschlechter spezifischen Wechsels von einem Typ zu einem anderen.

This article presents three interlinked studies aimed at: (1) developing a curricular frame for physics education; (2) assessing the students' interest in the contents, contexts, and activities that are suggested by that curricular frame; and (3) developing a curriculum that is in line with that frame and measuring its cognitive and emotional effects on students. The curricular frame was developed by adopting the Delphi technique and drawing on the expertise of 73 persons selected according to specified selection criteria. Interest data of some 8000 students and information of the presently taught physics curriculum were sampled longitudinally as well as cross-sectionally in various German Lander (states) by questionnaire. The third study comprised 23 experimental and 7 control classes. As a result of the comparison between the features of the curricular frame, the interest structure of students, and the current physics curriculum, there is a remarkable congruency between students' interest in physics and the kind of physics education identified in the Delphi study as being relevant. However, there is a considerable discrepancy between students' interest and the kind of physics instruction practiced in the physics classroom. Regression analysis revealed that students' interest in physics as a school subject is hardly related to their interest in physics, but mainly to the students' self-esteem of being good achievers. The data strongly suggest physics be taught so that students have a chance to develop a positive physics-related self-concept and to Link physics with situations they encounter outside the classroom. A curriculum based on these principles proved superior compared to a traditional curriculum. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Zusammenfassung. Es werden die Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Befragung zur Entwicklung des Interesses an den Inhalten des Schulfaches Physik referiert. In einer kombinierten Quer- und Längsschnittstudie wurden insgesamt über 6000 Schüler mit einem umfangreichen Fragebogen zu ihrem Physikinteresse und anderen lern- und leistungsbezogenen Variablen befragt. Dabei wird eine Analysemethode eingesetzt (das Mixed Rasch Modell), welche es gestattet, gleichzeitig qualitative Unterschiede zwischen den Schülern hinsichtlich der Interessenstruktur und quantitative Unterschiede in der Interessenstärke zu berücksichtigen. Es ergeben sich zunächst gebietsspezifische Interessentypen, die sich jedoch als relativ stabil über die Inhaltsgebiete der Physik erweisen. Interessenstruktur und Interessenintensität werden hinsichtlich ihrer Abhängigkeit von Geschlecht und Alter analysiert und interpretiert. Dabei zeigt sich, daß die Entwicklung des Interesses an Physik primär durch eine Veränderung der Interessenstruktur zu kennzeichnen ist, und sekundär durch ein leichtes Absinken der Interessenintensität. Dies trifft insbesondere für die Mädchen zu.

This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation into the level of physics education received by adults between the ages of 20 and 40 years and its relation to their educational career. In this context, a set of pre‐experimental hypotheses, primarily related to the presumed long‐term effects of physics instruction, was tested. A total of 869 adults from 11 towns in the Federal Republic of Germany participated in this study. For methodological reasons, the domain of physics was restricted to the thematic areas of ‘Energy and energy supply’ and ‘Electricity and domestic electrical appliances’. A strong relationship was found to exist between the amount of physics instruction received in school and both types of knowledge, theoretical and practical, in adulthood. Interests and attitudes are less influenced by school variables than by out‐of‐school socialization. Gender differences in physics knowledge can only be partially ascribed to differences in educational career.

Zeitschrift fur Padagogik 32 (1986) 2, S. 189-204 Padagogische Teildisziplin: Fachdidaktik/mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Facher; Padagogische Psychologie;