Professional Competence of Teachers: Effects on Instructional Quality and Student Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kunter, Mareike; Klusmann, Uta; Baumert, Jürgen; Richter, Dirk; Voss, Thamar; Hachfeld, Axinja

2013-01-01

This study investigates teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, professional beliefs, work-related motivation, and self-regulation as aspects of their professional competence. Specifically, it examines how these aspects impact instruction and, in turn, student outcomes. In a nationally representative sample of 194 German secondary school…

A comparison of rural high school students in Germany with rural Tennessee high school students' mathematics and science achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harding, R. Fredrick

This descriptive study compared the science and mathematics aptitudes and achievement test scores for the final school year students in rural White County and Van Buren County, Tennessee with rural county students in Germany. In accordance with the previous research literature (Stevenson, 2002), German students outperformed U.S. students on The International Trends in Math and Science test (TIMSS). As reform in the U.S. education system has been underway, this study intended to compare German county student final school year performance with White County and Van Buren County (Grade 12) performance in science and mathematics. The entire populations of 176 White and Van Buren Counties senior high final school year students were compared with 120 school final year students from two rural German county high schools. The student responses to identical test and questionnaire items were compared using the t-test statistical analysis. In conclusion after t-test analyses, there was no significant difference (p>.05 level) in student attitudes on the 27 problem achievement and the 35 TIMSS questionnaire items between the sampled population of 120 German students compared with the population of 176 White and Van Buren students. Also, there was no statistically significant difference (p>.05 level) between the German, White, and Van Buren County rural science and math achievement in the TIMSS problem section of the final year test. Based on the research, recommendations to improve U.S. student scores to number one in the world include making changes in teaching methodology in mathematics and science; incorporating pamphlet lessons rather than heavily reliance on textbooks; focusing on problem solving; establishing an online clearinghouse for effective lessons; creating national standards in mathematics and science; matching students' course choices to job aspirations; tracking misbehaving students rather than mainstreaming them into the regular classroom; and designing individual educational plans for every student. Further study and future investigations are recommended from this study to compare White County and Van Buren County Students with other rural county schools in Tennessee, as well as other states. In addition, the Tennessee students' state mandated science and mathematics could be correlated to the TIMMS to identify trends and relationships. Future comparisons of White County and Van Buren County with higher scoring rural Asian students could be done in search of more effective methods of teaching science and mathematics.

How robust is the IAT? Measuring and manipulating implicit attitudes of East- and West-Germans.

PubMed

Kühnen, U; Schiessl, M; Bauer, N; Paulig, N; Pöhlmann, C; Schmidthals, K

2001-01-01

We investigated consequences of priming East-West-German related self-knowledge for the strength of implicit, ingroup-directed positive evaluations among East- and West-Germans. Based on previous studies we predicted opposite effects of self-knowledge priming for East- and West-Germans. Since in general the East-German stereotype is regarded as more negative than the West-German one, bringing to mind East-West-related self-knowledge (relative to neutral priming) was expected to attenuate ingroup favoritism for East-Germans, but to increase it for West-Germans. After having fulfilled the priming tasks, participants worked on an IAT-version in which the to be classified stimuli were East- or West-German city names (dimension 1) and positive or negative adjectives (dimension 2). Results of Experiment 1 showed (a) that East- and West-German students implicitly evaluated their ingroups as more positive than the outgroups and (b) confirmed the predictions of the priming influence. Experiment 2 replicated these findings with more representative samples from East- and West-Germany. The results are discussed with regard to underlying processes of implicit attitudes in intergroup contexts.

Effects of Biology Teachers' Professional Knowledge and Cognitive Activation on Students' Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Förtsch, Christian; Werner, Sonja; von Kotzebue, Lena; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2016-01-01

This study examined the effects of teachers' biology-specific dimensions of professional knowledge--pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge (CK)--and cognitively activating biology instruction, as a feature of instructional quality, on students' learning. The sample comprised 39 German secondary school teachers whose lessons on…

Marlene Dietrich in the German Classroom: A German Film Project--Humanities through the Golden Age of German Cinema.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flippo, Hyde

1993-01-01

Marlene Dietrich and other classic performers of German cinema can serve to open up a whole new realm for students of German, at secondary and postsecondary levels. By researching and viewing German and American film classics, students have opportunity to learn more about German language and an important element of German culture that has had…

Factors Influencing Enrollment in Public High School German Courses: Results of a National Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minert, Roger P.

1992-01-01

Questions regarding reasons students select or decline to study German are examined, based on the results of a survey conducted among students of German in 127 U.S. high schools. Student responses are discussed in the light of academic, demographic, social, and familial considerations, and a profile of the 1990s student of German is constructed.…

Lifestyle choices and mental health: a longitudinal survey with German and Chinese students.

PubMed

Velten, Julia; Bieda, Angela; Scholten, Saskia; Wannemüller, André; Margraf, Jürgen

2018-05-16

A healthy lifestyle can be beneficial for one's mental health. Thus, identifying healthy lifestyle choices that promote psychological well-being and reduce mental problems is useful to prevent mental disorders. The aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the predictive values of a broad range of lifestyle choices for positive mental health (PMH) and mental health problems (MHP) in German and Chinese students. Data were assessed at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Samples included 2991 German (M age  = 21.69, SD = 4.07) and 12,405 Chinese (M age  = 20.59, SD = 1.58) university students. Lifestyle choices were body mass index, frequency of physical and mental activities, frequency of alcohol consumption, smoking, vegetarian diet, and social rhythm irregularity. PMH and MHP were measured with the Positive Mental Health Scale and a 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. The predictive values of lifestyle choices for PMH and MHP at baseline and follow-up were assessed with single-group and multi-group path analyses. Better mental health (higher PMH and fewer MHP) at baseline was predicted by a lower body mass index, a higher frequency of physical and mental activities, non-smoking, a non-vegetarian diet, and a more regular social rhythm. When controlling for baseline mental health, age, and gender, physical activity was a positive predictor of PMH, smoking was a positive predictor of MHP, and a more irregular social rhythm was a positive predictor of PMH and a negative predictor of MHP at follow-up. The good fit of a multi-group model indicated that most lifestyle choices predict mental health comparably across samples. Some country-specific effects emerged: frequency of alcohol consumption, for example, predicted better mental health in German and poorer mental health in Chinese students. Our findings underline the importance of healthy lifestyle choices for improved psychological well-being and fewer mental health difficulties. Effects of lifestyle on mental health are comparable in German and Chinese students. Some healthy lifestyle choices (i.e., more frequent physical activity, non-smoking, regular social rhythm) are related to improvements in mental health over a 1-year period.

Antecedents of Academic Emotions: Testing the Internal/External Frame of Reference Model for Academic Enjoyment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goetz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne C.; Hall, Nathan C.; Pekrun, Reinhard

2008-01-01

The present study focused on students' academic enjoyment as predicted by achievement in multiple academic domains. Assumptions were based on Marsh's internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model and Pekrun's control-value theory of achievement emotions, and were tested in a sample of 1380 German students from grades 5 to 10. Students' academic…

Executive functions and behavioral problems in deaf and hard-of-hearing students at general and special schools.

PubMed

Hintermair, Manfred

2013-01-01

In this study, behavioral problems of deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) school-aged children are discussed in the context of executive functioning and communicative competence. Teachers assessed the executive functions of a sample of 214 D/HH students from general schools and schools for the deaf, using a German version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF-D). This was complemented by a questionnaire that measured communicative competence and behavioral problems (German version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ-D). The results in nearly all the scales show a significantly higher problem rate for executive functions in the group of D/HH students compared with a normative sample of hearing children. In the D/HH group, students at general schools had better scores on most scales than students at schools for the deaf. Regression analysis reveals the importance of executive functions and communicative competence for behavioral problems. The relevance of the findings for pedagogical work is discussed. A specific focus on competencies such as self-efficacy or self-control in educational concepts for D/HH students seems to be necessary in addition to extending language competencies.

Comparison of health-seeking characteristics of German and Belgian university students.

PubMed

Koop, R; Kartounian, H; Devroey, D

2017-01-01

Introduction. The aim of this study was to determine whether the use of primary health care differs between students enrolled in Belgian and German government-funded universities. The secondary aim of the study was to determine the factors that might explain such a difference. Methods. Participants were recruited through all Belgian and German government-funded universities. Because not all the universities agreed to participate, recruiting was also done through social media groups of the universities. An anonymous online survey was used for data collection. Results. In total, 2238 completed surveys were evaluated, of which 544 from students in Belgium and 1694 from students in Germany. In Belgium, more students had a family physician (87%) as compared to the students in Germany (73%) (p < 0.001). During the two months prior to the study, 37% of the Belgian students and 35% of the German students attended a family physician (p = 0.37). More German students attended a specialist (40%) as compared to the Belgian students (24%) (p<0.001). The German students also attended the emergency department more frequently (6%) as compared to their Belgian counterparts (3%) (p = 0.004). Conclusion. Belgian university students were more likely to attend a primary care physician than the German students. The health care seemed to be better organized for Belgian students and they were more satisfied with the delivered care.

Political Efficacy in Adolescence: Development, Gender Differences, and Outcome Relations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arens, A. Katrin; Watermann, Rainer

2017-01-01

The present study focuses on political efficacy in terms of students' competence self-perceptions related to the domain of politics. The investigation addresses the mean level development and longitudinal relations to outcome variables including gender differences. Drawing on a sample of N = 2,504 German students, political efficacy, along with…

The Roles of Competence Beliefs and Goal Orientations for Change in Intrinsic Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spinath, Birgit; Steinmayr, Ricarda

2012-01-01

The present study investigated 3 theoretically plausible explanations for changes in school-related intrinsic motivation. A sample of 348 German 11th-grade students was followed for 1 year. At 2 measurement occasions, students completed self-reports regarding their school-related intrinsic motivation, goal orientations, and competence beliefs. In…

Cross-Cultural Variations in Identifying Embedded Figures: Comparisons from the United States, Germany, Russia, and Malaysia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhnen, Ulrich; Hannover, Bettina; Roeder, Ute; Shah, Ashiq Ali; Schubert, Benjamin; Upmeyer, Arnold; Zakaria, Saliza

2001-01-01

Examined cross-cultural differences in field dependence, hypothesizing differences according to the degree of individualism or collectivism within college students' respective cultures. Data from U.S., German, Russian, and Malaysian students indicated that field dependence did not differ between samples representing similar cultures. U.S. And…

Learning new vocabulary in German: the effects of inferring word meanings, type of feedback, and time of test.

PubMed

Carpenter, Shana K; Sachs, Riebana E; Martin, Beth; Schmidt, Kristian; Looft, Ruxandra

2012-02-01

In the present study, introductory-level German students read a simplified story and learned the meanings of new German words by reading English translations in marginal glosses versus trying to infer (i.e., guess) their translations. Students who inferred translations were given feedback in English or in German, or no feedback at all. Although immediate retention of new vocabulary was better for students who used marginal glosses, students who inferred word meanings and then received English feedback forgot fewer translations over time. Plausible but inaccurate inferences (i.e., those that made sense in the context) were more likely to be corrected by students who received English feedback as compared with German feedback, providing support for the beneficial effects of mediating information. Implausible inaccurate inferences, however, were more likely to be corrected on the delayed vocabulary test by students who received German feedback as compared with English feedback, possibly because of the additional contextual support provided by German feedback.

Gender differences in depression scores of Iranian and german medical students.

PubMed

Ahmadi, Jamshid; Ahmadi, Nahid; Soltani, Fereshteh; Bayat, Fatemeh

2014-01-01

The aim was to evaluate gender differences in depression scores of Iranian and German medical students. Two hundred Iranian medical students (100 men and 100 women) and 200 German medical students (100 men and 100 women) were selected randomly and completed the English form of the self-rating Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Analysis gave a mean rating of 10.7 ± 6.6 for Iranian men and 10.9 ± 7.81 for Iranian women (NS). Also, 5 ± 4.9 for German men and 5.6 ± 5.0 for German women (NS). On Item 2, which asked whether the person was pessimistic 33% of Iranian men and 30% of Iranian women indicated that they were pessimistic (NS). Also, 21% of German men and 20% of German women indicated that they were pessimistic (NS). On Item 9, which asked about suicidal tendencies, 9% of Iranian men and 13% of Iranian women reported as having suicidal tendencies (NS). Also, 13% of German men and 21% of German women reported as having self-harming thoughts (NS). The present study showed no gender differences in Iranian and German medical students' scores on the BDI.

To Accept One's Fate or Be Its Master: Culture, Control, and Workplace Choice.

PubMed

Eisen, Charis; Ishii, Keiko; Miyamoto, Yuri; Ma, Xiaoming; Hitokoto, Hidefumi

2016-01-01

Utilizing three student (Study 1) and non-student samples (Study 2), we examined cultural differences in workplace choice for North Americans, Germans, and Japanese. We focused on the desire for control as a potential mediator (i.e., the underlying mechanism) to explain cultural differences in this important life decision. Given culturally divergent embodiments of independent vs. interdependent models of agency, we expected and found that, compared to North Americans and Germans, Japanese were more likely to prefer a workplace with a payment system that maintains social order rather than one that rewards individual achievement. Furthermore, we found that Japanese tend to give greater consideration to family opinions in their choice of workplace. As predicted, desire for control (i.e., the motivation to have control over various events) was stronger for North Americans and Germans than Japanese, and explained cultural differences in choice of workplace.

To Accept One’s Fate or Be Its Master: Culture, Control, and Workplace Choice

PubMed Central

Eisen, Charis; Ishii, Keiko; Miyamoto, Yuri; Ma, Xiaoming; Hitokoto, Hidefumi

2016-01-01

Utilizing three student (Study 1) and non-student samples (Study 2), we examined cultural differences in workplace choice for North Americans, Germans, and Japanese. We focused on the desire for control as a potential mediator (i.e., the underlying mechanism) to explain cultural differences in this important life decision. Given culturally divergent embodiments of independent vs. interdependent models of agency, we expected and found that, compared to North Americans and Germans, Japanese were more likely to prefer a workplace with a payment system that maintains social order rather than one that rewards individual achievement. Furthermore, we found that Japanese tend to give greater consideration to family opinions in their choice of workplace. As predicted, desire for control (i.e., the motivation to have control over various events) was stronger for North Americans and Germans than Japanese, and explained cultural differences in choice of workplace. PMID:27445904

Global Health Education: a cross-sectional study among German medical students to identify needs, deficits and potential benefits (Part 1 of 2: Mobility patterns & educational needs and demands).

PubMed

Bozorgmehr, Kayvan; Schubert, Kirsten; Menzel-Severing, Johannes; Tinnemann, Peter

2010-10-08

In recent years, education and training in global health has been the subject of recurring debate in many countries. However, in Germany, there has been no analysis of the educational needs or demands of medical students, or the educational deficits or potential benefits involved in global health education. Our purpose is to analyse international health elective patterns of medical students enrolled at German universities and assess whether or how they prepare for their electives abroad. We examine the exposure of medical students enrolled at German universities to training courses in tropical medicine or global health and assess students' perceived needs and demands for education in global health. Cross-sectional study among medical students in Germany including all 36 medical schools during the second half of the year 2007. All registered medical students were eligible to participate in the study. Recruitment occurred via electronic mailing-lists of students' unions. We developed a web-based, semi-structured questionnaire to capture students' international mobility patterns, preparation before electives, destination countries, exposure to and demand for global health learning opportunities. 1126 online-replies were received and analysed from all registered medical students in Germany (N = 78.067). 33.0% of all respondents (370/1126) declared at least one international health elective and of these, 36.0% (133/370) completed their electives in developing countries. 36.0% (131/363) did not prepare specifically at all, 59.0% (214/363) prepared either by self-study or declared a participation in specific preparation programmes. 87.8% of 5th and 6th year students had never participated in a global health course and 72.6% (209/288) had not completed a course in tropical medicine. 94.0% (861/916) endorsed the idea of introducing global health into medical education. Students in our sample are highly mobile during their studies. International health electives are common, also in developing countries. Formal preparation beyond self-study is virtually non-existent amongst our sample and the participation rate in courses of tropical medicine or global health is appallingly low. We have identified unmet perceived needs and the demand for more learning opportunities in global health in our sample, urging for reforms to adjust curricula to a globalising world.

Global Health Education: a cross-sectional study among German medical students to identify needs, deficits and potential benefits (Part 1 of 2: Mobility patterns & educational needs and demands)

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background In recent years, education and training in global health has been the subject of recurring debate in many countries. However, in Germany, there has been no analysis of the educational needs or demands of medical students, or the educational deficits or potential benefits involved in global health education. Our purpose is to analyse international health elective patterns of medical students enrolled at German universities and assess whether or how they prepare for their electives abroad. We examine the exposure of medical students enrolled at German universities to training courses in tropical medicine or global health and assess students' perceived needs and demands for education in global health. Methods Cross-sectional study among medical students in Germany including all 36 medical schools during the second half of the year 2007. All registered medical students were eligible to participate in the study. Recruitment occurred via electronic mailing-lists of students' unions. We developed a web-based, semi-structured questionnaire to capture students' international mobility patterns, preparation before electives, destination countries, exposure to and demand for global health learning opportunities. Results 1126 online-replies were received and analysed from all registered medical students in Germany (N = 78.067). 33.0% of all respondents (370/1126) declared at least one international health elective and of these, 36.0% (133/370) completed their electives in developing countries. 36.0% (131/363) did not prepare specifically at all, 59.0% (214/363) prepared either by self-study or declared a participation in specific preparation programmes. 87.8% of 5th and 6th year students had never participated in a global health course and 72.6% (209/288) had not completed a course in tropical medicine. 94.0% (861/916) endorsed the idea of introducing global health into medical education. Conclusion Students in our sample are highly mobile during their studies. International health electives are common, also in developing countries. Formal preparation beyond self-study is virtually non-existent amongst our sample and the participation rate in courses of tropical medicine or global health is appallingly low. We have identified unmet perceived needs and the demand for more learning opportunities in global health in our sample, urging for reforms to adjust curricula to a globalising world. PMID:20932277

Tyskland--et grat land med et grimt sprog. Oder: die Haltung Danischer gymnasiasten zu Deutsch, Deutschland, und den Deutschen (Germany--a Grey Country with an Ugly Language. Or: The Attitudes of Danish Students to German, Germany, and the Germans). ROLIG Working Paper 43.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bense, Elisabeth

Two studies are reported that investigated the views of Danish secondary school students studying German. The first, an observational study, revealed that the vast majority of questions Danish students posed during German lessons concerned grammar and vocabulary. The second study was a questionnaire that revealed that the Danish students were…

Pornography Use and Sexual Behavior Among Polish and German University Students.

PubMed

Martyniuk, Urszula; Briken, Peer; Sehner, Susanne; Richter-Appelt, Hertha; Dekker, Arne

2016-08-17

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between pornography use and sexual behavior in young adults from two culturally different countries. Data were collected in an online survey among German (n = 1,303; G) and Polish (n = 1,135; P) university students aged 18 to 26 years. Pornography use was associated with engaging in a greater variety of sexual activities (e.g., sexual role playing, using sex toys; G > P) rather than with a high number of sex partners or condom use consistency. The differences between the samples were found primarily for females (in anal sex experience and age at the first sexual intercourse; G > P).

Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) among German students-A longitudinal approach.

PubMed

Brailovskaia, Julia; Margraf, Jürgen

2017-01-01

The present study aimed to investigate Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) in a German student sample over a period of one year. While mean FAD level did not increase during the investigation period, a significant increase was shown in the number of participants reaching the critical cutoff score. FAD was significantly positively related to the personality trait narcissism and to negative mental health variables (depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms). Furthermore, FAD fully mediated the significant positive relationship between narcissism and stress symptoms, which demonstrates that narcissistic people can be specifically at risk to develop FAD. Present results give a first overview of FAD in Germany. Practical applications for future studies and limitations of present results are discussed.

German version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0: Prevalence and correlates of 'food addiction' in students and obese individuals.

PubMed

Meule, Adrian; Müller, Astrid; Gearhardt, Ashley N; Blechert, Jens

2017-08-01

The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) measures addiction-like eating of palatable foods based on the seven diagnostic criteria for substance dependence in the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Most recently, a new version of the YFAS has been developed based on the revised eleven diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder in DSM-5. This YFAS 2.0 was translated into German and used among other measures in a study with 455 university students (89% female) and in a study with 138 obese patients presenting for bariatric surgery (78% female). In the student sample, the one-factorial structure of the English version could be replicated and internal consistency was α = 0.90. The diagnostic threshold for 'food addiction' was met by 10% of the sample. 'Food addiction' diagnoses were associated with higher body mass, binge eating frequency, trait food craving, and attentional impulsivity as well as with lower perceived self-regulatory success in dieting. In the obese sample, the diagnostic threshold for 'food addiction' was met by 47% of participants. Again, 'food addiction' symptomatology was associated with higher binge eating frequency and attentional impulsivity. However, those with a 'food addiction' diagnosis did not differ from those without a diagnosis in body mass. To conclude, psychometric properties of the English YFAS 2.0 were replicated for the German YFAS 2.0. Prevalence rates and correlates of 'food addiction' as measured with the YFAS 2.0 were similar to those found with the previous version of the YFAS. Thus, the German YFAS 2.0 appears to be a reliable measure that can be used for the investigation of addiction-like eating behavior, analogous to the original version of the YFAS and the English YFAS 2.0. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Study on Motivational Factors of Students in German Language Teaching Department at Trakya University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yucel, Mukadder Seyhan

2009-01-01

There are many definitions, views and theories for motivation. This study aims to state expressly what type of motivation factors according to the students' grades affects the students of German Language Teaching Departments (Turkey) negatively or positively. How the external and internal factors affect the students of German Language Teaching…

German as a Second Language: Annotated Bibliography of Learning Resources, Grades 1-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton. Language Services Branch.

The annotated bibliography of print and non-print materials for students and teachers of German includes standard student texts, audiovisual materials, student and teacher references, and other media. It is intended to guide teachers in the selection of student and instructional materials for the teaching and learning of German at the elementary…

AstroFrauenNetzwerk Survey Results - Career situation of female astronomers in Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fohlmeister, J.; Helling, Ch.

2012-04-01

We survey the job situation of women in astronomy in Germany and of German women abroad and review indicators for their career development. Our sample includes women astronomers from all academic levels from doctoral students to professors, as well as female astronomers who have left the field. We find that networking and human support are among the most important factors for success. Experience shows that students should carefully choose their supervisor and collect practical knowledge abroad. We reflect the private situation of female German astronomers and find that prejudices are abundant, and are perceived as discriminating. We identify reasons why women are more likely than men to quit astronomy after they obtain their PhD degree. We give recommendations to young students on what to pay attention to in order to be on the successful path in astronomy.

Knowledge Growth, Academic Beliefs and Motivation of Students in Business and Economics--A Longitudinal German Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biewen, Martin; Happ, Roland; Schmidt, Susanne; Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Olga

2018-01-01

In this study we examine the determinants of and the relationship among economic knowledge, epistemological beliefs, and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation over the course of undergraduate studies in a sample of students of business and economics at a university in Germany. We found economic knowledge increased over the course of studies,…

Teaching Business German Basics on the Second Year Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rockwood, Heidi M.

Most college curricula in business German are oriented to third- and fourth-year German students. Development of a course in introductory business German designed for the second year of language instruction required careful selection of materials and activities. Texts were selected for their comprehensibility for students with no business…

Validation of the Hypomania Checklist (HCL-32) in a Nonclinical Sample of German Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holtmann, Martin; Portner, Franca; Duketis, Eftichia; Flechtner, Hans-Henning; Angst, Jules; Lehmkuhl, Gerd

2009-01-01

We tested the psychometric properties of the Hypomania Checklist (HCL-32) in a sample of nonclinical adolescents, examined the association with current psychopathology, and tested if "hypomanic" adolescents differ from other participants regarding HCL-scores and psychopathology. A total of 294 students completed the HCL-32 and the SDQ, a…

Noch ein "Geheimnis des Jazz": Saying "Oja" to Afro-German Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Divers, Greg

1995-01-01

Introduces classroom materials with which African American students who are studying German can identify. The article shows that contemporary German poetry and the work of African American poets in German translation offer many possibilities for exercises that speak directly to African American students at all levels. (25 references) (Author/CK)

Orientations to Learning German: The Effects of Language Heritage on Second-Language Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noels, Kimberly A.; Clement, Richard

1989-01-01

A study of college students' motivation for learning, and other social-psychological aspects of second language learning, found students learn German for instrumental, friendship, travel, identification/influence, and knowledge reasons. Fluency was related to motivation, and students of German heritage had higher self-confidence in the German…

Assessing Strategic Cultural Competency: Holistic Approaches to Student Learning through Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammer, Judith; Swaffar, Janet

2012-01-01

The current study investigated the impact of a German television program on changes in 4th-semester German students' reflections on cultural perceptions over the course of 1 semester. Sixty-nine students at the University of Texas at Austin watched 4 episodes of the popular German television program "Lindenstrasse". After viewing,…

The Relationship between Ethnic Classroom Composition and Turkish-Origin and German Students' Reading Performance and Sense of Belonging

PubMed Central

Mok, Sog Yee; Martiny, Sarah E.; Gleibs, Ilka H.; Keller, Melanie M.; Froehlich, Laura

2016-01-01

Past research on ethnic composition effects on migrant and ethnic majority students' performance has reported inconclusive results: Some studies have found no relationship between the proportion of migrant students in school and students' performance, some revealed positive effects, whereas others showed negative effects of the proportion of migrant students. Most of the studies did not consider whether an increase in the proportion of migrant students in the classroom has different effects on migrant and ethnic majority students' performance. For this reason, the present study (N = 9215) extends previous research by investigating the cross-level interaction effect of the proportion of Turkish-origin students in classrooms on Turkish-origin and German students' reading performance with data based on the German National Assessment Study 2008/2009 in the school subject German. In addition, we examined the cross-level interaction effect of Turkish-origin students' proportion on sense of belonging to school for Turkish-origin and German students, as sense of belonging has been shown to be an important predictor of well-being and integration. No cross-level interaction effect on performance emerged. Only a small negative main effect of the Turkish-origin students' proportion on all students' performance was found. As predicted, we showed a cross-level interaction on sense of belonging. Only Turkish-origin students' sense of belonging was positively related to the proportion of Turkish-origin students: The more Turkish-origin students there were in a classroom, the higher Turkish-origin students' sense of belonging. German students' sense of belonging was not related to the ethnic classroom composition. Implications of the results in the educational context are discussed. PMID:27471484

The Relationship between Ethnic Classroom Composition and Turkish-Origin and German Students' Reading Performance and Sense of Belonging.

PubMed

Mok, Sog Yee; Martiny, Sarah E; Gleibs, Ilka H; Keller, Melanie M; Froehlich, Laura

2016-01-01

Past research on ethnic composition effects on migrant and ethnic majority students' performance has reported inconclusive results: Some studies have found no relationship between the proportion of migrant students in school and students' performance, some revealed positive effects, whereas others showed negative effects of the proportion of migrant students. Most of the studies did not consider whether an increase in the proportion of migrant students in the classroom has different effects on migrant and ethnic majority students' performance. For this reason, the present study (N = 9215) extends previous research by investigating the cross-level interaction effect of the proportion of Turkish-origin students in classrooms on Turkish-origin and German students' reading performance with data based on the German National Assessment Study 2008/2009 in the school subject German. In addition, we examined the cross-level interaction effect of Turkish-origin students' proportion on sense of belonging to school for Turkish-origin and German students, as sense of belonging has been shown to be an important predictor of well-being and integration. No cross-level interaction effect on performance emerged. Only a small negative main effect of the Turkish-origin students' proportion on all students' performance was found. As predicted, we showed a cross-level interaction on sense of belonging. Only Turkish-origin students' sense of belonging was positively related to the proportion of Turkish-origin students: The more Turkish-origin students there were in a classroom, the higher Turkish-origin students' sense of belonging. German students' sense of belonging was not related to the ethnic classroom composition. Implications of the results in the educational context are discussed.

The Benefit of Being a Big Fish in a Big Pond: Contrast and Assimilation Effects on Academic Self-Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preckel, Franzis; Brull, Matthias

2010-01-01

This study investigates the effects of class-average ability (intelligence) and class type (gifted vs. regular) on Math academic self-concept. The sample comprised 722 fifth-grade students (376 female) in a setting of full-time ability grouping at the top track of the German secondary high school system. Students came from 34 different classes at…

DREEM on, dentists! Students' perceptions of the educational environment in a German dental school as measured by the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure.

PubMed

Ostapczuk, M S; Hugger, A; de Bruin, J; Ritz-Timme, S; Rotthoff, T

2012-05-01

The educational climate in which future doctors are trained is an important aspect of medical education. In contrast to human medicine, it has been rather neglected in dental educational research. The aim of the study was to supplement this lack by applying and validating the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) for the first time in a German-speaking sample of dental students. All dental students at the Medical Faculty of Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf were asked to complete a German adaptation of the DREEM and the Düsseldorf Mission Statement Questionnaire (DMSQ) in a paper-pencil survey. Data from 205 participants were analysed. Psychometric validation included analysis of item homogeneity and discrimination, test reliability, criterion and construct validity (convergent, factorial). DREEM item parameters were satisfactory, reliability (α = 0.87) and convergent validity (r = 0.66 with DMSQ) were also high. Factor analyses, however, yielded dimensions which did not fully correspond to the original DREEM subscales. Overall perception of the educational environment was positive (DREEM total score = 122.95 ± 15.52). Students in the clinical part of course rated the atmosphere more negatively, but their academic self-perception more positively than preclinical students. Showing satisfactory psychometric properties, DREEM proved suitable for assessing educational environments among dental students. Given the right circumstances, e.g., small and early clinically oriented classes, traditional curricula can generate positive environments. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Using Facebook to Improve L2 German Students' Socio-Pragmatic Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harting, Axel

2017-01-01

This study explores ways of using Facebook as a tool to improve the pragmatic competence of students of German as a foreign language in Japan. Nine students of a textbook-based German class (CFER level A2) voluntarily participated in this blended learning approach, in which they were assigned weekly online tasks aimed at eliciting speech acts…

Explanation-Construction in Fourth-Grade Classrooms in Germany and the USA: A cross-national comparative video study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forbes, Cory; Lange, Kim; Möller, Kornelia; Biggers, Mandy; Laux, Mira; Zangori, Laura

2014-09-01

To help explain the differences in students' performance on internationally administered science assessments, cross-national, video-based observational studies have been advocated, but none have yet been conducted at the elementary level for science. The USA and Germany are two countries with large formal education systems whose students underperform those from peers on internationally administered standardized science assessments. However, evidence from the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Exam assessment suggests fourth-grade students (9-10 year-olds) in the USA perform higher than those in Germany, despite more instructional time devoted to elementary science in Germany. The purpose of this study is to comparatively analyze fourth-grade classroom science in both countries to learn more about how teachers and students engage in scientific inquiry, particularly explanation-construction. Videorecordings of US and German science instruction (n 1 = 42, n 2 = 42) were sampled from existing datasets and analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Despite German science lessons being, on average, twice as long as those in the USA, study findings highlight many similarities between elementary science in terms of scientific practices and features of scientific inquiry. However, they also illustrate crucial differences around the scientific practice of explanation-construction. While students in German classrooms were afforded more substantial opportunities to formulate evidence-based explanations, US classrooms were more strongly characterized by opportunities for students to actively compare and evaluate evidence-based explanations. These factors may begin to help account for observed differences in student achievement and merit further study grounded in international collaboration.

Assessment Drives Learning: The Effect of Central Exit Exams on Curricular Knowledge and Mathematical Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jurges, Hendrik; Schneider, Kerstin; Senkbeil, Martin; Carstensen, Claus H.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we use data from the German PISA 2003 sample to study the effects of central exit examinations on student performance and student attitudes. Unlike earlier studies we use (i) a value-added measure to pin down the effect of central exit exams on learning in the last year before the exam and (ii) separate test scores for mathematical…

The Seminar for Freshmen as a Platform for Raising Student Awareness of Austrian (and German) Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosellini, Jay Julian

2012-01-01

Small German programs need to reach out to first-year students in order to expand the pool of potential majors and minors and to increase program visibility on campus. This article demonstrates how an interdisciplinary Seminar for Freshmen on Vienna and Berlin can be used to introduce students to the study of the German-speaking world by comparing…

German Eagle vs. Russian Bear: A World War II Russian Front Boardgame Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coatney, Louis R.

This board game encourages junior and senior high school student analysis of the German campaign against the USSR and gauges student decision-making skills. The World War II Russo-German Front is simulated in a standard board game format. A key element of the game is its analysis and results form. Using this form compels students to analyze and…

Comparison of Subjective Health Complaints between Chinese and German University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Chu, Janet Junqing; Khan, Mobarak Hossain; Jahn, Heiko J.; Kraemer, Alexander

2015-01-01

High rates of health complaints (HCs) with substantial variation are reported in different university populations, which can be linked to socio-demographic, lifestyle-related factors, and cultural differences. HCs can be categorized into distinct components. This study aimed to identify and compare underlying dimensions of HCs (HC components); to access and compare HC prevalence, and the associations between HC components, socio-demographic, lifestyle-related factors, and perceived stress in German and Chinese university students. Two health surveys were conducted among 5159 university students (1853 Chinese, 3306 German). Factor analysis and logistic regression were applied. The prevalence of HC ranged from 4.6% to 40.2% over the two countries. Germans reported at least three HCs more often (47.2% vs. 35.8%). Chinese students more often reported gastrointestinal complaints. Perceived stress was positively associated with all three HC components in both countries (OR = 1.03–1.50) with stronger associations among Germans. Women more often reported HCs (OR = 1.32–2.43) with stronger associations among the Germans. Having a father with a low educational level was associated with high psychological symptoms among the Chinese (OR = 1.51), but with low gastrointestinal complaints among the Germans (OR = 0.79). The high prevalence of HCs in students requires country-specific interventions. PMID:26690463

Mental Strain and Chronic Stress among University Students with Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

PubMed

Gulewitsch, Marco D; Enck, Paul; Schwille-Kiuntke, Juliane; Weimer, Katja; Schlarb, Angelika A

2013-01-01

Aim. To investigate the degree of mental strain and chronic stress in a German community sample of students with IBS-like symptoms. Methods and Materials. Following an internet-based survey about stress, this study recruited 176 German university students (23.45 ± 2.48 years; 48.3% males) with IBS-like symptoms according to Rome III and 181 students without IBS (23.55 ± 2.82 years; 50.3% males) and compared them regarding current mental strain (SCL-90-R) and the extend of chronic stress. Beyond this, IBS subtypes, IBS severity, and health care utilization were assessed. Results. Students fulfilling IBS criteria showed significantly elevated values of mental strain and chronic stress. Nearly 40% of the IBS group (versus 20% of the controls) reached a clinically relevant value on the SCL-90-R global severity scale. IBS subtypes did not differ in terms of mental distress or chronic stress. Somatization, anxiety, and the chronic stressors "work overload," "social tension," and "dissatisfaction with job" were most closely connected to IBS symptom severity. Regarding health care utilization, our results show that consulting a physician frequently was not associated significantly with elevated mental strain or chronic stress but with IBS symptom severity. Conclusion. Our data contribute additional evidence to the distinct association between psychological stress and IBS in community samples.

A cross-cultural comparison of biology lessons between China and Germany: a video study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ning; Neuhaus, Birgit Jana

2017-08-01

Given the globalization of science education and the different cultures between China and Germany, we tried to compare and explain the differences on teacher questions and real life instances in biology lessons between the two countries from a culture-related perspective. 22 biology teachers from China and 21 biology teachers from Germany participated in this study. Each teacher was videotaped for one lesson on the unit blood and circulatory system. Before the teaching unit, students' prior knowledge was tested with a pretest. After the teaching unit, students' content knowledge was tested with a posttest. The aim of the knowledge tests here was for the better selection of the four samples for qualitative comparison in the two countries. The quantitative analysis showed that more lower-order teacher questions and more real life instances that were introduced after learning relevant concepts were in Chinese lessons than in German lessons. There were no significant differences in the frequency of higher-order questions or real life instances that were introduced before learning concepts. Qualitative analysis showed that both German teachers guided students to analyze the reasoning process of Landsteiner experiment, but nor Chinese teachers did that. The findings reflected the subtle influence of culture on classroom teaching. Relatively, Chinese biology teachers focused more on learning content and the application of the content in real life; German biology teachers emphasized more on invoking students' reasoning and divergent thinking.

Validation of the English Version of the Dyadic Coping Inventory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levesque, Christine; Lafontaine, Marie-France; Caron, Angela; Fitzpatrick, Josée

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to validate the English version of the original German Dyadic Coping Inventory. Results indicated that the English version of the Dyadic Coping Inventory is a valid and reliable measure of dyadic coping in a sample of 709 heterosexual university students.

Examination performances of German and international medical students in the preclinical studying-term – A descriptive study

PubMed Central

Huhn, D.; Resch, F.; Duelli, R.; Möltner, A.; Huber, J.; Karimian Jazi, K.; Amr, A.; Eckart, W.; Herzog, W.; Nikendei, C.

2014-01-01

Introduction: Medical students with a migration background face several specific problems during their studies. International surveys show first indications that this group of students performs worse in written, oral or practical exams. However, so far, nothing is known about the performance of international students in written pre-clinical tests as well as in pre-clinical State Examinations for German-speaking countries. Method: A descriptive, retrospective analysis of the exam performances of medical students in the pre-clinical part of their studies was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine of Heidelberg in for the year 2012. Performance in written tests of the final exams in the second (N=276), third (N=292) and fourth semester (N=285) were compared between German students, students from EU countries and students from non-EU countries. Same comparison was drawn for the performance in the oral exam of the First State Examination in the period from 2009 - 2012 (N=1137). Results: German students performed significantly better than students with a non-EU migration background both in all written exams and in the oral State Examination (all p<.05). The performance of students with an EU migration background was significantly better than that of students with a non-EU background in the written exam at the end of the third and fourth semester (p<.05). Furthermore, German students completed the oral exam of the First State Examination significantly earlier than students with a non-EU migration background (<.01). Discussion: Due to its poorer performance in written and oral examinations and its simultaneously longer duration of study, the group of non-German medical students with a country of origin outside of the European Union has to be seen as a high-risk group among students with a migration background. For this group, there is an urgent need for early support to prepare for written and oral examinations. PMID:25228931

A Suggested Curriculum Outline for German in Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clutterbuck, J. M.

1975-01-01

Outlines a four-year program of German study aiming to give students a basic ability in spoken and written German, knowledge of German culture, and preparation for advanced German study. Study topics and textbooks are included. (CHK)

The Legacy of Nazism and the History Curriculum in the East German Secondary Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wegner, Gregory P.

1992-01-01

Examines the Marxist-Leninist curriculum assumptions about history instruction in East German schools on the legacy of Nazism. Suggests that questions raised to legitimize history instruction for East German students are relevant for students in capitalist countries. Discusses Hitler's rise to power, Soviet contributions to defeat fascism,…

Austria; Its People and Its Culture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Merriam

This curriculum guide details a 10-week German language course on Austria for advanced high school students. It is intended to help students develop skills of listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing German; to add to their knowledge of German grammar and vocabulary; to acquaint them with Austrian history and culture, and to have…

Attitudes of German Student Teachers on Inclusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baar, Robert

2016-01-01

The contribution discusses attitudes of German Teacher Training Students on Inclusion based on an empirical analysis containing three elements: Evaluation of students' written exams, results of a survey with closed as open questions and the interpretation of group discussions among students about inclusion. One can see that, though the found-out…

Curriculum design and German student exchange for Sino-German Bachelor program majored in optoelectronics engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Jihong; Fuhrmann, Thomas; Xu, Boqing; Schreiner, Rupert; Jia, Hongzhi; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Ning; Seebauer, Gudrun; Zhu, Jiyan

2017-08-01

Different higher education backgrounds in China and Germany led to challenges in the curriculum design at the beginning of our cooperative bachelor program in Optoelectronics Engineering. We see challenges in different subject requirements from both sides and in the German language requirements for Chinese students. The curriculum was optimized according to the ASIIN criteria, which makes it acceptable and understandable by both countries. German students are integrated into the Chinese class and get the same lectures like their Chinese colleagues. Intercultural and curriculum challenges are successfully solved. The results are summarized to provide an example for other similar international programs.

Measurement of specific medical school stress: translation of the "Perceived Medical School Stress Instrument" to the German language.

PubMed

Kötter, Thomas; Voltmer, Edgar

2013-01-01

Medical students encounter specific stressors during their studies. As a result, they develop anxiety, depression and burnout symptoms more frequently than their similarly aged, but employed counterparts. In 1984, Vitaliano et al. published a 13-item instrument for the measurement of stress specific to medical school: the "Perceived Medical School Stress Instrument" (PMSS). Since then, it has been widely applied and validated in English-speaking countries. No German version of the PMSS exists to date. Thus, our aim was to translate the instrument into the German language in order to be able to measure medical school stress in German-speaking countries. The items of the PMSS were translated into German by three separate researchers. The resulting translations were compared and combined with each other to establish a first German version of each item in the PMSS. These items were then translated back into English by two native English speakers to validate the correct primary translation. Based on a revised German version, a cognitive debriefing with 19 German medical students and a theoretical testing on 169 German medical students, the final German translations for each of the 13 items were determined. The PMSS was easily translated into German and there was a high congruency between the primary translations into German and the secondary translations back into English. Incongruities between the translations were solved quickly. The assessment of the German equivalent of the PMSS showed good results regarding its reliability (Cronbach's Alpha 0.81). A German version of the PMSS is now available for measuring the medical school related stress in German-speaking countries.

German Politics "auf Deutsch": Teaching Comparative Politics in a Language across the Curriculum Format.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallerberg, Mark; Cothran, Bettina

1999-01-01

Explores how language and political science professors can co-teach a course using the Language Across the Curriculum format to increase student understanding of a country's language and politics. Describes a Georgia Tech course taught in German on post-war German politics. Addresses the elements of a successful course and student and course…

Developing Attitudes Scale towards German Reading: A Study on Reliability and Validity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arslan Çavusoglu, Ayse; Tepebasili, Fatih

2017-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to develop a scale for German teacher candidates' attitude towards the German reading. The scale was applied to 156 students who were enrolled in the Foreign Language Teaching Department of the Ahmet Kelesoglu Education Faculty, Necmettin Erbakan University. Out of 156 students, %14.1 (n = 22) were preparation…

Facebook Used in a German Film Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leier, Vera

2011-01-01

Looking for a way to make German language study more relevant and to step out of the conventional classroom setting, I introduced Facebook (FB) as a learning platform to my intermediate German students at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. The students took part in a film competition. A FB group was created and the films were uploaded. The…

Demographically Induced Variation in Students' Beliefs about Learning and Studying German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

1995-01-01

Examines how the demographic values of foreign travel, previous foreign-language learning, major field of study, and other factors affect students' beliefs about the study of German. The article focuses on student-perceived improvement in the four skills and cultural knowledge, student motivation, and the expected contributions of teachers and…

Student Idealogies and Cultural Radicalism--Some Swedish Evidence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Runeby, Nils

1988-01-01

The consequences of the German model for the relation between university professors and students and between students and society are summarized. Two positions are outlined, using a novel by German author Michael Zeller to illustrate some of the problems of student ideologies in higher education. The novel illustrates a period in the history of…

Effect of Mixing Ability Groups on Ability Levels Attained.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Jong, John H. A. L.

In 1983, in the Netherlands' highly differentiated school system, two types of curriculum representing different ability levels were combined as a first step towards a more heterogeneous grouping of student abilities. A study of one aspect of the results of this change compared over 1000 samples of English and German second language listening…

Do Interests and Cognitive Abilities Help Explain College Major Choice Equally Well for Women and Men?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Passler, Katja; Hell, Benedikt

2012-01-01

The present study examines whether vocational interests, measured by Holland's RIASEC model, and objectively assessed cognitive abilities, were useful in discriminating among various major categories for a sample of 1990 German university students. Interests and specific abilities, in combination, significantly discriminated among major categories…

More Than Only Skin Deep: Appearance Self-Concept Predicts Most of Secondary School Students' Self-Esteem.

