How Do Students Experience a Deprived Urban Area in Berlin? Empirical Reconstruction of Students’ Orientations

Abstract

On the one hand, this paper describes the findings from the implementation of subject-matter teaching and learning via fieldwork in a deprived area (Kottbusser Tor) of Berlin. On the other hand, the authors focus on the explicit and implicit knowledge (which we call orientations) of the students concerning this fieldwork. In a problem-oriented approach, according to the model of a social city, students develop a concept about how to renew the deprived area of Berlin. They gain a variety of new experiences, some of which raise ethical questions. Autonomous group discussions with various school classes in the age group of 14 to 16 (n=30) were carried out after the fieldwork. The documentary method was used for data analysis which resulted in a typology of students. Concerning the orientations of the students, two excluding types of students (marginalizing type & distancing type) and two including types (integrating type & normalizing type) could be reconstructed. In addition to the benefit of the typology prese nted in this paper becoming an impulse for students to engage in self-reflection, the typology can also serve as a diagnostic tool for teachers to grasp learning conditions. Furthermore, an understanding also arises about students´ orientations to support the conceptualization of fieldwork in terms of practical handling and necessary measures for its use.

Knowledge Transfer in Geography - Reconstructing implicit orientations of Teacher Trainers in exchange processes with researchers using the example of the subject Geography

“…Via the recurrent reconstruction, the frameworks of orientation "can be elaborated as generative structures or as modus operandi of action practice and object-theoretical insights [can be generated]" (Asbrand & Martens, 2018, p. 33). From the insights generalizable types of dealing with the challenge of transfer can be reconstructed within the framework of a sense-genetic type formation (Luber et al, 2020).…”

Study review on the use of the documentary method in the field of research on and in schools in English-speaking scientific contexts

“…In the first cluster, different aspects of student learning are addressed. On the one hand, in some subject-specific studies, specific teaching methods -including the Mystery Method (Applis 2014(Applis , 2015 and approaches such as playing a certain game in class (Hofmann 2021) and performing fieldwork (Luber et al 2020)were implemented and then evaluated. On the other hand, some studies focus on rather fundamental topics -such as students' personal epistemologies regarding subject-specific concepts (Martens 2015) -or on learning experiences (Asbrand 2011;Wagener 2018) and on dealing with students' processes (Kater-Wettstädt 2018) in specific contexts.…”

“…With regard to the results, some of the studies present typologies of student learning. Laura Luber et al (2020) reconstructed four types of student orientations toward performing fieldwork in geography, two of which were called "excluding" (i. e., marginalization and distancing), and two of which were called "including" (i. e., integrating and normalizing). Jan Hofmann (2021) presents types of students' ethical decision-making, and Marina Wagener (2018) discusses types of learning experiences when sponsoring a child from the Global South.…”

Dokumentarische Schulforschung. Schwerpunkte: Schulentwicklung – Schulkultur – Schule als Organisation

“…Cluster 4: Transitions in the school context Göhlich & Wagner-Willi 2003;Schittenhelm 2010;Bobeth-Neumann 2014;Köhler 2017 In the first cluster, different aspects of student learning are addressed. On the one hand, in some subject-specific studies, specific teaching methods -including the Mystery Method (Applis 2014(Applis , 2015 and approaches such as playing a certain game in class (Hofmann 2021) and performing fieldwork (Luber et al 2020)were implemented and then evaluated. On the other hand, some studies focus on rather fundamental topics -such as students' personal epistemologies regarding subject-specific concepts -or on learning experiences (Asbrand 2011;Wagener 2018) and on dealing with students' processes (Kater-Wettstädt 2018) in specific contexts.…”