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

Abstract

The transfer of research findings into teaching practice is often defined as a mutual exchange process between research and teaching practice. In the exchange and handling of new findings, the implicitaction-guiding orientations of teachers in particular are highly important. The present study is dedicated to reconstructing these orientations of teacher trainers of geography, who, as educators of trainee teachers in the second practical phase of the German teacher training system, occupy a unique position between research and teaching practice. Using the documentary method, different orientations of the teacher trainers were reconstructed through multiple group discussions. These were conducted in the context of a one-year training series on new insights into China’s innovation-based economic development. These orientations move along a continuum between instruction and co-construction. From these findings, important insights for future transfer research and practice can be derived.