PubMed

Baudson, Tanja G; Weber, Kira E; Freund, Philipp A

2016-01-01

One important goal of education is to develop students' self-esteem which, in turn, hinges on their self-concept in the academic, physical, and social domains. Prior studies have shown that physical self-concept accounts for most of the variation in self-esteem, with academic and social self-concepts playing a much lesser role. As pressure toward perfection seems to be increasing in education, appearance, and social relationships (three aspects that relate to crucial developmental tasks of adolescence), the goal of the present field study was to examine whether former findings still hold true in the light of the changing societal context. A sample of 2,950 students from a broad range of German secondary schools (47% girls, age 10-19 years) responded to a recently validated German-language questionnaire assessing multiple self-concept facets (Weber and Freund, 2016). We examined which self-concept aspects predict self-esteem best and whether the pattern is comparable across genders and achievement levels using latent regression analyses. Results show that self-concept of appearance is still by far the strongest predictor (total sample: B = 0.77, SE = 0.02, p < 0.01) and that this is especially the case for girls and students from special educational schools. Other aspects play a much lesser role. The discussion explores why appearance is so neglected, compared to the more academic subjects, and what school can do to account for its vast importance for students' self-esteem.

Do medical students like communication? Validation of the German CSAS (Communication Skills Attitude Scale).

PubMed

Busch, Anne-Kathrin; Rockenbauch, Katrin; Schmutzer, Gabriele; Brähler, Elmar

2015-01-01

Attitudes towards communication skills of medical undergraduates can be gathered using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). We aimed to develop a German version of the CSAS (CSAS-G) in order to explore attitudes towards communication skills in a German cohort. Additionally the potential influence of demographic factors was examined. We realized the CSAS-G and conducted a survey with 529 participants from 3 different years of study. We then carried out an explorative as well as confirmatory factor analysis and compared the attitudinal scores. Multiple regression analysis was performed. The confirmatory analysis confirmed the two-subscale system revealed by the explorative factor analysis. Students indicate low levels of negative attitudes and moderate levels of positive attitudes. Attitudinal scores differ significantly in relation to gender. The CSAS-G can be used in German cohorts to evaluate attitudes towards communication skills. Medical students in our study show basically a positive approach. Further investigation is necessary to explore and understand attitudes towards communication skills of German medical students.

International medical students – a survey of perceived challenges and established support services at medical faculties

PubMed Central

Huhn, D.; Junne, F.; Zipfel, S.; Duelli, R.; Resch, F.; Herzog, W.; Nikendei, C.

2015-01-01

Introduction: Medical students with a non-German background face several challenges during their studies. Besides support given by foreign student offices further specific projects for international students have been developed and are offered by medical faculties. However, so far, neither a systematic survey of the faculties’ perceived problems nor of the offered support exists. Method: All study deaneries of medical faculties in Germany were contacted between April and October 2013 and asked for their participation in a telephone interview. Interview partners were asked about 1.) The percentage of non-German students at the medical faculty; 2.) The perceived difficulties and problems of foreign students; 3.) The offers for non-German students; and 4.) The specification of further possibilities of support. Given information was noted, frequencies counted and results interpreted via frequency analysis. Results: Only 39% of the medical faculties could give detailed information about the percentage of non-German students. They reported an average share of 3.9% of students with an EU migration background and 4.9% with a non-EU background. Most frequently cited offers are student conducted tutorials, language courses and tandem-programs. The most frequently reported problem by far is the perceived lack of language skills of foreign students at the beginning of their studies. Suggested solutions are mainly the development of tutorials and the improvement of German medical terminology. Discussion: Offers of support provided by medical faculties for foreign students vary greatly in type and extent. Support offered is seen to be insufficient in coping with the needs of the international students in many cases. Hence, a better coverage of international students as well as further research efforts to the specific needs and the effectiveness of applied interventions seem to be essential. PMID:25699112

Alcohol consumption among university students: a Sino-German comparison demonstrates a much lower consumption of alcohol in Chinese students.

PubMed

Chu, Janet Junqing; Jahn, Heiko J; Khan, Mobarak Hossain; Kraemer, Alexander

2016-08-11

Alcohol use is reported in university students with discrepancy between countries. The study objectives were to assess prevalence and associated factors of alcohol consumption among university students in Germany and China. Data used were from 1853 Chinese and 3306 German university students. Alcohol consumption frequency was measured by a question "How often did you drink alcohol in the last three months?" with six possible responses, which were later collapsed into three categories of "At least once a week", "Less than once a week" and "Never". Problem drinking was measured by the CAGE test and defined as a CAGE score of two or more (four as the maximum). Simple and multivariable logistic regressions were used for association analyses. German students reported more often "At least once a week" drinking (59.8 vs. 9.0 %). Among Germans, women drank less often "At least once a week" (OR = 0.40, 0.30-0.53). Among Chinese, a higher BMI was associated with drinking "At least once a week" (OR = 1.09, 1.02-1.18). Age revealed a positive association with "At least once a week" drinking in Chinese (1.33, 1.21-1.46) but a negative association in Germans (OR = 0.97, 0.94-0.99). Having a father with high educational level was positively related to "At least once a week" drinking in both countries (OR = 4.25, 2.67-6.78 for Chinese; OR = 1.32, 1.01-1.72 for Germans). Doing less than once a week physical exercise was negatively associated with "At least once a week" drinking in Chinese and German students (OR = 0.27, 0.15-0.48 for Chinese; OR = 0.69, 0.49-0.96 for Germans). Among the German students, 20.3 % reported problem drinking. Being a female (OR = 0.32, 0.26-0.40) and performing less than once a week physical activity (OR = 0.73, 0.56-0.95) were negatively associated with problem drinking, while having a father with high educational level (OR = 1.32, 1.09-1.60) and experiencing higher level of perceived stress (OR = 1.08, 1.04-1.13) were positively related to problem drinking. Country-specific strategies for reducing alcohol consumption, e.g. educational awareness programmes of alcohol use on Chinese campuses and alcohol prevention schemes among German youth before entering university, are sensible.

The Student-Centered Classroom Made Real: Transforming Student Presentations in an Advanced Course on Technical German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rarick, Damon O.

2010-01-01

This article describes how the author has successfully combined polling with more traditional instructional strategies to enhance student presentation skills in an advanced course teaching technical German. By helping students select and prepare topics, anticipate questions and engage the audience, instructors can eliminate some of the root causes…

From Grave Rubbings to Maximilian's Journey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffman, Elizabeth; Young, Michael

A high school project growing out of efforts to involve students in a German-American tricentennial celebration and designed to make student-centered activities educationally meaningful to both social studies and German language students is described. The project had the following objectives: (1) to view, through an interdisciplinary approach, the…

Student Modeling and Ab Initio Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heift, Trude; Schulze, Mathias

2003-01-01

Provides examples of student modeling techniques that have been employed in computer-assisted language learning over the past decade. Describes two systems for learning German: "German Tutor" and "Geroline." Shows how a student model can support computerized adaptive language testing for diagnostic purposes in a Web-based language learning…

Critical Incidents of Student Satisfaction at German Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vianden, Jörg; Yakaboski, Tamara

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance a classification of satisfactory and unsatisfactory critical incidents of student-university relationships at German universities. Design/methodology/approach: Using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT), this paper reports the results of an exploratory study of 15 tertiary education students at…

Sind Sie fit (Are You in Shape)?: Calisthenics in German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolter, Don

This packet of instructional materials, intended for intermediate and advanced German students, contains a student's section and a teacher's guide focusing on calisthenics. The student section contains three illustrated transcriptions of radio programs on calisthenics for early morning listeners of "Der bayrische Rundfunk" in West Germany.…

A Study on the Phenomenon of Collocations: Methodology of Teaching English and German Collocations to Russian Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varlamova, Elena V.; Naciscione, Anita; Tulusina, Elena A.

2016-01-01

Relevance of the issue stated in the article is determined by the fact that there is a lack of research devoted to the methods of teaching English and German collocations. The aim of our work is to determine methods of teaching English and German collocations to Russian university students studying foreign languages through experimental testing.…

[Evaluation of attitude towards euthanasia expressed by first year medical students from Szczecin, Greifswald and Lund medical faculties].

PubMed

Mierzecki, Artur; Rekawek, Krzysztof; Swiatkowski, Jan; Hoelscher, Mave; Yelva, Lilia; Wiśniewska, Magdalena; Boczar, Tomasz; Chojnicki, Michał; Montnémery, Peter; Hannich, Hans-Joachim

2008-01-01

Medical students' attitude towards euthanasia is a very important ethical problem because they may grapple with this question as future doctors. The aim of the study was to compare the attitude to euthanasia in the group of first year medical students from Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University Greifswald (Germany) and Lund University (Sweden). The study is based on anonymous filling out of the questionnaire about euthanasia by first year medical students. 233 students (61%) answered the questionnaire. There were 65 Polish students, 71 German and 97 Swedish ones. In the group of respondents there were 129 (55%) women and 104 (45%) men. The average age was 22.3 years. 82% of questioned German students declared the acceptance of euthanasia and it was a significantly higher percentage than in comparison to 61% of Swedish students (p < 0.007) and 48% Polish ones (p < 0.0001). Poles were more often against euthanasia (29%) in comparison to 12% of Swedes (p < 0.02) and 3% of Germans (p < 0.001). Unnatural support of patient's life was the most often accepted by students clinical situation to use euthanasia. Significantly more Germans than Poles (79% vs 48%; p < 0.005) and Swedes (79% vs 50%; p < 0.02) accepted euthanasia in the group of questioned students declaring themselves as believers. German students in the highest percentage declared the acceptance of euthanasia and Polish ones--the highest objection. It may be connected with religious beliefs as the element of cultural differences among above three countries. It seems very proper to continue the study among older medical students.

Mental health and patterns of work-related coping behaviour in a German sample of student teachers: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Zimmermann, Linda; Unterbrink, Thomas; Pfeifer, Ruth; Wirsching, Michael; Rose, Uwe; Stößel, Ulrich; Nübling, Matthias; Buhl-Grießhaber, Veronika; Frommhold, Markus; Schaarschmidt, Uwe; Bauer, Joachim

2012-11-01

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the mental health of student teachers, to analyse the extent to which they feel prepared for their profession by the university curriculum and to investigate patterns of coping with occupational stress. A sample of 481 German student teachers was investigated using two standardised instruments: GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire) and AVEM (Arbeitsbezogenes Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster), an occupational stress and coping questionnaire describing four patterns of work-related coping behaviour. In addition, we asked how well the student teachers felt that the curriculum prepared them for their profession. Forty-four per cent of the student teachers report impaired mental health in the second teacher training period, indicated by a GHQ value equal to or over the cut-off of four. The AVEM responses revealed more than 40% showing risk patterns (A or B) compared to only 26.3% displaying a healthy coping style (G), while 32.8% demonstrate an unambitious style (S). These GHQ values are inversely correlated with the extent to which student teachers feel prepared for their work by the university curriculum. Our data indicate a problematic stress level for student teachers in the second training phase (high exposure to health risks and unfavourable coping styles). Since teaching is clearly an extremely demanding job, it is vital that teacher training systems contribute towards protecting the health of teachers by focusing on fostering healthy personal attitudes and equipping young teachers with coping styles and skills that will better prepare them for the challenges facing them in their daily work. Self-care health management should also be part of the teacher training curriculum.

Who Wants to Become a Child Psychiatrist? Lessons for Future Recruitment Strategies from a Student Survey at Seven German Medical Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lempp, Thomas; Neuhoff, Nina; Renner, Tobias; Vloet, Timo D.; Fischer, Helmut; Stegemann, Thomas; Zepf, Florian D.; Robner, Veit; Kolch, Michael; Haessler, Frank; Mattejat, Fritz; Lehr, Dirk; Bachmann, Christian

2012-01-01

Objective: The objective of this survey was to investigate undergraduate German medical students' attitudes toward child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) and to describe the characteristics of students considering CAP as a possible career choice. Methods: The authors conducted a cross-sectional, multicenter survey of medical students (at the time…

Improved Representation of the Self-Perception Profile for Children through Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arens, A. Katrin; Morin, Alexandre J. S.

2017-01-01

This study illustrates an integrative psychometric framework to investigate two sources of construct-relevant multidimensionality in answers to the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC). Using a sample of 2,353 German students attending Grades 3 to 6, we contrasted: (a) first-order versus hierarchical and bifactor models to investigate…

Mamakind or Papakind? [Mom's Child or Dad's Child]: Parent-Specific Patterns in Early Adolescents' Intergenerational Academic Value Transmission

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gniewosz, Burkhard; Noack, Peter

2012-01-01

The present study investigates the intergenerational transmission of the valuing of math within family. We tested if there are groups of students showing differential intergenerational transmission patterns. Based on a two-wave longitudinal sample of 1198 German fifth graders, their mothers (N = 874), and fathers (N = 733), structural equation…

Connectedness and Separation in Parent-Adolescent Relationships: Indicators of a Successful Identity Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masche, J. Gowert; Barber, Brian K.

On the basis of individuation approaches to the study of parent-adolescent relationships, this study hypothesized that connectedness and separation will be separately and jointly related to indicators of successful identity development. A sample of 968 students attending 7th and 10th grades was drawn to represent different German school tracks.…

Unvorgreifliche Gedanken, betreffend die Ausuebung und Verbesserung des Uebersetzungsunterrichts Englisch-Deutsch. (Modest Thoughts on the Use and Improvement of Training in Translation -- English to German).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haber, Bernd K.

1978-01-01

Surveys current practice in teaching translation and finds it faulty. An almost mathematical model of translation strategy is suggested for upper-level students of English who can use a monolingual dictionary. Two sample texts for testing the model are appended. (IFS/WGA)

Do medical students like communication? Validation of the German CSAS (Communication Skills Attitude Scale)

PubMed Central

Busch, Anne-Kathrin; Rockenbauch, Katrin; Schmutzer, Gabriele; Brähler, Elmar

2015-01-01

Objectives: Attitudes towards communication skills of medical undergraduates can be gathered using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). We aimed to develop a German version of the CSAS (CSAS-G) in order to explore attitudes towards communication skills in a German cohort. Additionally the potential influence of demographic factors was examined. Methods: We realized the CSAS-G and conducted a survey with 529 participants from 3 different years of study. We then carried out an explorative as well as confirmatory factor analysis and compared the attitudinal scores. Multiple regression analysis was performed. Results: The confirmatory analysis confirmed the two-subscale system revealed by the explorative factor analysis. Students indicate low levels of negative attitudes and moderate levels of positive attitudes. Attitudinal scores differ significantly in relation to gender. Conclusion: The CSAS-G can be used in German cohorts to evaluate attitudes towards communication skills. Medical students in our study show basically a positive approach. Further investigation is necessary to explore and understand attitudes towards communication skills of German medical students. PMID:25699103

Recruitment of Civil Engineering Students in Germany: Shortage or Overflow?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothert, Heinrich

1990-01-01

Discussed is the recruitment and demand for civil engineering students in Germany. Described is the German engineering education system and the possibility of a joint-venture building industry between the two German states. (KR)

Male Role Endorsement Explains Negative Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Among Students in Mexico More Than in Germany.

PubMed

Steffens, Melanie C; Jonas, Kai J; Denger, Lisa

2015-01-01

Anti-gay attitudes vary across cultures because the larger social context plays a role in attitude formation. Psychological correlates of these attitudes have been investigated in the United States and Europe. Endorsement of traditional gender roles has emerged from that research as a central correlate, next to religiosity and personal contact with lesbians/gay men. In a cross-sectional study, we tested whether these correlates are relevant in Mexico, characterized as an androcentric culture in which both gender-role traditionalism and religiosity are high, using a college-age student sample (N = 63). Because we relied on self-reports, the motivation to appear nonprejudiced was also assessed. We found typical gender differences in attitudes toward gay men. In bivariate tests, anti-gay attitudes were related to male role endorsement, contact with lesbians/gay men, and religiosity. In a multivariate analysis, variance in attitudes was explained by male role endorsement; personal contact or religiosity did not explain additional variance. In a German comparison sample (N = 112), male role endorsement played a smaller role. Variance in anti-gay attitudes in the German sample was also related to personal contact, religiosity, and the motivation to appear nonprejudiced. We discuss the centrality of (male) gender-role endorsement in cultures with high gender-role traditionalism.

Intercultural Competence and Cultural Learning through Telecollaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schenker, Theresa

2012-01-01

This paper presents the findings of a six-week telecollaborative project between sixteen American students enrolled in a second-semester German class at an American university and sixteen German students enrolled in an advanced English course at a high school in Germany. Students discussed various cultural topics with their partner in two e-mails…

Do Our Students Learn What We Teach Them?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boss, Bettina; Jansen, Louise

2003-01-01

Teachers like to believe that students learn what they are taught. Following up on research that questions this belief, a large-scale study of the acquisition of German as a foreign language by French-speaking school students in Geneva (DiGS, or "Deutsch in Genfer Schulen," "German in Geneva schools") further explored the…

PILOT-SPION: A Computer Game for German Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanders, Ruth H.

1984-01-01

Describes a computer game designed for students of German, which uses techniques of artificial intelligence to create a model of language understanding by computer in an adventure game set in Berlin. In addition to providing a concrete means for testing students' language understanding, the game is a useful, highly motivating, learning mode. (SL)

Prevalence and severity of eating disorders: A comparison of DSM-IV and DSM-5 among German adolescents.

PubMed

Ernst, Verena; Bürger, Arne; Hammerle, Florian

2017-11-01

Changes in the DSM-5 eating disorders criteria sought to increase the clarity of the diagnostic categories and to decrease the preponderance of nonspecified eating disorders. The first objective of this study was to analyze how these revisions affect threshold and EDNOS/OSFED eating disorder diagnoses in terms of prevalence, sex ratios, and diagnostic distribution in a student sample. Second, we aimed to compare the impairment levels of participants with a threshold, an EDNOS/OSFED and no diagnosis using both DSM-IV and DSM-5. A sample of 1654 7th and 8th grade students completed self-report questionnaires to determine diagnoses and impairment levels in the context of an eating disorder prevention program in nine German secondary schools. Height and weight were measured. The prevalence of threshold disorders increased from .48% (DSM-IV) to 1.15% (DSM-5). EDNOS disorders increased from 2.90 to 6.23% when using OSFED-categories. A higher proportion of girls was found throughout all the diagnostic categories, and the sex ratios remained stable. The effect sizes of DSM-5 group differences regarding impairment levels were equal to or larger than those of the DSM-IV comparisons, ranging from small to medium. We provide an in-depth overview of changes resulting from the revisions of DSM eating disorder criteria in a German adolescent sample. Despite the overall increase in prevalence estimates, the results suggest that the DSM-5 criteria differentiate participants with threshold disorders and OSFED from those no diagnosis as well as or even more distinctly than the DSM-IV criteria. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

German Teaching: The German Journal of the Association for Language Learning, 1994-1997.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brien, Alistair, Ed.

1997-01-01

This journal focuses on teaching and learning German as a foreign language. Selected articles include the following: "Give Students Autonomy!" German in Great Britain"; "Open Access and Listening Skills"; "Communication with Computers"; "The Quest for Fluency and Accuracy"; "Binational Problem…

Status quo of German-speaking medical students' attitudes toward and knowledge about central aspects of forensic psychiatry across four European countries.

PubMed

Warnke, Ingeborg; Gamma, Alex; Buadze, Anna; Schleifer, Roman; Canela, Carlos; Rüsch, Nicolas; Rössler, Wulf; Strebel, Bernd; Tényi, Tamás; Liebrenz, Michael

While forensic psychiatry is of increasing importance in mental health care, limited available evidence shows that attitudes toward the discipline are contradictory and that knowledge about it seems to be limited in medical students. We aimed to shed light on this subject by analyzing medical students' central attitudes toward and their association with knowledge about forensic psychiatry as well as with socio-demographic and education-specific predictor variables. We recruited N = 1345 medical students from 45 universities with a German language curriculum across four European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary) by using an innovative approach, namely snowball sampling via Facebook. Students completed an online questionnaire, and data were analyzed descriptively and multivariably by linear mixed effects models and multinomial regression. The results showed overall neutral to positive attitudes toward forensic psychiatry, with indifferent attitudes toward the treatment of sex offenders, and forensic psychiatrists' expertise in the media. Whereas medical students knew about the term 'forensic psychiatry', they showed a lack of specific medico-legal knowledge. Multivariable models on predictor variables revealed statistically significant findings with, however, small estimates and variance explanation. Therefore, further research is required along with the development of a refined assessment instrument for medical students to explore both attitudes and knowledge in forensic psychiatry. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Get That Job! A Project on the German Job Application Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magedera-Hofhansl, Hanna

2016-01-01

With decreasing numbers of students studying German at Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom, there is an increasing demand for graduate Germanists. This project, designed for C1/C2 level students according to the Common European Framework of Reference for languages, prepares finalist students for a job market in which UK and German…

Learning Styles: A Comparison between Indian and German Business Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhatnagar, Tushar; Sinha, Vinita

2018-01-01

Every individual is characterized by a learning style which an individual develops over a course of time. The learning style may be shaped by different cultural environment. This study aims to find and compare the learning style of Indian and German business students by examining the learning styles of 81 students from India and Germany. The study…

A Case Study of English-Speaking Native-Born German Public School Educators' Experiences with Refugee and Immigrant Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snow, Victor Adams

2017-01-01

Teachers worldwide are adapting to meet educational needs caused by increased immigration. Germany has many immigrant students and ranks high in international education. This case study investigated experiences of English-speaking native-born German educators in Germany's public primary schools when responding to refugee and immigrant students.…

Ronald McDonald Sagt: "Herzlich Willkommen in Deutschland!"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bumann, Bertha

A self-instructional unit for first-year high school students of German is presented which is designed to familiarize the student with McDonald's in a German city and to increase appreciation of the similarities and differences between a McDonald's in America and one in Germany. Notes to the teacher outline specific objectives, student evaluation,…

Technically Speaking: Transforming Language Learning through Virtual Learning Environments (MOOs).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

von der Emde, Silke; Schneider, Jeffrey; Kotter, Markus

2001-01-01

Draws on experiences from a 7-week exchange between students learning German at an American college and advanced students of English at a German university. Maps out the benefits to using a MOO (multiple user domains object-oriented) for language learning: a student-centered learning environment structured by such objectives as peer teaching,…

Why Do First-Year Students of German Lose Motivation during their First Year at University?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Busse, Vera

2013-01-01

This article explores motivational changes of first-year students enrolled on German degree courses at two major UK universities. It reports on the qualitative data obtained by a longitudinal mixed-methods study, and focuses on the interplay between students' motivation and the higher education learning environment. In particular, the article aims…

Bullying in German Adolescents: Attending Special School for Students with Visual Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinquart, Martin; Pfeiffer, Jens P.

2011-01-01

The present study analysed bullying in German adolescents with and without visual impairment. Ninety-eight adolescents with vision loss from schools for students with visual impairment, of whom 31 were blind and 67 had low vision, were compared with 98 sighted peers using a matched-pair design. Students with low vision reported higher levels of…

"Borsenberichte": A Tip for Beginning Business German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heinemann, Paul

1994-01-01

This paper discusses the reasons stock market reports of the type appearing in major newspapers in the German-speaking countries are ideal for beginning a text/unit sequence in an introductory business German course. Suggestions are offered concerning the in-class implementation of "Borsenberichte" for third-year students of German. (JL)

Enriching the Curriculum with Pennsylvania German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meindl, Joerg

2016-01-01

The German classroom should prepare students for the linguistic diversity of the target culture, including regional varieties and German spoken outside of the D-A-CH region. Because textbooks do not often include materials on regional varieties, this article presents a model to incorporate Pennsylvania German (PG) into the curriculum. The model…

A Case Study on German First Year Chemistry Student Teachers' Beliefs about Chemistry Teaching, and Their Comparison with Student Teachers from Other Science Teaching Domains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markic, Silvija; Eilks, Ingo

2008-01-01

This paper gives insights into the beliefs of 85 German first year chemistry student teachers about chemistry teaching and learning at the beginning of their teacher education. The study is based on student teachers' drawings of themselves in a typical classroom situation and four open questions. The approach evaluated: (I) Beliefs about Classroom…

Bullying in German Primary Schools: Gender Differences, Age Trends and Influence of Parents' Migration and Educational Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

von Marees, Nandoli; Petermann, Franz

2010-01-01

The study discussed herein assessed the prevalence of bullying and analysed possible predictors for bullying in a sample of urban primary school-age children. Factors considered were students' gender and age differences as well as parents' educational level and migration backgrounds. Using a cross-informant approach (self- and teacher-reports),…

How Do Motivational Regulation Strategies Affect Achievement: Mediated by Effort Management and Moderated by Intelligence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwinger, Malte; Steinmayr, Ricarda; Spinath, Birgit

2009-01-01

It was assumed that the effect of motivational regulation strategies on achievement is mediated by effort management and moderated by intelligence. A sample of 231 11th and 12th grade German high-school students provided self-reports on their use of motivational regulation strategies and effort management and completed an intelligence test.…

Psychometric Properties of the Revised Facts on Suicide Quiz in Austrian Medical and Psychology Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voracek, Martin; Tran, Ulrich S.; Sonneck, Gernot

2008-01-01

Psychometric properties and demographic correlates of a German form of R. W. Hubbard and J. L. McIntosh's (1992) Revised Facts on Suicide Quiz (RFOS), an inventory for assessing overall knowledge about suicide, were investigated in a sample of 1,093 Austrian medical and psychology students. Internal consistency of the RFOS was weak, as were many…

Newly Arrived Migrant Students in German Schools: Exclusive and Inclusive Structures and Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terhart, Henrike; von Dewitz, Nora

2018-01-01

Newly arrived migrant students in German schools are currently the centre of attention. In 2015 and 2016 the incoming number of migrant children and adolescents of school-age has risen. Schools, the education administration as well as politics need to take action with regard to this. In the on-going debate on new immigrant students in school,…

Multicultural education: Israeli and German adolescents' knowledge and views regarding the Holocaust.

PubMed

Shamai, Shmuel; Yardeni, Eran; Klages, Benjamin

2004-01-01

This study probes a unique case of multicultural education of Israeli and German students regarding the Holocaust. Their knowledge level of German history leading to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party to power, knowledge about the Holocaust, the relation between their knowledge of attitudes toward the "other" (German/Israeli) group, and their reaction to a racist-dictatorial regime are explored. The findings were that German adolescents (high school students) knowledge regarding the events leading to the rise of the Nazi party was greater than that of the Israeli adolescents. However, the knowledge of Israelis was greater regarding the Holocaust. A positive correlation was found between the knowledge levels and their attitudes toward the other groups (German/Israeli) and toward resistance to the possible rise of a dictatorial regime. The findings point to the fact that multicultural education, which combines attitudinal, cognitive, and instrumental goals, can succeed in promoting nonracist views.

Pupils Today: Greater Stress and Frustrations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuber, Manfred, Ed.

1988-01-01

This article reports on a survey of West German elementary and secondary school students undertaken to discover their opinions of the West German educational system. Their primary criticism was directed toward: (1) scholastic performance pressure; (2) unrealistic learning objectives; and (3) unsympathetic teachers. Older students were more…

Occupational risk factors for skin cancer and the availability of sun protection measures at German outdoor workplaces.

PubMed

Ruppert, Linda; Ofenloch, Robert; Surber, Christian; Diepgen, Thomas

2016-08-01

Germany implemented a new occupational disease "squamous cell carcinoma or multiple actinic keratosis due to natural UV radiation (UVR)" into the German ordinance on occupational diseases. Since primary prevention is very important, the aim of this study was to assess the provision of sun protection measures by the employers in vocational school students for outdoor professions. We conducted a cross-sectional study on the availability of sun protection measures at German workplaces and the risk of occupational sunburn by surveying 245 vocational school students working in outdoor occupations. More than 40 % of the students did not receive any sun protection measures by their employer, and 34.5 % of the students got sunburned during work. Working in the shade was a protective factor for occupational sunburn but was merely available for 23.7 % of the outdoor workers. Our study reveals a strong need for effective sun protection measures, including both administrative controls like education and personal protection measures at German outdoor workplaces.

The factor structure and reliability of the Illness Attitude Scales in a student and a patient sample

PubMed Central

Crössmann, Alexander; Pauli, Paul

2006-01-01

Background The Illness Attitude Scales (IAS), designed by Kellner in 1986, assesses fears, beliefs, and attitudes associated with hypochondriasis and abnormal illness behaviour. However, its factor structure is, especially for translations of the IAS, not sufficiently explored. Thus, the present Study aimed to analyse the factor structure of the IAS in a German student and a patient population using exploratory factor analysis. Methods A mixed student (N = 296) and a mixed patient (N = 130) sample completed the IAS. The data was submitted to principal components analyses (PCA) with subsequent oblique rotations. From identified factor structures, scales were derived and submitted to reliability analyses as well as to a preliminary validity analysis. Results The PCA revealed a four-factor solution in the student sample: (1) fear of illness and death; (2) treatment experience; (3) hypochondriacal beliefs; and (4) effect of symptoms. In the patient sample, the data was best explained by a two-factor solution: (1) health related anxiety and (2) effect of symptoms and treatment experience. All scales reached good to acceptable reliability coefficients. The scales derived from the student sample and those derived from the patient sample were able to distinguish between pain patients and a matched group of normal controls. Conclusion Our data suggests that the IAS is in student samples best represented by a four factor-solution and in patient samples by a two-factor-solution. PMID:17067384

Multicultural Education: Israeli and German Adolescents' Knowledge and Views Regarding the Holocaust

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shamai, Shmuel; Yardeni, Eran; Klages, Benjamin

2004-01-01

This study probes a unique case of multicultural education of Israeli and German students regarding the Holocaust. Their knowledge level of German history leading to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party to power, knowledge about the Holocaust, the relation between their knowledge of attitudes toward the "other" (German/Israeli) group, and their…

Social Capital of Non-Traditional Students at a German University. Do Traditional and Non-Traditional Students Access Different Social Resources?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brändle, Tobias; Häuberer, Julia

2015-01-01

Social capital is of particular value for the acquisition of education. Not only does it prevent scholars from dropping out but it improves the educational achievement. The paper focuses on access to social resources by traditional and non-traditional students at a German university and asks if there are group differences considering this…

The e-Learning Tool Voxopop and Its Benefits on Oral Skills: Activities for Final Year Students of German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stollhans, Sascha

2015-01-01

This case study demonstrates how Voxopop, a voice based e-learning tool, can be used to practise oal skills in the target language by presenting activities which have been developed for students of German at the University of Nottingham. The focus lies on an ongoing innovative project designed to improve final year students' oral skills by having…

Macho-Man in School: Toward the Role of Gender Role Self-Concepts and Help Seeking in School Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kessels, Ursula; Steinmayr, Ricarda

2013-01-01

This study seeks to understand boys' lower academic success by analysing the relationship between sex, gender role self-concept, help seeking attitudes, and school performance in a sample of 182 German 11th grade students (83 girls, 99 boys), age 16. Grades at two points in time, intelligence test data, help-seeking attitudes, gender role…

Perception of the Relevance of Organic Chemistry in a German Pharmacy Students' Course.

PubMed

Wehle, Sarah; Decker, Michael

2016-04-25

Objective. To investigate German pharmacy students' attitudes toward the relevance of organic chemistry training in Julius Maximilian University (JMU) of Würzburg with regard to subsequent courses in the curricula and in later prospective career options. Methods. Surveys were conducted in the second-year organic chemistry course (50 participants) as well as during the third-year and fourth-year lecture cycle on medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry (66 participants) in 2014. Results. Students' attitudes were surprisingly consistent throughout the progress of the degree course. Students considered organic chemistry very relevant to the pharmacy study program (95% junior and 97% senior students), and of importance for their future pharmacy program (88% junior and 94% senior students). With regard to prospective career options, the perceived relevance was considerably lower and attitudes were less homogenous. Conclusions. German pharmacy students at JMU Würzburg consider organic chemistry of high relevance for medicinal chemistry and other courses in JMU's pharmacy program.

Monitoring Bilingualism: Pedagogical Implications of the Bilingual Tandem Analyser

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwienhorst, Klaus; Borgia, Alexandre

2006-01-01

Tandem learning is the collaborative learning partnership of two language learners with complementary language combinations, for example an Irish student learning German and a German student learning English. One of the major principles in tandem learning, apart from reciprocity and learner autonomy, is balanced bilingualism. While learners may…

German-Chinese cooperative Bachelor in engineering physics/optoelectronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wick, Michael; Lindner, Gerhard; Zimmer, Katja; Zheng, Jihong; Xu, Boqing; Wang, Ning; Schreiner, Rupert; Fuhrmann, Thomas; Seebauer, Gudrun

2017-08-01

The University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST), the Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts (CUASA) and the OTH Regensburg, University of Applied Sciences (OTHR) established an English taught international cooperative bachelor program in the area of Engineering Physics/Optoelectronics. Students from China study their first four semesters at USST. They continue their studies in Germany for the last three semesters, including an internship and a bachelor thesis, graduating with a Chinese and a German bachelor degree. Students from Germany study their third and fourth semester at USST to gain international experience. While the first cohort of Chinese students is currently in Germany, the second cohort of German students is in Shanghai. Up to now the feedback regarding this study program is completely positive, thus it is planned to develop it further.

Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) among German students—A longitudinal approach

PubMed Central

Margraf, Jürgen

2017-01-01

The present study aimed to investigate Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) in a German student sample over a period of one year. While mean FAD level did not increase during the investigation period, a significant increase was shown in the number of participants reaching the critical cutoff score. FAD was significantly positively related to the personality trait narcissism and to negative mental health variables (depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms). Furthermore, FAD fully mediated the significant positive relationship between narcissism and stress symptoms, which demonstrates that narcissistic people can be specifically at risk to develop FAD. Present results give a first overview of FAD in Germany. Practical applications for future studies and limitations of present results are discussed. PMID:29240823

German Grammar in the Students' Words: The "Essentialization" of German Grammar by American College-Level Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

2011-01-01

This study of 134 college-level learners of German, enrolled in four years of instruction, showed them to "essentialize" German grammar when asked to describe it to a hypothetical friend. Kubota defined the term essentialization to capture learners' views of the target culture. Its main characteristic is the presupposition of "essential, stable,…

Deutsch im Louvre (oder: Deutsch als tote Sprache) (German in the Louvre [or, German as a Dead Language])

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markwald, Sabine

1976-01-01

Describes a German course for archeologists and art historians, given in the Louvre by the Paris Goethe Institute. Reliance is placed on the students' visual memory, with schematic presentation of pronoun and article declension. This approach sometimes fosters errors and misunderstandings. The verb system is emphasized. (Text is in German.)…

Methodological Choices in Rating Speech Samples

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Mary Grantham

2016-01-01

Much pronunciation research critically relies upon listeners' judgments of speech samples, but researchers have rarely examined the impact of methodological choices. In the current study, 30 German native listeners and 42 German L2 learners (L1 English) rated speech samples produced by English-German L2 learners along three continua: accentedness,…

Student Drop-Out from German Higher Education Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heublein, Ulrich

2014-01-01

28% of students of any one year currently give up their studies in bachelor degree programmes at German higher education institutions. Drop-out is to be understood as the definite termination in the higher education system without obtaining an academic degree. The drop-out rate is thereby calculated with the help of statistical estimation…

Native Language Self-Concept and Reading Self-Concept: Same or Different?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arens, A. Katrin; Yeung, Alexander Seeshing; Hasselhorn, Marcus

2014-01-01

In assessing verbal academic self-concept with preadolescents, researchers have used scales for students' self-concepts in reading and in their native language interchangeably. The authors conducted 3 studies with German students to test whether reading and German (i.e., native language) self-concepts can be treated as the same or different…

From Broadway to Berlin: Transformative Learning through German Hip-Hop

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sosulski, Michael J.

2013-01-01

This article explores the possibilities for effecting Transformative Learning in students of German language and culture through the use of popular music videos, in both the target and the students' own languages. Transformative Learning, a term that has differing valences in numerous academic disciplines, is employed here in its social-scientific…

Differences in Health Determinants between International and Domestic Students at a German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kramer, Alexander; Prufer-Kramer, Luise; Stock, Christiane; Tshiananga, Jacques Tshiang

2004-01-01

The authors used a standardized questionnaire to survey 201 international and 193 German students at the University of Bielefeld, Germany, to determine differences in health practices between the 2 groups and to identify targets for health-promoting interventions. Multivariate logistic regression models revealed that long-term female international…

Using a Tablet PC in the German Classroom to Enliven Teacher Input

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Orden, Stephen

2006-01-01

Providing students with lively, authentic comprehensible input is one of the most important tasks of introductory German teachers. Using a Tablet PC can enable teachers to improve the quality of the comprehensible input they provide their students. This article describes how integrating a Tablet PC into daily teaching processes allows classroom…

Is German Necessary? Nein, Says One University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wasley, Paula

2008-01-01

When the University of Southern California announced that it would shutter its tiny German department, the outcry was out of proportion to the handful of faculty members and students directly affected by the move. In addition to students who advertised their dismay on Facebook and faculty members who complained that their efforts to bolster the…

Medicine and Physiotherapy students: are they physically active? Comparative research on Spanish and German population.

PubMed

Zeńczak-Praga, Krystyna; Pluto-Prondzinska, Joanna; Zgorzalewicz-Stachowiak, Małgorzata

2017-05-23

Despite the fact that regular physical activity is beneficial to human life, there are still more and more overweight and obese people throughout the world today. Healthy habits taken from home or socioeconomic situation are factors which might influence on regular physical activity. People who lead a healthy lifestyle in childhood are also active during adulthood. On the other hand academic life might promote less healthy lifestyle. The aim of the study was to assess and compare the level of physical activity of both German and Spanish students of Medicine and Physiotherapy. The study involved 100 Spanish and 100 German students aged from 19 to 24 years. Based on Eurobarometer 72.3, the respondents were asked a set of questions regarding physical activity. The chi-squared test (χ2) and Mann-Whitney U test were used for the statistical analysis. The vast majority of students presented a normal BMI value, but it was not related to high physical activity. More than one-third of all students seldom practised any sports. The Spanish students usually did some form of physical activity outdoors, whereas the German students exercised in a fitness centre. Lack of time was to the Medicine and Physiotherapy students the most significant factor that did not allow them to be more physically active. Medicine and Physiotherapy students should be more physically active in order to promote a good, healthy lifestyle model to society and there should be more physical activity education to encourage more students to practise sports.

Foreign language reading and spelling in gifted students with dyslexia in secondary education.

PubMed

van Viersen, Sietske; de Bree, Elise H; Kalee, Lilian; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H; de Jong, Peter F

2017-01-01

A few studies suggest that gifted children with dyslexia have better literacy skills than averagely intelligent children with dyslexia. This finding aligns with the hypothesis that giftedness-related factors provide compensation for poor reading. The present study investigated whether, as in the native language (NL), the level of foreign language (FL) literacy of gifted students with dyslexia is higher than the literacy level of averagely intelligent students with dyslexia and whether this difference can be accounted for by the difference in their NL literacy level. The sample consisted of 148 Dutch native speaking secondary school students divided in four groups: dyslexia, gifted/dyslexia, typically developing (TD), and gifted. All students were assessed on word reading and orthographic knowledge in Dutch and English when they were in 7th or 8th grade. A subsample ( n  = 71) was (re)assessed on Dutch, English, French, and German literacy one year later. Results showed that Dutch gifted students with dyslexia have higher NL literacy levels than averagely intelligent students with dyslexia. As in the NL, a stepwise pattern of group differences was found for English word reading and spelling, i.e., dyslexia < gifted/dyslexia < TD < gifted. However, it was not found for French and German literacy performance. These results point towards compensation: the higher English literacy levels of gifted/dyslexic students compared to their averagely intelligent dyslexic peers result from mechanisms that are unique to English as a FL. Differences in results between FLs are discussed in terms of variation in orthographic transparency and exposure.

German for Engineers and Scientists: Initiatives in International Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinmann, Sigrid

The Michigan Technological University program in German area studies is described. The program is designed for science and engineering students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Its components include: a 1-year scientific German sequence, stressing specialized vocabulary, reading skills, use of reference materials, translation into…

ARC-2010-ACD10-0242-021

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-12-17

German Deligation visits Ames SOFIA Science Office for briefing. Left to right Jochen Homann, German State Secretary Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Dr. Benno Bunse, President & CEO, German American Chamber of Commerce, New York, Manuel Wiedemann, post-doctorate student from the Deutsches SOFIA Institute, University of Stuttgart.

German Day: A Practical Guide to Connecting High School and Post-Secondary Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howards, Alyssa; Rinner, Susanne; Gulewich, Beth

2018-01-01

An annual German Day event can be a powerful tool to motivate students, increase visibility of state and local German programs, and, ultimately, boost enrollments. However, it can also be a daunting undertaking that is often orchestrated by a single person. This article offers a user guide that can help others plan their own German Day, be it a…

Separating "Rotators" from "Nonrotators" in the Mental Rotations Test: A Multigroup Latent Class Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geiser, Christian; Lehmann, Wolfgang; Eid, Michael

2006-01-01

Items of mental rotation tests can not only be solved by mental rotation but also by other solution strategies. A multigroup latent class analysis of 24 items of the Mental Rotations Test (MRT) was conducted in a sample of 1,695 German pupils and students to find out how many solution strategies can be identified for the items of this test. The…

Are gifted adolescents more satisfied with their lives than their non-gifted peers?

PubMed Central

Bergold, Sebastian; Wirthwein, Linda; Rost, Detlef H.; Steinmayr, Ricarda

2015-01-01

Studies investigating the life satisfaction of intellectually gifted and non-gifted students are scarce and often suffer from methodological shortcomings. We examined the life satisfaction of gifted and non-gifted adolescents using a rather unselected sample of N = 655 German high-school students (n = 75 gifted), adequate comparison groups of non-gifted students, and a clear definition of giftedness (general intelligence g > 2 SD above the mean). There was no difference in life satisfaction between gifted and non-gifted adolescents (d < |0.1|). Girls reported somewhat lower life satisfaction scores than boys (d = 0.24). However, this result was not specific to giftedness but was instead found across the entire sample. Thus, gifted girls were not found to be especially unsatisfied with their lives. Our findings support previous research showing that giftedness is not a risk factor for impaired psycho-social well-being of boys or girls. PMID:26539152

Predicting Medical Students' Current Attitudes Toward Psychiatry, Interest in Psychiatry, and Estimated Likelihood of Working in Psychiatry: A Cross-Sectional Study in Four European Countries.

PubMed

Warnke, Ingeborg; Gamma, Alex; Buadze, Maria; Schleifer, Roman; Canela, Carlos; Strebel, Bernd; Tényi, Tamás; Rössler, Wulf; Rüsch, Nicolas; Liebrenz, Michael

2018-01-01

Psychiatry as a medical discipline is becoming increasingly important due to the high and increasing worldwide burden associated with mental disorders. Surprisingly, however, there is a lack of young academics choosing psychiatry as a career. Previous evidence on medical students' perspectives is abundant but has methodological shortcomings. Therefore, by attempting to avoid previous shortcomings, we aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the predictors of the following three outcome variables: current medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry, interest in psychiatry, and estimated likelihood of working in psychiatry. The sample consisted of N  = 1,356 medical students at 45 medical schools in Germany and Austria as well as regions of Switzerland and Hungary with a German language curriculum. We used snowball sampling via Facebook with a link to an online questionnaire as recruitment procedure. Snowball sampling is based on referrals made among people. This questionnaire included a German version of the Attitudes Toward Psychiatry Scale (ATP-30-G) and further variables related to outcomes and potential predictors in terms of sociodemography (e.g., gender) or medical training (e.g., curriculum-related experience with psychiatry). Data were analyzed by linear mixed models and further regression models. On average, students had a positive attitude to and high general interest in, but low professional preference for, psychiatry. A neutral attitude to psychiatry was partly related to the discipline itself, psychiatrists, or psychiatric patients. Female gender and previous experience with psychiatry, particularly curriculum-related and personal experience, were important predictors of all outcomes. Students in the first years of medical training were more interested in pursuing psychiatry as a career. Furthermore, the country of the medical school was related to the outcomes. However, statistical models explained only a small proportion of variance. The findings indicate that particularly curriculum-related experience is important for determining attitudes toward psychiatry, interest in the subject and self-predicted professional career choice. We therefore encourage the provision of opportunities for clinical experience by psychiatrists. However, further predictor variables need to be considered in future studies.

