Research
Our group's focus is learning in the STEM subjects (in German: MINT for Mathematics, Informatics, Natural Science and Technology) from a cognitive and instructional psychology perspective.
Our group's focus is learning in the STEM subjects (in German: MINT for Mathematics, Informatics, Natural Science and Technology) from a cognitive and instructional psychology perspective.
The learning and teaching of STEM subjects is challenging for all age levels and school types. We therefore run cross-sectional and longitudinal studies involving kindergarten children, elementary- and secondary school students, with students who will go on to enrol at university (gymnasium students) as well as those who already attend university. We want to understand how human beings use the cognitive resources they are endowed with - incompassing language, number sense, visuo-spatial abilities and the ability to draw logical conclusions – for the construction of useable MINT knowledge.
As we consider learning and instruction as two sides of the same coin, we want to find out how we can inform teachers to optimize their classroom practice based on scientific insight. At the MINT Learning Center we therefore develop teaching units and curricula, which undergo experimental testing, for the most part under realistic classroom conditions. The chair is responsible for the teacher training program at ETH, and all group members are involved in teaching activities on the psychology of human learning.