German for Professional Purposes at the University of NSW.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, Gerhard

1992-01-01

A professionally oriented language course at the University of New South Wales (Australia) is described that is designed for students who have studied German in high school and wish to continue studying it to enhance their employment prospects. Both linguistic proficiency and German business culture are emphasized. (LB)

Flights of Fancy: Imaginary Travels as Motivation for Reading, Writing, and Speaking German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, Keri L.; Pohl, Rosa Marie

1994-01-01

The article describes an innovative teaching project suitable for students at any age and all levels of German. The project, conducted entirely in German, includes writing, reading, and speaking, and promotes the skills of letter-writing, reading for content, note-taking, and oral presentation. (JL)

Artificial Intelligence in a German Adventure Game: Spion in PROLOG.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molla, Steven R.; And Others

1988-01-01

Spion, an adventure game for intermediate and advanced college German students, requires players to communicate with a fictitious agent in complete, correct German sentences. The spy game was written in PROLOG, runs on an IBM-PC, and is available at no cost for noncommercial purposes. (Author/CB)

Podcasts as a Learning Tool: German Language and Culture Every Day

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Johannes

2008-01-01

Podcasts provide a straightforward opportunity to stay connected with language, culture, and recent events of German-speaking countries. Podcasts offer clearly articulated, authentic material that can be automatically and regularly delivered to your computer and classrooms; continuously exposing students and teachers to German. This article…

Lernen Wir Deutsch! Part 10, German: 7535.02.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

This course in German prescribes broad goals and performance objectives for the development of cultural awareness, student attitudes, and listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. The content of the course, based on Units 21 and 22 of "A-LM German: Level 2" and "Reading for Meaning," requires mastery of selected…

Gruss dich, Bucherwurm (Hello Bookworm)!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hummel, Carol; Carter, Hannelore

1992-01-01

Reasons are presented for why reading books in English and German is an important element in the German classroom. Books are suggested for students to read, along with ways to integrate outside reading into the curriculum. Materials cited can be obtained from the American Association of Teachers of German. (Author/LB)

German Schools Abroad: Hotspots of Elite Multilingualism?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sander, Anne E; Admiraal, Wilfried

2016-01-01

While multilingualism itself is a widely analyzed topic, a study about multilingualism at German schools abroad is so far unique. This quantitative study investigates the differences in the size of German expressive and receptive vocabulary between monolingual and multilingual students, aged between 5 and 11 years. A cohort of 65 multilingual…

The German Speaking Countries of Europe: A Selective Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krewson, Margrit B.

This bibliography was compiled to provide researchers and students with a current guide to sources on the German-speaking countries of Europe: Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. The following subject areas are included under each country: (1) bibliographies and reference works;…

Is Longing Only for Germans? A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Sehnsucht in Germany and the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheibe, Susanne; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda; Wiest, Maja; Freund, Alexandra M.

2011-01-01

"Sehnsucht", the longing or yearning for ideal yet seemingly unreachable states of life, is a salient topic in German culture and has proven useful for understanding self-regulation across adulthood in a German sample (e.g., Scheibe, Freund, & Baltes, 2007). The current study tested whether findings for German samples could be…

"Just Facebook Me": A Study on the Integration of Facebook into a German Language Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leier, Vera; Cunningham, Una

2016-01-01

Student and teacher activity in a closed Facebook group for a tertiary German class was observed during a 12-week teaching semester. This was complemented by questionnaires, semi-structured interviews with students, and teacher reflections in a researcher journal. Collected data were analysed using an inductive thematic analysis followed by a…

Meeting Students' Expectations and Realizing Pedagogical Goals within the Development of a Virtual Learning Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frank, Christine; Kassanke, Stephan; Suhl, Leena

This paper addresses the importance of assessing and realizing students' needs and expectations while developing a virtual learning environment (VLE). The project Virtual OR/MS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the German Government. It involves seven German partners from six universities. The goal of the project…

Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation. CEE DP 54

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pischke, Jorn-Steffen; von Wachter, Till

2006-01-01

We estimate the impact of compulsory schooling on earnings using the changes in compulsory schooling laws for secondary schools in West German states during the period from 1948 to 1970. The German school system streams students into three separate types of secondary schools and the change in compulsory schooling laws affected students in the…

Using Virtual Reality for Task-Based Exercises in Teaching Non-Traditional Students of German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Libbon, Stephanie

2004-01-01

Using task-based exercises that required web searches and online activities, this course introduced non-traditional students to the sights and sounds of the German culture and language and simultaneously to computer technology. Through partner work that required negotiation of the net as well as of the language, these adult beginning German…

Self-Efficacy of Prospective Austrian and German Primary School Teachers Regarding the Implementation of Inclusive Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwab, Susanne; Hellmich, Frank; Görel, Gamze

2017-01-01

This study examined the psychometric properties of the German version of the Teacher Inclusive Education Self-Efficacy Scale (TIESES). Five hundred and nineteen teacher education students from Austria and 765 teacher education students from Germany participated in the study. Results of a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (for the two…

Wien und Wein: Connecting Sound and Symbol in First-Year German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Philip N.

1984-01-01

Describes a technique to train students to associate correct pronunciation of German with the graphemes as soon as they see them. When a student misreads a word, he or she is asked to compare that word with very common words which are almost never mispronounced or misspelled, such as "ein,""die," and "deutsch." (SED)

Relationships and Values among Students and Staff in British and German Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pritchard, Rosalind

2005-01-01

Financial stringency and neo-liberal influences in higher education are impacting upon relationships and academic values in higher education. The aim of the present paper was to analyse how these forces operate differentially in the UK and Germany. The British students were significantly more satisfied than were their German counterparts with the…

Cultivating Innovative Entrepreneurs for the Twenty-First Century: A Study of U.S. and German Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayhew, Matthew J.; Simonoff, Jeffrey S.; Baumol, William J.; Selznick, Benjamin S.; Vassallo, Stephen J.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the cultivation of innovative entrepreneurial intentions among students in three distinctive educational settings: a U.S. undergraduate four-year environment, a U.S. M.B.A. two-year environment, and a German five-year business and technology environment. Results suggested that innovative…

Reunification of East and West German School Systems and the Big Fish Little Pond Effect on Academic Self-Concept. German Reunification and Self-Concept.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Herbert W.; Koller, Olaf; Baumert, Jurgen

This paper examines the educational results of the reunification of East and West Germany. Specifically, it discusses what happened to students' self-concept when the East German system, which was highly standardized, was combined with the West German schools, which were highly differentiated and based on achievement. To study this result,…

Self-Perception of Medical Students' Knowledge and Interest in Disaster Medicine: Nine Years After the Approval of the Curriculum in German Universities.

PubMed

Wunderlich, Robert; Ragazzoni, Luca; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi; Corte, Francesco Della; Grundgeiger, Jan; Bickelmayer, Jens Werner; Domres, Bernd

2017-08-01

Following the recommendations of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM; Madison, Wisconsin USA) to develop standards for training the undergraduates in disaster-relevant fields (2004), a German curriculum was approved in 2006. This paper aims to describe the level of training and interest of medical students nine years later. Problem The aim of this study was to assess the self-perception of medical students' knowledge and interest in disaster medicine nine years after the implementation of a standardized disaster medicine curriculum in German medical schools. This prospective, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted with medical students in Germany using a web-based, purpose-designed questionnaire consisting of 27 mandatory and 11 optional questions. Nine hundred ninety-two students from 36 of 37 medical schools in Germany participated. More than one-half of medical students were aware of the field of disaster medicine. One hundred twenty-one students undertook training internally within their university and 307 undertook training externally at other institutions. Only a small content of the curriculum was taught. A difference in self-perception of knowledge between trained and untrained participants was found, despite the level of training being low in both groups. Participants were generally highly motivated to learn disaster medicine in a variety of institutions. German students are still largely not well educated regarding disaster medicine, despite their high motivation. The curriculum of 2006 was not implemented as originally planned and the number of trained students still remains low as the self-perception of knowledge. Currently, there is no clear and standardized training concept in place. A renewal in the agreement of implementation of the curriculum at medical schools should be targeted in order to follow the recommendation of WADEM. Wunderlich R Ragazzoni L Ingrassia PL Della Corte F Grundgeiger J Bickelmayer JW Domres B . Self-perception of medical students' knowledge and interest in disaster medicine: nine years after the approval of the curriculum in German universities. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(4):374-381.

Recoding Strategies of German Learners of English as a Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treutlein, Anke; Schöler, Hermann; Landerl, Karin

2017-01-01

This study investigated whether German learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) acquire additional recoding strategies that they do not need for recoding in the consistent German orthography. Based on the psycholinguistic grain size theory (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005) we expected students with little experience in EFL to use the same…

The Effects of Lecture Diversity on Germane Load

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costley, Jamie; Lange, Christopher

2017-01-01

An important aspect of MOOCs is the way students interact with video lectures. Instruction provided through video lectures should focus on ways to increase germane cognitive load, which directly contributes to learning. One approach that may lead to an increase of germane load may be to use video lectures with diverse forms of media, including…

A Comparative Study on Storytelling Perceptions of Chinese, Vietnamese, American, and German Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Kate; Stanley, Nile; Stanley, Laurel; Rank, Astrid; Wang, Yonghui

2016-01-01

The study compared the perceptions of adults from four countries about storytelling. Americans (N = 153), Germans (N = 163), Chinese (N = 324), and Vietnamese (N = 356) completed a survey. Americans' scores on measures of storytelling experiences were the highest overall. Americans and Germans reported having significantly more childhood…

Image of Europe from Abroad: The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Teaching German Cinema in America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

William, Jennifer Marston

2006-01-01

This article describes strategies specific to teaching German film courses at American universities, particularly how to capture the interest of students who have not studied film previously and have little understanding of German culture, history, or the language. I suggest starting with discussions on the interrelatedness of "foreign…

Word Stress in German Single-Word Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beyermann, Sandra; Penke, Martina

2014-01-01

This article reports a lexical-decision experiment that was conducted to investigate the impact of word stress on visual word recognition in German. Reaction-time latencies and error rates of German readers on different levels of reading proficiency (i.e., third graders and fifth graders from primary school and university students) were compared…

Integrative Teaching Techniques and Improvement of German Speaking Learning Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Litualy, Samuel Jusuf

2016-01-01

This research ist a Quasi-Experimental research which only applied to one group without comparison group. It aims to prove whether the implementation of integrative teaching technique has influenced the speaking skill of the students in German Education Study Program of FKIP, Pattimura University. The research was held in the German Education…

The Working Status of Students and Time to Degree at German Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Theune, Katja

2015-01-01

This paper analyzes time to first degree at German universities. The database is the "Absolventenpanel" 2001, a panel study conducted by the "Hochschul-Informations-System." The German university system is characterized by a long duration of study; the regular time is often exceeded. One potential reason might be the high…

The Gender Lens: Development of a learning aid to introduce gender medicine.

PubMed

Weyers, Simone; Vervoorts, Anja; Dragano, Nico; Engels, Miriam

2017-01-01

Background and aim: Gender medicine takes into account biological and social differences between men and women in terms of prevalence and course of disease, diagnosis and therapy. Medical students should be made aware of this in the early stages of medical education. However, there is hardly any teaching material currently available. This article presents the adaption and first use of the German "Gender Lens," a tool to introduce gender medicine to medical students. Method: The original Canadian "Gender Lens Tool" was translated into German, tested by (n=5) teachers and adapted based on current scientific concepts. The instrument was applied and evaluated using qualitative methods in a student focus group (n=4). It was then piloted in a cohort of fourth-semester students (n=247) in a seminar addressing gender medicine. These experiences were evaluated using quantitative methods. Results: The German translation of the Gender Lens offers students a framework with which to analyze sex and gender differences in terms of the "prevalence, diagnosis, course, therapy and prevention" of a specific disease. Furthermore, it enables a refined search for causes such as "biological disposition, attitudes and behaviors, family and social networks, occupational and material circumstances and experiences with the health care system." Recommendations were received from the student groups regarding teaching methods. Male and female fourth-semester students agreed that the Gender Lens is useful as an introduction to gender medicine. Discussion: Initial experiences with the Gender Lens adapted for the German curriculum suggest that such a learning aid can contribute to raising awareness of gender medicine in medical students.

Multiple Intelligences Theory and Foreign Language Education: Perspectives of College Students in a German Immersion Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber-Segler, Ellen

2013-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore and comprehend the role of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (MI) in foreign language learning by analyzing the perspectives of college students in a German immersion program at a liberal arts college in the Midwest. Data collection included 10 in-depth student…

Personal Growth as a Strong Element in the Motivation of Australian University Students to Learn German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Gabriele

2014-01-01

For the last ten years, language learning motivation research has focussed on how learners see knowledge of a language as part of their identity. This article presents the findings of a qualitative interview study that investigated whether personal growth is also a strong element in the motivation of Australian university students to learn German.…

Why a German "Oh" Is Not Necessarily an English "Oh": Showing Understanding and Emotions with Change-of-State Tokens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linneweber, Judith

2016-01-01

This paper presents a two-session teaching unit on German change-of-state tokens such as "oh," "ach" and "achso." Goal is to teach students the appropriate reaction through change-of-state tokens in various situations. Students are provided with authentic data based on empirical research in conversation analysis (CA).…

Firm or Faculty? Evidence on Characteristics of German-Speaking Accounting PhD Students and Their Career Preferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grottke, Markus; Pelger, Christoph; Schmiedeberg, Claudia

2013-01-01

In this paper we focus on the choice that accounting doctoral students from the German-speaking area make, between a future career either in academia or business practice. Based on the results of an online survey, we show that prospective scholars exhibit certain characteristics of passionate researchers more pronouncedly than do future…

[Success quotas in exercise questions in the discipline of rheumatology in preparation for the written state examination in German universities from 2012 to 2016 : Evaluation of the AMBOSS databank according to professorships in rheumatology with and without freedom of instruction in German universities].

PubMed

Sengewein, R; Brinks, R; Pongratz, G

2018-04-30

The discipline rheumatology is underrepresented in German universities with only seven professorial chairs with freedom of instruction. The teaching positions with and without freedom of instruction are associated with a different quantity of teaching. The effect of the teaching position on the quality of teaching and on the training of medical students is unclear. In order to approach the answer to this question we have evaluated 2,610,217 examination questions from 32,166 students over a time period of 4 years according to location and freedom of instruction, which are documented on the teaching platform AMBOSS. In total, in the evaluated examination performance in the discipline of rheumatology, the majority of students just about achieved the grade of "sufficient". Locations with freedom of instruction had significantly better grades; however, these differences had no relevance with respect to the complete state examination. The examination pressure on German medical students to learn for the examination discipline of rheumatology can be estimated as rather low.

Language-related differential item functioning between English and German PROMIS Depression items is negligible.

PubMed

Fischer, H Felix; Wahl, Inka; Nolte, Sandra; Liegl, Gregor; Brähler, Elmar; Löwe, Bernd; Rose, Matthias

2017-12-01

To investigate differential item functioning (DIF) of PROMIS Depression items between US and German samples we compared data from the US PROMIS calibration sample (n = 780), a German general population survey (n = 2,500) and a German clinical sample (n = 621). DIF was assessed in an ordinal logistic regression framework, with 0.02 as criterion for R 2 -change and 0.096 for Raju's non-compensatory DIF. Item parameters were initially fixed to the PROMIS Depression metric; we used plausible values to account for uncertainty in depression estimates. Only four items showed DIF. Accounting for DIF led to negligible effects for the full item bank as well as a post hoc simulated computer-adaptive test (< 0.1 point on the PROMIS metric [mean = 50, standard deviation =10]), while the effect on the short forms was small (< 1 point). The mean depression severity (43.6) in the German general population sample was considerably lower compared to the US reference value of 50. Overall, we found little evidence for language DIF between US and German samples, which could be addressed by either replacing the DIF items by items not showing DIF or by scoring the short form in German samples with the corrected item parameters reported. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Using Foreign Virtual Patients With Medical Students in Germany: Are Cultural Differences Evident and Do They Impede Learning?

PubMed

Walldorf, Jens; Jähnert, Tina; Berman, Norman B; Fischer, Martin R

2016-09-27

Learning with virtual patients (VPs) is considered useful in medical education for fostering clinical reasoning. As the authoring of VPs is highly demanding, an international exchange of cases might be desirable. However, cultural differences in foreign VPs might hamper learning success. We investigated the need for support for using VPs from the United States at a German university, with respect to language and cultural differences. Our goal was to better understand potential implementation barriers of a intercultural VP exchange. Two VPs were presented to 30 German medical students featuring a cultural background different from German standards with respect to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, ethical aspects, role models, and language (as identified by a cultural adaptation framework). Participants were assigned to two groups: 14 students were advised to complete the cases without further instructions (basic group), and 16 students received written explanatory supplemental information specifically with regard to cultural differences (supplement group). Using a 6-point scale (6=strongly agree), we analyzed the results of an integrated assessment of learning success as well as an evaluation of cases by the students on usefulness for learning and potential issues regarding the language and cultural background. The German students found it motivating to work with cases written in English (6-point scale, 4.5 points). The clinical relevance of the VPs was clearly recognized (6 points), and the foreign language was considered a minor problem in this context (3 points). The results of the integrated learning assessment were similar in both groups (basic 53% [SD 4] vs supplement 52% [SD 4] correct answers, P=.32). However, students using the supplemental material more readily realized culturally different diagnostic and therapeutic strategies (basic 4 vs supplement 5 points, P=.39) and were less affirmative when asked about the transferability of cases to a German context (basic 5 vs supplement 3 points, P=.048). German students found English VPs to be highly clinically relevant, and they rated language problems much lower than they rated motivation to work on cases in English. This should encourage the intercultural exchange of VPs. The provision of supplemental explanatory material facilitates the recognition of cultural differences and might help prevent unexpected learning effects.

Web-based training in German university eye hospitals - Education 2.0?

PubMed

Handzel, Daniel M; Hesse, L

2011-01-01

To analyse web-based training in ophthalmology offered by German university eye hospitals. In January 2010 the websites of all 36 German university hospitals were searched for information provided for visitors, students and doctors alike. We evaluated the offer in terms of quantity and quality. All websites could be accessed at the time of the study. 28 pages provided information for students and doctors, one page only for students, three exclusively for doctors. Four pages didn't offer any information for these target groups. The websites offered information on events like congresses or students curricular education, there were also material for download for these events or for other purposes. We found complex e-learning-platforms on 9 pages. These dealt with special ophthalmological topics in a didactic arrangement. In spite of the extensive possibilities offered by the technology of Web 2.0, many conceivable tools were only rarely made available. It was not always possible to determine if the information provided was up-to-date, very often the last actualization of the content was long ago. On one page the date for the last change was stated as 2004. Currently there are 9 functional e-learning-applications offered by German university eye hospitals. Two additional hospitals present links to a project of the German Ophthalmological Society. There was a considerable variation in quantity and quality. No website made use of crediting successful studying, e.g. with CME-points or OSCE-credits. All German university eye hospitals present themselves in the World Wide Web. However, the lack of modern, technical as well as didactical state-of-the-art learning applications is alarming as it leaves an essential medium of today's communication unused.

The Effects of Metaphorical Interface on Germane Cognitive Load in Web-Based Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheon, Jongpil; Grant, Michael M.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a metaphorical interface on germane cognitive load in Web-based instruction. Based on cognitive load theory, germane cognitive load is a cognitive investment for schema construction and automation. A new instrument developed in a previous study was used to measure students' mental activities…

A Study of Changes in German Learning Motivation by Chinese University Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Meihua; Li, Mingming

2018-01-01

The present research examined the changes in Chinese university students' motivation to learn German during a 16-week semester. Analyses of the data showed that both at the beginning and toward the end of the semester, the participants held (fairly) positive attitudes towards German, were motivated to learn the language mainly for integrative and…

Research on Educational Standards in German Science Education--Towards a Model of Student Competences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kulgemeyer, Christoph; Schecker, Horst

2014-01-01

This paper gives an overview of research on modelling science competence in German science education. Since the first national German educational standards for physics, chemistry and biology education were released in 2004 research projects dealing with competences have become prominent strands. Most of this research is about the structure of…

Moeglichkeiten eines gegenwartsorientierten Landeskundeunterrichts. Unter besonderer Beruecksichtigung der Haupt- und Realschuloberstufe (Possibilities of Present-Oriented Area-Study Teaching, with Special Reference to the Upper Grade of High Schools)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hermes, Liesel

1975-01-01

Area study materials should be factual, contemporary, objective, and designed with regard to the student's level. Content should be limited to material contrasting with, or supplementary to, the students' knowledge. Penguin's series "Connexions" is better than available German texts. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

From Foreigner Pedagogy to Intercultural Education: An Analysis of the German Responses to Diversity and Its Impact on Schools and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faas, Daniel

2008-01-01

Germany has been reluctant to adapt its education systems to the growing number of minority ethnic students, and politicians and policy makers have only recently officially acknowledged that Germany is an immigration country despite decades of mass immigration. This article first provides a socio-historical analysis of the German responses to…

Personality and the Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment: Evidence from Germany.

PubMed

Ryberg, Renee; Bauldry, Shawn; Schultz, Michael A; Steinhoff, Annekatrin; Shanahan, Michael

2017-10-01

Research based in the United States, with its relatively open educational system, has found that personality mediates the relationship between parents' and child's educational attainment and this mediational pattern is especially beneficial to students from less-educated households. Yet in highly structured, competitive educational systems, personality characteristics may not predict attainment or may be more or less consequential at different points in the educational career. We examine the salience of personality in the educational attainment process in the German educational system. Data come from a longitudinal sample of 682 17 to 25 year-olds (54% female) from the 2005 and 2015 German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Results show that adolescent personality traits-openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness-are associated with educational attainment, but personality plays a negligible role in the intergenerational transmission of education. Personality is influential before the decision about the type of secondary degree that a student will pursue (during adolescence). After that turning point, when students have entered different pathways through the system, personality is less salient. Cross-national comparisons in a life course framework broaden the scope of current research on non-cognitive skills and processes of socioeconomic attainment, alerting the analyst to the importance of both institutional structures and the changing importance of these skills at different points in the life course.

American and German students' knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors with respect to over-the-counter pain relievers.

PubMed

Hanoch, Yaniv; Katsikopoulos, Konstantinos V; Gummerum, Michaela; Brass, Eric P

2007-11-01

To better understand the knowledge base and perceptions involved in the decision to buy and use over-the-counter pain relievers (OTCPRs) by taking into account the environment in which these decisions are made. The authors expected that the differences in access and marketing would affect knowledge and decision making related to OTCPRs in the United States and Germany. A survey was given to 108 undergraduate university students in the United States and Germany (58 and 50 participants, respectively). The authors found that significantly more Americans than Germans take OTCPRs and that they also take significantly more OTCPRs. Americans exhibited less knowledge about side effects than their German counterparts. When asked when they consulted package labels, Americans reported they were more likely to do so before buying a product, whereas Germans reported consulting labels before taking OTCPRs for the first time. Package labels affected more Americans' decisions to purchase OTCPRs; Americans were also less likely to consult a doctor when feeling pain but more likely to take OTCPRs. Finally, Americans viewed OTCPRs as riskier after their status changed from prescription only to over the counter, whereas Germans believed they posed less risk. This study analyzed health-related behavior by looking at how environmental factors shape decision processes related to over-the-counter drug use. The results indicate that looking at environmental factors does help to explain differences in knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors among German and American students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of biology teachers' professional knowledge and cognitive activation on students' achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Förtsch, Christian; Werner, Sonja; von Kotzebue, Lena; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2016-11-01

This study examined the effects of teachers' biology-specific dimensions of professional knowledge - pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge (CK) - and cognitively activating biology instruction, as a feature of instructional quality, on students' learning. The sample comprised 39 German secondary school teachers whose lessons on the topic neurobiology were videotaped twice. Teachers' instruction was coded with regard to cognitive activation using a rating manual. Multilevel path analysis results showed a positive significant effect of cognitive activation on students' learning and an indirect effect of teachers' PCK on students' learning mediated through cognitive activation. These findings highlight the importance of PCK in preservice biology teachers' education. Items of the rating manual may be used to provide exemplars of concrete teaching situations during university seminars for preservice teacher education or professional development initiatives for in-service teachers.

ARC-2010-ACD10-0242-022

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-12-17

German Deligation visits Ames SOFIA Science Office for briefing. Left to right Jochen Homann, German State Secretary Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, and Manuel Wiedemann, post-doctorate student from the Deutsches SOFIA Institute, University of Stuttgart.

Virtual Investing in the German-for-Business Course: Combining Language, Culture and Business.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daines, Erika

Business German classes at the university level have been very much in demand in recent years even though some German departments in universities have been forced to close. One reason for this is that these courses are at the cutting edge of trends toward more student-centered approaches in foreign language instruction and the move toward more…

Hard Rules and Bad Memories: College Learners' Accounts of What Makes Learning German Grammar Difficult

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

2017-01-01

This questionnaire study analyzed responses of 96 first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year students of College German to the second part of a two-part question, namely, (a) what forms of German grammar are particularly difficult, and (b) why so. Response patterns show that word order, adjective endings, the subjunctive, and the gender/number/case…

The Europeanisation of German Ethnic Identities: The Case of German and Turkish Students in Two Stuttgart Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faas, Daniel

2007-01-01

Germany's national (or ethnic) identity has become thoroughly European and there are even signs of Eurocentrism. This is particularly problematic for the Turkish Muslims who, arguably, are not European. This article explores how fifteen-year-old German and Turkish youth in two Stuttgart secondary schools, one in a predominantly working-class area…

The Multilingual Reader: Advantages in Understanding and Decoding German Sentence Structure when Reading German as an L3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peyer, Elisabeth; Kaiser, Irmtraud; Berthele, Raphael

2010-01-01

This study investigates Italian and French students' grammatical problems while reading in German as an L3 or L4. For the study, we developed a reading test which consists of invented encyclopaedia articles on imaginary animals. These articles enabled us to test various grammatical structures for their receptive difficulty. This paper discusses…

Using Classroom Recordings in Educational History Research. An East German Civics Lesson

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jehle, May; Blessing, Benita

2014-01-01

Students learned in civics lessons in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) that their socialist society uniquely guaranteed all individuals the right to work, and that, as good socialists, they had the duty to take on socially meaningful work. Using the example of a video recording of an East German civics lesson and its…

German Television in the U.S. and Abroad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ecke, Peter

2008-01-01

In this article, I review the options that teachers and students have to obtain German TV in the U.S.: through satellite and cable networks and by streaming, downloading, or recording TV programs through the internet. I also address how one can access TV programs over the air in the German-speaking countries by using a notebook PC and TV card.

German Television in the United States and Abroad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ecke, Peter

2008-01-01

In this article, I review the options that teachers and students have to obtain German TV in the U.S.: through satellite and cable networks and by streaming, downloading, or recording TV programs through the internet. I also address how one can access TV programs over the air in the German-speaking countries by using a notebook PC and TV card.

Random number generation in bilingual Balinese and German students: preliminary findings from an exploratory cross-cultural study.

PubMed

Strenge, Hans; Lesmana, Cokorda Bagus Jaya; Suryani, Luh Ketut

2009-08-01

Verbal random number generation is a procedurally simple task to assess executive function and appears ideally suited for the use under diverse settings in cross-cultural research. The objective of this study was to examine ethnic group differences between young adults in Bali (Indonesia) and Kiel (Germany): 50 bilingual healthy students, 30 Balinese and 20 Germans, attempted to generate a random sequence of the digits 1 to 9. In Balinese participants, randomization was done in Balinese (native language L1) and Indonesian (first foreign language L2), in German subjects in the German (L1) and English (L2) languages. 10 of 30 Balinese (33%), but no Germans, were unable to inhibit habitual counting in more than half of the responses. The Balinese produced significantly more nonrandom responses than the Germans with higher rates of counting and significantly less occurrence of the digits 2 and 3 in L1 compared with L2. Repetition and cycling behavior did not differ between the four languages. The findings highlight the importance of taking into account culture-bound psychosocial factors for Balinese individuals when administering and interpreting a random number generation test.

Das Bin Ich. Ein Buch von mir uber mich (It's Me! A Book By and About Myself). Communicative Activities for German Immersion and Second Language Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wicke, Mariele; Wicke, Rainer

This workbook is intended as a text for the learner of German as a foreign language. The workbook is complete with exercises that require students to provide information about themselves. Students provide information by reading questions and filling in the blanks. Questions are asked about families, friends, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and even…

Perception of the Relevance of Organic Chemistry in a German Pharmacy Students’ Course

PubMed Central

Wehle, Sarah

2016-01-01

Objective. To investigate German pharmacy students’ attitudes toward the relevance of organic chemistry training in Julius Maximilian University (JMU) of Würzburg with regard to subsequent courses in the curricula and in later prospective career options. Methods. Surveys were conducted in the second-year organic chemistry course (50 participants) as well as during the third-year and fourth-year lecture cycle on medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry (66 participants) in 2014. Results. Students’ attitudes were surprisingly consistent throughout the progress of the degree course. Students considered organic chemistry very relevant to the pharmacy study program (95% junior and 97% senior students), and of importance for their future pharmacy program (88% junior and 94% senior students). With regard to prospective career options, the perceived relevance was considerably lower and attitudes were less homogenous. Conclusions. German pharmacy students at JMU Würzburg consider organic chemistry of high relevance for medicinal chemistry and other courses in JMU’s pharmacy program. PMID:27170811

[Nationwide evaluation of German university teaching methods in neurology].

PubMed

Biesalski, A-S; Zupanic, M; Isenmann, S

2015-06-01

Germany is confronted with a lack of medical doctors and an increasing need for neurologists in particular. In order to recruit future doctors in neurology it is essential to attract young students when still at university. This article presents the first German national survey of medical students' acceptance of teaching methods in neurology. The participants evaluated teaching methods and examination formats and were asked about their preferences. The survey was based on a questionnaire distributed to 22 German medical schools and 1245 participating students. Interactive teaching methods, especially courses in practical examinations, clinical internships and bedside teaching were highly rated among the students. In contrast, multiple choice tests, as one of the most widespread examination methods, were poorly rated compared to practical and oral examinations. For most of the students it was not decisive, in which semester teaching of neurology took place, while the majority asked for additional and more intensive neurological education. The data give an overview of teaching of neurology in Germany and students' assessment of various approaches. The results should be utilized towards reorientation of future curricula that should aim at innovative and even more practically oriented teaching.

About Collaboration, Interaction, and the Negotiation of Meaning in Synchronous Written Chats in L2-German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fredriksson, Christine

2012-01-01

In this paper I will show the preliminary findings from my study of the discourse in synchronous written chats performed by students who study modern German literature within their first term of German studies. The focus of the study is on learning strategies and discourse strategies and how the Swedish learners make use of them when chatting with…

[Factorial structure and psychometric criteria of the German translation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory--Student Version by Schaufeli et al. (MBI-SS)].

PubMed

Gumz, Antje; Erices, Rainer; Brähler, Elmar; Zenger, Markus

2013-02-01

The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is the most commonly used instrument in research on burnout. For the German translation of the MBI student version (MBI-SS), the postulated 3-factorial structure of the questionnaire could be confirmed using confirmatory analyses. The internal consistencies of the scales can be classified as good. First findings underline the construct validity of the questionnaire. As expected, burnout was associated with psychic and somatic complaints as well as with experienced social support. Couples reported higher "Efficiency" levels. Academic studies became less important with increasing duration. Time pressure during the last month was correlated with "Exhaustion". The presented findings on factorial structure and validity speak for the applicability of MBI-SS for research projects on students of German institutes of higher education. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

An Extended Optional Infinitive Stage in German-Speaking Children with Specific Language Impairment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, Mabel L.; Noll, Karen Ruff; Grimm, Hannelore

1997-01-01

Predictions were formulated for extended Optional Infinitives (OIs) stage in German-speaking children with specific language impairment and evaluated in clinical sample of 8 SLI German-speaking children, ages 4; 0 to 4; 8; and control group of 8 younger utterance-equivalent children, ages 2; 1 to 2; 7. Samples reveal that affected group more…

Personality and the Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment: Evidence from Germany

PubMed Central

Ryberg, Renee; Bauldry, Shawn; Schultz, Michael A.; Steinhoff, Annekatrin; Shanahan, Michael

2018-01-01

Research based in the United States, with its relatively open educational system, has found that personality mediates the relationship between parents’ and child’s educational attainment and this meditational pattern is especially beneficial to students from less-educated households. Yet in highly structured, competitive educational systems, personal characteristics may not predict attainment or may be more or less consequential at different points in the educational career. We examine the salience of personality in the educational attainment process in the German educational system. Data come from a longitudinal sample of 682 seventeen to twenty-five year-olds (54% female) from the 2005 and 2015 German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Results show that adolescent personality traits — openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness — are associated with educational attainment, but personality plays a negligible role in the intergenerational transmission of education. Personality is influential before the decision about the type of secondary degree that a student will pursue (during adolescence). After that turning point, when students have entered different pathways through the system, personality is less salient. Cross-national comparisons in a life course framework broaden the scope of current research on non-cognitive skills and processes of socioeconomic attainment, alerting the analyst to the importance of both institutional structures and the changing importance of these skills at different points in the life course. PMID:28707154

After the Wall: The Remaking of East German Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costello, Kevin

1992-01-01

Huge changes are taking place throughout the former East German society. Comments from students, teachers, and administrators at Potsdam's William and Alexander Humboldt High School, just outside Berlin, highlight the difficult tasks involved in reforming an impoverished and repressive school system. (MLF)

German 1990: Intensive and Diverse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kempf, Franz R.

1990-01-01

Suggests the following methods for improving university-level German language education curricula: reduce skill-development time through immersion programs, adopt Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache as the proficiency standard for advanced students, and include literature from a variety of liberal arts disciplines in the reading materials for…

[Unipacs: A-LM German, Units 3-29].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West Bend High Schools, WI.

These instructional materials, designed for use with the "A-LM" German language course, permit teachers to individualize instruction. Basic objectives are outlined concerning basic dialogues, vocabulary, supplementary materials, reading, grammar, recombination materials, and creative conversation. A student checklist serves as a guide for the…

German medical students´ exposure and attitudes toward pharmaceutical promotion: A cross-sectional survey

PubMed Central

Jahnke, Kristine; Kremer, Marcel Stephan; Schmidt, Carsten Oliver; Kochen, Michael M.; Chenot, Jean-François

2014-01-01

Objective: Early contact of medical students with pharmaceutical promotion has been shown in many international studies. We assessed the frequency and places of contact of German medical students to pharmaceutical promotion and examined their attitudes toward pharmaceutical promotional activities. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was based on a self-developed questionnaire. It was distributed to all clinical students at the University of Goettingen Medical School in 2010. A 4-point rating scale was used to assess the attitudes toward different statements regarding pharmaceutical promotion. Results: The overall response rate was 55% (702/1287). The proportion of students with direct contact to pharmaceutical sales representatives increased from 21% in the first clinical year up to 77% in the final year. 60% were contacted during their elective clerkship. 80% had accepted promotional gifts. 86% stated their prescribing behavior to be unsusceptible to the influence of accepting promotional gifts. However, 35% of the unsusceptible students assumed doctors to be susceptible. Almost all (90%) reported that dealing with pharmaceutical promotion was never addressed during lectures and 65% did not feel well prepared for interactions with the pharmaceutical industry. 19% agreed to prohibit contacts between medical students and the pharmaceutical industry. Conclusions: German medical students get in contact with pharmaceutical promotion early and frequently. There is limited awareness for associated conflicts of interests. Medical schools need to regulate contacts and incorporate the topic in their curriculum to prepare students for interactions with the pharmaceutical industry. PMID:25228934

More Than Only Skin Deep: Appearance Self-Concept Predicts Most of Secondary School Students’ Self-Esteem

PubMed Central

Baudson, Tanja G.; Weber, Kira E.; Freund, Philipp A.

2016-01-01

One important goal of education is to develop students’ self-esteem which, in turn, hinges on their self-concept in the academic, physical, and social domains. Prior studies have shown that physical self-concept accounts for most of the variation in self-esteem, with academic and social self-concepts playing a much lesser role. As pressure toward perfection seems to be increasing in education, appearance, and social relationships (three aspects that relate to crucial developmental tasks of adolescence), the goal of the present field study was to examine whether former findings still hold true in the light of the changing societal context. A sample of 2,950 students from a broad range of German secondary schools (47% girls, age 10–19 years) responded to a recently validated German-language questionnaire assessing multiple self-concept facets (Weber and Freund, 2016). We examined which self-concept aspects predict self-esteem best and whether the pattern is comparable across genders and achievement levels using latent regression analyses. Results show that self-concept of appearance is still by far the strongest predictor (total sample: B = 0.77, SE = 0.02, p < 0.01) and that this is especially the case for girls and students from special educational schools. Other aspects play a much lesser role. The discussion explores why appearance is so neglected, compared to the more academic subjects, and what school can do to account for its vast importance for students’ self-esteem. PMID:27803681

What Students Think They Feel Differs from What They Really Feel – Academic Self-Concept Moderates the Discrepancy between Students’ Trait and State Emotional Self-Reports

PubMed Central

Bieg, Madeleine; Goetz, Thomas; Lipnevich, Anastasiya A.

2014-01-01

This study investigated whether there is a discrepancy pertaining to trait and state academic emotions and whether self-concept of ability moderates this discrepancy. A total of 225 secondary school students from two different countries enrolled in grades 8 and 11 (German sample; n = 94) and grade 9 (Swiss sample; n = 131) participated. Students’ trait academic emotions of enjoyment, pride, anger, and anxiety in mathematics were assessed with a self-report questionnaire, whereas to assess their state academic emotions experience-sampling method was employed. The results revealed that students’ scores on the trait assessment of emotions were generally higher than their scores on the state assessment. Further, as expected, students’ academic self-concept in the domain of mathematics was shown to partly explain the discrepancy between scores on trait and state emotions. Our results indicate that there is a belief-driven discrepancy between what students think they feel (trait assessment) and what they really feel (state assessment). Implications with regard to the assessment of self-reported emotions in future studies and practical implications for the school context are discussed. PMID:24647760

Fostering Students' Conceptual Knowledge in Biology in the Context of German National Education Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Förtsch, Christian; Dorfner, Tobias; Baumgartner, Julia; Werner, Sonja; von Kotzebue, Lena; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2018-04-01

The German National Education Standards (NES) for biology were introduced in 2005. The content part of the NES emphasizes fostering conceptual knowledge. However, there are hardly any indications of what such an instructional implementation could look like. We introduce a theoretical framework of an instructional approach to foster students' conceptual knowledge as demanded in the NES (Fostering Conceptual Knowledge) including instructional practices derived from research on single core ideas, general psychological theories, and biology-specific features of instructional quality. First, we aimed to develop a rating manual, which is based on this theoretical framework. Second, we wanted to describe current German biology instruction according to this approach and to quantitatively analyze its effectiveness. And third, we aimed to provide qualitative examples of this approach to triangulate our findings. In a first step, we developed a theoretically devised rating manual to measure Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in videotaped lessons. Data for quantitative analysis included 81 videotaped biology lessons of 28 biology teachers from different German secondary schools. Six hundred forty students completed a questionnaire on their situational interest after each lesson and an achievement test. Results from multilevel modeling showed significant positive effects of Fostering Conceptual Knowledge on students' achievement and situational interest. For qualitative analysis, we contrasted instruction of four teachers, two with high and two with low student achievement and situational interest using the qualitative method of thematic analysis. Qualitative analysis revealed five main characteristics describing Fostering Conceptual Knowledge. Therefore, implementing Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in biology instruction seems promising. Examples of how to implement Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in instruction are shown and discussed.

Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the General Health Questionnaire-12 in a German and a Colombian population sample.

PubMed

Romppel, Matthias; Hinz, Andreas; Finck, Carolyn; Young, Jeremy; Brähler, Elmar; Glaesmer, Heide

2017-12-01

While the General Health Questionnaire, 12-item version (GHQ-12) has been widely used in cross-cultural comparisons, rigorous tests of the measurement equivalence of different language versions are still lacking. Thus, our study aims at investigating configural, metric and scalar invariance across the German and the Spanish version of the GHQ-12 in two population samples. The GHQ-12 was applied in two large-scale population-based samples in Germany (N = 1,977) and Colombia (N = 1,500). To investigate measurement equivalence, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in both samples. In the German sample mean GHQ-12 total scores were higher than in the Colombian sample. A one-factor model including response bias on the negatively worded items showed superior fit in the German and the Colombian sample; thus both versions of the GHQ-12 showed configural invariance. Factor loadings and intercepts were not equal across both samples; thus GHQ-12 showed no metric and scalar invariance. As both versions of the GHQ-12 did not show measurement equivalence, it is not recommendable to compare both measures and to conclude that mental distress is higher in the German sample, although we do not know if the differences are attributable to measurement problems or represent a real difference in mental distress. The study underlines the importance of measurement equivalence in cross-cultural comparisons. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hitlerism and the German Universities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuriter, Paul R.

1999-01-01

An author who comes from the German higher education system offers insights into how it differs from the American higher education system and how certain undesirable characteristics may be avoided in the United States. Topics discussed include student independence, lack of extracurricular activities and campus community, tendency toward…

[Educational objectives in the new interdisciplinary subject "Rehabilitation, Physical Medicine, Naturopathic Techniques" under the 9th Revision of the Licensing Regulations for Doctors--consensus recommendations of the German Society for Rehabilitative Sciences and the German Society for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation].

PubMed

Mau, W; Gülich, M; Gutenbrunner, C; Lampe, B; Morfeld, M; Schwarzkopf, S R; Smolenski, U C

2004-12-01

In October 2003 the 9 (th) revision of the Federal Medical Training Regulations (Approbationsordnung) came into effect. The new compulsory interdisciplinary subject "Rehabilitation, Physical Medicine, Naturopathic Treatment" offers the opportunity to teach all students in comprehensive concepts of Rehabilitation such as the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the WHO and the new book 9 of the German Social Code (SGB 9), as well as Physical Medicine and Naturopathic Treatment. Since the content of this new subject has not been defined up to date a joint task force of the German Society of Rehabilitation Science and the German Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation was founded in order to recommend teaching standards. As part of these teaching standards educational objectives are introduced in this article. They should guide the persons in charge of teaching the subject in the medical faculties. In some areas the students should acquire profound abilities and skills in addition to knowledge. The medical faculties may focus on different educational targets according to their individual teaching profile.

The Role of Classroom Characteristics for Students' Motivation and Career Exploration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazarides, Rebecca; Rohowski, Susanne; Ohlemann, Svenja; Ittel, Angela

2016-01-01

This study focused on students enrolled in obligatory vocational education courses in German secondary schools that aim to support students' career exploration. The study examined the relations between student-perceived classroom characteristics (support for autonomy, competence and relatedness), students' intrinsic motivation and their career…

The Hamburg Selection Procedure for Dental Students – Introduction of the HAM-Nat as subject-specific test for study aptitude

PubMed Central

Kothe, Christian; Hissbach, Johanna; Hampe, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

Introduction: The present study examines the question whether the selection of dental students should be based solely on average school-leaving grades (GPA) or whether it could be improved by using a subject-specific aptitude test. Methods: The HAM-Nat Natural Sciences Test was piloted with freshmen during their first study week in 2006 and 2007. In 2009 and 2010 it was used in the dental student selection process. The sample size in the regression models varies between 32 and 55 students. Results: Used as a supplement to the German GPA, the HAM-Nat test explained up to 12% of the variance in preclinical examination performance. We confirmed the prognostic validity of GPA reported in earlier studies in some, but not all of the individual preclinical examination results. Conclusion: The HAM-Nat test is a reliable selection tool for dental students. Use of the HAM-Nat yielded a significant improvement in prediction of preclinical academic success in dentistry. PMID:24282449

Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Comparison of Current Knowledge, Attitudes and Interest among German Medical Students and Doctors

PubMed Central

Münstedt, Karsten; Harren, Hildegard; von Georgi, Richard; Hackethal, Andreas

2011-01-01

Although it has been agreed that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) should be included in the German medical curriculum, there is no consensus on which methods and how it should be taught. This study aimed to assess needs for CAM education by evaluating current knowledge, attitudes and interests of medical students, general physicians and gynecologists. Two instruments based on established and validated questionnaires were developed. One was given to seventh semester medical students and the other to office-based doctors. Data were analyzed by bivariate correlation and cross-tabulation. Altogether 550 questionnaires were distributed—280 to doctors and 270 to medical students. Completed questionnaires were returned by 80.4% of students and 78.2% of doctors. Although 73.8% (160/219) of doctors and 40% (87/217) of students had already informed themselves about CAM, neither group felt that they knew much about CAM. Doctors believed that CAM was most useful in general medicine, supportive oncology, pediatrics, dermatology and gynecology, while students believed that dermatology, general medicine, psychiatry and rheumatology offered opportunities; both recommended that CAM should be taught in these areas. Both groups believed that CAM should be included in medical education; however, they believed that CAM needed more investigation and should be taught “critically". German doctors and students would like to be better informed about CAM. An approach which teaches fundamental competences to students, chooses specific content based on evidence, demographics and medical conditions and provides students with the skills they need for future learning should be adopted. PMID:19098296

The Image of Medieval Woman

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wade, Marjorie D.

1978-01-01

California State University offered a course concerning the roles and positions of women in medieval society as depicted in Middle High German literature. The course was open to all undergraduate students and required no prerequisites or knowledge of German. The content and structure of the course are outlined. (SW)

A Functional Syntax of German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fichtner, Edward G.

Students in intermediate language courses, especially conversational courses, can benefit from a simple set of instructions for combining words and phrases into sentences. A description of the basic concepts determining word order in German--the fundamental sequence of clause elements, the "infrastructure," and the movement rules by which the…

From Business to Technological German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rockwood, H. M.

Because many of the Georgia Institute of Technology students taking business German come from the sciences and engineering, the business language textbook used has been supplemented with more technologically oriented instructional materials. Highly technical texts are too advanced at the second year language learning stage, so one teacher selected…

Intercultural Training and Development at Hildesheim University, Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bosse, Elke

2009-01-01

Until recently, the few attempts to develop intercultural competence in German higher education institutions were limited to the initiative of individuals and were mostly targeted at selected groups, e.g. students participating in international master's programmes. Only recently have German universities started to acknowledge the fact that…

[Education of surgeons at the Medical School of the University of Pest between 1825 and 1848].

PubMed

Simon, Katalin

2009-01-01

From the 1820's a great number of surgeons attended the Faculty of Medicine in Pest. The increasing number of the students was resulted by several circumstances. After the Napoleonic wars peregrination from Hapsburg lands was prohibited. The Faculty of Medicine in Pest however offerred a diploma for its students valid for the whole territory of the Hapsburg Empire. The lectures were held in Hungarian or German, in contrary to the exclusively Latin lectures for medical students. A shorter preliminary education was needed. After three years the student could get his degree Chirurgiae Magister or Chirurgus civilis--the length of studies depended on the pleriminary studies of the surgeon. The Faculty started only two courses, so the surgeons mostly repeated the second or both courses. Although these degrees proved to be inferior to the titles Doctor Medicinae or Doctor Chirurgiae, many students wanted to get it. In the beginning of this period, in 1825/1825 117 persons attended the first semesters of the German, and 59 of the Hungarian course. This growth reached its peak in the years of the cholera. In 1832/1833 255 person matriculated to the first class of the German and 148 to the Hungarian course. This new contagion damaged not only human lifes, but the popularity of the surgical education as well. The number of students began slowly decrease. Another reason for this decrease was the new possibility for peregrination from the 1830's. In 1846/1847 48 persons matriculated to the first German course, and 49 to the Hungarian, while in the second one their number was only 10 and 20. As we can see, the German course was more popular, here came students from the other parts of the Hapsburg Empire, especially Jews: from Moravia (160; 110 of them was Jew), Bohemia (134) or Galicia (178; 124 of them was Jew). Between 1825 and 1846 2618 surgeons matriculated to the Faculty of Pest, many of them however left it with or without doing their exams. 1854 students took every exam, but only 259 got his degree as Chirurgiae Magister in Pest, and 1049 as Chirurgiae Civilis. Presumably many students carried on their studies in Vienna. Although the Faculty of Medicine in Pest was less renowned, than the medical faculty of Vienna or Prague, it definitely played a remarkable role in the contemporary medical and surgical education of the Hapsburg Empire.

How College Learners of German Envision Their Final Attainment: Between Community and Future Self

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

2013-01-01

This study explores the ways first-, second-, and third-year college students ("n" = 352) perceived their likely attainment of 19 morpho-syntactic, phonological, pragmatic, and lexical features of German. Analyses further differentiated perceptions by the learner variables of year of enrollment, gender, achievement, motivation for…

Discussions across Borders: A German-American Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeiser, Pamela A.; Fuchs, Doris; Engelkamp, Stephan

2013-01-01

This article reports on our experiences in a German-American partnership in internationalizing the curriculum. In a globalized world, engaging other cultures and identities as well as understanding global issues and events from other perspectives are important qualifications that allow students to gain different insights in political science. Yet,…

Know Your Laws. German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Joan Q.; Karch, Hannelore

This German language version of "Know Your Laws" consists of 24 self-contained modules designed to acquaint the Florida adult student with laws she/he will meet in everyday life; fundamentals of local, state, and federal governments; and the criminal and juvenile justice systems. (The 130 objectives are categorized in the first three…

Overcoming the Grammar Deficit: The Role of Information Technology in Teaching German Grammar to Undergraduates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Christopher

1998-01-01

Examines how application of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and information technology can be used to overcome "grammar deficit" seen in many British undergraduate German students. A combination of explicit, implicit, and exploratory grammar teaching approaches uses diverse resources, including word processing packages,…

Learning Strategies and Learning-Related Emotions among Teacher Trainees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wittmann, Simone

2011-01-01

Teacher trainees are questioned about their strategic and emotional relationships with a key area of their future activity, learning. Characteristics of German teacher trainees are identified through comparisons with German students on a related course of study (educational science), and through comparisons with Swedish teacher trainees. N = 875…

The Importance of Educational Marble Games in Teaching German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coskun, Hasan

2013-01-01

Problem Statement: By considering the innovations in the field of communication, the inter-relationship between cultures, and the developments in the world, the Ministry of Education has started to take measures for students to learn languages such as German, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Arabic, etc., in educational institutions in…

Casting a University-Wide Net: Teaching "Sustainability in Germany"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ducate, Lara

2016-01-01

Due to the connection between Germany and sustainability studies, German Programs are well poised to offer a course on German history, culture, and sustainability to meet the needs of the next generation of students. Interdisciplinary humanities courses that incorporate critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative learning will help to…

Teaching German with TPRS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidheiser, James

2002-01-01

Outlines the research leading to Total Physical Response (TRP) and later Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS) methods. Discusses the day-to-day use in the German classroom of TPRS by an experienced practitioner and explains the reasons for its success. Presents student evaluations of the method and the material available for its use. (AS)

Learning by Teaching: Developing Transferable Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stollhans, Sascha

2016-01-01

"Learning by teaching" (German: "Lernen durch Lehren," commonly abbreviated as "LdL") is a teaching and learning approach which was developed by the French language teacher Jean-Pol Martin in German schools in the 1980s (Martin, 1985). The method sees students in the role of the teacher, and enhances their learning…

Teaching of evolution in public schools: A cross-cultural examination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, Joshua M.

The current study sought to examine how the cultural settings of Colorado, United States, and Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, influenced perspectives, understandings, and acceptance of college students who want to become teachers (i.e., prospective teachers) in regard to the theory of evolution, creationism, and intelligent design with both quantitative and qualitative components. The quantitative sample for the study consisted of 221 German prospective teachers from Baden-Wurttemberg and 231 United States prospective teachers from Colorado. The quantitative component consisted of a 42-item survey with both Likert and true/false items to examine how (1) country of origin, (2) religious participation, and (3) educational background influence students' views and understandings of the theory of evolution and alternative conceptions. Additionally, in a Likert 6-item motivated reasoning task (a theoretical construct), prospective teachers were asked to read and critique arguments supporting and opposing the theory of evolution; differences in how students critiqued arguments were hypothesized to demonstrate biases. For a separate sample from the same locations (8 German and 11 United States students), a qualitative component examined prospective teachers' positions on teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. Prospective teachers were asked to provide support for their position, anticipate opposing arguments, and implications that both positions would have for students. Lastly, prospective teachers were also asked to explain and define the theory of evolution. The current study aided in examining how teachers' perspectives, understandings, and acceptance impacted what was taught in the science classroom. The researcher found that country of origin, religious behavior, and educational background predicted prospective teachers' responses to numerous criterion variables used in the current study. Further, qualitative results expressed major differences between prospective teachers' views regarding the inclusion of evolution or alternative conceptions in public schools, between Colorado and Baden-Wurttemberg. As a potential indicator, findings from the current study may be useful in understanding potential differences between these two countries, in regard to perceptions of the theory of evolution and alternative conceptions. Further, findings from the current study might also inform how these topics might be covered in educational settings with a lowered risk of conflict.

The German Version of the Strengths Use Scale: The Relation of Using Individual Strengths and Well-being.

PubMed

Huber, Alexandra; Webb, Dave; Höfer, Stefan

2017-01-01

Theoretical perspectives in positive psychology have considered the possession and use of strengths equally but in applied research more studies focused on having them, probably due to the absence of psychometrically adequate scales. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the psychometric characteristics of the German language version of the Strengths Use Scale (SUS) and to explore relationships between strengths use and several indicator measures of well-being: the presence of positive and the absence of negative affect, self-esteem as identity aspect, vitality as self-regulatory resource, and stress for capturing the evaluation of difficulties and obstacles impinging on well-being. The original English version of the SUS was translated following recommended independent forward-backward translation techniques. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, including a German-speaking convenience sample of university students ( N = 374). Additionally, the relations of strengths use and well-being indicators were analyzed. Factorial validity revealed a single-factor structure of the German version of the SUS, explaining 58.4% variance (factor loadings: 0.58 to 0.86), approving the scale's design and showing high internal consistency (Cronbach's α 0.95). The hypothesized positive relationships of strengths use with positive affect, self-esteem, and vitality were confirmed as well as the negative relationships with negative affect and stress. The German version of the SUS is psychometrically sound and data indicate that individual strengths use and well-being related measures interact. The instrument can be recommended for future research questions such as if and how the promotion of applying individual strengths during education enhances levels of well-being, or how the implementation of strengths use in job-design guidelines or working conditions can result in higher levels of well-being or healthiness.

The German Version of the Strengths Use Scale: The Relation of Using Individual Strengths and Well-being

PubMed Central

Huber, Alexandra; Webb, Dave; Höfer, Stefan

2017-01-01

Theoretical perspectives in positive psychology have considered the possession and use of strengths equally but in applied research more studies focused on having them, probably due to the absence of psychometrically adequate scales. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the psychometric characteristics of the German language version of the Strengths Use Scale (SUS) and to explore relationships between strengths use and several indicator measures of well-being: the presence of positive and the absence of negative affect, self-esteem as identity aspect, vitality as self-regulatory resource, and stress for capturing the evaluation of difficulties and obstacles impinging on well-being. The original English version of the SUS was translated following recommended independent forward-backward translation techniques. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, including a German-speaking convenience sample of university students (N = 374). Additionally, the relations of strengths use and well-being indicators were analyzed. Factorial validity revealed a single-factor structure of the German version of the SUS, explaining 58.4% variance (factor loadings: 0.58 to 0.86), approving the scale’s design and showing high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α 0.95). The hypothesized positive relationships of strengths use with positive affect, self-esteem, and vitality were confirmed as well as the negative relationships with negative affect and stress. The German version of the SUS is psychometrically sound and data indicate that individual strengths use and well-being related measures interact. The instrument can be recommended for future research questions such as if and how the promotion of applying individual strengths during education enhances levels of well-being, or how the implementation of strengths use in job-design guidelines or working conditions can result in higher levels of well-being or healthiness. PMID:28496424

Prevalence, risk factors, and psychosocial adjustment of problematic gambling in adolescents: Results from two representative German samples.

PubMed

Giralt, Sebastián; Müller, Kai W; Beutel, Manfred E; Dreier, Michael; Duven, Eva; Wölfling, Klaus

2018-06-05

Background and aims Gambling disorder is a significant public health concern. Especially, male minors have been shown to gamble in a problematic way, despite legal prohibitions. Methods We examined representative samples of students aged from 12 to 18 years (N = 9,309) in two German federal states to provide prevalence data and clinical description of risk factors for problematic gambling. Results We found that about 40% of the adolescents reported engaging in gambling activities within the past 12 months and found prevalence rates of 1.7% and 2.2% for problematic gambling. Especially, use of online gambling and slot machines was found to be related to problematic gambling. Male adolescents with a migration background were of higher risk for problematic gambling and psychopathological symptoms were significantly elevated among that group. Discussion The results indicate that participation in gambling activities is common among underaged adolescents and that prevalence of problematic gambling exceeds rates of adults. Similarly, problematic gambling is associated with increased psychopathological strain. Conclusion Given that a high proportion of adult gamblers report having started gambling in adolescents, our data emphasize the need for prevention and early intervention strategies for problematic gambling.

Development of the Oldenburg Epistemic Beliefs Questionnaire (OLEQ), a German Questionnaire Based on the Epistemic Belief Inventory (EBI)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paechter, Manuela; Rebmann, Karin; Schloemer, Tobias; Mokwinski, Bjoern; Hanekamp, Yvonne; Arendasy, Martin

2013-01-01

The present research describes the development of a German questionnaire for measurement of domain-general epistemic beliefs. Pre-studies on the psychometric properties of a German version of the Epistemic Beliefs Inventory (EBI) had emphasized the necessity to develop an instrument that is especially constructed for German-speaking samples. The…

Physician empathy: definition, outcome-relevance and its measurement in patient care and medical education.

PubMed

Neumann, Melanie; Scheffer, Christian; Tauschel, Diethard; Lutz, Gabriele; Wirtz, Markus; Edelhäuser, Friedrich

2012-01-01

The present study gives a brief introduction into 1. the definition of physician empathy (PE) and 2. its influence on patients' health outcomes. Furthermore 3. we present assessment instruments to measure PE from the perspective of the patient and medical student. The latter topic will be explored in detail as we conducted a pilot study on the German versions of two self-assessment instruments of empathy, which are mostly used in medical education research, namely the "Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, Student Version" (JSPE-S) and the "Interpersonal Reactivity Index" (IRI). We first present an overview of the current empirical and theoretical literature on the definition and outcome-relevance of PE. Additionally, we conducted basic psychometric analyses of the German versions of the JSPE-S and the IRI. Data for this analyses is based on a cross-sectional pilot-survey in N=44 medical students and N=63 students of other disciplines from the University of Cologne. PE includes the understanding of the patient as well as verbal and non-verbal communication, which should result in a helpful therapeutic action of the physician. Patients' health outcomes in different healthcare settings can be improved considerably from a high quality empathic encounter with their clinician. Basic psychometric results of the German JSPE-S and IRI measures show first promising results. PE as an essential and outcome-relevant element in the patient-physician relationship requires more consideration in the education of medical students and, thus, in medical education research. The German versions of the JSPE-S and IRI measures seem to be promising means to evaluate these education aims and to conduct medical education research on empathy.

German undergraduate mathematics enrolment numbers: background and change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ammann, Claudia; Frauendiener, Jörg; Holton, Derek

2010-06-01

Before we consider the German tertiary system, we review the education system and consider other relevant background details. We then concentrate on the tertiary system and observe that the mathematical enrolments are keeping up with the overall student enrolments. At the same time, the first year mathematics enrolments for women are greater than that for men, although more men are still studying mathematics at university. Finally, we note that the German economy seems to play a role in mathematics enrolments though not necessarily to its comparative detriment.

Hitting the road to adulthood: short-term personality development during a major life transition.

PubMed

Bleidorn, Wiebke

2012-12-01

Previous research suggests that normative life transitions have the potential to trigger personality maturation. But what exactly happens during such a transitional stage? The present study examined personality trait changes in a sample of 910 German high school students during their transition from school to adult life. Despite the short observation period of three semiannual measurements, growth curve analyses revealed significant mean-level changes in personality traits. These changes occurred primarily in a positive direction, were strongest for the trait of conscientiousness, and most pronounced in those students who were directly confronted with this transitional experience. Bivariate growth curve models indicated that individual differences in personality change were substantially associated with changes in students' investments into achievement behavior. Supporting socioanalytic perspectives on personality development, these findings can be discussed with respect to process approaches to personality change assuming that consistent behavioral changes might lead to personality change in a bottom-up fashion.

Personality Similarity between Teachers and Their Students Influences Teacher Judgement of Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rausch, Tobias; Karing, Constance; Dörfler, Tobias; Artelt, Cordula

2016-01-01

This study examined personality similarity between teachers and their students and its impact on teacher judgement of student achievement in the domains of reading comprehension and mathematics. Personality similarity was quantified through intraclass correlations between personality characteristics of 409 dyads of German teachers and their…

Students' Perceptions toward Academic Competencies: The Case of German First-Year Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mah, Dana-Kristin; Ifenthaler, Dirk

2018-01-01

Students often enter higher education academically unprepared and with unrealistic perceptions and expectations regarding academic competencies for their studies. However, preparedness and realistic perceptions are important factors for student retention. With regard to a proposed model of five academic competencies (time management, learning…

Teaching child and adolescent psychiatry to undergraduate medical students - A survey in German-speaking countries.

PubMed

Frank, Reiner; Frank, Florian

2010-07-24

To conduct a survey about teaching child and adolescent psychiatry to undergraduate medical students in German-speaking countries. A questionnaire was sent to the 33 academic departments of child and adolescent psychiatry in Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking part of Switzerland. All departments responded. For teaching knowledge, the methods most commonly reported were lectures and case presentations. The most important skills to be taught were thought to be how to assess psychopathology in children and how to assess families. For elective courses, the departments reported using a wide range of teaching methods, many with active involvement of the students. An average of 34 hours per semester is currently allocated by the departments for teaching child and adolescent psychiatry to medical students. Required courses are often taught in cooperation with adult psychiatry and pediatrics. Achievement of educational objectives is usually assessed with written exams or multiple-choice tests. Only a minority of the departments test the achievement of skills. Two ways of improving education in child and adolescent psychiatry are the introduction of elective courses for students interested in the field and participation of child and adolescent psychiatrists in required courses and in longitudinal courses so as to reach all students. Cooperation within and across medical schools can enable departments of child and adolescent psychiatry, despite limited resources, to become more visible and this specialty to become more attractive to medical students. Compared to the findings in earlier surveys, this survey indicates a trend towards increased involvement of academic departments of child and adolescent psychiatry in training medical students.

Evaluating students' perception of their clinical placements - testing the clinical learning environment and supervision and nurse teacher scale (CLES + T scale) in Germany.

PubMed

Bergjan, Manuela; Hertel, Frank

2013-11-01

Clinical nursing education in Germany has not received attention in nursing science and practice for a long time, as it often seems to be a more or less "formalized appendix" of nursing education. Several development projects of clinical education taking place are mainly focused on the qualification of clinical preceptors. However, the clinical context and its influence on learning processes have still not been sufficiently investigated. The aim of this study was the testing of a German version of the clinical learning environment and supervision and nurse teacher scale (CLES + T scale). The sample of the pilot study consists of first-, second- and third-year student nurses (n=240) of a university nursing school from January to March 2011. Psychometric testing of the instrument is carried out by selected methods of classical testing theories using SPPS 19. The results show transferability of all subcategories of the CLES + T scale in the non-academic nursing education system of a university hospital in Germany, without the teacher scale. The strongest factor is "supervisory relationship". The German version of the CLES + T scale may help to evaluate and compare traditional and new models in clinical nursing education. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Werbung im Englischunterricht: Das Beispiel Einhorn - Onehorn - Unicorn (Advertising Material in English Teaching: The Example "Einhorn-Onehorn-Unicorn")

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruettgens, Hannelore

1976-01-01

Presents an advertisement from "Der Spiegel," composed in English that is saturated with Germanisms. Teaching procedures based on this are suggested: finding and classifying errors, composing alternative versions, translating into German, retranslating into English. Suggestions are given for further work based on the students' own…

Toward an Intercultural Stance: Teaching German and English through Telecollaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ware, Paige D.; Kramsch, Claire

2005-01-01

We discuss the challenges of Web-based teaching for language teachers and then describe in detail an extended episode of misunderstanding that occurred between 2 students discussing their versions of history during a classroom-based, asynchronous telecollaborative project between learners of German in the United States and learners of English in…

Understanding Youth's Health-Compromising Behaviors in Germany: An Application of the Risk-Behavior Framework.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hazard, Barbara P.; Lee, Che-Fu

1999-01-01

Analyzed the health-compromising behaviors of German youth using responses of 2,330 seventh, eighth, and ninth graders from the German Youth Study. Smoking and drinking are not seen by these students as health-threatening behaviors, but as socially appealing behaviors. Discusses implications for health education. (SLD)

The Impact of Orthographic Consistency on German Spoken Word Identification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beyermann, Sandra; Penke, Martina

2014-01-01

An auditory lexical decision experiment was conducted to find out whether sound-to-spelling consistency has an impact on German spoken word processing, and whether such an impact is different at different stages of reading development. Four groups of readers (school children in the second, third and fifth grades, and university students)…

La femme dans la societe moderne (The Woman in Modern Society)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esser, Gunter

1974-01-01

This article describes a proposed civilization course for German high school students learning French. The subject was chosen with the idea that exposure to current sociocultural issues would enhance motivation. Materials from actual public media could be used as opposed to those streamlined for pedagogical use. (Text is in German.) (TL)

Measuring Second Language Acquisition. Studies in Language Education, No. 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Thomas C.

This research project was designed to analyze by quantitative methods a corpus of writing produced by four groups of American college students enrolled in German courses and by one group of professional German writers. Analysis was undertaken in order to determine whether or not significant quantitative differences in the use of selected syntactic…

Machine Translation in the German Classroom: Detection, Reaction, Prevention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steding, Soren

2009-01-01

There are many websites today that offer free machine translations and although beginning students of German are not always proficient enough to judge the quality of these translations or to fully understand certain translation results, they use these services nonetheless for their assignments. The problem for the educator is to distinguish…

Textbooks in German 1942-1973: A Descriptive Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buck, Kathryn, Comp.; Haase, Arthur, Comp.

This annotated bibliography lists German textbooks published in the United States for use in junior high, high school, and college by students whose first language is English. Intended for those interested in researching old and writing new texts, as well as for those searching for an extant volume for classroom use, the bibliography consists of…

Headstart German Program. Module 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Defense Language Inst., Monterey, CA.

This is the fifth module of 10 in the German Headstart program. Each of the 3 units in the module contains objectives, exercises, and a self-evaluation quiz. In addition, there are several supplementary exercises and self-evaluations. The objective of this module is to enable the student to use and understand: (1) courtesy expressions; (2) time…

Emotional and Behavioural Problems in the Context of Cyberbullying: A Longitudinal Study among German Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schultze-Krumbholz, Anja; Jakel, Anne; Schultze, Martin; Scheithauer, Herbert

2012-01-01

Although many studies have reported on internalising and externalising problems related to cyberbullying roles, there is a lack of longitudinal research in this area. This study reports (1) cross-sectional data from 412 German middle-school students to examine differences between cyberbullies, cybervictims and cyberbully-victims compared to…

[MD PhD programs: Providing basic science education for ophthalmologists].

PubMed

Spaniol, K; Geerling, G

2015-06-01

Enrollment in MD PhD programs offers the opportunity of a basic science education for medical students and doctors. These programs originated in the USA where structured programs have been offered for many years, but now German universities also run MD PhD programs. The MD PhD programs provided by German universities were investigated regarding entrance requirements, structure and financing modalities. An internet and telephone-based search was carried out. Out of 34 German universities 22 offered MD PhD programs. At 15 of the 22 universities a successfully completed course of studies in medicine was required for enrollment, 7 programs admitted medical students in training and 7 programs required a medical doctoral thesis, which had to be completed with at least a grade of magna cum laude in 3 cases. Financing required scholarships in many cases. Several German universities currently offer MD PhD programs; however, these differ considerably regarding entrance requirements, structure and financing. A detailed analysis investigating the success rates of these programs (e.g. successful completion and career paths of graduates) would be of benefit.

Specificity of a whole blood IGRA in German nursing students

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are used for tuberculosis (TB) screening in healthcare workers (HCWs). However, data on specificity of IGRA in serial testing of HCWs is sparse. Therefore the specificity and the negative predictive value of the IGRA - QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT) - in German nursing students was investigated. Methods 194 nursing students at the start of their professional career were tested with the QFT. 14 nursing students were excluded from the specificity analysis, due to exposure to mycobacterium tuberculosis. Two of these subjects were QFT- positive. None of them developed disease during the year of follow-up. A study group of 180 students, all with very low risk of prior TB infection, remained in the specificity analysis. Subjects were monitored for at least two years with respect to the development of active TB disease. IGRA was performed at the start of the training and after one year. Results The mean age of the study group (n = 180) was 23 years (range 18-53) with 70.9% female and 99.4% German born. The specificity of QFT was 98.9% (178/180; 95% CI 0.96-0.99); lowering the cut-off from 0.35 IU/ml to 0.1 IU/ml would have decreased specificity only slightly to 97.8% (176/180; 95% CI 0.94-0.99). Of the 154 nursing students available for re-testing, one student who initially scored positive reverted to negative, and one student initially negative converted to positive. None of the monitored group with initially negative QFT results developed TB disease, indicating a high negative predictive value of the IGRA in this population. Conclusions Following our data, QFT can serve as an effective tool in pre-employment TB screenings for HCWs. As its negative results were stable over time, specificity of the QFT in serial testing of HCWs is high. As the risk of acquiring TB infection in the German healthcare system appears to be low, our data supports the recommendation of performing TB screening only in those HCWs with known contact to TB patients or infectious materials. PMID:21929799

Examining the reliability and validity of an abbreviated Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) in four samples.

PubMed

Ruchensky, Jared R; Edens, John F; Donnellan, M Brent; Witt, Edward A

2017-02-01

A recently developed 40-item short-form of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) has shown considerable promise as an alternative to the long-form of the instrument (Eisenbarth, Lilienfeld, & Yarkoni, 2015). Beyond the initial construction of the short-form, however, Eisenbarth et al. only evaluated a small number of external correlates in a German college student sample. In this study, we evaluate the internal consistency of the short-form scales in 4 samples previously administered the full PPI-R (3 U.S. college student samples and 1 U.S. forensic psychiatric inpatient sample) and examine a wide range of external correlates to compare the nomological nets of the short- and long-forms. Across all 4 samples, correlations between each short-form scale and its corresponding long-form scale were uniformly high (all rs > .75). In terms of external correlates, the pattern of associations was exceedingly similar, for the short-form and long-form composites with a largely trivial reduction in effect size. Collectively, our findings offer considerable support for the utility of this new short-form as a substitute for the full PPI-R. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Differences in physical fitness and subjectively rated physical health in Vietnamese and German older adults.

PubMed

Nguyen, Hung M; Cihlar, Volker

2013-06-01

This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the differences in physical fitness and subjectively rated physical health of Vietnamese and German older adults in a community dwelling. The Vietnamese sample was a random sample of 96 community-dwelling individuals aged 60 to 80 years; 50 % were women. Education is 0 % less than 5 years, 23.95 % 5 to 9 years, 47.91 % 10 to 12 years, and 28.12 % more than 12 years. The German sample was a random sample of 159 community-dwelling persons aged 59 to 90 years; 79.8 % were women. Education is 1.25 % less than 5 years, 40.25 % 5 to 9 years, 38.84 % 10 to 12 years, and 21.38 % more than 12 years. Senior Fitness Test and Short Form-36 were used as outcome measures. The Vietnamese sample shows significantly higher performance levels in motor abilities, i.e., aerobic fitness, strength, and flexibility. The Vietnamese sample indicates a lower difference in performance levels between age groups than the German sample. No differences in subjectively rated physical health factors were found. The higher performance levels of the Vietnamese sample might reflect a more active lifestyle throughout the life span, especially in socially mediated domains like living arrangements or labor work. Lower performance levels in the studied age groups of the German sample might lead to higher risks of cardiovascular diseases and proneness of falls. A more active lifestyle after retirement could contribute to a healthier, more capable, and more independent individual and collective aging. Subjectively rated health stated is a culturally mitigated domain and therefore might be independent of actual physical fitness levels.

Learners' Perspectives on Authenticity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika M. Th.

A survey investigated the attitudes of second language learners about authentic texts, written and oral, used for language instruction. Respondents were 186 randomly-selected university students of German. The students were administered a 212-item questionnaire (the items are appended) that requested information concerning student demographic…

Measuring cognitive load: mixed results from a handover simulation for medical students.

PubMed

Young, John Q; Irby, David M; Barilla-LaBarca, Maria-Louise; Ten Cate, Olle; O'Sullivan, Patricia S

2016-02-01

The application of cognitive load theory to workplace-based activities such as patient handovers is hindered by the absence of a measure of the different load types. This exploratory study tests a method for measuring cognitive load during handovers. The authors developed the Cognitive Load Inventory for Handoffs (CLI4H) with items for intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load. Medical students completed the measure after participating in a simulated handover. Exploratory factor and correlation analyses were performed to collect evidence for validity. Results yielded a two-factor solution for intrinsic and germane load that explained 50 % of the variance. The extraneous load items performed poorly and were removed from the model. The score for intrinsic load correlated with the Paas Cognitive Load scale (r = 0.31, p = 0.004) and was lower for students with more prior handover training (p = 0.036). Intrinsic load did not, however, correlate with performance. Germane load did not correlate with the Paas Cognitive Load scale but did correlate as expected with performance (r = 0.30, p = 0.005) and was lower for those students with more prior handover training (p = 0.03). The CLI4H yielded mixed results with some evidence for validity of the score from the intrinsic load items. The extraneous load items performed poorly and the use of only a single item for germane load limits conclusions. The instrument requires further development and testing. Study results and limitations provide guidance to future efforts to measure cognitive load during workplace-based activities, such as handovers.

Screening disordered eating in a representative sample of the German population: Usefulness and psychometric properties of the German SCOFF questionnaire.

PubMed

Richter, Felicitas; Strauss, Bernhard; Braehler, Elmar; Adametz, Luise; Berger, Uwe

2017-04-01

The prevention of eating disorders and the identification of high-risk individuals are essential for the public health sector. There is need for sensitive and specific screening instruments of disordered eating that can be applied in universal samples as an initial step into disease prevention. The SCOFF is a screening instrument for disordered eating, frequently used in international and cross-cultural contexts to detect individuals at risk. The objective of this research is to evaluate whether the SCOFF can be used as a screening tool for disordered eating in universal samples. This is the first study which examined the psychometric properties of the German version of the SCOFF in a general population sample. A representative sample (N=2527) of the German population, aged 14-95years, was recruited. Psychometric properties were determined including reliability, concurrent and construct validity, and factor structure. The prevalence of disordered eating was assessed. The prevalence of disordered eating in the general population was 10%. Using the established cutoff point of ≥2, values for diagnostic accuracy were 26% (sensitivity), 97% (specificity), 80% (positive predictive value), and 74% (negative predictive value). Factorial analyses revealed an excellent model fit of a unidimensional model. Due to its low sensitivity and a high percentage of false negatives, there are limitations in using the German version of the SCOFF in general population samples with wide age ranges. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Interplay of Students' School Engagement, School Self-Concept and Motivational Relations during Adolescence.

PubMed

Bakadorova, Olga; Raufelder, Diana

2017-01-01

Existing literature evidences the association between adolescents' school self-concept and engagement, both concepts being related to students' perception of teachers and peers as motivators. However, few longitudinal studies explore the interplay of these factors. The present study aims to close this gap, applying latent cross-lagged panel design to two-wave data from German adolescent students [1088 8th grade students at T1 ( M age = 13.7, SD = 0.53; 53.9% girls) and 845 9th grade students at T2 ( M age = 14.86; SD = 0.57; 55% girls) from the initial sample]. Besides direct effects, three cross-lagged over-time paths were found to be significant: students' perception of peers as positive motivators (PPMs) at the beginning of 8th grade (T1) positively predicts their behavioral school engagement at the end of 9th grade (T2), as well as emotional school engagement at the beginning of 8th grade positively predicts students' perception of PPMs 1.5 years later. Furthermore, behavioral school engagement at T1 functions as a predictor of a student's school self-concept at T2.

Dimensional structure of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale according to the analysis of data obtained with a German version.

PubMed

Eidecker, Judith; Glöckner-Rist, Angelika; Gerlach, Alexander L

2010-08-01

The Social Interaction and Anxiety Scale (SIAS) is widely used to assess social interaction anxiety. Yet its dimensional structure is still not well-defined. Especially, the conceptual pertinence of three negatively keyed items has been challenged. In this study, dimensionality of the answers of a student sample to a German SIAS version was first analyzed exploratorily. Subsequently, we tested confirmatorily several measurement models specifying different SIAS dimensions, and investigated how these relate to extraversion. The most reasonable model was cross-validated relying on data from healthy controls and social phobia sufferers. All analyses involved methods suited for an adequate handling of ordinal data. The findings confirm that three negatively keyed items are dubious indicators of social interaction anxiety. Thus, only the remaining 17 items should be used for this purpose in future studies. Analyses of their psychometric properties show, in addition, that they apparently tap three different facets of social interaction anxiety. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Classroom learning and achievement: how the complexity of classroom interaction impacts students' learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podschuweit, Sören; Bernholt, Sascha; Brückmann, Maja

2016-05-01

Background: Complexity models have provided a suitable framework in various domains to assess students' educational achievement. Complexity is often used as the analytical focus when regarding learning outcomes, i.e. when analyzing written tests or problem-centered interviews. Numerous studies reveal negative correlations between the complexity of a task and the probability of a student solving it. Purpose: Thus far, few detailed investigations explore the importance of complexity in actual classroom lessons. Moreover, the few efforts made so far revealed inconsistencies. Hence, the present study sheds light on the influence the complexity of students' and teachers' class contributions have on students' learning outcomes. Sample: Videos of 10 German 8th grade physics courses covering three consecutive lessons on two topics each (electricity, mechanics) have been analyzed. The sample includes 10 teachers and 290 students. Design and methods: Students' and teachers' verbal contributions were coded manual-based according to the level of complexity. Additionally, pre-post testing of knowledge in electricity and mechanics was applied to assess the students' learning gain. ANOVA analysis was used to characterize the influence of the complexity on the learning gain. Results: Results indicate that the mean level of complexity in classroom contributions explains a large portion of variance in post-test results on class level. Despite this overarching trend, taking classroom activities into account as well reveals even more fine-grained patterns, leading to more specific relations between the complexity in the classroom and students' achievement. Conclusions: In conclusion, we argue for more reflected teaching approaches intended to gradually increase class complexity to foster students' level of competency.

We Say "Culture" and Students Say What? University Students' Definitions of Foreign Language Culture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

2002-01-01

Definitions of culture of 212 first-, second-, and third-year German students are presented and discussed. Results sow that--in terms of the national standards--students overall prefer practices and perspectives over products. Students views on the teachability of culture and its appropriate place in the foreign language classroom are explored.…

Reliability, factor structure, and validity of the German version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children in a sample of adolescents

PubMed Central

Matulis, Simone; Loos, Laura; Langguth, Nadine; Schreiber, Franziska; Gutermann, Jana; Gawrilow, Caterina; Steil, Regina

2015-01-01

Background The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSC-C) is the most widely used self-report scale to assess trauma-related symptoms in children and adolescents on six clinical scales. The purpose of the present study was to develop a German version of the TSC-C and to investigate its psychometric properties, such as factor structure, reliability, and validity, in a sample of German adolescents. Method A normative sample of N=583 and a clinical sample of N=41 adolescents with a history of physical or sexual abuse aged between 13 and 21 years participated in the study. Results The Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the six-factor model (anger, anxiety, depression, dissociation, posttraumatic stress, and sexual concerns with the subdimensions preoccupation and distress) revealed acceptable to good fit statistics in the normative sample. One item had to be excluded from the German version of the TSC-C because the factor loading was too low. All clinical scales presented acceptable to good reliability, with Cronbach's α's ranging from .80 to .86 in the normative sample and from .72 to .87 in the clinical sample. Concurrent validity was also demonstrated by the high correlations between the TSC-C scales and instruments measuring similar psychopathology. TSC-C scores reliably differentiated between adolescents with trauma history and those without trauma history, indicating discriminative validity. Conclusions In conclusion, the German version of the TSC-C is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing trauma-related symptoms on six different scales in adolescents aged between 13 and 21 years. PMID:26498182

Reliability, factor structure, and validity of the German version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children in a sample of adolescents.

PubMed

Matulis, Simone; Loos, Laura; Langguth, Nadine; Schreiber, Franziska; Gutermann, Jana; Gawrilow, Caterina; Steil, Regina

2015-01-01

The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSC-C) is the most widely used self-report scale to assess trauma-related symptoms in children and adolescents on six clinical scales. The purpose of the present study was to develop a German version of the TSC-C and to investigate its psychometric properties, such as factor structure, reliability, and validity, in a sample of German adolescents. A normative sample of N=583 and a clinical sample of N=41 adolescents with a history of physical or sexual abuse aged between 13 and 21 years participated in the study. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the six-factor model (anger, anxiety, depression, dissociation, posttraumatic stress, and sexual concerns with the subdimensions preoccupation and distress) revealed acceptable to good fit statistics in the normative sample. One item had to be excluded from the German version of the TSC-C because the factor loading was too low. All clinical scales presented acceptable to good reliability, with Cronbach's α's ranging from .80 to .86 in the normative sample and from .72 to .87 in the clinical sample. Concurrent validity was also demonstrated by the high correlations between the TSC-C scales and instruments measuring similar psychopathology. TSC-C scores reliably differentiated between adolescents with trauma history and those without trauma history, indicating discriminative validity. In conclusion, the German version of the TSC-C is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing trauma-related symptoms on six different scales in adolescents aged between 13 and 21 years.

[Is a specific disorder of arithmetic skills as common as reading/spelling disorder?].

PubMed

Wyschkon, Anne; Kohn, Juliane; Ballaschk, Katja; Esser, Günter

2009-11-01

Referring to the prevalence rates of learning disorders in the research literature, the numbers of mathematics disorder and reading/spelling disorder are often reported to be identical. However, the correlation between intelligence level and reading/spelling skills is much weaker than between intelligence and arithmetic skills. If the same definition criterion is applied to both disorders, a lower prevalence rate for mathematics disorder should be expected. Are there differences in the prevalence estimates for learning disorders depending on the definition criterion? A large representative sample of German students (N=1970) was used to review the hypothesis. Depending on the definition criterion, we could show a prevalence range of mathematics disorder between 0.1% and 8.1% in the same sample. Using the same definition criterion for both learning disorders, there are two to three times as many students with reading/spelling disorder than those with mathematics disorder. Whenever children with reading/spelling disorder are compared to children with mathematics disorder, the same definition criterion has to be applied.

[Mental health of Polish immigrants compared to that of the Polish and German populations].

PubMed

Morawa, Eva; Senf, Wolfgang; Erim, Yesim

2013-01-01

This survey examines the mental health of immigrants of Polish origin compared to samples from the Polish and German populations. In a sample of 513 subjects (261 persons with Polish migration background and 252 autochthone Poles) depression (BDI), anxiety (BAI), and somatic complaints (GBB-24) were measured. Immigrants of Polish origin showed a significantly higher level of anxiety as well as somatic complaints but only a tendency toward higher depressiveness than the German normvalue, but not than that of the native Poles. Female immigrants showed an overall higher number of symptoms in the three domains in question compared to German women and - except for depressiveness - also compared to male immigrants. Persons with a Polish migration background present levels of mental distress higher than the general German population, but similar to the population of their country of origin. Further research is needed to clarify the special structure of the mental morbidity in Polish immigrants.

Internationalized and research-oriented photonics education: Abbe School of Photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helgert, Christian; Nolte, Stefan; Pertsch, Thomas

2015-10-01

The Abbe School of Photonics (ASP) provides and coordinates the optics and photonics education of graduate and doctoral students at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. The internationalized Master's degree program is the key activity in training students in the optical sciences. The program is designed to provide them with the skills necessary to fill challenging positions in industry and academia. Here, an essential factor is ASP's close collaboration with more than 20 German photonics companies. To sustain these partners' future economic development, the availability of highly qualified employees is constantly required. Accordingly, these industrial partners, the European Union, the local state and the federal German government are strongly involved in the sustainable development of ASP's curriculum by both conceptual and financial engagements. The main goal is to promote the students' academic careers and job experience in the photonics industry as well as in academia. To open up the program to students from all over the world, all ASP lectures and courses are taught in English. Since 2009, more than 250 graduate students from more than 40 different countries have been enrolled at the School. Almost 90% of them of non-German nationality, fulfilling the essential ASP philosophy to locally establish an international education program. ASP's qualification strategy is fully research-oriented and based on the principles of academic freedom, competitive research conditions and internationalization at all levels. The education program is complemented by a structured doctoral student support and a prestigious guest professorship program.

Echoic Memory Interference and Comprehension in a Foreign Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenberg, Seth N.; Roscoe, Suzanne

1988-01-01

Study of echoic memory interference among students in college introductory Spanish and German courses revealed that students with weaker listening comprehension skills depended more upon vulnerable sensory codes in echoic memory, while students with stronger comprehension relied on stable higher-order codes. (Author/CB)

Unmet supportive care needs: a cross-cultural comparison between Hong Kong Chinese and German Caucasian women with breast cancer.

PubMed

Lam, Wendy W T; Au, Angel H Y; Wong, Jennifer H F; Lehmann, Claudia; Koch, Uwe; Fielding, Richard; Mehnert, Anja

2011-11-01

The comparison of psychosocial needs across different cultural settings can identify cultural and service impacts on psychosocial outcomes. We compare psychosocial needs in Hong Kong Chinese and German Caucasian women with breast cancer. Completed questionnaires were collected from 348 Chinese and 292 German women with breast cancer for assessing unmet psychosocial needs (Supportive Care Needs Survey Short Form), psychological distress (the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale), and listed physical and psychological symptoms. Only 11% of the participants reported not needing help for any of the 34 items. More German (14%) than Chinese women (8%) reported no unmet needs (χ(2) = 6.16, P = .013). With both samples combined, the Health System and Information domain unmet needs were the most prevalent, apart from one Psychological need domain item, "Fear about the cancer spreading." Chinese and German samples differed significantly in prevalence and patterns of unmet psychosocial needs. Multivariate adjustment for demographic, clinical, and sample characteristics, psychological distress, and symptoms showed that significantly greater unmet Health system and Information, and Patient care and support domain needs, associated with the presence of symptoms (β = .232, P < .001), high HADS Anxiety (β = .187, P < .001), higher education attainment (β = .120, P = .002), and Chinese sample membership (β = .280, P < .001). Greater unmet Psychological, Physical and Daily Living, and Sexuality domain needs were associated with the presence of symptoms, psychological distress, and German group membership, among others. German women reported more anxiety (t = 10.45, P < .001) and depression (t = 3.71, P < .001). In post hoc analyses, German, but not Chinese women reporting greater anxiety and depression had greater unmet Psychological and Sexuality domain needs (P < .001). It can be concluded that culture-specific differences in supportive care needs exist. Hong Kong Chinese women prioritize needs for information about their disease and treatment, whereas German Caucasian women prioritize physical and psychological support. Planning for cancer supportive care services or interventions to reduce unmet needs must consider cultural and/or health service contexts.

Teachers' Beliefs, Instructional Behaviors, and Students' Engagement in Learning from Texts with Instructional Pictures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schroeder, Sascha; Richter, Tobias; McElvany, Nele; Hachfeld, Axinja; Baumert, Jurgen; Schnotz, Wolfgang; Horz, Holger; Ullrich, Mark

2011-01-01

This study investigated the relations between teachers' pedagogical beliefs and students' self-reported engagement in learning from texts with instructional pictures. Participants were the biology, geography, and German teachers of 46 classes (Grades 5-8) and their students. Teachers' instructional behaviors and students' engagement in learning…

Assessment of Metacognitive Knowledge in Students with Special Educational Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Händel, Marion; Lockl, Kathrin; Heydrich, Jana; Weinert, Sabine; Artelt, Cordula

2014-01-01

This study investigated whether and, if so, how metacognitive knowledge can be assessed validly in students with special educational needs in a large-scale assessment like the German National Educational Panel Study. In total, 804 sixth-grade students including both regular school students attending the lowest track of secondary education…

Variation in the Beliefs of College Students of German about the Teaching of Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

2005-01-01

Despite common assumptions of foreign-language culture as a tool in student recruitment and retention, students are not universally convinced of either the teachability of culture or the appropriateness of teaching culture at all levels of language instruction. This paper shows that students' definitions of foreign-language culture differ…

A Course Wiki: Challenges in Facilitating and Assessing Student-Generated Learning Content for the Humanities Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazda-Cazers, Rasma

2010-01-01

New Web technology allows for the design of traditionally lecture-centered humanities courses by fostering active learning and engaging students as producers of learning content. The article presents the experiences with a student-generated wiki for a Germanic Mythology course. Evaluations indicated an overwhelmingly positive student experience…

Why Do Students from Underprivileged Families Less Often Intend to Study Abroad?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lörz, Markus; Netz, Nicolai; Quast, Heiko

2016-01-01

Alongside the educational expansion and internationalisation of economies, it has become more important for students' labour market success to spend part of their studies abroad. However, only a fraction of German students studies abroad. In particular, students from underprivileged families refrain from doing so. While the social selectivity of…

Humboldtian Values in a Changing World: Staff and Students in German Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pritchard, Rosalind

2004-01-01

The globalisation of higher education implies the application of a neo-liberal market forces model based on competition and choice. This is happening in Germany by gradual stages, and is often, but not necessarily correctly, assumed to be antagonistic to the Humboldtian model that underlies the classical German university tradition. This paper…

Self-Determination, Engagement, and Identity in Learning German: Some Directions in the Psychology of Language Learning Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noels, Kimberly A.; Chaffee, Kathryn; Lou, Nigel Mantou; Dincer, Ali

2016-01-01

Drawing from Self-Determination Theory and diverse theories of language learning motivation, we present a framework that (1) represents a range of orientations that students may take towards learning German, and (2) explains how these orientations are connected to language learning engagement and diverse linguistic and non-linguistic outcomes. We…

Using German Web Sites to Teach Culture in German Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hager, Michael

2005-01-01

Using the World Wide Web to teach foreign languages is ever increasing. In addition, the teaching of culture in foreign language instruction has become a standard element in most language classes. The combination of these two aspects leads to a dynamic approach for preparing students to compete in the global job market by making them more…

German beyond the Classroom: From Local Knowledge to Critical Language Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boovy, Bradley

2016-01-01

The article details an "Ausflug" to a Mt. Angel, OR as a model for incorporating engaged learning into the German classroom as a way of enhancing not only students' language acquisition but also to promote social justice learning. I offer both theoretical and practical considerations, informed by scholarship on teaching culture in the…

The Global Geek: Language Training for IT Students' Study Abroad in Austria and Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cliver, Gwyneth E.; Khazanchi, Deepak

2011-01-01

Recognizing the global role of information technology, this article describes a USDOE-funded transatlantic mobility program in the area of IT project management. The project enhances intercultural as well as German language skills and promotes a mutual understanding of EU and US cultures. The relationship between IT and German-language programs…

The Place of "Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache" in the German Curriculum. A Report of a Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Gerd K.

The "Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache," an examination developed by the Adult Education Centers in West Germany and the Goethe Institute to measure a student's proficiency in German as a foreign language, consists of two main parts, group testing and individual testing. The group testing section covers listening and reading…

Ein Erfahrungsbericht zum Thema Interaktion (A Report of Experience on the Theme of Interaction)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schroedter-Albers, Henning

1977-01-01

Describes work at a Goethe Institute branch with two groups of foreign students learning German, in which radio news, after preparatory work by the teacher, was used to induce question-and-answer dialogue. Many types of teaching aids and exercises used are described, including three-way conversation. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Toward a Better Understanding of Culture: Wikis in the Beginning German Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ducate, Lara; Steckenbiller, Christiane

2017-01-01

The questions of how to teach culture, which culture(s) to teach and how to lead students to intercultural competence and understanding are common questions for language teachers. The current project employed wikis to systematically integrate culture and authentic texts into beginning German courses at a large south-eastern university in the…

Addressing the Concept of Historical Empathy: With "Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stern, Barbara Slater

1998-01-01

Contends that Alison Owings' book, "Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich," makes an important contribution toward helping students develop historical empathy. Explains that she strives to understand why the women she interviewed behaved the way they did during the Holocaust by situating the womens stories in the context of their…

World War I and the Attack of Professors of German and the University of Michigan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcox, Clifford

1993-01-01

Describes social and intellectual climate at beginning of World War I that was exemplified by overzealous patriots demanding public displays of loyalty. Relates how six professors of German were permanently discharged by University of Ann Arbor. Describes incidents of goading by students and colleagues, and discusses failure of the American…

A Healthy Sorting Machine? Social Inequality in the Transition to Upper Secondary Education in Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Silke L.; Tieben, Nicole

2011-01-01

The German secondary education system is highly stratified. However, the higher tracks have expanded vastly over the last decades, leading to substantial changes in the distribution of students across the different tracks. Following the German re-unification, the school structure itself has also changed to some degree. Furthermore, several smaller…

Together, Not Alone: Positive Peer Culture in a German School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Opp, Gunther; Unger, Nicola; Teichmann, Jana

2007-01-01

The many sea-changes in German culture have given rise to a growing population of children and youth at risk. This article describes the creation of a Positive Peer Culture in a special school for students with emotional and behavioural problems. The authors review challenges facing youth in modern Germany, the implementation of the PPC program,…

An Example for Portfolio Preparation in German Teacher Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arak, Hüseyin

2017-01-01

In this study we are trying with the help of portfolio in teacher training and the diagnosis of the learning group concerning their skills in translation from German to Turkish, to show the documentation of the learning process. The portfolio provides a good overview about the performance of the students and it also prepares a basis for…

Predicting Medical Students’ Current Attitudes Toward Psychiatry, Interest in Psychiatry, and Estimated Likelihood of Working in Psychiatry: A Cross-Sectional Study in Four European Countries

PubMed Central

Warnke, Ingeborg; Gamma, Alex; Buadze, Maria; Schleifer, Roman; Canela, Carlos; Strebel, Bernd; Tényi, Tamás; Rössler, Wulf; Rüsch, Nicolas; Liebrenz, Michael

2018-01-01

Psychiatry as a medical discipline is becoming increasingly important due to the high and increasing worldwide burden associated with mental disorders. Surprisingly, however, there is a lack of young academics choosing psychiatry as a career. Previous evidence on medical students’ perspectives is abundant but has methodological shortcomings. Therefore, by attempting to avoid previous shortcomings, we aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the predictors of the following three outcome variables: current medical students’ attitudes toward psychiatry, interest in psychiatry, and estimated likelihood of working in psychiatry. The sample consisted of N = 1,356 medical students at 45 medical schools in Germany and Austria as well as regions of Switzerland and Hungary with a German language curriculum. We used snowball sampling via Facebook with a link to an online questionnaire as recruitment procedure. Snowball sampling is based on referrals made among people. This questionnaire included a German version of the Attitudes Toward Psychiatry Scale (ATP-30-G) and further variables related to outcomes and potential predictors in terms of sociodemography (e.g., gender) or medical training (e.g., curriculum-related experience with psychiatry). Data were analyzed by linear mixed models and further regression models. On average, students had a positive attitude to and high general interest in, but low professional preference for, psychiatry. A neutral attitude to psychiatry was partly related to the discipline itself, psychiatrists, or psychiatric patients. Female gender and previous experience with psychiatry, particularly curriculum-related and personal experience, were important predictors of all outcomes. Students in the first years of medical training were more interested in pursuing psychiatry as a career. Furthermore, the country of the medical school was related to the outcomes. However, statistical models explained only a small proportion of variance. The findings indicate that particularly curriculum-related experience is important for determining attitudes toward psychiatry, interest in the subject and self-predicted professional career choice. We therefore encourage the provision of opportunities for clinical experience by psychiatrists. However, further predictor variables need to be considered in future studies. PMID:29593577

Introducing English and German versions of the Adolescent Time Attitude Scale.

PubMed

Worrell, Frank C; Mello, Zena R; Buhl, Monika

2013-08-01

In this study, the authors report on the development of English and German versions of the Adolescent Time Attitude Scale (ATAS). The ATAS consists of six subscales assessing Past Positive, Past Negative, Present Positive, Present Negative, Future Positive, and Future Negative time attitudes. The authors describe the development of the scales and present data on the reliability and structural validity of ATAS scores in samples of American (N = 300) and German (N = 316) adolescents. Internal consistency estimates for scores on the English and German versions of the ATAS were in the .70 to .80 range. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a six-factor structure yielded the best fit for scores and that the scores were invariant across samples.

Being smart or getting smarter: Implicit theory of intelligence moderates stereotype threat and stereotype lift effects.

PubMed

Froehlich, Laura; Martiny, Sarah E; Deaux, Kay; Goetz, Thomas; Mok, Sog Yee

2016-09-01

This research explores implicit theory of intelligence (TOI) as a moderator of stereotype activation effects on test performance for members of negatively stereotyped and of favourably stereotyped groups. In Germany, Turkish-origin migrants are stereotyped as low in verbal ability. We predicted that on a test diagnostic of verbal intelligence, endorsement of an entity TOI predicts stereotype threat effects for Turkish-origin students and stereotype lift effects for German students. This effect could account for some of the performance gap between immigrants and host society members after stereotype activation. Study 1 (N = 107) established structural equivalence of implicit theories across the ethnic groups. In two experimental studies (Study 2: N = 182, Study 3: N = 190), we tested the moderating effect of TOI in a 2 (stereotype activation: diagnostic vs. non-diagnostic test) × 2 (ethnicity: German vs. Turkish migration background) experimental design. The results showed that when the test was described as diagnostic of verbal intelligence, higher entity theory endorsement predicted stereotype threat effects for Turkish-origin students (Study 2 and Study 3) and stereotype lift effects for German students (Study 3). The results are discussed in terms of practical implications for educational settings and theoretical implications for processes underlying stereotype activation effects. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Is Critical Thinking a Mediator Variable of Student Performance in School?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walter, Christel; Walter, Paul

2018-01-01

The study explores the influences of critical thinking and interests on students' performance at school. The tested students attended German grammar schools ("Gymnasien"). Separate regression analyses showed the expected moderate positive influences of critical thinking and interests on school performance. But analyzed simultaneously,…

Innocents Abroad: American Students in German Universities, 1810-1870

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diehl, Carl

1976-01-01

Presented is a history of American students in Germany prior to 1870 and an assessment of the influence of these students who returned to the United States to fashion institutions of higher learning and to establish the criteria of higher learning in the humanities. (Author/DB)

Acquisition of German Pluralization Rules in Monolingual and Multilingual Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaretsky, Eugen; Lange, Benjamin P.; Euler, Harald A.; Neumann, Katrin

2013-01-01

Existing studies on plural acquisition in German have relied on small samples and thus hardly deliver generalizable and differentiated results. Here, overgeneralizations of certain plural allomorphs and other tendencies in the acquisition of German plural markers are described on the basis of test data from 7,394 3- to 5-year-old monolingual…

Stuttering Characteristics of German-English Bilingual Speakers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schafer, Martina; Robb, Michael P.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine stuttering behavior in German-English bilingual people who stutter (PWS), with particular reference to the frequency of stuttering on content and function words. Fifteen bilingual PWS were sampled who spoke German as the first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2). Conversational speech was…

Perceived Academic Control and Academic Emotions Predict Undergraduate University Student Success: Examining Effects on Dropout Intention and Achievement.

PubMed

Respondek, Lisa; Seufert, Tina; Stupnisky, Robert; Nett, Ulrike E

2017-01-01

The present study addressed concerns over the high risk of university students' academic failure. It examined how perceived academic control and academic emotions predict undergraduate students' academic success, conceptualized as both low dropout intention and high achievement (indicated by GPA). A cross-sectional survey was administered to 883 undergraduate students across all disciplines of a German STEM orientated university. The study additionally compared freshman students ( N = 597) vs. second-year students ( N = 286). Using structural equation modeling, for the overall sample of undergraduate students we found that perceived academic control positively predicted enjoyment and achievement, as well as negatively predicted boredom and anxiety. The prediction of dropout intention by perceived academic control was fully mediated via anxiety. When taking perceived academic control into account, we found no specific impact of enjoyment or boredom on the intention to dropout and no specific impact of all three academic emotions on achievement. The multi-group analysis showed, however, that perceived academic control, enjoyment, and boredom among second-year students had a direct relationship with dropout intention. A major contribution of the present study was demonstrating the important roles of perceived academic control and anxiety in undergraduate students' academic success. Concerning corresponding institutional support and future research, the results suggested distinguishing incoming from advanced undergraduate students.

How the economic situation moderates the influence of available money on compulsive buying of students - A comparative study between Turkey and Greece.

PubMed

Unger, Alexander; Papastamatelou, Julie; Yolbulan Okan, Elif; Aytas, Sinem

2014-09-01

Few studies about compulsive buying consider the economic framing situation. This study is concerned with the impact of different economic environments - the crisis in Greece vs. the boom in Turkey - on compulsive buying tendencies of students, while taking the role of gender and available money into account. Compulsive buying was measured by a Greek and Turkish translation of the German Compulsive Buying Scale (Raab, Neuner, Reisch & Scherhorn, 2005) in Greece and Turkey, which enabled an identification of compulsive and compensatory buyers. The questionnaires were administered to 119 Turkish and 123 Greek students (n = 242) enrolled in several universities in Athens and Istanbul. The data collection was conducted in a controlled and standardized way, namely in group-sessions lasting about 5 minutes, which were conducted and supervised by co-workers of the involved universities. The results have shown that the percentage of compensatory buyers, but not compulsive buyers, within the Greek students sample was significantly smaller than within the Turkish student sample. Further as assumed the moderation of the economic situation could be confirmed: More available money only has a facilitating effect on compulsive buying tendencies under a positive economic environment. Anticipations about the financial situation and the general economic climate are more relevant for compulsive buying tendencies than one's actual available money. Compensatory, but not compulsive buying was significantly smaller under crisis.

Individual values, learning routines and academic procrastination.

PubMed

Dietz, Franziska; Hofer, Manfred; Fries, Stefan

2007-12-01

Academic procrastination, the tendency to postpone learning activities, is regarded as a consequence of postmodern values that are prominent in post-industrialized societies. When students strive for leisure goals and have no structured routines for academic tasks, delaying strenuous learning activities becomes probable. The model tested in this study posits that postmodern value orientations are positively related to procrastination and to a lack of daily routines concerning the performance of academic activities. In contrast, modern values are negatively related to procrastination and positively to learning routines. Academic procrastination, in-turn, should be associated with the tendency to prefer leisure activities to schoolwork in case of conflicts between these two life domains. Seven hundred and four students from 6th and 8th grade with a mean age of 13.5 years participated in the study. The sample included students from all tracks of the German educational system. Students completed a questionnaire containing two value prototypes as well as scales on learning routines and procrastination. Decisions in motivational conflicts were measured using two vignettes. Results from structural equation modelling supported the proposed model for the whole sample as well as for each school track. A planned course of the day can prevent procrastination and foster decisions for academic tasks in case of conflicts. Students' learning takes place within a societal context and reflects the values held in the respective culture.

Psychometric properties of the 7-item game addiction scale among french and German speaking adults.

PubMed

Khazaal, Yasser; Chatton, Anne; Rothen, Stephane; Achab, Sophia; Thorens, Gabriel; Zullino, Daniele; Gmel, Gerhard

2016-05-10

The 7-item Game Addiction Scale (GAS) is a used to screen for addictive game use. Both cross cross-linguistic validation and validation in French and German is needed in adult samples. The objective of the study is to assess the factorial structure of the French and German versions of the GAS among adults. Two samples of men from French (N = 3318) and German (N = 2665) language areas of Switzerland were assessed with the GAS, the Major Depression Inventory (MDI), the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale, and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ-50-cc). They were also assessed for cannabis and alcohol use. The internal consistency of the scale was satisfactory (Cronbach α = 0.85). A one-factor solution was found in both samples. Small and positive associations were found between GAS scores and the MDI, as well as the Neuroticism-Anxiety and Aggression-Hostility subscales of the ZKPQ-50-cc. A small negative association was found with the ZKPQ-50-cc Sociability subscale. The GAS, in its French and German versions, is appropriate for the assessment of game addiction among adults.

The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garner, Nicole; Eilks, Ingo

2015-01-01

Non-formal student laboratory environments for primary and secondary school science education have become a major trend in the German educational arena in recent years. These non-formal student laboratory environments are thought to offer unique experimental learning experiences that often cannot be realized in daily school routines. The biggest…

Student Cultural Interaction in a Short-Term Study Abroad Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niendorf, Bruce; Alberts, Heike

2017-01-01

Empirical studies of the effects of short-term study abroad programs have found mixed results. This study uses a pre-post test design to assess the effect on student cross-cultural adaptability of a 2-week study abroad program to Germany that includes substantial student interaction with Germans. Pretrip to post-trip, students showed a significant…

Student Media Usage Patterns and Non-Traditional Learning in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zawacki-Richter, Olaf; Müskens, Wolfgang; Krause, Ulrike; Alturki, Uthman; Aldraiweesh, Ahmed

2015-01-01

A total of 2,338 students at German universities participated in a survey, which investigated media usage patterns of so-called traditional and non-traditional students (Schuetze & Wolter, 2003). The students provided information on the digital devices that they own or have access to, and on their usage of media and e-learning tools and…

Bullying in Students with and without Hearing Loss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinquart, Martin; Pfeiffer, Jens P.

2015-01-01

While bullying is a common phenomenon at schools in general, very few studies have addressed bullying in students with hearing impairment. This study assessed being bullied and bullying others in 181 adolescents from German schools for students who are deaf and hard of hearing, and in 259 hearing peers from regular schools. Students who are deaf…

Values Education and Student Satisfaction: German Business Students' Perceptions of Universities' Value Influences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moosmayer, Dirk C.; Siems, Florian U.

2012-01-01

As a result of the past decade's financial crises, the focus on students' values as an output of higher management education has increased. Simultaneously, marketing theory has become prevalent in the management of higher education institutions, such that student satisfaction represents a key output variable for their service provision. This study…

Community College Students and Foreign Languages: Making the Match.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thot, Iris Dolores

A study was conducted to determine the primary reasons that community college students enrolled in foreign language classes. Surveys were distributed to 61 students in 6 German and Spanish language classes at California's Chaffey Community College, requesting information on their motivation for enrolling in the class, level of satisfaction, and…

Teacher Judgment, Student Motivation, and the Mediating Effect of Attributions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Ji; Urhahne, Detlef

2013-01-01

Based on Weiner's attributional theory of intrapersonal motivation, the mediating effect of attributions between teacher judgment and student motivation was examined. In two studies, 144 German and 272 Chinese fourth-grade elementary school students were tested on their mathematical achievement, causal ascriptions for success and failure,…

Lingua and Erasmus: Circumventing the Constraints.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chambers, Gary

1994-01-01

Discusses the development and implementation of a student exchange program between the University of Leeds in England and the Institut fur Praxis der Theorie der Schule in Kiel, Germany. Ten Leeds students participated in the program, which was designed to give students an appreciation of German culture, language, and vocational teaching methods.…

Science Notes: Interdisciplinary Teaching of Biology and Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wegner, Claas; Spintzyk, Katharina; Strehlke, Friederike; Minnaert, Lea; Gröben, Bernd

2014-01-01

In 2000, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study was conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is a worldwide study of 15-year-old students' performance in mathematics, science and reading skills. The study showed relatively poor results for German students' scientific literacy…

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation, Orientation and Achievements in L2 of Arab Learners of English, French and German: A Study from Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kreishan, Lana J.; Al-Dhaimat, Yahya

2013-01-01

The aim of this research is to explore Jordanian undergraduate students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and instrumental and integrative orientations toward learning English, French, and German as foreign languages. The paper also reflects on how subtypes of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations relate to orientations and examines possible…

The Relationship of Intercultural Contact and Language Learning Motivation among Hungarian Students of English and German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Csizer, Kata; Kormos, Judit

2008-01-01

In this paper we report the results of a questionnaire survey conducted with 1777 Hungarian primary school children aged between 13 and 14 studying English and German. In our research we investigated the differences in the motivational and intercultural contact measures as well as determinants of motivated behaviour between learners of English and…

The Only One

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scruggs, Afi-Odelia E.

2010-01-01

Tia Hall wanted to learn German. As a student at an elite private school, Hall felt that this was a reasonable request. But she still recalls the teacher who ridiculed her, saying, "Why on earth would a black kid want to study German?" She never forgot how it felt to be the "only one." As an adult, she married a man who'd had a similar school…

Understanding and Evaluating L2 Personal Letter Writing: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Analysis of Student Texts in German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crane, Cori

2016-01-01

Adopting a genre lens informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (cf. Halliday & Matthiessen, [Halliday, M. A. K., 2004]; Martin & Rose, [Martin, J. R., 2008]), this paper explores the text-structural and lexico-grammatical choices that second language (L2) writers of German make in personal letter writing. Close analysis of two student…

What I Learned from Being a Beginning Language Student Again

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Underwood, Jan

2013-01-01

A 20-year veteran teacher of college Spanish, the author decided to take an intensive First-Year German course during one summer. The author found the German class was not only a great opportunity to acquire another language, but a rich source of insight about the language teaching and the learning process itself. Not only did she take German…

German Castles, Customs and Culture: Introducing a New Approach to the Undergraduate Culture Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lalande, John F., II

2008-01-01

Courses on the culture of the German-speaking world (GSW) have long dotted the landscape of undergraduate course offerings at North American colleges and universities. The primary purpose of this article is to share information about a new kind of undergraduate culture course that uses castles as a vehicle for introducing students to past and…

Deutsch Durch Audio-Visuelle Methode: An Audio-Lingual-Oral Approach to the Teaching of German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dickinson Public Schools, ND. Instructional Media Center.

This teaching guide, designed to accompany Chilton's "Deutsch Durch Audio-Visuelle Methode" for German 1 and 2 in a three-year secondary school program, focuses major attention on the operational plan of the program and a student orientation unit. A section on teaching a unit discusses four phases: (1) presentation, (2) explanation, (3)…

Siegfried the Dragonslayer Meets the Web: Using Digital Media for Developing Historical Awareness and Advanced Language and Critical Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasmussen, Ann Marie

2011-01-01

This article describes an undergraduate, German-language course that aimed to improve students' language skills, critical thinking, and declarative knowledge of German history and culture by studying multiple manifestations of the legend of Siegfried the Dragonslayer. The course used web-based e-learning tools to address two major learning…

Bilingual (German-English) Molecular Biology Courses in an Out-of-School Lab on a University Campus: Cognitive and Affective Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodenhauser, Annika; Preisfeld, Angelika

2015-01-01

Taking into account (German) students' deficiencies in scientific literacy as well as reading competence and the "mother tongue + 2" objective of the European commission, a bilingual course on molecular biology was developed. It combines CLIL fundamentals and practical experimentation in an out-of-school lab. Cognitive and affective…

As Euro Crisis Heightens, Germans Resist Tapping Foreign Students for Revenue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Labi, Aisha

2012-01-01

As Europe has lurched from one economic crisis to another in recent months, one thing has become clear: Any long-term solution will depend on the willingness of Germany, Europe's largest economy, to shoulder much of the financial burden the debt crisis has created. German taxpayers, known for their thrift, have balked at underwriting what many see…

German and Japanese Education in the Shadow--Do Out-of-School Lessons Really Contribute to Class Reproduction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Entrich, Steve R.

2014-01-01

Considering the great impact the first PISA-results caused in Germany and Japan, this study seeks to provide an explanation for the continuous higher achievement rates of students in the PISA-winner country Japan compared to their German peers. Another great difference between the two participants that was detected in PISA is the correlation…

The Complexity of Teacher Questions in Chemistry Classrooms: An Empirical Analysis on the Basis of Two Competence Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nehring, Andreas; Päßler, Andreas; Tiemann, Rüdiger

2017-01-01

With regard to the moderate performance of German students in international large-scale assessments, one branch of German science education research is concerned with the construction and evaluation of competence models. Based on the theory-driven definition of competence levels, these models imply a correlation between the complexity of a…

The Effects of Form-Focused Instruction on the Acquisition of Subject-Verb Inversion in German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindseth, Martina

2016-01-01

This study examines the effects of form-focused instruction (FFI) on the acquisition of subject-verb inversion word order in declarative sentences in German. A group of U.S. college students who participated in a semester-long study abroad program in Germany and were comparable in terms of preprogram oral proficiency levels and accuracy scores in…

Direkte Kontakte zu Deutschland aus und in der Ferne (Direct Contact with Germany from and at a Distance).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wicke, Rainer E.

This guide is a summary of ideas for enhancing the teaching of German through direct contact with Germany or German people without traveling abroad. The following ideas are highlighted: (1) correspondence (pen pals) with students in Germany; (2) audiotape recordings as an alternative to letter writing; (3) the exchange of videotape recordings with…

[German translation and validation of the Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM)].

PubMed

Delahaye, M; Stieglitz, R D; Graf, M; Keppler, C; Maes, J; Pflueger, M

2015-05-01

In the present study, the German-language version of the Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM) by Peacock and Wong was validated in a student population. SAM is a relatively short questionnaire (28 items) that evaluates a current, stress-triggering event. The theoretical background is provided by the stress model of Lazarus and Folkman. 85 students (age: 23; 59 female, 26 male) were exposed to two stress scenarios in order to test whether they were suited to provoke stress. A factor analysis was performed and the internal consistency of the seven SAM scales was determined. In addition, the convergent validity of SAM with State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) and specific emotion scales was investigated via Pearson's product-moment correlation. The two stress scenarios were suited to evoke stress. The factor structure and the internal consistency of the individual scales, as well as the convergent validity of SAM were replicated with minor limitations in the present German version. Some items (especially from the fifth factor) were only replicated partially. SAM can also be employed in the German language version. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Alien or Alike? How the Perceived Similarity Between the Typical Science Teacher and a Student's Self-Image Correlates with Choosing Science at School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kessels, Ursula; Taconis, Ruurd

2012-12-01

By applying the self-to-prototype matching theory to students' academic choices, this study links the unpopularity of science in many industrialized countries with the perceived gap between typical persons representing science (e.g. physics teachers) on the one hand and students' self-image on the other. A sample of N = 308 Dutch and German students described both themselves and typical teachers representing different school subjects using 65 trait adjectives. The following hypotheses were tested: The typical hard sciences teacher and the typical languages teacher will be perceived as differing in their personal characteristics. The typical physics teachers will be perceived as being less similar to students' own self-image than teachers representing languages. Actual choices students make during secondary school should correlate with the perceived fit between students' self-image and the prototype of teachers representing different school subjects, especially in the less frequent and less popular choices of a math or physics major/profile. The findings supported these hypotheses. The discussion stresses that students acquire not only knowledge about science but also about science culture (sensu Aikenhead) in their science classes and that students' image of science teachers can influence their academic choices.

Conceptions of Parenting in Different Cultural Communities: The Case of West African Nso and Northern German Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keller, Heidi; Voelker, Susanne; Yovsi, Relindis Dzeaye

2005-01-01

The present study compares conceptions about parenting in two cultural communities that may be expected to hold different views on parent-child relationships. Sociodemographically diverse samples of 46 Northern German and 39 West African Nso women evaluated parenting behavior observed in 10 Nso and 10 German videotaped mother-infant interaction…

German-American Bilingualism: Cui Malo? Mother Tongue and Socioeconomic Status among the Second Generation in 1940.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamphoefner, Walter D.

1994-01-01

Utilizes language data from the 1940 Census Public Law Sample to measure the socioeconomic impact of a foreign mother tongue by comparing second-generation Germans who grew up speaking German and English, respectively. Results show that the disadvantages of a foreign mother tongue proved to be negligible for this group. (GR)

Manipulation of cognitive load variables and impact on auscultation test performance.

PubMed

Chen, Ruth; Grierson, Lawrence; Norman, Geoffrey

2015-10-01

Health profession educators have identified auscultation skill as a learning need for health professional students. This article explores the application of cognitive load theory (CLT) to designing cardiac and respiratory auscultation skill instruction for senior-level undergraduate nursing students. Three experiments assessed student auscultation performance following instructional manipulations of the three primary components of cognitive load: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load. Study 1 evaluated the impact of intrinsic cognitive load by varying the number of diagnoses learned in one instruction session; Study 2 evaluated the impact of extraneous cognitive load by providing students with single or multiple examples of diagnoses during instruction; and Study 3 evaluated the impact of germane cognitive load by employing mixed or blocked sequences of diagnostic examples to students. Each of the three studies presents results that support CLT as explaining the influence of different types of cognitive processing on auscultation skill acquisition. We conclude with a discussion regarding CLT's usefulness as a framework for education and education research in the health professions.

Mitochondrial DNA Marker EST00083 Is Not Associated with High vs. Average IQ in a German Sample.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moises, Hans W.; Yang, Liu; Kohnke, Michael; Vetter, Peter; Neppert, Jurgen; Petrill, Stephen A.; Plomin, Robert

1998-01-01

Tested the association of a mitochondrial DNA marker (EST00083) with high IQ in a sample of 47 German adults with high IQ scores and 77 adults with IQs estimated at lower than 110. Results do not support the hypothesis that high IQ is associated with this marker. (SLD)

Longitudinal Effects of Student-Perceived Classroom Support on Motivation - A Latent Change Model.

PubMed

Lazarides, Rebecca; Raufelder, Diana

2017-01-01

This two-wave longitudinal study examined how developmental changes in students' mastery goal orientation, academic effort, and intrinsic motivation were predicted by student-perceived support of motivational support (support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in secondary classrooms. The study extends previous knowledge that showed that support for motivational support in class is related to students' intrinsic motivation as it focused on the developmental changes of a set of different motivational variables and the relations of these changes to student-perceived motivational support in class. Thus, differential classroom effects on students' motivational development were investigated. A sample of 1088 German students was assessed in the beginning of the school year when students were in grade 8 ( Mean age = 13.70, SD = 0.53, 54% girls) and again at the end of the next school year when students were in grade 9. Results of latent change models showed a tendency toward decline in mastery goal orientation and a significant decrease in academic effort from grade 8 to 9. Intrinsic motivation did not decrease significantly across time. Student-perceived support of competence in class predicted the level and change in students' academic effort. The findings emphasized that it is beneficial to create classroom learning environments that enhance students' perceptions of competence in class when aiming to enhance students' academic effort in secondary school classrooms.

Factor Structure, Reliability and Measurement Invariance of the Alberta Context Tool and the Conceptual Research Utilization Scale, for German Residential Long Term Care

PubMed Central

Hoben, Matthias; Estabrooks, Carole A.; Squires, Janet E.; Behrens, Johann

2016-01-01

We translated the Canadian residential long term care versions of the Alberta Context Tool (ACT) and the Conceptual Research Utilization (CRU) Scale into German, to study the association between organizational context factors and research utilization in German nursing homes. The rigorous translation process was based on best practice guidelines for tool translation, and we previously published methods and results of this process in two papers. Both instruments are self-report questionnaires used with care providers working in nursing homes. The aim of this study was to assess the factor structure, reliability, and measurement invariance (MI) between care provider groups responding to these instruments. In a stratified random sample of 38 nursing homes in one German region (Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar), we collected questionnaires from 273 care aides, 196 regulated nurses, 152 allied health providers, 6 quality improvement specialists, 129 clinical leaders, and 65 nursing students. The factor structure was assessed using confirmatory factor models. The first model included all 10 ACT concepts. We also decided a priori to run two separate models for the scale-based and the count-based ACT concepts as suggested by the instrument developers. The fourth model included the five CRU Scale items. Reliability scores were calculated based on the parameters of the best-fitting factor models. Multiple-group confirmatory factor models were used to assess MI between provider groups. Rather than the hypothesized ten-factor structure of the ACT, confirmatory factor models suggested 13 factors. The one-factor solution of the CRU Scale was confirmed. The reliability was acceptable (>0.7 in the entire sample and in all provider groups) for 10 of 13 ACT concepts, and high (0.90–0.96) for the CRU Scale. We could demonstrate partial strong MI for both ACT models and partial strict MI for the CRU Scale. Our results suggest that the scores of the German ACT and the CRU Scale for nursing homes are acceptably reliable and valid. However, as the ACT lacked strict MI, observed variables (or scale scores based on them) cannot be compared between provider groups. Rather, group comparisons should be based on latent variable models, which consider the different residual variances of each group. PMID:27656156

Teaching Critical Response with Goethe's Werther.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guidry, Glenn A.

1991-01-01

Describes a course unit on Goethe's "Werther," in which an inductive approach to discussion teaching is used to introduce German literature to college students with little literary background through class activities and discussion topics to stimulate student interest. (Author/CB)

Assessment of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor in hair to study stress responses: A pilot investigation.

PubMed

Harb, H; González-de-la-Vara, M; Thalheimer, L; Klein, U; Renz, H; Rose, M; Kruse, J; Potaczek, D P; Peters, E M J

2017-12-01

To study pathogenic stress-effects in health and disease, it is paramount to define easy access parameters for non-invasive analysis of biological change in response to stress. Hair samples successfully provide this access for the study of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) changes. In this study, we assess the hair expression and corresponding epigenetic changes of a neurotrophin essential for autonomic nervous system function and mental health: brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In three independent studies in healthy academic volunteers (study I: German students, N=36; study II, German academic population sample, N=28; study III: Mexican students, N=115), BDNF protein expression or BDNF gene (BDNF) histone acetylation was determined. Simultaneously, mental distress and distress-associated somatic complaints were assessed by self-report. In study I, we found a negative correlation between hair-BDNF protein level and hair-cortisol as well as between hair-BDNF and somatic complaints, while hair-cortisol correlated positively with mental distress. In study II, we found a negative correlation between H4 histone acetylation at the BDNF gene P4-promoter and somatic complaints. Regression analysis confirmed confounder stability of associations in both studies. In study III, we confirmed study I and found lower hair-BDNF protein level in volunteers with high somatic complaints, who also reported higher mental distress during the end of term exams. The results indicate that BDNF protein levels can be detected in clipped hair and are associated with somatic complaints and stress in life. In addition, we concluded that plucked hair can provide material for the study of epigenetic changes in stress-affected tissues. These tools can prove valuable for future studies on distress, both under experimental and field conditions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Emotional intelligence and social interaction.

PubMed

Lopes, Paulo N; Brackett, Marc A; Nezlek, John B; Schütz, Astrid; Sellin, Ina; Salovey, Peter

2004-08-01

Two studies found positive relationships between the ability to manage emotions and the quality of social interactions, supporting the predictive and incremental validity of an ability measure of emotional intelligence, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). In a sample of 118 American college students (Study 1), higher scores on the managing emotions subscale of the MSCEIT were positively related to the quality of interactions with friends, evaluated separately by participants and two friends. In a diary study of social interaction with 103 German college students (Study 2), managing emotions scores were positively related to the perceived quality of interactions with opposite sex individuals. Scores on this subscale were also positively related to perceived success in impression management in social interactions with individuals of the opposite sex. In both studies, the main findings remained statistically significant after controlling for Big Five personality traits.

Why Are Students (Not) Motivated to Change Academic Procrastination? An Investigation Based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grunschel, Carola; Schopenhauer, Lena

2015-01-01

In light of the drawbacks of academic procrastination, it is surprising that not all students want to decrease academic procrastination. To find out why students are motivated (or not) to change academic procrastination, we investigated the characteristics of 377 German students with different motivations to change based on the Transtheoretical…

German-French Case Study: Using Multi-Online Tools to Collaborate across Borders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brautlacht, Regina; Ducrocq, Csilla

2013-01-01

This paper examines how students learn to collaborate in English by participating in an intercultural project that focuses on teaching students to work together on a digital writing project using various online tools, and documents their reflections working in an intercultural context. Students from Université Paris Sud Orsay and Bonn…

Student Employment: Social Differentials and Field-Specific Developments in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacob, Marita; Gerth, Maria; Weiss, Felix

2018-01-01

In this article, we examine social origin differences in employment patterns across different stages of higher education and compare these differences between vocational and academic fields of study. Using data from a large-scale German student survey, we study the development of inequality, according to social origins, in student employment from…

Graduate College Selection and Its Impact on Branding: A German Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joseph, Mathew; Roche, Sarah; Bock, Dora E.; Albrecht, Carmen Maria

2014-01-01

This study explores the criteria that are important for graduate students in selecting a university in Germany; how these criteria match up with students' views of the institution they ultimately attended; and how graduate students gained information about the colleges/universities they considered. This study reveals that public university…

Norms and Goals of Appraisal of German Teachers for Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilbert, Jurgen; Grunke, Matthias

2010-01-01

Although there is an ongoing debate about which achievement feedback is most useful, the majority of researchers agree that social comparisons and a focus on competition are inappropriate for students with learning disabilities and otherwise academically-challenged students. They are highly at-risk to be unfavorably influenced by inappropriate…

Against All Odds: Problem-Solving Strategies and Behavioural Characteristics of Novice Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Pei-Fen; Lin, Miao-Chen

2015-01-01

This study investigates problem-solving difficulties of novices in a classroom setting, using a German instructional tool, the Fischertechnik kit of approximately 400 parts. In order to analyse the students' thinking processes as they solved the problems, verbal protocol analysis (VPA) was used to record the students'' thinking processes and…

Instruction and Students' Declining Interest in Science: An Analysis of German Fourth- and Sixth-Grade Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tröbst, Steffen; Kleickmann, Thilo; Lange-Schubert, Kim; Rothkopf, Anne; Möller, Kornelia

2016-01-01

Students' interest in science declines substantially in the transition from elementary to secondary education. Using students' ratings of their instruction on the topic of evaporation and condensation, we examined if changes in instructional practices accounted for differences in situational interest in science instruction and enduring individual…

How Do Students Perceive the International Dimension in Social Work Education?: An Enquiry among Swedish and German Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trygged, Sven; Eriksson, Bodil

2012-01-01

Globalization, internationalization, and regionalization affect domestic social work. This paper explores how undergraduate students perceive international aspects of their social work education. A questionnaire was distributed to social work undergraduates in Stockholm, Sweden (n = 97), and Darmstadt, Germany (n = 43). Results showed that a…

Multicultural Group Work on Field Excursions to Promote Student Teachers' Intercultural Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brendel, Nina; Aksit, Fisun; Aksit, Selahattin; Schrüfer, Gabriele

2016-01-01

As a response to the intercultural challenges of Geography Education, this study seeks to determine factors fostering intercultural competence of student teachers. Based on a one-week multicultural field excursion of eight German and eight Turkish students in Kayseri (Turkey) on Education for Sustainable Development, we used qualitative interviews…

Sources of Politico-Economic Attitudes: Students' Introspections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lange, Astrid; Pitsoulis, Athanassios

2013-01-01

Our aim is to shed more light on university students' sources of attitudes towards the market economy, social inequality, and the responsibilities of the state. Analyzing survey data of almost 500 students at a German university, we identify those sources the subjects report to be important in the process of forming their politico-economic…

Student Assessment and Grade Retention: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kornfeld, Marlies; Ochsen, Carsten

2017-01-01

In several countries, students are tracked into secondary school types. This paper studies whether parents or teachers assess students' potential performance more adequately. We evaluate a reform in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2006. The reform replaced parents' choice about their children's school type by a binding teacher…

British and German Education Students in a Shifting Scenario

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pritchard, Rosalind M. O.

2006-01-01

An empirical study was undertaken of students in the United Kingdom and Germany in order to investigate whether their attitudes were moving away from traditional patterns towards those that might be expected in more marketised higher education systems. The British students were found to be more instrumental and materialistic in relation to their…

Students' Choice of Universities in Germany: Structure, Factors and Information Sources Used

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obermeit, Katrin

2012-01-01

Student recruitment is an increasingly important topic for universities worldwide. But in order to develop sophisticated recruitment strategies, recruitment officers need to have a clear understanding of how and why students choose colleges. This review compares the German and US research concerning university choice models, choice criteria and…

Using a genetic algorithm to abbreviate the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R).

PubMed

Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Lilienfeld, Scott O; Yarkoni, Tal

2015-03-01

Some self-report measures of personality and personality disorders, including the widely used Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R), are lengthy and time-intensive. In recent work, we introduced an automated genetic algorithm (GA)-based method for abbreviating psychometric measures. In Study 1, we used this approach to generate a short (40-item) version of the PPI-R using 3 large-N German student samples (total N = 1,590). The abbreviated measure displayed high convergent correlations with the original PPI-R, and outperformed an alternative measure constructed using a conventional approach. Study 2 tested the convergent and discriminant validity of this short version in a fourth student sample (N = 206) using sensation-seeking and sensitivity to reward and punishment scales, again demonstrating similar convergent and discriminant validity for the PPI-R-40 compared with the full version. In a fifth community sample of North American participants acquired using Amazon Mechanical Turk, the PPI-R-40 showed similarly high convergent correlations, demonstrating stability across language, culture, and data-collection method. Taken together, these studies suggest that the GA approach is a viable method for abbreviating measures of psychopathy, and perhaps personality measures in general. 2015 APA, all rights reserved

Students' and Teachers' Assessments of the Need for Accuracy in the Oral Production of German as a Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

2007-01-01

Previous research indicates that foreign language learners are much more focused on accuracy, particularly grammatical accuracy, than their teachers are. The purpose of the current study was to gain a more detailed understanding of American learners' views of the need for accuracy in the oral production of a foreign language (German) by (a)…

Public/Private Cost-Sharing in Higher Education: An In-Depth Look at the German System Using a Comparative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gwosc, Christoph; Schwarzenberger, Astrid

2009-01-01

This article presents an empirical analysis of the public funding system for higher education in Germany and a comparison with five other European countries. The large number of separate student support items in Germany makes it an exception and makes the system obscure. The allocations of public expenditure to German institutions are below…

Students' Accounts of Grammatical Forms of German That Are Difficult, Unattainable, and Irrelevant for Self-Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

2016-01-01

This study examined the responses of 39 first-year, 63 second-year, 20 third-year, and 19 fourth-year US college learners of German when they were asked what forms of L2 grammar they, respectively, find particularly difficult; do not expect to ever acquire fully; and believe are not necessary for self-expression. Nominal morphology--particularly…

Opting for Migration: Is It Just an Economic Necessity?--A Comparison between German and Polish Highly Skilled Graduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

David, Alexandra; Barwinska-Malajowicz, Anna

2015-01-01

This paper deals with the migration motives of German and Polish final semester students and university graduates in the partner cities of Bielefeld (GER) and Rzeszów (PL), who are on the threshold of their professional careers. The survey presented here was motivated by the question: are the current migration motives of highly-skilled graduates…

The reliability of the German version of the Richards Campbell Sleep Questionnaire.

PubMed

Krotsetis, Susanne; Richards, Kathy C; Behncke, Anja; Köpke, Sascha

2017-07-01

The assessment of sleep quality in critically ill patients is a relevant factor of high-quality care. Despite the fact that sleep disturbances and insufficient sleep management contain an increased risk of severe morbidity for these patients, a translated and applicable instrument to evaluate sleep is not available for German-speaking intensive care settings. This study aimed to translate the Richards Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ), a simple and validated instrument eligible for measuring sleep quality in critically ill patients, and subsequently to evaluate the internal consistency of the German version of the RCSQ. Furthermore, it also aimed to inquire into the perception of sleep in a sample of critically ill patients. The RCSQ was translated following established methodological standards. Data were collected cross-sectionally in a sample of 51 patients at 3 intensive care units at a university hospital in Germany. The German version of the RCSQ showed an overall internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of 0·88. The mean of the RSCQ in the sample was 47·00 (SD ± 27·57). Depth of sleep was rated the lowest and falling asleep again the highest of the RCSQ sleep items. The study demonstrated very good internal consistency of the German version of the RCSQ, allowing for its application in practice and research in German-speaking countries. Quality of sleep perception was generally low in this sample, emphasizing the need for enhanced care concepts regarding the sleep management of critically ill patients. Relevance to clinical practice Assessment of self-perception of sleep is crucial in order to plan an individually tailored care process. © 2017 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the VISA-P questionnaire for German-speaking patients with patellar tendinopathy.

PubMed

Lohrer, Heinz; Nauck, Tanja

2011-03-01

Clinical measurement study. To cross-culturally adapt and validate the Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment Patellar Tendinopathy Questionnaire (VISA-P) for German-speaking patients. Like most questionnaires, the VISA-P was developed for English-speaking patients. There is a need to adapt the scale for German-speaking patients and thereby add to the total body of psychometric evidence relating to this instrument. The VISA-P questionnaire was translated and cross-culturally adapted into German (VISA-P-G) in 6 steps: translation, synthesis, back translation, expert committee review, pretesting, and advisory committee appraisal. The psychometric properties of the VISA-P-G were determined using 23 patients with patellar tendinopathy and 57 active healthy persons (32 sport students and 25 basketball players). Reliability was evaluated by applying the questionnaire twice within a week to all 80 participants. Known group validity was calculated using a 1-way analysis of variance. Additionally, VISA-P-G results were correlated with the Blazina classification system for patellar tendinopathy, using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. VISA-P-G ratings from the present study groups were further compared with respective data published in the original English, Dutch, and Swedish versions by a 2-sample t test. Internal consistency for the individual items of the questionnaire was determined within the patient group using a Cronbach alpha. Test-retest revealed excellent reliability for the patient and the asymptomatic control group (ICC = 0.88 and 0.87, respectively). Internal consistency for the patients was 0.88. Concurrent validity was almost perfect (ρ = -0.81; P<.001). The VISA-P-G is a reliable and valid questionnaire for the self-assessment of pain, symptoms, and function in German-speaking patients with patellar tendinopathy. Its psychometric properties are comparable with the original English and international adaptations (Swedish, Dutch, and Italian).

WORD FREQUENCY IN THE MODERN GERMAN SHORT STORY. FINAL REPORT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

SCHERER, GEORGE A.; AND OTHERS

A LIST OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY USED WORDS IN MODERN GERMAN SHORT STORIES WAS COMPILED. AN ANTHOLOGY OF 702 RECENTLY PUBLISHED, GERMAN SHORT STORIES WAS OBTAINED AND USED FOR A WORD COUNT, INVOLVING THE RANDOM SELECTION OF 4 WORDS IN EVERY 100-WORD PASSAGE. TWO INDEPENDENT RANDOM SAMPLES OF ABOUT 80,000 WORDS EACH WERE DRAWN FROM NEARLY 2 MILLION…

The self-image of Greek, Greek-migrant and German adolescents.

PubMed

Siefen, G; Kirkcaldy, B D; Athanasou, J A; Peponis, M

1996-06-01

This paper provides an empirical perspective on the relationship between immigration and self-image in a sample of German and Greek adolescents. The subjects were Greeks (non-migrants, n = 128), Germans (n = 103) and Greek migrants living in West Germany (n = 103). The Offer Self-image Questionnaire (OISQ) was used as a multidimensional measure of psychological, social and sexual self, and family relations. Comparisons were made between the mean scores of the three national groups on subscales of the OSIQ. Greek migrants had quite distinct self-image profiles that were intermediate between non-migrating Greeks and native Germans. Gender and age differences in self-image were pronounced in sub-scales of the OSIQ. Migrants were more emotional than non-migrants, less introverted, more liberal in their sexual attitudes and displayed superior adjustment. Compared with their German counterparts, migrants emerged as more impulsive and emotional, with an inferior body image, higher achievement motivation, lower mental ill-health but with higher adjustment. The results showed that when both Greek samples (non-migrants and migrants) were taken together and compared to Germans then differences emerged and indicated small but significant cross-cultural differences in personality.

[Vaccination among students in grades 6-10, 2011 - a comparison of German states: need for action for a targeted nationwide immunisation strategy].

PubMed

Ellsäßer, G; Trost-Brinkhues, G

2013-11-01

In Germany, surveillance of the population's immunisation is only mandatory for school beginners, not for adolescents. Therefore, no current data are available from the public health service related to the immunisation of adolescents. Also lacking are nationwide monitoring data regarding HPV vaccination among girls aged 12-18 years and the meningococcal C vaccination, both recently introduced by the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) in 2009 and 2006, respectively. The present research and analysis therefore aims to determine which German states perform a monitoring of the vaccination status of adolescents, how immunisation rates differ across German states and what need for action, in terms of a nationwide immunisation strategy, can be derived. A systematic survey of vaccination coverage among students in grades 6-10 (age group 12-16 years) for the school year 2010/11 was undertaken. The defined documentation standard is based on the standard vaccinations for children and adolescents according to STIKO, requiring complete primary immunization (PI) and the number of booster vaccinations. In the analysis, 8 of 16 states were included, due to lack of data for the remaining states. In total, the public health service -examined 157,599 school children in 8 German states and checked 103,250 vaccination certificates (on average 68.1%, range 54.9-85.2%). The implementation of the booster vaccination among students in grades 6-10 proved to be insufficient. The 2-dose measles vaccination, required by the WHO for 95% of the population, was only nearly achieved by 2 of 8 German states -(Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg). The effects of insufficient immunisation coverage are shown by, for example, a higher measles incidence rate in children under 15 years and a persisting peak of pertussis incidence in 10- to 15-year-olds. The meningococcal C vaccination, introduced in 2006, was insufficiently taken up by students and very differently implemented among the 8 -German states (Saxony 73.9% vs. Bavaria 29.1%). HPV vaccination in girls has not yet been established (Brandenburg maximum 39.8%). Findings of this study show that the primary health care system is insufficient in reaching adolescents. Systematic checks of vaccination certificates in schools need to be extended, in cooperation with the public health service in order to identify gaps in vaccination. Through counselling and referrals to general practitioners or paediatricians there is the chance to catch up on missing vaccinations. It is necessary to promote catch-up programmes for newly indroduced vaccinations as well as for missed and booster vaccinations and to implement them in the health care system. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Empirical correlates for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form in a German inpatient sample.

PubMed

Moultrie, Josefine K; Engel, Rolf R

2017-10-01

We identified empirical correlates for the 42 substantive scales of the German language version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF): Higher Order, Restructured Clinical, Specific Problem, Interest, and revised Personality Psychopathology Five scales. We collected external validity data by means of a 177-item chart review form in a sample of 488 psychiatric inpatients of a German university hospital. We structured our findings along the interpretational guidelines for the MMPI-2-RF and compared them with the validity data published in the tables of the MMPI-2-RF Technical Manual. Our results show significant correlations between MMPI-2-RF scales and conceptually relevant criteria. Most of the results were in line with U.S. validation studies. Some of the differences could be attributed to sample compositions. For most of the scales, construct validity coefficients were acceptable. Taken together, this study amplifies the enlarging body of research on empirical correlates of the MMPI-2-RF scales in a new sample. The study suggests that the interpretations given in the MMPI-2-RF manual may be generalizable to the German language MMPI-2-RF. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Achievement Emotions and Academic Performance: Longitudinal Models of Reciprocal Effects.

PubMed

Pekrun, Reinhard; Lichtenfeld, Stephanie; Marsh, Herbert W; Murayama, Kou; Goetz, Thomas

2017-09-01

A reciprocal effects model linking emotion and achievement over time is proposed. The model was tested using five annual waves of the Project for the Analysis of Learning and Achievement in Mathematics (PALMA) longitudinal study, which investigated adolescents' development in mathematics (Grades 5-9; N = 3,425 German students; mean starting age = 11.7 years; representative sample). Structural equation modeling showed that positive emotions (enjoyment, pride) positively predicted subsequent achievement (math end-of-the-year grades and test scores), and that achievement positively predicted these emotions, controlling for students' gender, intelligence, and family socioeconomic status. Negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, hopelessness) negatively predicted achievement, and achievement negatively predicted these emotions. The findings were robust across waves, achievement indicators, and school tracks, highlighting the importance of emotions for students' achievement and of achievement for the development of emotions. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Political efficacy in adolescence: Development, gender differences, and outcome relations.

PubMed

Arens, A Katrin; Watermann, Rainer

2017-05-01

The present study focuses on political efficacy in terms of students' competence self-perceptions related to the domain of politics. The investigation addresses the mean level development and longitudinal relations to outcome variables including gender differences. Drawing on a sample of N = 2,504 German students, political efficacy, along with meaningful outcome variables (i.e., political information behavior, political knowledge, and interest in politics), was measured at 2 measurement points, once in Grade 7 and once in Grade 10. Students' mean levels of political efficacy increased from the first to the second measurement point, and boys consistently displayed higher levels. Political efficacy demonstrated reciprocal relations to political information behavior and political knowledge, and showed a unidirectional relation to interest in politics across time. The pattern of outcome relations was invariant across gender. This study contributes to research and theory on political socialization in adolescence as it outlines temporal relations among, and gender differences in, facets of political socialization. Therefore, this study also offers new practical insights into effectively facilitating political education in adolescent students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescents' academic achievement and life satisfaction: the role of parents' education.

PubMed

Crede, Julia; Wirthwein, Linda; McElvany, Nele; Steinmayr, Ricarda

2015-01-01

Drawing on the background of positive psychology, there has only recently been a focus on adolescents' life satisfaction (LS) in the context of education. Studies examining the relationship between adolescents' academic achievement and LS have shown conflicting results and the reasons are not fully understood. The present study investigated the role of parents' education as a potential moderator of the relationship between adolescents' academic achievement and LS. A sample of German high school students (N = 411) reported parents' educational attainment, as an indicator of family socio-economic status, and students' academic achievement was operationalized by grade point average in five subjects. Results indicated that only mothers' education functioned as a moderator of the relationship between academic achievement and students' LS. The association between academic achievement and LS was only found in the group of students whose mothers had achieved the same or a higher education (at least high school diploma) as their own children. Fathers' educational attainment, however, was not a significant moderator of the respective relationship. Directions for future research and the differential influences of fathers' and mothers' education are discussed with regard to potential underlying processes.

Differential effects of school experiences on active citizenship among German and Turkish-origin students.

PubMed

Jugert, Philipp; Eckstein, Katharina; Noack, Peter

2016-12-14

While research suggests that schools can foster active citizenship among youth, studies have not tested whether ethnic minority youth may benefit differently from school experiences than ethnic majority youth. In this study of 219 students (138 German majority and 81 Turkish-origin minority; M age  = 18.26; 55% females), we examined the association between different experiences at school and 4 indicators of youth active citizenship, controlling for various socio-demographic characteristics. Although value of social studies was associated with three out of four active citizenship indicators among both ethnic groups, the effects of the other school-related variables on active citizenship were moderated by ethnicity. Specifically, indicators of classroom climate, such as open classroom climate and classroom community, were only associated with greater active citizenship among Turkish-minority youth, while participatory factors, such as engagement in school decisions, were only associated with active citizenship among native German youth. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

[What is the purpose of the German Aptitude Test for Medical Studies (TMS)?].

PubMed

Kadmon, Guni; Kirchner, Anna; Duelli, Roman; Resch, Franz; Kadmon, Martina

2012-01-01

The German Aptitude Test for Medical Studies (TMS) was implemented in 2007. 12,194 persons registered for this test in 2011, which represents a 91% increase over 2007. The male/female ratio remained constant at 38:62. Its reliability among applicants to Heidelberg Medical Faculty was confirmed by Cronbach's α (≥ 0.75) and inter-item correlation (≥ 0.25, p < 10(-7)). The TMS contains nine items; using factor analysis these were allocated to the two components verbal-mathematical and spatial-figural ability. The verbal-mathematical items moderately correlate with the German Baccalaureate GPA (r = 0.33), while the spatial-figural items do not correlate (r = 0.07). Thus, the TMS is an admission instrument that appraise different cognitive abilities than the GPA. For the admission of students to our faculty their TMS scores are weighted at 39%, which has resulted in a diversification of our student cohorts. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Dental health and odontogenic infections among 6- to 16-year-old German students with special health care needs (SHCN).

PubMed

Dziwak, Marco; Heinrich-Weltzien, Roswitha; Limberger, Kathrin; Ifland, Susanne; Gottstein, Ilka; Lehmann, Thomas; Schüler, Ina M

2017-07-01

This cross-sectional study aimed to assess dental health and odontogenic infections in students with special health care needs (SHCN) in the Free State of Thuringia, Germany. From 1283 students with SHCN aged 6-16 years, 66.0 % (n = 848 of whom are 35.7 % females and 64.3 % males) with intellectual/learning disabilities (ID/LD), physical disabilities (PD), and sensory disorders (SD) participated after informed consent in oral examinations according to WHO standards. Dental caries was assessed by dmft/DMFT, odontogenic infections by pufa/PUFA. Fissure sealants (FS) were scored in permanent molars. Data were compared to regional and national reference data and analysed by t test and age-adjusted logistic regression models. Students with SHCN revealed 41.2 % caries prevalence in permanent and 31.7 % in primary teeth. Highest prevalence/experience of caries and odontogenic infections in primary teeth was recorded in 6-11-year-olds with PD (65.1 %/2.3 dmft; 14.0 %/0.3 pufa). Most affected permanent teeth were observed in students with ID/LD (12-16-year-olds 59.6 %/2.4 DMFT; 6-11-year-olds 2.8 %/0.03 PUFA). All odontogenic infections in 12-16-year-olds occurred in males; n = 9 students revealed n = 9 teeth with pufa/PUFA. Students with ID/LD aged 6-11 years exhibited lowest prevalence of FS (29.0 %) and mean of 0.8 FS. Students with SHCN suffered more than twice as frequent from untreated dental caries and benefited up to 29.0 % less from FS than peers without disabilities. This first study investigating odontogenic infections of German students with SHCN revealed highest prevalence in primary teeth and in males. Oral health among students with SHCN is reduced, and FS are underutilized compared to German students without disabilities. Reinforcing the application of FS in students with SHCN might contribute to reducing disparities in oral health.

Prevalence and risk factors of video game dependency in adolescence: results of a German nationwide survey.

PubMed

Rehbein, Florian; Kleimann, Matthias; Mössle, Thomas

2010-06-01

In this article, results of a German nationwide survey (KFN schools survey 2007/2008) are presented. The controlled sample of 44,610 male and female ninth-graders was carried out in 2007 and 2008 by the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN). According to a newly developed screening instrument (KFN-CSAS-II), which was presented to every third juvenile participant (N = 15,168), 3% of the male and 0.3% of the female students are diagnosed as dependent on video games. The data indicate a clear dividing line between extensive gaming and video game dependency (VGD) as a clinically relevant phenomenon. VGD is accompanied by increased levels of psychological and social stress in the form of lower school achievement, increased truancy, reduced sleep time, limited leisure activities, and increased thoughts of committing suicide. In addition, it becomes evident that personal risk factors are crucial for VGD. The findings indicate the necessity of additional research as well as the respective measures in the field of health care policies.

The German VR Simulation Realism Scale--psychometric construction for virtual reality applications with virtual humans.

PubMed

Poeschl, Sandra; Doering, Nicola

2013-01-01

Virtual training applications with high levels of immersion or fidelity (for example for social phobia treatment) produce high levels of presence and therefore belong to the most successful Virtual Reality developments. Whereas display and interaction fidelity (as sub-dimensions of immersion) and their influence on presence are well researched, realism of the displayed simulation depends on the specific application and is therefore difficult to measure. We propose to measure simulation realism by using a self-report questionnaire. The German VR Simulation Realism Scale for VR training applications was developed based on a translation of scene realism items from the Witmer-Singer-Presence Questionnaire. Items for realism of virtual humans (for example for social phobia training applications) were supplemented. A sample of N = 151 students rated simulation realism of a Fear of Public Speaking application. Four factors were derived by item- and principle component analysis (Varimax rotation), representing Scene Realism, Audience Behavior, Audience Appearance and Sound Realism. The scale developed can be used as a starting point for future research and measurement of simulation realism for applications including virtual humans.

Perceived Academic Control and Academic Emotions Predict Undergraduate University Student Success: Examining Effects on Dropout Intention and Achievement

PubMed Central

Respondek, Lisa; Seufert, Tina; Stupnisky, Robert; Nett, Ulrike E.

2017-01-01

The present study addressed concerns over the high risk of university students' academic failure. It examined how perceived academic control and academic emotions predict undergraduate students' academic success, conceptualized as both low dropout intention and high achievement (indicated by GPA). A cross-sectional survey was administered to 883 undergraduate students across all disciplines of a German STEM orientated university. The study additionally compared freshman students (N = 597) vs. second-year students (N = 286). Using structural equation modeling, for the overall sample of undergraduate students we found that perceived academic control positively predicted enjoyment and achievement, as well as negatively predicted boredom and anxiety. The prediction of dropout intention by perceived academic control was fully mediated via anxiety. When taking perceived academic control into account, we found no specific impact of enjoyment or boredom on the intention to dropout and no specific impact of all three academic emotions on achievement. The multi-group analysis showed, however, that perceived academic control, enjoyment, and boredom among second-year students had a direct relationship with dropout intention. A major contribution of the present study was demonstrating the important roles of perceived academic control and anxiety in undergraduate students' academic success. Concerning corresponding institutional support and future research, the results suggested distinguishing incoming from advanced undergraduate students. PMID:28326043

Concurrent Multiple Outbreaks of Varicella, Rubeola, German Measles in Unvaccinated Children of Co-Educational Mount Carmel Senior Secondary School, Thakurdwara Palampur of Northern Himachal, India

PubMed Central

Gupta, Surender Nikhil; Gupta, Naveen; Gupta, Shivani

2015-01-01

Background: In April, 2009, in a co-education school, we investigated suspected triple outbreak; varicella first and then with chance detection of rubeola and rubella. The aim was to confirm diagnosis and recommend remedial measures to prevent further outbreaks. Materials and Methods: We defined a case of varicella with maculopapulovesicular rash without other apparent cause in students or staff of the school and residents of neighboring villages of Khalet and Roady since 23rd March to 14th October, 2009. We line listed case patients and collected information on age, sex, residence, date of onset, symptoms, signs, traveling, treatment history, and vaccination status. The outbreak was described by time, place, and person characteristics. Diagnosis was confirmed epidemiologically and serologically; first to chickenpox, measles, and german measles viruses. Results: We identified 505 case patients from mixed outbreaks of varicella, measles, and german measles (30/505 clinically, 467/505 epidemiologically linked and 8/505 laboratory confirmed case patients from a study population of 3280. We investigated the suspected outbreak with case definition of varicella but measles 20/3280 (0.60%) and rubella 34/3280 (1.03%) cases were also observed. The overall attack rate (AR) was 15% while in school; it was 22% but highest (56%) in Nursery up to 4th standard with index case in first standard. Sex-specific AR was (23%) more in boys. Triple concurrent infection caused 05% complications but no death was reported. Severity of the symptoms was more in 5th standard onwards with 49–249 lesions and severer in poor villages Roady and Khalet (P < 0.05). Only 4% were immunized against varicella/german measles privately. Seventeen percent of the cases went for traditional treatment vs modern medicine (P < 0.001). 5/10 samples for IgM antibodies for chickenpox and 2/10 samples were positive for rubella. Conclusions: Triple infection of varicella, measles, and rubella was confirmed epidemiologically and serologically. We recommended local authorities for MMRV in the school and near villages with aggressive IEC activities in affected areas. PMID:25811001

Concurrent multiple outbreaks of varicella, rubeola, german measles in unvaccinated children of co-educational mount carmel senior secondary school, thakurdwara palampur of northern himachal, India.

PubMed

Gupta, Surender Nikhil; Gupta, Naveen; Gupta, Shivani

2015-01-01

In April, 2009, in a co-education school, we investigated suspected triple outbreak; varicella first and then with chance detection of rubeola and rubella. The aim was to confirm diagnosis and recommend remedial measures to prevent further outbreaks. We defined a case of varicella with maculopapulovesicular rash without other apparent cause in students or staff of the school and residents of neighboring villages of Khalet and Roady since 23(rd) March to 14(th) October, 2009. We line listed case patients and collected information on age, sex, residence, date of onset, symptoms, signs, traveling, treatment history, and vaccination status. The outbreak was described by time, place, and person characteristics. Diagnosis was confirmed epidemiologically and serologically; first to chickenpox, measles, and german measles viruses. We identified 505 case patients from mixed outbreaks of varicella, measles, and german measles (30/505 clinically, 467/505 epidemiologically linked and 8/505 laboratory confirmed case patients from a study population of 3280. We investigated the suspected outbreak with case definition of varicella but measles 20/3280 (0.60%) and rubella 34/3280 (1.03%) cases were also observed. The overall attack rate (AR) was 15% while in school; it was 22% but highest (56%) in Nursery up to 4(th) standard with index case in first standard. Sex-specific AR was (23%) more in boys. Triple concurrent infection caused 05% complications but no death was reported. Severity of the symptoms was more in 5(th) standard onwards with 49-249 lesions and severer in poor villages Roady and Khalet (P < 0.05). Only 4% were immunized against varicella/german measles privately. Seventeen percent of the cases went for traditional treatment vs modern medicine (P < 0.001). 5/10 samples for IgM antibodies for chickenpox and 2/10 samples were positive for rubella. Triple infection of varicella, measles, and rubella was confirmed epidemiologically and serologically. We recommended local authorities for MMRV in the school and near villages with aggressive IEC activities in affected areas.

International medical students' expectations and worries at the beginning of their medical education: a qualitative focus group study.

PubMed

Huhn, Daniel; Huber, Julia; Ippen, Franziska M; Eckart, Wolfgang; Junne, Florian; Zipfel, Stephan; Herzog, Wolfgang; Nikendei, Christoph

2016-01-28

The number of international students has increased substantially within the last decade. Due to cultural barriers, this specific group faces diverse challenges. In comparison to German colleagues, international medical students perform significantly lower in clinical examinations and exceed the average duration of study; they suffer from personal distress as well as insufficient support. Within the present study, their individual perspectives, expectations, hopes and fears were examined. Four focus groups with first-year international medical students (N = 16) were conducted in October 2013. Each 60- to 90-min discussion was audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using qualitative methods. International medical students go abroad in search of good study-conditions. For the choice of place of study, affordability, social ties as well as an educational system following the achievement principle are decisive factors. While contact with German-students and other international students is seen as beneficial, international medical students are most concerned to encounter problems and social exclusion due to language deficits and intercultural differences. Facilitating the access to university places, the provision of financial aid and, moreover, social support, nurturing cultural integration, would greatly benefit international medical students. Hereby, the establishment of specific medical language courses as well as programs fostering intercultural-relations could prove to be valuable.

Re-Examining Bernstein: From Peer-Group Ways of Speaking to "Schriftsprache"--A Study of Turkish-German "Hauptschule" Students in Mannheim

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keim, Inken

2009-01-01

This paper begins by looking at responses to Bernstein in Germany in the 1970s that criticized his notions of class difference in sociolinguistic codes. As part of a re-examination of Bernstein's ideas, the paper goes on to look at the current communicative situation in German education where urban schools have many second-generation immigrant…

"Land der Berge, Land der Seen": Zum Oesterreichbild in amerikanischen Deutsch-Lehrbuechern ("Land of Mountains, Land of Lakes": On the Picture of Austria Presented by German Textbooks in the USA).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koppensteiner, Juergen

1978-01-01

Nearly all German textbooks currently used in the USA either entirely fail to mention Austria, or else portray it by means of myths, cliches (Apfelstrudel, Sachertorte, Gemuetlichkeit), and often with outright untruths. The American student gets a picture of Austria as an "underdeveloped Disneyland of Europe". (WGA)

Speaking, Reading and Writing in Three Languages. Preferences and Attitudes of Multilingual Malaysian Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karchner-Ober, Renate

2012-01-01

This study presents the main findings from a study which investigated Malaysian multilingual students' practical use of three languages with respect to reading, speaking and writing in Bahasa Malaysia (BM), English and German. In addition, two further aspects have been examined: students' motivation to learn a language, and the respondents'…

Die Bedeutung der Koedukation fur die Genese der Studienfachwahl = The Impact of Coeducation on Vocational Choice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giesen, Heinz; And Others

1992-01-01

Presents study results of the impact of coeducational and gender segregated instruction on German students' vocational choice. Reports that students in coeducational settings tend to conform with gender typical roles in choice of majors, interests, grades, and self-assessment. Concludes that female students attending girls' schools more often go…

Service Learning in Germany: A Four-Week Summer Teaching Program in Saxony-Anhalt

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ducate, Lara

2009-01-01

This article describes a four-week service learning abroad program. Students from a U.S. university assist and teach in elementary school English classes for one month in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany while living with their German partner teachers. The program description and students' feedback illustrate that this program provides students with the…

Migrants' educational success through innovation: The case of the Hamburg bilingual schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duarte, Joana

2011-12-01

Although Germany has experienced net in-migration for the past five decades, this fact has only recently been officially acknowledged. Furthermore, Germany is marked by a general monolingual self-concept very much attached to the idea of a nation-state with one homogeneous language. However, in large urban areas of Germany about 35 per cent of the population has a migration background, as has almost every second child enrolling in primary school. Hence the country is marked by this dichotomy between a monolingual policy discourse and a multilingual society, manifested in everyday life and, as a consequence, in educational institutions. The fact is that this political attitude towards Germany's own migration history and migrants has led to an educational gap between students with a migration background and their monolingual peers. In 2000, a project was started in Hamburg, aiming to overcome this educational gap and involving the creation of bilingual schools for some of the largest migrant languages. Bilingual classes were thus set up for the following language combinations: German-Portuguese, German-Italian, German-Spanish and German-Turkish, and were evaluated by the University of Hamburg. This paper reports on the model used and the specific school outcomes of the students attending these classes.

How the economic situation moderates the influence of available money on compulsive buying of students - A comparative study between Turkey and Greece

PubMed Central

UNGER, ALEXANDER; PAPASTAMATELOU, JULIE; YOLBULAN OKAN, ELIF; AYTAS, SINEM

2014-01-01

Abstract Background and aims: Few studies about compulsive buying consider the economic framing situation. This study is concerned with the impact of different economic environments - the crisis in Greece vs. the boom in Turkey - on compulsive buying tendencies of students, while taking the role of gender and available money into account. Methods: Compulsive buying was measured by a Greek and Turkish translation of the German Compulsive Buying Scale (Raab, Neuner, Reisch & Scherhorn, 2005) in Greece and Turkey, which enabled an identification of compulsive and compensatory buyers. The questionnaires were administered to 119 Turkish and 123 Greek students (n = 242) enrolled in several universities in Athens and Istanbul. The data collection was conducted in a controlled and standardized way, namely in group-sessions lasting about 5 minutes, which were conducted and supervised by co-workers of the involved universities. Results: The results have shown that the percentage of compensatory buyers, but not compulsive buyers, within the Greek students sample was significantly smaller than within the Turkish student sample. Further as assumed the moderation of the economic situation could be confirmed: More available money only has a facilitating effect on compulsive buying tendencies under a positive economic environment. Conclusions: Anticipations about the financial situation and the general economic climate are more relevant for compulsive buying tendencies than one’s actual available money. Compensatory, but not compulsive buying was significantly smaller under crisis. PMID:25317341

Validating the German Version of the Quality of Relationship Inventory: Confirming the Three-Factor Structure and Report of Psychometric Properties

PubMed Central

Reiner, Iris; Beutel, Manfred; Skaletz, Christian; Brähler, Elmar; Stöbel-Richter, Yve

2012-01-01

Research on psychosocial influences such as relationship characteristics has received increased attention in the clinical as well as social-psychological field. Several studies demonstrated that the quality of relationships, in particular with respect to the perceived support within intimate relationships, profoundly affects individuals' mental and physical health. There is, however, a limited choice of valid and internationally known assessments of relationship quality in Germany. We report the validation of the German version of the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI). First, we evaluated its factor structure in a representative German sample of 1.494 participants by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Our findings support the previously proposed three-factor structure. Second, importance and satisfaction with different relationship domains (family/children and relationship/sexuality) were linked with the QRI scales, demonstrating high construct validity. Finally, we report sex and age differences regarding the perceived relationship support, conflict and depth in our German sample. In conclusion, the QRI is a reliable and valid measurement to assess social support in romantic relationships in the German population. PMID:22662151

[A ''humanitarian duty and a matter of honour for German Jewry": "feeble-minded" Jewish children and the Institution in Beelitz].

PubMed

Prestel, Claudia

2014-01-01

In 1908, in collaboration with the Bnei Briss, the German Association of Israelite Communities founded an institution for intellectually disabled Jewish children in Beelitz with the aim of educating 7-14-year-olds, using therapeutic pedagogy. The institution was part of the philanthropic efforts undertaken by German Jewry in that period. It was set up in the wake of the German Kaiser's call to found more philanthropic institutions, and its establishment is indicative of the efforts at integration being made by German Jewry. In their fund-raising material, the German Association of Israelite Communities stressed the "loyalty and patriotism" of German Jewry and described the establishment of the institution as "a humanitarian duty" and "a matter of honour for German Jewry". It was, therefore, demands from the non-Jewish world that led to the foundation of a Jewish institution; however, its establishment was also symbolic of the struggle against anti-Semitism and indicative both of German Jewry's dissimilation and their efforts at integration. The article investigates the struggle of Jewish parents to have their children admitted to the institution, the philosophy and teaching methods of the director Sally Bein (1881-1942) and his wife Friederike Rebeka Bein (1883-1942), the background of the students, the causes of intellectual disability, as well as the disagreements that occurred between parents, teachers and the director. The article also discusses the successes and failures of therapeutic pedagogy.

The Subsidiary Language Examination--an Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vanek, Marianne; Woodhall, Michael

1970-01-01

Describes the preparation, structure and experimental testing of an examination designed to test student achievement in the subsidiary German course at the Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, one of several subsidiary language courses aimed at giving Modern Language students a sound working knowledge of a third language. (FB)

STS-55 German Payload Specialist Schlegel works at SL-D2 Biolabor microscope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

STS-55 German Payload Specialist 2 Hans Schlegel loads sample into a microscope at the Spacelab Deutsche 2 (SL-D2) Rack 7 Biolabor (BB) workstation. The BB facility is a life sciences and biotechnology research device developed by Germany (MBB/ERNO) for use aboard Spacelab. Schlegel represents the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) during this 10-day mission aboard Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102.

Accuracy and Completeness of Drug Information in Wikipedia: A Comparison with Standard Textbooks of Pharmacology

PubMed Central

Gutmann, Joanna; Muehlich, Susanne; Zolk, Oliver; Wojnowski, Leszek; Maas, Renke; Engelhardt, Stefan; Sarikas, Antonio

2014-01-01

The online resource Wikipedia is increasingly used by students for knowledge acquisition and learning. However, the lack of a formal editorial review and the heterogeneous expertise of contributors often results in skepticism by educators whether Wikipedia should be recommended to students as an information source. In this study we systematically analyzed the accuracy and completeness of drug information in the German and English language versions of Wikipedia in comparison to standard textbooks of pharmacology. In addition, references, revision history and readability were evaluated. Analysis of readability was performed using the Amstad readability index and the Erste Wiener Sachtextformel. The data on indication, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, adverse effects and contraindications for 100 curricular drugs were retrieved from standard German textbooks of general pharmacology and compared with the corresponding articles in the German language version of Wikipedia. Quantitative analysis revealed that accuracy of drug information in Wikipedia was 99.7%±0.2% when compared to the textbook data. The overall completeness of drug information in Wikipedia was 83.8±1.5% (p<0.001). Completeness varied in-between categories, and was lowest in the category “pharmacokinetics” (68.0%±4.2%; p<0.001) and highest in the category “indication” (91.3%±2.0%) when compared to the textbook data overlap. Similar results were obtained for the English language version of Wikipedia. Of the drug information missing in Wikipedia, 62.5% was rated as didactically non-relevant in a qualitative re-evaluation study. Drug articles in Wikipedia had an average of 14.6±1.6 references and 262.8±37.4 edits performed by 142.7±17.6 editors. Both Wikipedia and textbooks samples had comparable, low readability. Our study suggests that Wikipedia is an accurate and comprehensive source of drug-related information for undergraduate medical education. PMID:25250889

Accuracy and completeness of drug information in Wikipedia: a comparison with standard textbooks of pharmacology.

PubMed

Kräenbring, Jona; Monzon Penza, Tika; Gutmann, Joanna; Muehlich, Susanne; Zolk, Oliver; Wojnowski, Leszek; Maas, Renke; Engelhardt, Stefan; Sarikas, Antonio

2014-01-01

The online resource Wikipedia is increasingly used by students for knowledge acquisition and learning. However, the lack of a formal editorial review and the heterogeneous expertise of contributors often results in skepticism by educators whether Wikipedia should be recommended to students as an information source. In this study we systematically analyzed the accuracy and completeness of drug information in the German and English language versions of Wikipedia in comparison to standard textbooks of pharmacology. In addition, references, revision history and readability were evaluated. Analysis of readability was performed using the Amstad readability index and the Erste Wiener Sachtextformel. The data on indication, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, adverse effects and contraindications for 100 curricular drugs were retrieved from standard German textbooks of general pharmacology and compared with the corresponding articles in the German language version of Wikipedia. Quantitative analysis revealed that accuracy of drug information in Wikipedia was 99.7% ± 0.2% when compared to the textbook data. The overall completeness of drug information in Wikipedia was 83.8 ± 1.5% (p < 0.001). Completeness varied in-between categories, and was lowest in the category "pharmacokinetics" (68.0% ± 4.2%; p < 0.001) and highest in the category "indication" (91.3% ± 2.0%) when compared to the textbook data overlap. Similar results were obtained for the English language version of Wikipedia. Of the drug information missing in Wikipedia, 62.5% was rated as didactically non-relevant in a qualitative re-evaluation study. Drug articles in Wikipedia had an average of 14.6 ± 1.6 references and 262.8 ± 37.4 edits performed by 142.7 ± 17.6 editors. Both Wikipedia and textbooks samples had comparable, low readability. Our study suggests that Wikipedia is an accurate and comprehensive source of drug-related information for undergraduate medical education.

[Effectiveness of integrative psychotherapeutic counseling for students].

PubMed

Sperth, Michael; Hofmann, Frank-Hagen; Holm-Hadulla, Rainer Mathias

2014-06-01

In this first effectiveness study of psychotherapeutic counseling for students in German-speaking countries, the effectiveness of an integrative model of counseling was evaluated based on a sample of 151 clients. Effectiveness of integrative counseling according to the ABCDE-model was found to be high in comparison to other international studies in this area. Pre-post differences on measures of mental distress and satisfaction were significant and effect sizes were mostly moderate to high. A high percentage of clients improved statistically and clinically significant. Counselors' expert rating and diagnostics according to ICD-10 that have been included in contrast to previous effectiveness studies showed that clients suitable for the counseling setting get treated in the counseling center while more severely disturbed clients in terms of psychopathology or diagnosis get referred to outpatient treatment, drop out or object to provide post-data. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Cigarette, waterpipe and e-cigarette use among an international sample of medical students. Cross-sectional multicenter study in Germany and Hungary.

PubMed

Balogh, Erika; Faubl, Nóra; Riemenschneider, Henna; Balázs, Péter; Bergmann, Antje; Cseh, Károly; Horváth, Ferenc; Schelling, Jörg; Terebessy, András; Wagner, Zoltán; Voigt, Karen; Füzesi, Zsuzsanna; Kiss, István

2018-05-03

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. Besides cigarette smoking, waterpipe and e-cigarettes are gaining popularity among young adults. Medical students' smoking behavior is of particular interest because of their impending role in health promotion as future physicians. Aim of our study is to examine the prevalence and predictors of cigarette, waterpipe and e-cigarette use and the association of tobacco use with self-reported health status in an international sample of medical students. In a multicenter cross-sectional study data on different aspects of health behavior were collected from medical students of 65 nationalities using a self-administered questionnaire in Germany (Dresden, Munich) and Hungary (Budapest, Pécs). The survey was conducted among 1st, 3rd and 5th year students. To explore associations between smoking behavior and socio-cultural factors Pearson's chi 2 -tests and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were performed. The largest subpopulations were formed by German (n = 1289), Hungarian (n = 1055) and Norwegian (n = 147) students. Mean age was 22.5 ± 3.3 years. Females represented 61.6% of the sample. In the whole sample prevalence of cigarette smoking was 18.0% (95% CI 16.6-19.4%), prevalence of waterpipe use was 4.8% (95% CI 4.0-5.7%), that of e-cigarette 0.9% (95% CI 0.5-1.2%). More males (22.0%) than females (15.5%) reported cigarette smoking. The lowest prevalence of cigarette smoking was found among Norwegian students (6.2%). Cigarette smokers were older, waterpipe users were younger than non-users. E-cigarette use was not associated with age of the students. Religious involvement was protective only against cigarette smoking. Financial situation showed no association with any kind of tobacco consumption. Cigarette smokers and e-cigarette users were less likely to report very good or excellent health status. Cigarette smoking is still the most popular way of consuming tobacco, although alternative tobacco use is also prevalent among medical students. To further health consciousness, medical schools should pay more attention to students' health behavior, especially their smoking habits. Tobacco prevention and cessation programs for medical students should consider not only the health risks of cigarette smoking but the need to discourage other forms of tobacco use, such as waterpipe.

"Become a Reporter", the Four Skills News Project: Applying and Practising Language Skills Using Digital Tools for Level C1/C2 Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magedera-Hofhansl, Hanna

2016-01-01

The Four Skills News Project is an example of communicative language learning, developed for final year German students at the University of Liverpool. It focuses on how students use and practise their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills via the creative use of news reports and digital technology. Each student creates an avatar using…

CoSMoS and TwinPaW: initial report on two new German twin studies.

PubMed

Spinath, Frank M; Wolf, Heike

2006-12-01

After briefly recapitulating two earlier German twin studies (BiLSAT and GOSAT), we present two new German twin studies with a longitudinal perspective: CoSMoS and TwinPaW. The twin study on Cognitive ability, Self-reported Motivation and School performance (CoSMoS) aims to investigate predictors and influences of school performance in a genetically sensitive design, beginning with children in late elementary school. The Twin study on Personality And Wellbeing (TwinPaW) focuses on adult personality and its relation to physical health as well as health-related behavior in an adult sample of twins. Both studies are characterized by an effort to recruit new large twin samples through a novel recruitment procedure aimed at reducing self-selective sampling. In two German federal states, contact information on persons born on the same day and with the same name was retrieved from record sections. From the resulting pool of more than 36,000 addresses we contacted approximately 2000 parents of twins aged 9 and 10 for CoSMoS, as well as 2000 adult twin pairs for TwinPaW by telephone and mail. Personal contact by telephone proved to be more efficient with agreement rates of 63% in the children sample and 65% in the adult sample. In this article we briefly describe the rationale and the study aims of CoSMoS and TwinPaW as well as the characteristics of the sample we have recruited so far.

Suicidality among medical students – A practical guide for staff members in medical schools

PubMed Central

Rau, Thea; Plener, Paul; Kliemann, Andrea; Fegert, Jörg M.; Allroggen, Marc

2013-01-01

Although suicidality in medical students is important, few studies dealt with this issue regarding German universities. Our aims were to describe the epidemiology as well as factors leading to suicidality in medical students. Furthermore we wanted to raise awareness for this topic among university employees and show options for handling suicidal crises in students. This manuscript especially aims to address university employees working in direct contact with students (such as student counselors or teachers). PMID:24282451

The Parent Version of the Preschool Social Skills Rating System: Psychometric Analysis and Adaptation with a German Preschool Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hess, Markus; Scheithauer, Herbert; Kleiber, Dieter; Wille, Nora; Erhart, Michael; Ravens-Sieberer, Ulrike

2014-01-01

The Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) developed by Gresham and Elliott (1990) is a multirater, norm-referenced instrument measuring social skills and adaptive behavior in preschool children. The aims of the present study were (a) to test the factorial structure of the Parent Form of the SSRS for the first time with a German preschool sample (391…

STS-55 Payload Specialist Schlegel collects fungi sample at SL-D2 Rack 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

STS-55 German Payload Specialist 2 Hans Schlegel, wearing lightweight headset, collects fungi sample while working at Spacelab Deutsche 2 (SL-D2) science module Rack 1 Work Bench. Schlegel is conducting these procedures in conjunction with the 'Fruiting Body Development of Fungi' experiment. Schlegel was one of two payload specialists representing the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) on the 10-day spacelab mission.

Economic Motives to Attend University: A Cross-Country Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartram, Brendan

2016-01-01

This paper considers students' economic motives to attend university. Drawing on selected results from a tri-national survey involving online questionnaires and interviews with students at English, German and Portuguese universities, it examines and compares this particular extrinsic motivational dimension, alongside the influence of the national…

Strategies to Correct High School Students' Misunderstanding of Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schug, Mark C.; Baumann, Eddie

1991-01-01

Interviews Wisconsin high school economics teachers, cited for their teaching excellence, to discover methods used to correct students' misconceptions about economics. Covers opportunity cost, supply and demand, money creation, and gross national product. Finds teachers were adept at using germane examples, showed more confidence teaching…

Unsuccessful Study Habits in Foreign Language Courses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Phillip D.; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J.

This study determined which study habits would distinguish successful from unsuccessful foreign language learners. Participants were 219 college students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds enrolled in either Spanish, French, German, or Japanese classes. The students completed the Study Habits Inventory and the Background Demographic Form.…

Travelling home for treatment and EU patients' rights to care abroad: results of a survey among German students at Maastricht University.

PubMed

Glinos, Irene A; Doering, Nora; Maarse, Hans

2012-04-01

Empirical evidence on patient mobility in Europe is lacking despite widespread legal, policy and media attention which the phenomenon attracts. This paper presents quantitative data on the health care seeking behaviour of German students at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. A cross-sectional survey design was applied with a mixed-methods approach including open and closed questions. Questionnaire items were based on a theoretical model of patient mobility and input from focus group discussions with German students living in Maastricht. 235 valid surveys were completed, representing ca. 8% of the target population. Data collection took place in Oct-Dec 2010. Of respondents who received medical care over the last two years, 97% returned to Germany; of these, 76% travelled to their home city for medical treatment. 72% received care only in Germany, i.e. not even once in Maastricht. Distance partly influenced whether students travelled to Germany, returned home or stayed in Maastricht, and the type of care accessed. Key motivations were familiarity with home providers/system, and reimbursement issues. In the context of the new EU Directive on patients' rights, the findings call into question whether Europeans use entitlements to cross-border care and what the real potential of patient mobility is. The results demonstrate the existence and magnitude of return movements as a sub-group of patient mobility. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validation of the German version of the short form of the dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep scale (DBAS-16).

PubMed

Lang, Christin; Brand, Serge; Holsboer-Trachsler, Edith; Pühse, Uwe; Colledge, Flora; Gerber, Markus

2017-06-01

Research shows that dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions play an important role in the development, maintenance and exacerbation of insomnia. This study examines the factorial validity, psychometric properties and both concurrent and predictive validity of the German version of the 16-item DBAS (dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep) scale. Data was collected in 864 vocational students from the German-speaking part of Switzerland (43% females, M age  = 17.9 years). Data collection took place twice within a 10-month interval. The students completed a German translation of the DBAS-16, the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and provided information about their psychological functioning. Descriptive statistics, factorial validity, internal consistency, gender differences, concurrent, and predictive validity were examined. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the 4-factor structure of the DBAS-16. All factors (consequences, worry/helplessness, expectations, medication) were positively correlated and had acceptable psychometric properties. Females reported higher scores across all DBAS measures. Weak-to-moderate correlations were found between dysfunctional sleep-related beliefs, insomnia and poor sleep quality. Dysfunctional sleep-related beliefs were also associated with decreased psychological functioning, and consistently predicted insomnia and poor psychological functioning at follow-up, even after controlling for socio-demographic background and baseline levels. The present study provides support for the validity and psychometric properties of the German version of the DBAS-16. Most importantly, it corroborates the relevance of cognitive-emotional factors in the onset and maintenance of insomnia and psychological symptoms among young people.

The Relation between Students' Justice Experiences and Their School Refusal Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donat, Matthias; Gallschütz, Christoph; Dalbert, Claudia

2018-01-01

In a cross-sectional questionnaire study with N = 1658 German students, aged between 12 and 17 years (M = 14.1, SD = 0.5), we investigated the relation of students' personal belief in a just world (BJW) to their school absenteeism and functions of school refusal behavior. In accordance with recent studies which identified negative relations…

Thick Description of the Teacher-Student Relationship in the Educational Context of School: Results of an Ethnographic Field Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raufelder, Diana; Bukowski, William M.; Mohr, Sonja

2013-01-01

Complexities of essential aspects of the teacher-student relationship were identified in a group of German adolescents and their teachers through participant observation. It is already known that the determinants of the teacher-student relationship cannot be simply categorized and analyzed as univariate features. Using Clifford Geertz?s concept of…

Alcohol Consumption among University Students in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany--Results from a Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akmatov, Manas K.; Mikolajczyk, Rafael T.; Meier, Sabine; Kramer, Alexander

2011-01-01

Objective: To assess alcohol use and problem drinking among university students in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and to examine the associated factors. Method: A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in 16 universities in 2006-2007 in NRW by a standardized questionnaire and 3,306 students provided information…

"Career and Money Aside, What's the Point of University?" A Comparison of Students' Non-Economic Entry Motives in Three European Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartram, Brendan

2016-01-01

This paper explores students' non-economic motives for attending university. Drawing on the results of a tri-national survey involving online questionnaires and email interviews with education students at English, German and Portuguese universities, it compares and discusses the extent to which the participants are motivated by a number of…

Reciprocal Relations between Intrinsic Reading Motivation and Reading Competence: A Comparison between Native and Immigrant Students in Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miyamoto, Ai; Pfost, Maximilian; Artelt, Cordula

2018-01-01

The present study compares native and immigrant students regarding the direction and the strength of the relation between intrinsic reading motivation and reading competence. Within the framework of the German National Educational Panel Study, 4,619 secondary school students were included in the analyses. The present study confirmed the reciprocal…

"We Learned What Democracy Really Meant": The Berlin Student Parliament and Postwar School Reform in the 1950s

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puaca, Brian M.

2005-01-01

In this paper, the author highlights the Berlin Student Parliament and assesses educational innovations of the postwar era. The Berlin Student Parliament is but one example of the postwar pedagogical and curricular initiatives that sought to prepare West German pupils for their responsibilities in the new democracy. The organization believe that…

Our Policies, Their Text: German Language Students' Strategies with and Beliefs about Web-Based Machine Translation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Kelsey D.; Heidrich, Emily

2013-01-01

Most educators are aware that some students utilize web-based machine translators for foreign language assignments, however, little research has been done to determine how and why students utilize these programs, or what the implications are for language learning and teaching. In this mixed-methods study we utilized surveys, a translation task,…

Socio-motivational moderators-two sides of the same coin? Testing the potential buffering role of socio-motivational relationships on achievement drive and test anxiety among German and Canadian secondary school students.

PubMed

Hoferichter, Frances; Raufelder, Diana; Eid, Michael

2015-01-01

The current cross-national study investigates the potential buffering role of socio-motivational relationships for the association of achievement drive (AD) and test anxiety (TX) in secondary school students from Canada and Germany. One thousand and eighty-eight students (54% girls, M age = 13.71, SD = 0.53, age span 12-15 years) from the state of Brandenburg and 389 students from Quebéc (55.9% girls, M age = 13.43, SD = 0.82, age span 12-16 years) were asked about their socio-motivational relationships with their teachers and peers, their drive for achievement, and TX. Multigroup latent moderated structural equations were conducted to test for the moderator role of socio-motivational relationships that would buffer feelings of TX related to the drive for achievement. The analyses revealed the two-sided role socio-motivational relationships can have for students with different levels of AD; intensifying or mitigating feelings of TX. Thereby, the results of this study extend the buffering hypothesis by Cohen and Wills (1985). Cross-national differences between Canada and Germany were found concerning the studied moderators on the association of AD and TX: While for German students teacher-student relationships acted as moderator, for Canadian students student-student relationships and teachers acting as positive motivators displayed a moderator role.

How do medical students engaging in elective courses on acupuncture and homeopathy differ from unselected students? A survey.

PubMed

Jocham, Alexandra; Kriston, Levente; Berberat, Pascal O; Schneider, Antonius; Linde, Klaus

2017-03-09

We aimed to investigate whether students at German medical schools participating in elective courses on acupuncture and homeopathy differ from an unselected group of students regarding attitudes and personality traits. Elective courses on acupuncture and homeopathy in the academic half-year 2013/14 all over Germany were identified and participants invited to fill in a questionnaire including nineteen questions on attitudes towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), orientation towards science, care and status orientation, and a short validated instrument (Big-Five-Inventory-10) to measure personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness). Participants of a mandatory family medicine course at one university served as unselected control group. Two hundred twenty and 113 students from elective courses on acupuncture and homeopathy, respectively, and 315 control students participated (response rate 93%). Students participating in elective courses had much more positive attitudes towards CAM, somewhat lower science and status orientation, and somewhat higher care orientation than control group students (all p-values for three-group comparisons < 0.001). There were no differences between the three groups regarding personality traits with the exception of lower values for agreeableness in controls (p = 0.009). The findings of this study show that attitudes of students participating in elective courses on acupuncture or homeopathy at German medical schools differ to a considerable degree from the attitudes of unselected students.

Validation of the German revised version of the program in palliative care education and practice questionnaire (PCEP-GR).

PubMed

Fetz, Katharina; Wenzel-Meyburg, Ursula; Schulz-Quach, Christian

2017-12-28

The evaluation of the effectiveness of undergraduate palliative care education (UPCE) programs is an essential foundation to providing high-quality UPCE programs. Therefore, the implementation of valid evaluation tools is indispensable. Until today, there has been no general consensus regarding concrete outcome parameters and their accurate measurement. The Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice Questionnaire (German Revised Version; PCEP-GR) is a promising assessment tool for UPCE. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of PCEP-GR and to demonstrate its feasibility for the evaluation of UPCE programs. The practical feasibility of the PCEP-GR and its acceptance in medical students were investigated in a pilot study with 24 undergraduate medical students at Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Germany. Subsequently, the PCEP-GR was surveyed in a representative sample (N = 680) of medical students in order to investigate its psychometric properties. Factorial validity was investigated by means of principal component analysis (PCA). Reliability was examined by means of split-half-reliability analysis and analysis of internal consistency. After taking into consideration the PCA and distribution analysis results, an evaluation instruction for the PCEP-GR was developed. The PCEP-GR proved to be feasible and well-accepted in medical students. PCA revealed a four-factorial solution indicating four PCEP-GR subscales: preparation to provide palliative care, attitudes towards palliative care, self-estimation of competence in communication with dying patients and their relatives and self-estimation of knowledge and skills in palliative care. The PCEP-GR showed good split-half-reliability and acceptable to good internal consistency of subscales. Attitudes towards palliative care slightly missed the criterion of acceptable internal consistency. The evaluation instruction suggests a global PCEP-GR index and four subscales. The PCEP-GR has proven to be a feasible, economic, valid and reliable tool for the assessment of UPCE that comprises self-efficacy expectation and relevant attitudes towards palliative care.

An integrated model of academic self-concept development: Academic self-concept, grades, test scores, and tracking over 6 years.

PubMed

Marsh, Herbert W; Pekrun, Reinhard; Murayama, Kou; Arens, A Katrin; Parker, Philip D; Guo, Jiesi; Dicke, Theresa

2018-02-01

Our newly proposed integrated academic self-concept model integrates 3 major theories of academic self-concept formation and developmental perspectives into a unified conceptual and methodological framework. Relations among math self-concept (MSC), school grades, test scores, and school-level contextual effects over 6 years, from the end of primary school through the first 5 years of secondary school (a representative sample of 3,370 German students, 42 secondary schools, 50% male, M age at grade 5 = 11.75) support the (1) internal/external frame of reference model: Math school grades had positive effects on MSC, but the effects of German grades were negative; (2) reciprocal effects (longitudinal panel) model: MSC was predictive of and predicted by math test scores and school grades; (3) big-fish-little-pond effect: The effects on MSC were negative for school-average achievement based on 4 indicators (primary school grades in math and German, school-track prior to the start of secondary school, math test scores in the first year of secondary school). Results for all 3 theoretical models were consistent across the 5 secondary school years: This supports the prediction of developmental equilibrium. This integration highlights the robustness of support over the potentially volatile early to middle adolescent period; the interconnectedness and complementarity of 3 ASC models; their counterbalancing strengths and weaknesses; and new theoretical, developmental, and substantive implications at their intersections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Bullying Perpetration and Victimization in Special Education: A Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Chad A.; Monda-Amaya, Lisa E.; Espelage, Dorothy L.

2011-01-01

Bullying perpetration and victimization have become pervasive problems in American schools. Recent research suggests a causal association between prolonged periods of victimization and overt acts of school violence. These findings are germane to students with disabilities in light of evidence suggesting these students are victimized more often…

Students' Reasons for Preferring Teleological Explanations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trommler, Friederike; Gresch, Helge; Hammann, Marcus

2018-01-01

The teleological bias, a major learning obstacle, involves explaining biological phenomena in terms of purposes and goals. To probe the teleological bias, researchers have used acceptance judgement tasks and preference judgement tasks. In the present study, such tasks were used with German high school students (N = 353) for 10 phenomena from human…

Organizing Schools into Small Units: Alternatives to Homogeneous Grouping.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oxley, Diana

1994-01-01

Large school size adversely affects attendance, school climate, student involvement. Dividing large schools into small units creates a learning and teaching context that is more stable, intimate, supportive, interdisciplinary. Kohn-Holweide, a comprehensive German secondary school, groups all students at a given grade level with the same teachers…

Culture First: Boosting Program Strength through Cultural Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Windham, Scott

2017-01-01

In recent years, cultural instruction has been touted as a way to help foreign language programs boost student learning outcomes, enrollments, and many other measures of program strength. In order to investigate the relationship between cultural instruction and program strength in a university-level German program, students in first- and…

The "Bologna-München" Tandem--Experiencing Interculturality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Martino, Sandro

2016-01-01

This case study describes the "Bologna-München" Tandem, a cross-border collaboration which began in 2011. The aim of the collaboration is to give students studying Italian at the Ludwig- Maximilians-University in Munich and students studying German at the University of Bologna the opportunity to experience interculturality through…

From Goethe to Plenzdorf: Overcoming Student Alienation by Teaching about It.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cannon-Geary, Irene

1982-01-01

Describes German literature course which subordinates goal of improving language skill in a literature course to a philosophical/critical approach which stresses increasing students' sophistication as literary critics and reinforces their interest in studying a foreign literature. Orientation emphasizes alienation of the protagonist and tries to…

Financial Literacy of High School Students: Evidence from Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erner, Carsten; Goedde-Menke, Michael; Oberste, Michael

2016-01-01

After graduating high school, underage individuals soon face ever more complex and important financial decisions. Pivotal to the development of improved financial literacy programs is a comprehensive examination of financial literacy levels and potentially related factors. The authors conducted a survey among German high school students and found…

Andere Lander, Andere Sitten!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirchner, Martha

A self-instructional unit on eating habits and customs in Germany is presented for the high school student studying second-year German. Notes to the teacher outline general goals of the unit, specific objectives, additional activities, equipment, and student evaluation. The general goals are: to be able to eat a meal in Germany without offending…

Which Mechanisms Explain Monetary Returns to International Student Mobility?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kratz, Fabian; Netz, Nicolai

2018-01-01

The authors develop a conceptual framework explaining monetary returns to international student mobility (ISM). Based on data from two German graduate panel surveys, they test this framework using growth curve models and Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions. The results indicate that ISM-experienced graduates enjoy a steeper wage growth after graduation…

Fostering Today What Is Needed Tomorrow: Investigating Students' Interest in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blankenburg, Janet Susan; Höffler, Tim Niclas; Parchmann, Ilka

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the structure of German sixth-grade students' interest in science (N = 474; age 11-12 years) by considering different subject-related contexts (biology, chemistry, and physics) and different activities. Confirmatory factor analysis models were designed to validate the hypothetical structure of interest, connecting the whole…

[Defi catches on : Implementation of a curriculum for resuscitation in secondary schools].

PubMed

Wanke, Sebastian; Strack, Marian; Dählmann, Carsten; Kuhr, Kathrin; Zobel, Carsten; Reuter, Hannes

2018-04-01

Sudden cardiac arrest is still one of the most frequent causes of death. Teaching resuscitation in schools was already successfully implemented in Scandinavian countries. Following a recommendation of the conference of german stateministers of education in June 2014, additional tuition for resuscitation is to be implemented in german schools starting in seventh grade. The present study aimed to assess the level of knowledge of seventh grade students in the field of life support and to implement curricular standards for resuscitation courses in secondary schools. Using a standardized questionnaire, students in seventh grade of five schools in Cologne were interrogated about their knowledge on resuscitation and defibrillation. This assessment was taken as basis for developing a curricular teaching concept by the Cologne heart centre in cooperation with the department of biology and technical didactics at the University of Cologne. This tutorial concept was integrated in scholar plans for the first time in the school year 2014/2015. At the end of the school year the students' knowledge got reevaluated. As expected, the technical knowledge of the interviewed students is low, however confidence in their own abilities is high. Most of the interviewed persons would be willing to perform chest compressions (72,26%) and dare using an automated external defibrillator (AED, 64,38%). The exact position of defibrillator pads cannot be precisely indicated by most students (8,40%), compression point, -depth and -frequency are known by just one third of students. Already one-time performance of the live-saving lesson resulted in a clear increase of knowledge about resuscitation. The willingness to perform resuscitation measures and confidence in their own abilities are high in seventh grade students. Therefore, the recommendation of the conference of german stateministers of education in June 2014 addresses the right target group. Long-term success of the presented educational concept will be analysed and reported in a longitudinal study.

How do German bilingual schoolchildren process German prepositions? - A study on language-motor interactions.

PubMed

Ahlberg, Daniela Katharina; Bischoff, Heike; Strozyk, Jessica Vanessa; Bryant, Doreen; Kaup, Barbara

2018-01-01

While much support is found for embodied language processing in a first language (L1), evidence for embodiment in second language (L2) processing is rather sparse. In a recent study, we found support for L2 embodiment, but also an influence of L1 on L2 processing in adult learners. In the present study, we compared bilingual schoolchildren who speak German as one of their languages with monolingual German schoolchildren. We presented the German prepositions auf (on), über (above), and unter (under) in a Stroop-like task. Upward or downward responses were made depending on the font colour, resulting in compatible and incompatible trials. We found compatibility effects for all children, but in contrast to the adult sample, there were no processing differences between the children depending on the nature of their other language, suggesting that the processing of German prepositions of bilingual children is embodied in a similar way as in monolingual German children.

How do German bilingual schoolchildren process German prepositions? – A study on language-motor interactions

PubMed Central

Bischoff, Heike; Strozyk, Jessica Vanessa; Bryant, Doreen; Kaup, Barbara

2018-01-01

While much support is found for embodied language processing in a first language (L1), evidence for embodiment in second language (L2) processing is rather sparse. In a recent study, we found support for L2 embodiment, but also an influence of L1 on L2 processing in adult learners. In the present study, we compared bilingual schoolchildren who speak German as one of their languages with monolingual German schoolchildren. We presented the German prepositions auf (on), über (above), and unter (under) in a Stroop-like task. Upward or downward responses were made depending on the font colour, resulting in compatible and incompatible trials. We found compatibility effects for all children, but in contrast to the adult sample, there were no processing differences between the children depending on the nature of their other language, suggesting that the processing of German prepositions of bilingual children is embodied in a similar way as in monolingual German children. PMID:29538404

The German Version of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties, Measurement Invariance, and Population-Based Norms

PubMed Central

Hilbert, Anja; de Zwaan, Martina; Braehler, Elmar; Kersting, Anette

2016-01-01

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire is an internationally widely used instrument assessing different eating styles that may contribute to weight gain and overweight: emotional eating, external eating, and restraint. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 30-item German version of the DEBQ including its measurement invariance across gender, age, and BMI-status in a representative German population sample. Furthermore, we examined the distribution of eating styles in the general population and provide population-based norms for DEBQ scales. A representative sample of the German general population (N = 2513, age ≥ 14 years) was assessed with the German version of the DEBQ along with information on sociodemographic characteristics and body weight and height. The German version of the DEQB demonstrates good item characteristics and reliability (restraint: α = .92, emotional eating: α = .94, external eating: α = .89). The 3-factor structure of the DEBQ could be replicated in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and results of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses supported its metric and scalar measurement invariance across gender, age, and BMI-status. External eating was the most prevalent eating style in the German general population. Women scored higher on emotional and restrained eating scales than men, and overweight individuals scored higher in all three eating styles compared to normal weight individuals. Small differences across age were found for external eating. Norms were provided according to gender, age, and BMI-status. Our findings suggest that the German version of the DEBQ has good reliability and construct validity, and is suitable to reliably measure eating styles across age, gender, and BMI-status. Furthermore, the results demonstrate a considerable variation of eating styles across gender and BMI-status. PMID:27656879

The German Version of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties, Measurement Invariance, and Population-Based Norms.

PubMed

Nagl, Michaela; Hilbert, Anja; de Zwaan, Martina; Braehler, Elmar; Kersting, Anette

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire is an internationally widely used instrument assessing different eating styles that may contribute to weight gain and overweight: emotional eating, external eating, and restraint. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 30-item German version of the DEBQ including its measurement invariance across gender, age, and BMI-status in a representative German population sample. Furthermore, we examined the distribution of eating styles in the general population and provide population-based norms for DEBQ scales. A representative sample of the German general population (N = 2513, age ≥ 14 years) was assessed with the German version of the DEBQ along with information on sociodemographic characteristics and body weight and height. The German version of the DEQB demonstrates good item characteristics and reliability (restraint: α = .92, emotional eating: α = .94, external eating: α = .89). The 3-factor structure of the DEBQ could be replicated in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and results of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses supported its metric and scalar measurement invariance across gender, age, and BMI-status. External eating was the most prevalent eating style in the German general population. Women scored higher on emotional and restrained eating scales than men, and overweight individuals scored higher in all three eating styles compared to normal weight individuals. Small differences across age were found for external eating. Norms were provided according to gender, age, and BMI-status. Our findings suggest that the German version of the DEBQ has good reliability and construct validity, and is suitable to reliably measure eating styles across age, gender, and BMI-status. Furthermore, the results demonstrate a considerable variation of eating styles across gender and BMI-status.

Menopause in German and Chinese women--an analysis of symptoms, TCM-diagnosis and hormone status.

PubMed

Rampp, Thomas; Tan, Linda; Zhang, Lin; Sun, Zhuo-Jun; Klose, Petra; Musial, Frauke; Dobos, Gustav Jürgen

2008-09-01

To investigate menopause-related symptoms, traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)-diagnosis and hormone status of two comparable urban samples of menopausal women, one in Essen (Germany) and the other in Shanghai (China). Patients suffering from menopause-syndrome were recruited from the TCM-outpatient clinic of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany (35 subjects) and from the Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China (35 subjects). The Kupperman-Index for tracing menopausal symptoms was applied. The complete TCM-diagnosis was carried out by the same investigator in China as well as in Germany. Testosterone and estrogen blood samples were collected once from every woman. There were significant differences in specific symptoms of the Kupperman-Index, such as a higher prevalence of formication and depression in German menopausal women; whereas Chinese menopausal women suffered significantly more from vertigo, headache and paraesthesia symptoms. Concerning TCM-diagnosis, Shen ()-yang deficiency was diagnosed in 51.43% of the German women in contrast to 5.71% of the Chinese women; 17.14% of the German women were diagnosed as having Shen-yin deficiency compared to 74.29% of the Chinese women. The German women showed significantly lower mean hormone levels for testosterone compared to the Chinese women (P

STS-55 Payload Specialist Schlegel collects fungi sample at SL-D2 Rack 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

STS-55 German Payload Specialist 2 Hans Schlegel, wearing lightweight headset, collects fungi sample while working at Spacelab Deutsche 2 (SL-D2) science module Rack 1 Work Bench. Schlegel is conducting these procedures in conjunction with the 'Fruiting Body Development of Fungi' experiment. Pieces of the experiment casing freefloat in the workstation.Schlegel represents the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) on the 10-day spacelab mission.

Overview of the study design, participation and field work of the German Environmental Survey on Children 2003-2006 (GerES IV).

PubMed

Schulz, Christine; Seiwert, Margarete; Babisch, Wolfgang; Becker, Kerstin; Conrad, André; Szewzyk, Regine; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike

2012-07-01

The German Federal Environment Agency carried out its fourth German Environmental Survey (GerES IV), which is the first survey on children only and the environment-related module of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (German acronym: KiGGS), conducted by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The German Environmental Surveys are nationwide population studies conducted to determine the exposure to environmental pollutants, to explore exposure pathways and to identify sub-groups with higher exposure. GerES IV was conducted on randomly selected 1790 children aged 3-14 years from the cross-sectional sample of KiGGS. The participants of GerES IV lived in 150 sampling locations all over Germany. Field work was carried out from May 2003 to May 2006. The response rate in GerES IV was 77.3%. Due to the fact that participation in GerES IV was limited to children that had previously participated in the KiGGS study, the total response rate in GerES IV resulted in 52.6%. Response rates did neither differ significantly between West and East Germany, nor between different community sizes, age groups and gender. The basic study programme included blood samples, morning urine, tap water and house dust as well as comprehensive questionnaire-based interviews. In addition, subgroups were studied with regard to "noise, hearing capacity and stress hormones", "chemical contamination of indoor air" and "biogenic indoor contamination". A key element of the field work in GerES IV was a home visit to carry out interviews, conduct measurements and collect samples. An exception was blood sampling which was carried out within KiGGS. The quality of field work, data collection, evaluation, and chemical, biological and physical analyses was successfully evaluated by internal and external quality assurance. This comprehensive overview aims at giving other research groups the opportunity to compare different study designs or to adapt their own design to get comparable results. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Polymorphic haplotypes and recombination rates at the LDL receptor gene locus in subjects with and without familial hypercholesterolemia who are from different populations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miserez, A.R.; Chiodetti, N.; Keller, U.

1993-04-01

RFLPs at the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor locus for TaqI, StuI, HincII, AvaII, ApaLI (5[prime] and 3[prime]), PvuII, and NcoI were studied in Swiss and German families with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). A total of 1,104 LDL receptor alleles were analyzed using Southern blotting and new PCR-based techniques for detection of the TaqI, StuI, HincII, AvaII, NcoI RFLPs. Two hundred fifty-six independent haplotypes from 368 individuals of 61 unrelated Swiss families, as well as 114 independent haplotypes from 184 subjects of 25 unrelated German families, were constructed. In 76 families, clinical diagnosis of FH was confirmed by cosegregation analysis. Of themore » 43 unique haplotypes consisting of seven RFLPs detected in the Swiss and Germans, only 9 were common in both population samples. Analysis of linkage disequilibrium revealed nonrandom associations between several of the investigated RFLPs. ApaLI (5[prime]), NcoI, PvuII, TaqI, and AvaII or HincII were particularly informative. Relative frequencies, heterozygosity indexes, and PICs of the RFLPs from the Swiss and Germans were compared with values calculated from reported haplotype data for Italians, Icelanders, North American Caucasians, South African Caucasians, and Japanese. Pairwise comparisons of population samples by common RFLPs demonstrated unexpected differences even between geographically adjacent populations (e.g., the Swiss and Germans). Furthermore, genetic distances from the Germans to the other Caucasians were larger than to the Japanese. An unexpected lack of correlation between linkage disequilibria and physical distances was detected for the German and Japanese data, possibly because of nonuniform recombination with excessively high rates between exon 13 and intron 15. Hence, the present study revealed a striking variety of polymorphic haplotypes and heterogeneity of RFLP frequencies and recombination rates among the seven population samples. 60 refs., 2 figs., 8 tabs.« less

Socio-motivational moderators—two sides of the same coin? Testing the potential buffering role of socio-motivational relationships on achievement drive and test anxiety among German and Canadian secondary school students

PubMed Central

Hoferichter, Frances; Raufelder, Diana; Eid, Michael

2015-01-01

The current cross-national study investigates the potential buffering role of socio-motivational relationships for the association of achievement drive (AD) and test anxiety (TX) in secondary school students from Canada and Germany. One thousand and eighty-eight students (54% girls, Mage = 13.71, SD = 0.53, age span 12–15 years) from the state of Brandenburg and 389 students from Quebéc (55.9% girls, Mage = 13.43, SD = 0.82, age span 12–16 years) were asked about their socio-motivational relationships with their teachers and peers, their drive for achievement, and TX. Multigroup latent moderated structural equations were conducted to test for the moderator role of socio-motivational relationships that would buffer feelings of TX related to the drive for achievement. The analyses revealed the two-sided role socio-motivational relationships can have for students with different levels of AD; intensifying or mitigating feelings of TX. Thereby, the results of this study extend the buffering hypothesis by Cohen and Wills (1985). Cross-national differences between Canada and Germany were found concerning the studied moderators on the association of AD and TX: While for German students teacher–student relationships acted as moderator, for Canadian students student–student relationships and teachers acting as positive motivators displayed a moderator role. PMID:26583000

Open innovation at the Abbe School of Photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helgert, Christian; Geiss, Reinhard; Nolte, Stefan; Eilenberger, Falk; Zakoth, David; Mauroner, Oliver; Pertsch, Thomas

2017-08-01

The Abbe School of Photonics (ASP) provides and coordinates the optics and photonics education of graduate and doctoral students at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. The internationalized Master's degree program is the key activity in training students in the optical sciences. The program is designed to provide them with the skills necessary to fill challenging positions in industry and academia. Here, an essential factor is ASP's close collaboration with more than 20 German photonics companies. To sustain these partners' future economic development, the availability of highly qualified employees is constantly required. Accordingly, these industrial partners, the European Union, the local state and the federal German government are strongly involved in the sustainable development of ASP's curriculum by both conceptual and financial engagements. The main goal is to promote the students' academic careers and job experience in the photonics industry as well as in academia. To open up the program to students from all over the world, all ASP lectures and courses are taught in English. ASP's qualification strategy is fully research-oriented and based on the principles of academic freedom, competitive research conditions and internationalization at all levels. The education program is complemented by a structured doctoral student support and a prestigious guest professorship program. Recently, ASP and partners have started a project to build an open photonics laboratory in order to foster innovative and co-creative processes. The idea follows well-established open innovation schemes e.g. in electronics. This Photon Garage (German: "Lichtwerkstatt") will bring together professionals and interested laymen from different backgrounds to approach pertinent challenges in photonics. Here, we will share our latest insights into the potentials and opportunities offered by this novel educative approach.

German version of the intuitive eating scale: Psychometric evaluation and application to an eating disordered population.

PubMed

van Dyck, Zoé; Herbert, Beate M; Happ, Christian; Kleveman, Gillian V; Vögele, Claus

2016-10-01

Intuitive eating has been described to represent an adaptive eating behaviour that is characterised by eating in response to physiological hunger and satiety cues, rather than situational and emotional stimuli. The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) has been developed to measure such attitudes and behaviours on four subscales: unconditional permission to eat (UPE), eating for physical rather than emotional reasons (EPR), reliance on internal hunger and satiety cues (RHSC), and body-food choice congruence (B-FCC). The present study aimed at validating the psychometric properties of the German translation of the IES-2 in a large German-speaking sample. A second objective was to assess levels of intuitive eating in participants with an eating disorder diagnosis (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder). The proposed factor structure of the IES-2 could be confirmed for the German translation of the questionnaire. The total score and most subscale scores were negatively related to eating disorder symptomatology, problems in appetite and emotional awareness, body dissatisfaction, and self-objectification. Women with eating disorders had significantly lower values on all IES-2 subscale scores and the total score than women without an eating disorder diagnosis. Women with a binge eating disorder (BED) diagnosis had higher scores on the UPE subscale compared to participants with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN), and those diagnosed with AN had higher scores on the EPR subscale than individuals with BN or BED. We conclude that the German IES-2 constitutes a useful self-report instrument for the assessment of intuitive eating in German-speaking samples. Further studies are warranted to evaluate psychometric properties of the IES-2 in different samples, and to investigate its application in a clinical setting. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts: Added value from a Graduate School as a structuring element within the wider field of early and pre-career support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanfland, Claudia; Sprengel, Claudia

2015-04-01

Structured postgraduate programs are a relatively new feature at German Higher Educational Institutions, mainly fostered in the 90ies by the funding programs of the German Science Foundation (Research Training Groups) and the Max-Planck-Association (International Max Planck Research Schools). Since then, funding opportunities for postgraduate programs have equally been set up by the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations as well as the Excellence Initiative. Today, doctoral candidates can chose from a wide range of training programs to earn a doctoral degree within a structured framework under excellent research conditions. In consequence, the percentage of PhD students in natural sciences that follow a PhD within a structured program has been continuously increasing. Graduate Schools provide a roof under which different curricula can be accommodated. They offer a comprehensive training program, foster interdisciplinary thinking and are a key instrument for quality assurance by providing rules relevant and equal to all doctoral candidates regardless of funding or affiliation. With more and more Graduate Schools becoming a permanent feature in the training of doctoral candidates, universities and research institutions are provided with a tool to create added value for the whole range of early career scientists and beyond. The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is currently developing a comprehensive strategy for early and pre-career support with the aim to provide a continuous support chain from high school students to Postdocs. Included are also the apprentices that get a vocational training at AWI as laboratory assistants, office clerks or qualified IT specialists. AWI aims at establishing a solid training network between these groups (apprentices, high school students, Bc and Ms students, internships, doctoral candidates, and Postdocs) across biographic borders. This network serves more than the classical transition phases from high school to university student, from Master to PhD students or from PhD student to Postdoc. Apprentices are integrated in research projects and supervised by PhD students. The former get a hands-on training in sample processing under realistic conditions, while the latter get support in mastering large sample sets. AWI's high school cooperation HIGHSEA offers a playground to gain teaching and supervising experience for PhD students and Postdocs (see talk by S. Gatti, same session). Within this career development network, AWI's Graduate School POLMAR acts as a nodal point to serve the interconnections, be it alongside the biographical chain or cross-sectoral in nature. POLMAR facilitates the networking and provides a structure in which partnerships with doctoral candidates can be carried out. To conclude, Graduate Schools can do more than improving the situation of doctoral candidates. In the best case, they become an integral part of an institute's career strategy and represent a point where new connections between biographical status groups get established for the benefit of all.

"In the Too Hard Basket": Issues Faced by 20 Rural Australian Teachers When Students with Disabilities Are Included in Their Secondary Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhl, Susan; Pagliano, Paul; Boon, Helen

2015-01-01

Given the urban dominance of inclusion literature, it is germane to explore issues pertaining to including students with disability in the rural school. As such, this paper uses a qualitative research methodology to examine how 20 teachers experience including students with disabilities in their rural secondary classrooms. As a mother of an adult…

Does the Timing of Transition Matter? Comparison of German Students' Self-Perceptions before and after Transition to Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arens, A. Katrin; Yeung, Alexander Seeshing; Craven, Rhonda G.; Watermann, Rainer; Hasselhorn, Marcus

2013-01-01

The often observed decline in students' self-perceptions across transition to secondary school after grade 6 is often attributed to students' entry to puberty. This study aims to examine whether lowered self-perceptions can be observed after transition in Germany which occurs after grade 4 and thus takes place before puberty. Fifth graders (N =…

The Implications of Virtual World Technology for K-12 Students in a Foreign Language Course of Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parrott, David L.

2014-01-01

The use of virtual world technology for language instruction is a recent development in education. The goal of this study was to provide a functioning 3D environment for German language students to experience as avatars. The student's impressions, attitudes, and perceptions of this learning activity would be recorded and analyzed to see if this…

The Role of Second Language in Higher Education: A Case Study of German Students at a Dutch University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zijlmans, Lidy; Neijt, Anneke; van Hout, Roeland

2016-01-01

This article reports on an investigation of the challenges and benefits of university students taking a degree course in a language other than their mother tongue. Our study was conducted from the point of view of the non-native students themselves, and our primary concern was the role of language. We investigated the academic achievement of…

Drifting Apart or Converging? Grades among Non-Traditional and Traditional Students over the Course of Their Studies: A Case Study from Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brändle, Tobias; Lengfeld, Holger

2017-01-01

Since 2009, German universities were opened by law to freshmen who do not possess the traditional graduation certificate required for entry into University, but who are rather vocationally qualified. In this article, we track the grades of these so-called non-traditional students and compare them to those of traditional students using a…

Year 9 Student Voices Negotiating Digital Tools and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in a Bilingual Managed Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freihofner, Ulla; Smala, Simone; Campbell, Chris

2016-01-01

The increase in the use of educational technologies in Australian high schools has sparked this investigation into how Year 9 (13 to 14 years of age) students experience and negotiate a new technology enhanced learning environment in a bilingual classroom setting. The paper is about examining the students' language practices in German and English…

Screening for social phobia in medical in- and outpatients with the German version of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN).

PubMed

Sosic, Z; Gieler, U; Stangier, U

2008-06-01

To evaluate the German version of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) as a screening device and to report corresponding cut-off scores for different populations. In Study 1, 2043 subjects from a representative sample completed the SPIN. Cut-off values were established on the basis of means and standard deviations. In Study 2, different aspects of validity were examined in a clinical sample comprising 164 subjects, including social phobic individuals, individuals with other anxiety disorders and depression, and non-clinical control subjects. Internal consistency was evaluated. Convergent and divergent validity were explored using several established measures. Finally, the sensitivity and specificity of the German SPIN with regard to social anxiety classification were investigated by means of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analyses. In Study 1, mean scores and standard deviations were used to determine cut-off scores for the German SPIN. In Study 2, excellent internal consistency and good convergent and divergent validity were obtained. ROC analyses revealed that the German SPIN performed well in discriminating between social phobic individuals on the one hand and psychiatric and non-psychiatric controls on the other. A cut-off score of 25 represented the best balance between sensitivity and specificity. Comparable to the original version, the German SPIN demonstrates solid psychometric properties and shows promise as an economic, reliable, and valid screening device.

Reading and spelling skills in German third graders: Examining the role of student and context characteristics.

PubMed

von Suchodoletz, Antje; Larsen, Ross A A; Gunzenhauser, Catherine; Fäsche, Anika

2015-12-01

Educational processes and outcomes are influenced by a multitude of factors, including individual and contextual characteristics. Recently, studies have demonstrated that student and context characteristics may produce unique and cumulative effects on educational outcomes. The study aimed to investigate (1) the relative contribution of student, classroom, and school characteristics to reading fluency and orthographic spelling, (2) the relative contribution of specific predictors to reading fluency and orthographic spelling within the sets of student, classroom, and school characteristics, and (3) whether the contribution of student, classroom, and school characteristics differs for reading fluency and orthographic spelling. Participants were 789 German third-grade students from 56 classrooms in 34 schools. Students completed an intelligence test and a questionnaire assessing self-control. Reading fluency and orthographic spelling performance were assessed using standardized achievement tests. Multilevel structural equation modelling was used to control for the hierarchical structure of educational data. Variances in students' reading and spelling skills were in large part explained by student characteristics (>90%). Classroom and school characteristics yielded little variance. Student-level intelligence and self-control were significantly related to reading fluency. For orthographic spelling, student-level intelligence and self-control, class-average intelligence, and, at the school level, the socio-economic status of the school's neighbourhood were significant predictors. Future research needs to investigate relevant classroom and school factors that may directly and indirectly relate to academic outcomes. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

White Paper: Radiological Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education in Germany.

PubMed

Ertl-Wagner, B; Barkhausen, J; Mahnken, A H; Mentzel, H J; Uder, M; Weidemann, J; Stumpp, P

2016-11-01

Purpose: Radiology represents a highly relevant part of undergraduate medical education from preclinical studies to subinternship training. It is therefore important to establish a content base for teaching radiology in German Medical Faculties. Materials and Methods: The German Society of Radiology (DRG) developed a model curriculum for radiological teaching at German medical universities, which is presented in this article. There is also a European model curriculum for undergraduate teaching (U-level curriculum of the European Society of Radiology). In a modular concept, the students shall learn important radiological core principles in the realms of knowledge, skills and competences as well as core scientific competences in the imaging sciences. Results: The curriculum is divided into two modules. Module 1 includes principles of radiation biology, radiation protection and imaging technology, imaging anatomy as well as the risks and side effects of radiological methods, procedures and contrast media. This module is modality-oriented. Module 2 comprises radiological diagnostic decision-making and imaging-based interventional techniques for various disease entities. This module is organ system-oriented. Conclusion: The curriculum is meant as a living document to be amended and revised at regular intervals. The curriculum can be used as a basis for individual curricular development at German Medical Faculties. It can be integrated into traditional or reformed medical teaching curricula. Key Points: • Radiology is an integral and important part of medical education.• The German Society of Radiology (DRG) developed a model curriculum for teaching radiology at German Medical Faculties to help students develop the ability to make medical decisions based on scientific knowledge and act accordingly.• This curriculum can be used for individual curricular development at medical departments. It is divided into two modules with several chapters. Citation Format: • Ertl-Wagner B, Barkhausen J, Mahnken AH et al. White Paper: Radiological Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education in Germany. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2016; 188: 1017 - 1023. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Climate Change: A "Green" Approach to Teaching Contemporary Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melin, Charlotte

2013-01-01

This article describes a newly designed upper division German language course, "Contemporary Germany: Food, Energy Politics," and two sampling methods of assessment for measuring parallel gains in German skills and sustainable development (SD) thinking. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) informed course design, key assignments, and…

Factorial and Item-Level Invariance of a Principal Perspectives Survey: German and U.S. Principals.

PubMed

Wang, Chuang; Hancock, Dawson R; Muller, Ulrich

This study examined the factorial and item-level invariance of a survey of principals' job satisfaction and perspectives about reasons and barriers to becoming a principal with a sample of US principals and another sample of German principals. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and differential item functioning (DIF) analysis were employed at the test and item level, respectively. A single group CFA was conducted first, and the model was found to fit the data collected. The factorial invariance between the German and the US principals was tested through three steps: (a) configural invariance; (b) measurement invariance; and (c) structural invariance. The results suggest that the survey is a viable measure of principals' job satisfaction and perspectives about reasons and barriers to becoming a principal because principals from two different cultures shared a similar pattern on all three constructs. The DIF analysis further revealed that 22 out of the 28 items functioned similarly between German and US principals.

A Medical Student-Delivered Smoking Prevention Program, Education Against Tobacco, for Secondary Schools in Germany: Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Owczarek, Andreas Dawid; Seeger, Werner; Groneberg, David Alexander; Brieske, Christian Martin; Jansen, Philipp; Klode, Joachim; Stoffels, Ingo; Schadendorf, Dirk; Izar, Benjamin; Fries, Fabian Norbert; Hofmann, Felix Johannes

2017-01-01

Background More than 8.5 million Germans suffer from chronic diseases attributable to smoking. Education Against Tobacco (EAT) is a multinational network of medical students who volunteer for school-based prevention in the classroom setting, amongst other activities. EAT has been implemented in 28 medical schools in Germany and is present in 13 additional countries around the globe. A recent quasi-experimental study showed significant short-term smoking cessation effects on 11-to-15-year-old adolescents. Objective The aim of this study was to provide the first randomized long-term evaluation of the optimized 2014 EAT curriculum involving a photoaging software for its effectiveness in reducing the smoking prevalence among 11-to-15-year-old pupils in German secondary schools. Methods A randomized controlled trial was undertaken with 1504 adolescents from 9 German secondary schools, aged 11-15 years in grades 6-8, of which 718 (47.74%) were identifiable for the prospective sample at the 12-month follow-up. The experimental study design included measurements at baseline (t1), 6 months (t2), and 12 months postintervention (t3), via questionnaire. The study groups consisted of 40 randomized classes that received the standardized EAT intervention (two medical student-led interactive modules taking 120 minutes total) and 34 control classes within the same schools (no intervention). The primary endpoint was the difference in smoking prevalence from t1 to t3 in the control group versus the difference from t1 to t3 in the intervention group. The differences in smoking behavior (smoking onset, quitting) between the two groups, as well as gender-specific effects, were studied as secondary outcomes. Results None of the effects were significant due to a high loss-to-follow-up effect (52.26%, 786/1504). From baseline to the two follow-up time points, the prevalence of smoking increased from 3.1% to 5.2% to 7.2% in the control group and from 3.0% to 5.4% to 5.8% in the intervention group (number needed to treat [NNT]=68). Notable differences were observed between the groups for the female gender (4.2% to 9.5% for control vs 4.0% to 5.2% for intervention; NNT=24 for females vs NNT=207 for males), low educational background (7.3% to 12% for control vs 6.1% to 8.7% for intervention; NNT=30), and migrational background (students who claimed that at least one parent was not born in Germany) at the 12-month follow-up. The intervention appears to prevent smoking onset (NNT=63) but does not appear to initiate quitting. Conclusions The intervention appears to prevent smoking, especially in females and students with a low educational background. PMID:28588007

The "North German Tumor Bank of Colorectal Cancer": status report after the first 2 years of support by the German Cancer Aid Foundation.

PubMed

Oberländer, Martina; Linnebacher, Michael; König, Alexandra; Bogoevska, Valentina; Brodersen, Christiane; Kaatz, Regina; Krohn, Mathias; Hackmann, Michael; Ingenerf, Josef; Christoph, Jan; Mate, Sebastian; Prokosch, Hans-Ulrich; Yekebas, Emre F; Thorns, Christoph; Büning, Jürgen; Prall, Friedrich; Uhlig, Ria; Roblick, Uwe J; Izbicki, Jakob R; Klar, Ernst; Bruch, Hans-Peter; Vollmar, Brigitte; Habermann, Jens K

2013-02-01

Research projects and clinical trials strongly rely on high-quality biospecimens which are provided by biobanks. Since differences in sample processing and storage can strongly affect the outcome of such studies, standardization between biobanks is necessary to guarantee reliable results of large, multicenter studies. The German Cancer Aid Foundation (Deutsche Krebshilfe e.V.) has therefore initiated the priority program "tumor tissue banks" in 2010 by funding four biobank networks focusing on central nervous system tumors, melanomas, breast carcinomas, and colorectal carcinomas. The latter one, the North German Tumor Bank of Colorectal Cancer (ColoNet) is managed by surgeons, pathologists, gastroenterologists, oncologists, scientists, and medical computer scientists. The ColoNet consortium has developed and harmonized standard operating procedures concerning all biobanking aspects. Crucial steps for quality assurance have been implemented and resulted in certification according to DIN EN ISO 9001. A further achievement is the construction of a web-based database for exploring available samples. In addition, common scientific projects have been initiated. Thus, ColoNet's repository will be used for research projects in order to improve early diagnosis, therapy, follow-up, and prognosis of colorectal cancer patients. Apart from the routine sample storage at -170 °C, the tumor banks' unique characteristic is the participation of outpatient clinics and private practices to further expand the sample and clinical data collection. The first 2 years of funding by the German Cancer Aid Foundation have already led to a closer scientific connection between the participating institutions and to a substantial collection of biospecimens obtained under highly standardized conditions.

Immunohistochemical evidence for expression of fast-twitch type sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA1) in German shepherd dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy myocardium.

PubMed

Summerfield, Nuala; Peters, Mary E; Hercock, Carol A; Mobasheri, Ali; Young, Iain S

2010-04-01

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the most common acquired canine heart diseases. It is particularly common in large and giant breed dogs. Although a great deal is known about the clinical progression and manifestations of the disease, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. One widely held belief is that calcium-handling abnormalities are critically involved in the disease process. This study investigates the changes in expression of the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) isoforms in DCM myocardium from German shepherd dogs. Affected tissue samples were obtained from German shepherd dogs with DCM, euthanized for intractable congestive heart failure while normal myocardial tissue samples were obtained from German shepherd dogs, euthanized for non-cardiovascular reasons. Tissue microarrays containing normal and DCM myocardium samples were prepared, immunostained with SERCA1 and SERCA2 antibodies and analyzed. We were able to demonstrate, for the first time, that while there is little change in the expression of the cardiac isoform (SERCA2), there is clear expression of the fast-twitch skeletal muscle isoform SERCA1 in the myocardium of dogs diagnosed with DCM. We propose that SERCA1 expression is evidence of a natural adaptive response to the impaired Ca2+ handling thought to occur in German shepherd dogs with DCM and heart failure. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The challenge of comprehensively mapping children's health in a nation-wide health survey: design of the German KiGGS-Study.

PubMed

Kurth, Bärbel-Maria; Kamtsiuris, Panagiotis; Hölling, Heike; Schlaud, Martin; Dölle, Rüdiger; Ellert, Ute; Kahl, Heidrun; Knopf, Hiltraud; Lange, Michael; Mensink, Gert Bm; Neuhauser, Hannelore; Rosario, Angelika Schaffrath; Scheidt-Nave, Christa; Schenk, Liane; Schlack, Robert; Stolzenberg, Heribert; Thamm, Michael; Thierfelder, Wulf; Wolf, Ute

2008-06-04

From May 2003 to May 2006, the Robert Koch Institute conducted the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Aim of this first nationwide interview and examination survey was to collect comprehensive data on the health status of children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 years. Participants were enrolled in two steps: first, 167 study locations (sample points) were chosen; second, subjects were randomly selected from the official registers of local residents. The survey involved questionnaires filled in by parents and parallel questionnaires for children aged 11 years and older, physical examinations and tests, and a computer assisted personal interview performed by study physicians. A wide range of blood and urine testing was carried out at central laboratories. A total of 17 641 children and adolescents were surveyed - 8985 boys and 8656 girls. The proportion of sample neutral drop-outs was 5.3%. The response rate was 66.6%. The response rate showed little variation between age groups and sexes, but marked variation between resident aliens and Germans, between inhabitants of cities with a population of 100 000 or more and sample points with fewer inhabitants, as well as between the old West German states and the former East German states. By analysing the short non-responder questionnaires it was proven that the collected data give comprehensive and nationally representative evidence on the health status of children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 years.

[Assessment of temperament with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised (IBQ-R) - the psychometric properties of a German version].

PubMed

Vonderlin, Eva; Ropeter, Anna; Pauen, Sabina

2012-09-01

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised (IBQ-R; Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003) is one of the most common parent-report instruments for assessing infant temperament. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of a German version. We studied item characteristics, internal consistency, and descriptive statistics for all 14 scales in a sample of 7- to 9-month-old infants and their mothers (N = 119). Factor analysis was conducted to identify higher-order relationships between the scales. Item analysis showed mixed corrected item-total correlations. Internal consistencies were all moderate to high. Results of the factor analysis confirmed the two dimensions of Surgency/Extraversion and Negative Affectivity, whereas the dimension Orienting/Regulation was not replicated. In contrast to the American sample, activity level in the German sample loaded on the factor Negative Affectivity. The scales low intensity pleasure and soothability, which loaded on factor Orienting/Regulation in the original version, showed substantial loadings on both dimensions Surgency/Extraversion and Negative Affectivity (inverted), whereas the scale duration of orienting was located on the factor Surgency/Extraversion. The German version of the IBQ-R provides a satisfying instrument for investigating infant temperament. However, further work is needed to improve the methodological quality of the questionnaire. Further research should especially focus on the factor structure of infant temperament. We suggest developing a shorter version and testing it with a larger and more diverse sample.

Longitudinal Effects of Student-Perceived Classroom Support on Motivation – A Latent Change Model

PubMed Central

Lazarides, Rebecca; Raufelder, Diana

2017-01-01

This two-wave longitudinal study examined how developmental changes in students’ mastery goal orientation, academic effort, and intrinsic motivation were predicted by student-perceived support of motivational support (support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in secondary classrooms. The study extends previous knowledge that showed that support for motivational support in class is related to students’ intrinsic motivation as it focused on the developmental changes of a set of different motivational variables and the relations of these changes to student-perceived motivational support in class. Thus, differential classroom effects on students’ motivational development were investigated. A sample of 1088 German students was assessed in the beginning of the school year when students were in grade 8 (Mean age = 13.70, SD = 0.53, 54% girls) and again at the end of the next school year when students were in grade 9. Results of latent change models showed a tendency toward decline in mastery goal orientation and a significant decrease in academic effort from grade 8 to 9. Intrinsic motivation did not decrease significantly across time. Student-perceived support of competence in class predicted the level and change in students’ academic effort. The findings emphasized that it is beneficial to create classroom learning environments that enhance students’ perceptions of competence in class when aiming to enhance students’ academic effort in secondary school classrooms. PMID:28382012

Experiences with dissection courses in human anatomy: a comparison between Germany and Ethiopia.

PubMed

Bekele, Assegedech; Reissig, Dieter; Löffler, Sabine; Hinz, Andreas

2011-03-01

Dissection courses in human anatomy are laborious, and new teaching tools have become available. Therefore, some universities intend to reduce the dissection course. Furthermore, little is known about dissection courses in African universities. The aim of this study is to compare the students' experiences with and evaluations of the dissection courses in two universities: Leipzig (Germany) and Gondar (Ethiopia). Since the Gondar Medical College was founded in cooperation with the Leipzig University in 1978, the anatomy courses in both universities follow roughly the same rules. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the dissection courses from the students' point of view. The sample of students consisted of 109 German and 124 Ethiopian first year undergraduate medical students. Most students in both countries (94% in Germany and 82% in Ethiopia) judge the dissection course to be highly relevant compared to other courses. Perceived health hazards associated with dissection of the cadaver show significant differences between Germany (14%) and Ethiopia (44%). Most students had normal feelings again at the end of the dissection course. Further similarities and differences between the courses in Germany and Ethiopia are described. Dissection courses are highly appreciated also in Africa. The high degree of affirmation of the dissection courses should be taken into consideration when discussing modifications of gross anatomy curriculum or changes in the teacher to student ratio. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Students' reasons for preferring teleological explanations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trommler, Friederike; Gresch, Helge; Hammann, Marcus

2018-01-01

The teleological bias, a major learning obstacle, involves explaining biological phenomena in terms of purposes and goals. To probe the teleological bias, researchers have used acceptance judgement tasks and preference judgement tasks. In the present study, such tasks were used with German high school students (N = 353) for 10 phenomena from human biology, that were explained both teleologically and causally. A sub-sample (n = 26) was interviewed about the reasons for their preferences. The results showed that the students favoured teleological explanations over causal explanations. Although the students explained their preference judgements etiologically (i.e. teleologically and causally), they also referred to a wide range of non-etiological criteria (i.e. familiarity, complexity, relevance and five more criteria). When elaborating on their preference for causal explanations, the students often focused not on the causality of the phenomenon, but on mechanisms whose complexity they found attractive. When explaining their preference for teleological explanations, they often focused not teleologically on purposes and goals, but rather on functions, which they found familiar and relevant. Generally, students' preference judgements rarely allowed for making inferences about causal reasoning and teleological reasoning, an issue that is controversial in the literature. Given that students were largely unaware of causality and teleology, their attention must be directed towards distinguishing between etiological and non-etiological reasoning. Implications for educational practice as well as for future research are discussed.

[Measuring life satisfaction in children and adolescents--psychometric properties of the "Questions on Life Satisfaction" FLZ(KJ)].

PubMed

Henrich, Gerhard; Goldbeck, Lutz; Schmitz, Tim G; Besier, Tanja

2010-06-01

Measuring life satisfaction in children is becoming more and more important in clinical practice. This is the first study to evaluate the psychometric properties of the "Questions on Life Satisfaction for Children and Adolescents" FLZ(KJ) based on a student sample. 1 312 German students ( M=13.7 years, SD=1.4) filled in the FLZ(KJ). Item characteristics, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity were assessed. Age- and gender-specific reference data were reported. Items were well accepted by the students. Selectivity and internal consistency of the two modules were acceptable, with alpha scores of alpha=0.70 and 0.75. Associations with the KIDSCREEN-10 Index support the convergent valid-ity of the instrument. The FLZ(KJ) differentiated well between children with and without chronic conditions. The FLZ(KJ) are reliable and sufficiently valid, with psychometric properties comparable to the adult version of the instrument. The instrument is a useful tool in measuring life satisfaction in children and adolescents. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.New York.

When Eating Right, Is Measured Wrong! A Validation and Critical Examination of the ORTO-15 Questionnaire in German.

PubMed

Missbach, Benjamin; Hinterbuchinger, Barbara; Dreiseitl, Verena; Zellhofer, Silvia; Kurz, Carina; König, Jürgen

2015-01-01

The characteristic trait of individuals developing a pathological obsession and preoccupation with healthy foods and a restrictive and avoidant eating behavior is described as orthorexia nervosa (ON). For ON, neither universal diagnosis criteria nor valid tools for large-scale epidemiologic assessment are available in the literature. The aim of the current study is to analyze the psychometric properties of a translated German version of the ORTO-15 questionnaire. The German version of the ORTO-15, a eating behavior and dieting habits questionnaire were completed by 1029 German-speaking participants (74.6% female) aged between 19 and 70 years (M = 31.21 ± 10.43 years). Our results showed that after confirmatory factor analysis, the best fitting model of the original version is a single-factor structure (9-item shortened version: ORTO-9-GE). The final model showed only moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .67), even after omitting 40% of the original question. A total of 69.1% participants showed orthorectic tendencies. Orthorectic tendencies are associated with special eating behavior features (dieting frequency, vegetarian and vegan diet). Education level did not influence ON tendency and nutritional students did not show higher ON tendency compared to students from other disciplines. This study is the first attempt to translate and to evaluate the psychometric properties of a German version of the ORTO-15 questionnaire. The ORTO-9-GE questionnaire, however, is only a mediocre tool for assessing orthorectic tendencies in individuals and shows moderate reliability and internal consistency. Our research suggests, that future studies are needed to provide more reliable and valid assessment tools to investigate orthorexia nervosa.

When Eating Right, Is Measured Wrong! A Validation and Critical Examination of the ORTO-15 Questionnaire in German

PubMed Central

Missbach, Benjamin; Hinterbuchinger, Barbara; Dreiseitl, Verena; Zellhofer, Silvia; Kurz, Carina; König, Jürgen

2015-01-01

The characteristic trait of individuals developing a pathological obsession and preoccupation with healthy foods and a restrictive and avoidant eating behavior is described as orthorexia nervosa (ON). For ON, neither universal diagnosis criteria nor valid tools for large-scale epidemiologic assessment are available in the literature. The aim of the current study is to analyze the psychometric properties of a translated German version of the ORTO-15 questionnaire. The German version of the ORTO-15, a eating behavior and dieting habits questionnaire were completed by 1029 German-speaking participants (74.6% female) aged between 19 and 70 years (M = 31.21 ± 10.43 years). Our results showed that after confirmatory factor analysis, the best fitting model of the original version is a single-factor structure (9-item shortened version: ORTO-9-GE). The final model showed only moderate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .67), even after omitting 40% of the original question. A total of 69.1% participants showed orthorectic tendencies. Orthorectic tendencies are associated with special eating behavior features (dieting frequency, vegetarian and vegan diet). Education level did not influence ON tendency and nutritional students did not show higher ON tendency compared to students from other disciplines. This study is the first attempt to translate and to evaluate the psychometric properties of a German version of the ORTO-15 questionnaire. The ORTO-9-GE questionnaire, however, is only a mediocre tool for assessing orthorectic tendencies in individuals and shows moderate reliability and internal consistency. Our research suggests, that future studies are needed to provide more reliable and valid assessment tools to investigate orthorexia nervosa. PMID:26280449

The belief in a negative interdependence of math and verbal abilities as determinant of academic self-concepts.

PubMed

Möller, Jens; Streblow, Lilian; Pohlmann, Britta

2006-03-01

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model by Marsh (1986) assumes intra-individual dimensional comparisons in which students compare their own achievements in one subject with their achievements in other subjects. These comparison processes should lead to negative paths from achievement in one subject (e.g. maths) on self-concept in another subject (e.g. verbal domains). Within this study, we investigated the impact of students' belief in a negative interdependence of maths and verbal abilities, that is, whether students think of maths and verbal abilities as negatively correlated or not, on the impact of dimensional comparisons. Maths and German grades, academic self-concepts in maths and German, and a new scale on the beliefs in a negative interdependence of maths and verbal abilities students were assessed (N = 1,443). The importance of the negative interdependence beliefs could be shown: stronger beliefs in a negative interdependence of maths and verbal ability are accompanied by more negative path coefficients from grades in one subject to academic self-concepts in the other subject. Dimensional comparisons seem to be of particular importance for students with negative interdependence beliefs.

Greening the German Classroom: Starting Points for a Cultural Lesson

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Angelika; DeMaris, Sarah Glenn; Moller-Tank, Beth

2013-01-01

The article presents and discusses materials for a cultural lesson about Green Germany. An introductory mini-unit frames the over-all student learning objective: students should be able to respond to the questions "Where are we?" and "Where are we going?" with regard to the natural environment. Three different units then help…

Measuring the Interest of German Students in Agriculture: The Role of Knowledge, Nature Experience, Disgust, and Gender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bickel, Malte; Strack, Micha; Bögeholz, Susanne

2015-01-01

Modern knowledge-based societies, especially their younger members, have largely lost their bonds to farming. However, learning about agriculture and its interrelations with environmental issues may be facilitated by students' individual interests in agriculture. To date, an adequate instrument to investigate agricultural interests has been…

Internationalization at Home: Using Learning Motivation to Predict Students' Attitudes toward Teaching in a Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorges, Julia; Kandler, Christian; Bohner, Gerd

2012-01-01

Fostering foreign language proficiency is an important goal of university teaching. We identified German university students' (N = 1265) goal orientations developed during secondary school as predictors of attitudes toward receiving instruction in English at university. Mastery goal orientation was proposed to "directly" promote positive…

Alcohol Use in German Adolescents with Visual Impairments and Sighted Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinquart, Martin; Pfeiffer, Jens P.

2010-01-01

Alcohol use was studied in 158 adolescents with visual impairments and 537 sighted adolescents in Germany. The students with visual impairments reported lower levels of alcohol use and drunkenness, and between-group differences increased across adolescence. The lower alcohol use by students with visual impairments was explained, in part, by the…

High School Foreign Language Students' Perceptions of Language Learning Strategies Use and Self-Efficacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Capital Language Resource Center, Washington, DC.

This study investigated the relationship of language learning strategies use and self-efficacy of high school students learning Chinese, German, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish. Through two questionnaires, The Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire and The Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, researchers were able to collect and analyze data on…

German-Algerian University Exchange from the Perspective of Students and Teachers: Results of an Intercultural Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doring, Nicola; Lahmar, Kamel; Bouabdallah, Mohamed; Bouafia, Mohamed; Bouzid, Djamel; Gobsch, Gerhard; Runge, Erich

2010-01-01

Academic exchange programs provide students and teachers with the opportunity to study or work temporarily at educational institutions abroad. For exchange programs to be successful in promoting intercultural education, they must be designed with their participants in mind. The present study constitutes an investigation of attitudes and…

Relationship between Cultural Distance and Pragmatic Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rafieyan, Vahid; Sharafi-Nejad, Maryam; Khavari, Zahra; Damavand, Ayoob; Eng, Lin Siew

2014-01-01

The distance between language learners' culture and the culture of the target language community is considered to play a crucial role in determining the level of pragmatic comprehension. In this respect, a study was conducted over 30 German students, perceived as culturally close to the British, and 30 South Korean students, perceived as…

On the Relationship between Value Orientation, Valences, and Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fries, Stefan; Schmid, Sebastian; Hofer, Manfred

2007-01-01

Value orientations are believed to influence learning in school. We assume that this influence is mediated by the valences attached to specific school subjects. In a questionnaire study (704 students from 36 classes) achievement and well-being value orientations were measured. Students also rated valence scales for the school subjects German and…

Using "Number the Stars" as a Springboard for Doing Social Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Putman, Errol

2003-01-01

The Danish experience during the German occupation, presented through the experiences of the Rosen and Johansen families, provides the literary and historical background for the activities the author presents in this article. He designed the four activities for maximum student involvement, with each requiring students to respond to Lois Lowry's…

Measuring Variability and Change with an Item Response Model for Polytomous Variables.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eid, Michael; Hoffman, Lore

1998-01-01

An extension of the graded-response model of F. Samejima (1969) is presented for the measurement of variability and change. The model is illustrated with a longitudinal study of student interest in radioactivity conducted with about 1,200 German students in elementary school when the study began. (SLD)

Web-Based Foreign Language Reading: Affective and Productive Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lueck, Kerstin

2008-01-01

This study aimed to investigate whether pedagogically guided web-based reading can improve skimming and scanning significantly (i.e., increased productive outcomes) and whether it can enhance student participation and motivation (i.e., increased affective outcomes). Forty-six students enrolled in two German 3 classes at the high school level were…

Reading and Spelling Skills in German Third Graders: Examining the Role of Student and Context Characteristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suchodoletz, Antje; Larsen, Ross A. A.; Gunzenhauser, Catherine; Fäsche, Anika

2015-01-01

Background: Educational processes and outcomes are influenced by a multitude of factors, including individual and contextual characteristics. Recently, studies have demonstrated that student and context characteristics may produce unique and cumulative effects on educational outcomes. Aims: The study aimed to investigate (1) the relative…

Foreign Language Students' Conversational Negotiations in Different Task Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardy, Ilonca M.; Moore, Joyce L.

2004-01-01

This study examined the effect of structural and content characteristics of language tasks on foreign language learners' conversational negotiations. In a 2x2 Greco-Latin square design, degree of structural support of language tasks, students' degree of familiarity with German video segments, and task order were varied. Twenty-eight pairs of…

Student Interests--The German and Austrian ROSE Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elster, Doris

2007-01-01

ROSE (the Relevance of Science Education) is an international comparative study on the factors which influence learning in science. For this study, the interests, opinions and attitudes of young people were polled by using a standardised questionnaire. Initial data, empirically gathered from 1247 students at the end of lower secondary level in…

Competence Beliefs and Perceived Ability Evaluations: How Do They Contribute to Intrinsic Motivation and Achievement?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freiberger, Verena; Steinmayr, Ricarda; Spinath, Birgit

2012-01-01

To study the role of students' competence beliefs and their perceived teachers' ability evaluations for intrinsic motivation and achievement in math, 459 second graders from 27 German classrooms were examined. Students provided self-reports on their intrinsic motivation, competence beliefs and perceived teachers' ability evaluations in math.…

Discursive Construction of Social Presence and Identity Positions in an International Bilingual Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Ute

2017-01-01

This article examines the discursive construction of social presence and identity in a bilingual collaboration between tertiary distance learners of German in New Zealand and Academic English students in Germany. Drawing on positioning theory, this small-scale study investigated the collaborative practices of a group of students, whose synchronous…

The Role of International Student Mobility in Hiring Decisions. A Vignette Experiment among German Employers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petzold, Knut

2017-01-01

By virtue of the internationalisation of economies, international student mobility is considered increasingly important for professional careers. However, most studies focus on the supply-side by using graduate surveys, which face problems of graduates' self-selection. Other studies on employers' opinions often lack rigour analysis and report…

The role of between-parent values agreement in parent-to-child transmission of academic values.

PubMed

Gniewosz, Burkhard; Noack, Peter

2012-08-01

The present study investigates the intergenerational transmission of academic task values within family in early adolescence. Social learning processes are assumed to operate through the students' perceptions of their parents' values. The major goal of this study is to show that this values transmission is facilitated by between-parent value agreement. Based on a longitudinal data set including 1019 German students, their mothers (N = 847), and fathers (N = 733), structural equation models showed significant effects of the parents' task values regarding math and German language as academic subjects on the respective task values reported by the students, mediated through the student-perceived parental values. This transmission chain was only found if the between-parent agreement was high. The results are discussed in terms of parent-specific mechanisms fostering transmission if both parents agree on academic values, such as an improved perceptive accuracy as well as the increased salience and mutual reinforcement of parental messages. Copyright © 2011 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Nursing Internship Internal Medicine: Evaluation and Influences on the Attitude towards the Specialization].

PubMed

Wirkner, Janine; Stracke, Sylvia; Lange, Anja; Dabers, Thomas; Merk, Harry; Kasch, Richard

2017-08-01

Background  German medical students have to perform a nursery internship of three month duration. While this internship is widely discussed, there is a lack of student evaluation data. Objectives  Here, for the first time, student evaluation of a nursery internship in internal medicine (IM) is investigated. Moreover, the question was raised, whether the early experience during this internship may influence students' attitude towards the specialty. Methods  In a nation-wide online-survey, 767 German medical students (mean age 22.8 years; 58 % female) evaluated a nursery internship on an IM ward concerning integration in medical teams, teachers, structure and quality of teaching, and satisfaction. Multivariate comparisons were conducted following the question, whether students could imagine choosing IM for a clinical elective after this nursery internship. Results  71 % of the students felt well integrated in the medical team, most was learned from the nurses, and most students indicated having acquired nursing skills. Only 19 % evaluated the structure of the internship as good, and 40 % indicated that they reached the learning goals. Students who could imagine performing an IM clinical elective (52 %) gave best evaluations on all items. Conclusions  A successful nursery internship can promote students' interest in the specialty of internal medicine. But, there is a strong need for improvement in structure and content, including the, to date missing, definition of learning targets, regarding this first practical experience in medical studies. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Ueber Bild und Rolle zum Sprachhandeln. Ueberlegungen und praktische Beispiele zur Arbeit mit Rollenspiel und Bildergeschichte im Deutschunterricht mit auslaendischen Studenten (On Picture and Role in Language-in-Action. Considerations and Practical Examples of Role-Playing and Picture Stories in Teaching German to Foreign Learners).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loeffler, Renate

1979-01-01

Describes work at an American college with students who are receiving an introduction to colloquial German. Role-playing and picture stories prove useful in learning, in both productive and receptive aspects. Describing a picture on three levels--factual, psychological and contemplative--is shown to be very useful. (IFS/WGA)

Does the 'Teddy Bear Hospital' enhance preschool children's knowledge? A pilot study with a pre/post-case control design in Germany.

PubMed

Leonhardt, Corinna; Margraf-Stiksrud, Jutta; Badners, Larissa; Szerencsi, Andrea; Maier, Rolf F

2014-10-01

The 'Teddy Bear Hospital' is a medical students' project, which has been increasingly established in many countries. To evaluate this concept, we examined the effects of a German Teddy Bear Hospital on children's knowledge relating to their body, health and disease. Using a quasi-experimental pre/post design, we examined 131 preschool children from 14 German kindergartens with pictorial interview-based scales. The analysis of covariance revealed that the children who visited the Teddy Bear Hospital had a significantly better knowledge concerning their body, health and disease than the children from the control group. This German Teddy Bear Hospital is a good health education vehicle for preschool children. © The Author(s) 2013.

Numeracy of multiple sclerosis patients: A comparison of patients from the PERCEPT study to a German probabilistic sample.

PubMed

Gaissmaier, Wolfgang; Giese, Helge; Galesic, Mirta; Garcia-Retamero, Rocio; Kasper, Juergen; Kleiter, Ingo; Meuth, Sven G; Köpke, Sascha; Heesen, Christoph

2018-01-01

A shared decision-making approach is suggested for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. To properly evaluate benefits and risks of different treatment options accordingly, MS patients require sufficient numeracy - the ability to understand quantitative information. It is unknown whether MS affects numeracy. Therefore, we investigated whether patients' numeracy was impaired compared to a probabilistic national sample. As part of the larger prospective, observational, multicenter study PERCEPT, we assessed numeracy for a clinical study sample of German MS patients (N=725) with a standard test and compared them to a German probabilistic sample (N=1001), controlling for age, sex, and education. Within patients, we assessed whether disease variables (disease duration, disability, annual relapse rate, cognitive impairment) predicted numeracy beyond these demographics. MS patients showed a comparable level of numeracy as the probabilistic national sample (68.9% vs. 68.5% correct answers, P=0.831). In both samples, numeracy was higher for men and the highly educated. Disease variables did not predict numeracy beyond demographics within patients, and predictability was generally low. This sample of MS patients understood quantitative information on the same level as the general population. There is no reason to withhold quantitative information from MS patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

German taxi drivers' experiences and expressions of driving anger: Are the driving anger scale and the driving anger expression inventory valid measures?

PubMed

Brandenburg, Stefan; Oehl, Michael; Seigies, Kristin

2017-11-17

The objective of this article was 2-fold: firstly, we wanted to examine whether the original Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and the original Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX) apply to German professional taxi drivers because these scales have previously been given to professional and particularly to nonprofessional drivers in different countries. Secondly, we wanted to examine possible differences in driving anger experience and expression between professional German taxi drivers and nonprofessional German drivers. We applied German versions of the DAS, the DAX, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) to a sample of 138 professional German taxi drivers. We then compared their ratings to the ratings of a sample of 1,136 nonprofessional German drivers (Oehl and Brandenburg n.d. ). Regarding our first objective, confirmatory factor analysis shows that the model fit of the DAS is better for nonprofessional drivers than for professional drivers. The DAX applies neither to professional nor to nonprofessional German drivers properly. Consequently, we suggest modified shorter versions of both scales for professional drivers. The STAXI applies to both professional and nonprofessional drivers. With respect to our second objective, we show that professional drivers experience significantly less driving anger than nonprofessional drivers, but they express more driving anger. We conclude that the STAXI can be applied to professional German taxi drivers. In contrast, for the DAS and the DAX we found particular shorter versions for professional taxi drivers. Especially for the DAX, most statements were too strong for German drivers to agree to. They do not show behaviors related to driving anger expression as they are described in the DAX. These problems with the original American DAX items are in line with several other studies in different countries. Future investigations should examine whether (professional) drivers from further countries express their anger as proposed by the DAX. In addition, professional drivers experience less driving anger (DAS) and less general trait anger (STAXI) than nonprofessional drivers, but they report more driving anger expression (DAX) and more current general state anger (STAXI). Subsequent studies should therefore focus on different types of anger within the group of professional drivers.

Models of "The Heavens and the Earth": An Investigation of German and Taiwanese Students' Alternative Conceptions of the Universe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Shu-Chiu

2005-01-01

The paper reports a cross-cultural investigation conducted in 2001-2002 that seeks to reveal students' alternative ideas in two countries, Taiwan and Germany. It was carried out by means of semi-structured interviews in a story form. The targeted students were arbitrarily selected from grades 3 to 6 in both countries and amounted to 64. The…

Much Ado about €500: Do Tuition Fees Keep German Students from Entering University? Evidence from a Natural Experiment Using DiD Matching Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baier, Tina; Helbig, Marcel

2014-01-01

This paper estimates the effect of tuition fees on enrolment behaviour among prospective students in Germany. According to the rational choice theory (RCT), we argue that due to the higher costs brought on by such fees tuition fees should have a negative effect on student's enrolment. This should be even more pronounced among prospective students…

Different facets of compulsive buying among Chinese students.

PubMed

Li, Shuang; Unger, Alexander; Bi, Chongzeng

2014-12-01

Compulsive buying is a severe phenomenon, especially among younger consumers. It is well documented in Western industrial societies like the USA and Germany, and nowadays an increasing interest in compulsive buying in non-Western countries is on the rise. In the current study, we measured the prevalence of compulsive buying tendencies among Chinese female and male students by using a Chinese translation of the German Compulsive Buying Scale (Raab, Neuner, Reisch & Scherhorn, 2005). We examined the influence of gender, location and age using ANCOVA, and binary logistic regression. Factor analysis identified three factorial dimensions of compulsive buying tendencies which are impairment of impulse control and reactive or compensatory aspects, reduced rationality according to money spending, and post-purchase guilt. Our results indicated that about 6.7% of the sample shows a compulsive buying pattern, and that females are more affected. For location, a geographic difference between Chongqing and Fuzhou was found for the overall compulsive tendencies, but not for the percentages of compulsive buyers. In sum, the existing study provides evidence that Chinese consumers have a factorial structure which differs somewhat in compulsive buying from Western samples. Observations about gender and location were considered. These findings give a deeper understanding of China’s compulsive buying behavior.

[Full-scale simulation in German medical schools and anesthesia residency programs : Status quo].

PubMed

Baschnegger, H; Meyer, O; Zech, A; Urban, B; Rall, M; Breuer, G; Prückner, S

2017-01-01

Simulation has been increasingly used in medicine. In 2003 German university departments of anesthesiology were provided with a full-scale patient simulator, designated for use with medical students. Meanwhile simulation courses are also offered to physicians and nurses. Currently, the national model curriculum for residency programs in anesthesiology is being revised, possibly to include mandatory simulation training. To assess the status quo of full-scale simulation training for medical school, residency and continuing medical education in German anesthesiology. All 38 German university chairs for anesthesiology as well as five arbitrarily chosen non-university facilities were invited to complete an online questionnaire regarding their centers' infrastructure and courses held between 2010 and 2012. The overall return rate was 86 %. In university simulation centers seven non-student staff members, mainly physicians, were involved, adding up to a full-time equivalent of 1.2. All hours of work were paid by 61 % of the centers. The median center size was 100 m 2 (range 20-500 m 2 ), equipped with three patient simulators (1-32). Simulators of high or very high fidelity are available at 80 % of the centers. Scripted scenarios were used by 91 %, video debriefing by 69 %. Of the participating university centers, 97 % offered courses for medical students, 81 % for the department's employees, 43 % for other departments of their hospital, and 61 % for external participants. In 2012 the median center reached 46 % of eligible students (0-100), 39 % of the department's physicians (8-96) and 16 % of its nurses (0-56) once. For physicians and nurses from these departments that equals one simulation-based training every 2.6 and 6 years, respectively. 31 % made simulation training mandatory for their residents, 29 % for their nurses and 24 % for their attending physicians. The overall rates of staff ever exposed to simulation were 45 % of residents (8-90), and 30 % each of nurses (10-80) and attendings (0-100). Including external courses the average center trained 59 (4-271) professionals overall in 2012. No clear trend could be observed over the three years polled. The results for the non-university centers were comparable. Important first steps have been taken to implement full-scale simulation in Germany. In addition to programs for medical students courses for physicians and nurses are available today. To reach everyone clinically involved in German anesthesiology on a regular basis the current capacities need to be dramatically increased. The basis for that to happen will be new concepts for funding, possibly supported by external requirements such as the national model curriculum for residency in anesthesiology.

Teaching the Philosophical Concepts of the Holocaust Issue.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papaleo, Ralph J.

1979-01-01

Examines how social studies and history teachers can help students understand the intellectual origins of German Nazism during World War II. Suggests discussion questions and learning activities. (Author/DB)

[A contribution to the needs assessment of faculty development measures in medical schools].

PubMed

Raupach, Tobias; Spering, Christopher; Bäumler, Christine; Burckhardt, Gerhard; Trümper, Lorenz; Pukrop, Tobias

2009-11-15

In addition to patient care and research activity, physicians working in medical school hospitals serve as teachers in undergraduate medical education. However, teaching qualifications of German university hospital physicians have not been studied in great detail. In January 2009, medical students as well as physicians involved in medical teaching at Göttingen Medical School, Germany, were invited to complete an online survey addressing their views on clinical teachers' educational skills. In addition, physicians' motivation to engage in pedagogical training was assessed. During a 12-day period, 359 students and 126 physicians involved in undergraduate medical education completed the survey. The latter did not feel well prepared for their teaching activities. At the same time, they expressed the willingness to improve their teaching skills. Students felt that, across all instructional methods, teachers would benefit from teacher training programs. In order to improve undergraduate education for future physicians, politicians and local representatives alike must set the scene for the implementation of faculty development measures in German medical schools.

Population-based validation of a German version of the Brief Resilience Scale

PubMed Central

Wenzel, Mario; Stieglitz, Rolf-Dieter; Kunzler, Angela; Bagusat, Christiana; Helmreich, Isabella; Gerlicher, Anna; Kampa, Miriam; Kubiak, Thomas; Kalisch, Raffael; Lieb, Klaus; Tüscher, Oliver

2018-01-01

Smith and colleagues developed the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) to assess the individual ability to recover from stress despite significant adversity. This study aimed to validate the German version of the BRS. We used data from a population-based (sample 1: n = 1.481) and a representative (sample 2: n = 1.128) sample of participants from the German general population (age ≥ 18) to assess reliability and validity. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted to compare one- and two-factorial models from previous studies with a method-factor model which especially accounts for the wording of the items. Reliability was analyzed. Convergent validity was measured by correlating BRS scores with mental health measures, coping, social support, and optimism. Reliability was good (α = .85, ω = .85 for both samples). The method-factor model showed excellent model fit (sample 1: χ2/df = 7.544; RMSEA = .07; CFI = .99; SRMR = .02; sample 2: χ2/df = 1.166; RMSEA = .01; CFI = 1.00; SRMR = .01) which was significantly better than the one-factor model (Δχ2(4) = 172.71, p < .001) or the two-factor model (Δχ2(3) = 31.16, p < .001). The BRS was positively correlated with well-being, social support, optimism, and the coping strategies active coping, positive reframing, acceptance, and humor. It was negatively correlated with somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction, depression, and the coping strategies religion, denial, venting, substance use, and self-blame. To conclude, our results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the German adaptation of the BRS as well as the unidimensional structure of the scale once method effects are accounted for. PMID:29438435

Genomic epidemiology of the Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreaks in Europe, 2011.

PubMed

Grad, Yonatan H; Lipsitch, Marc; Feldgarden, Michael; Arachchi, Harindra M; Cerqueira, Gustavo C; Fitzgerald, Michael; Godfrey, Paul; Haas, Brian J; Murphy, Cheryl I; Russ, Carsten; Sykes, Sean; Walker, Bruce J; Wortman, Jennifer R; Young, Sarah; Zeng, Qiandong; Abouelleil, Amr; Bochicchio, James; Chauvin, Sara; Desmet, Timothy; Gujja, Sharvari; McCowan, Caryn; Montmayeur, Anna; Steelman, Scott; Frimodt-Møller, Jakob; Petersen, Andreas M; Struve, Carsten; Krogfelt, Karen A; Bingen, Edouard; Weill, François-Xavier; Lander, Eric S; Nusbaum, Chad; Birren, Bruce W; Hung, Deborah T; Hanage, William P

2012-02-21

The degree to which molecular epidemiology reveals information about the sources and transmission patterns of an outbreak depends on the resolution of the technology used and the samples studied. Isolates of Escherichia coli O104:H4 from the outbreak centered in Germany in May-July 2011, and the much smaller outbreak in southwest France in June 2011, were indistinguishable by standard tests. We report a molecular epidemiological analysis using multiplatform whole-genome sequencing and analysis of multiple isolates from the German and French outbreaks. Isolates from the German outbreak showed remarkably little diversity, with only two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found in isolates from four individuals. Surprisingly, we found much greater diversity (19 SNPs) in isolates from seven individuals infected in the French outbreak. The German isolates form a clade within the more diverse French outbreak strains. Moreover, five isolates derived from a single infected individual from the French outbreak had extremely limited diversity. The striking difference in diversity between the German and French outbreak samples is consistent with several hypotheses, including a bottleneck that purged diversity in the German isolates, variation in mutation rates in the two E. coli outbreak populations, or uneven distribution of diversity in the seed populations that led to each outbreak.

Genomic epidemiology of the Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreaks in Europe, 2011

PubMed Central

Grad, Yonatan H.; Lipsitch, Marc; Feldgarden, Michael; Arachchi, Harindra M.; Cerqueira, Gustavo C.; FitzGerald, Michael; Godfrey, Paul; Haas, Brian J.; Murphy, Cheryl I.; Russ, Carsten; Sykes, Sean; Walker, Bruce J.; Wortman, Jennifer R.; Young, Sarah; Zeng, Qiandong; Abouelleil, Amr; Bochicchio, James; Chauvin, Sara; DeSmet, Timothy; Gujja, Sharvari; McCowan, Caryn; Montmayeur, Anna; Steelman, Scott; Frimodt-Møller, Jakob; Petersen, Andreas M.; Struve, Carsten; Krogfelt, Karen A.; Bingen, Edouard; Weill, François-Xavier; Lander, Eric S.; Nusbaum, Chad; Birren, Bruce W.; Hung, Deborah T.; Hanage, William P.

2012-01-01

The degree to which molecular epidemiology reveals information about the sources and transmission patterns of an outbreak depends on the resolution of the technology used and the samples studied. Isolates of Escherichia coli O104:H4 from the outbreak centered in Germany in May–July 2011, and the much smaller outbreak in southwest France in June 2011, were indistinguishable by standard tests. We report a molecular epidemiological analysis using multiplatform whole-genome sequencing and analysis of multiple isolates from the German and French outbreaks. Isolates from the German outbreak showed remarkably little diversity, with only two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found in isolates from four individuals. Surprisingly, we found much greater diversity (19 SNPs) in isolates from seven individuals infected in the French outbreak. The German isolates form a clade within the more diverse French outbreak strains. Moreover, five isolates derived from a single infected individual from the French outbreak had extremely limited diversity. The striking difference in diversity between the German and French outbreak samples is consistent with several hypotheses, including a bottleneck that purged diversity in the German isolates, variation in mutation rates in the two E. coli outbreak populations, or uneven distribution of diversity in the seed populations that led to each outbreak. PMID:22315421

[Depression Literacy - German Translation and Testing of the Depression Literacy Scale].

PubMed

Freitag, Simone; Stolzenburg, Susanne; Schomerus, Georg; Schmidt, Silke

2017-12-13

Objective Translation and psychometric testing of a German adaptation of the Australian Depression Literacy Scale. Methods Translation of the Depression Literacy Scale by Griffith et al. (2004) into German and testing for depression literacy in a sample of 229 people with depressive syndrome. Results The investigated sample had a mean age of 49.4 years (18 - 80 years). On average, 51 % of the 22 questions were correctly answered. The scale showed a satisfactory internal consistency with α = .74. The first-time application of the translated D-Lit German scale showed significant differences in subgroup analyzes of sex, age, and education. Hence, women, younger persons and persons with a higher school education reported higher values on the Depression Literacy Scale. Conclusion The translation of the Depression Literacy Scale (D-Lit German) resulted in an easy-to-understand and applicable questionnaire. Items relating to therapeutic and drug-related treatments of depressen were more difficult to answer. The D-Lit scale proved to be a reliable and economic instrument for the investigation of depression literacy. Future studies should include depression literacy in investigations on the demands and help-seeking behaviour of people with depression. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Job stress and job satisfaction of physicians in private practice: comparison of German and Norwegian physicians.

PubMed

Voltmer, Edgar; Rosta, Judith; Siegrist, Johannes; Aasland, Olaf G

2012-10-01

This study examined job satisfaction and job stress of German compared to Norwegian physicians in private practice. A representative sample of physicians in private practice of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany (N = 414) and a nationwide sample of Norwegian general practitioners and private practice specialists (N = 340) were surveyed in a cross-sectional design in 2010. The questionnaire comprised the standard instruments "Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS)" and a short form of the "Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERI)". Norwegian physicians scored significantly higher (<0.01) on all items of the job satisfaction scale compared to German physicians (M 5.57, SD 0.74 vs. M 4.78, SD 1.01). The effect size was highest for the items freedom to choose method (d = 1.012), rate of pay (d = 0.941), and overall job satisfaction (d = 0.931). While there was no significant difference in the mean of the overall effort scale between German and Norwegian physicians, Norwegian physicians scored significantly higher (p < 0.01) on the reward scale. A larger proportion of German physicians (27.6%) presented with an effort/reward ratio beyond 1.0, indicating a risky level of work-related stress, compared to only 10.3% of Norwegian physicians. Working hours, effort, reward, and country differences accounted for 37.4% of the explained variance of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction and reward were significantly higher in Norwegian than in German physicians. An almost threefold higher proportion of German physicians exhibited a high level of work-related stress. Findings call for active prevention and health promotion among stressed practicing physicians, with a special focus on improved working conditions.

The risk of coronary heart disease of seafarers on vessels sailing under a German flag.

PubMed

Oldenburg, Marcus; Jensen, Hans-Joachim; Latza, Ute; Baur, Xaver

2010-01-01

This study aimed to predict the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) among seafarers on German-flagged vessels and to assess the association of shipboard job duration at sea with the risk of CHD. During the legally required medical fitness test for nautical service, 161 seafarers in Hamburg participated in a cross-sectional study which included an interview, blood sampling, and blood pressure measurements (response 84.9%). The predicted 10-year risk of an acute coronary event of the examined German seafarers aged 35 to 64 years (n = 46) was assessed in comparison with a sample of male German employees of the same age working ashore (PROCAM study). The number of independent CHD risk factors (according to the PROCAM study) was compared in the groups with 'shorter' and 'longer' median shipboard job duration at sea (15.0 years). The examined German seafarers had a similar age-standardized predicted 10-year CHD risk as the German reference population. Nearly all independent CHD risk factors were significantly more frequent in seamen with job duration at sea of ≥ 15 years than in those with 〈 15 years. After adjusting for age, the number of CHD risk factors was associated with job duration (OR 1.08 [95% CI 1.02-1.14] per year). Seafarers on German-flagged ships have to attend a medical fitness test for nautical service every 2 years. Thus, it can be assumed that seafarers present a healthier population than employees ashore. In this study, however, CHD risk of seafarers was similar to that of the reference population. This may indicate that working onboard implies a high coronary risk. Furthermore, the study results suggest a tendency of increased risk of CHD among seafarers with longer job duration at sea.

Behavior Modification in Special Education in the Federal Republic of Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barkey, Peter

1977-01-01

West German literature on educational behavior modification is summarized, and empirical studies of behavior modification intervention with special education students at the elementary level are surveyed. (SBH)

"Keine Grenzen fur Frauen": Techniques for Introducing a Feminist Consciousness into the High School German Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Susan A.

1991-01-01

Describes projects, skits, songs, and speeches designed to stimulate student interest in and appreciation of men and women's changing roles in society, helping teachers not only to stress subject matter but also instill in their students a sense of pride, concern for others, and awareness of potential career opportunities. (Author/CB)

Experiences and Coping Strategies of Host Families in International Youth Exchange

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weidemann, Arne; Bluml, Frances

2009-01-01

Twenty narrative interviews were conducted with German host parents between 2006 and 2007 about their experiences with a one-year stay of a guest student in their family. The study took place within the context of a student research project as part of the research-oriented MA course "Intercultural Communication-Intercultural Competence"…

Liebes Tagebuch: Abroad at Last, But Let Me Tell You "auf Deutsch."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duncan, Annelise M.

This paper describes techniques used by a German instructor with American students during a summer abroad program. Learning activities, both in and outside of class, concentrate on writing. The students keep logs and diaries, which force them to be aware of their surroundings and to participate more actively in the life around them. With the…

Primary Discourse and Expressive Oral Language in a Kindergarten Student

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fiano, Darcy A.

2014-01-01

This seven-month ethnographic case study elucidated a kindergarten student's navigation through her first formal schooling experience with relation to expressive oral language. Gee's theory of Discourses and methodology of discourse analysis were used to examine expressive oral language in use. Two discursive contexts germane to…

Using Professional Presentations to Improve Cross-Cultural Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vozza, Victoria Moran

2014-01-01

In this article, I explain how I used my interdisciplinary expertise in a TESOL classroom. The class consisted of 24 high-intermediate students ages 25 to 35, with a 65/35% male-to-female ratio. Of the students, 75% were Spanish speaking, while the remainder consisted of Farsi, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Mandarin, Korean, and German speakers. The…

A New Model for the Financing of Higher Education Institutions by Students and Alumni.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schily, Konrad

2003-01-01

Describes a new model of university funding by German students and alumni. A system of tuition fees was introduced to secure the university's future. Based on the "reversed generation contract" concept, there are three options for payment (payment after graduation based on income, immediate payment, and paying half of the total tuition…

Cybertext Redux: Using Digital Game-Based Learning to Teach L2 Vocabulary, Reading, and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neville, David O.; Shelton, Brett E.; McInnis, Brian

2009-01-01

The essay reports on a mixed-methods study using an interactive fiction (IF) game to teach German vocabulary, reading, and culture to university students. The study measured knowledge retention and transfer, and evaluated the attitudes of students toward the game. The results tentatively indicate that contextualized, immersive role play may have…

Contemporary Cinema in Language Learning: From Linguistic Input to Intercultural Insight

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pegrum, Mark; Hartley, Linda; Wechtler, Veronique

2005-01-01

Foreign-language cinema has generally been relegated to a minor role in language education. This paper reports on and analyses the results of a survey of attitudes towards foreign film among UK university students of French, German and Spanish. The findings reveal students' limited exposure to and relative lack of familiarity with non-anglophone…

Understanding Collaborative Language Learning in Novice-Level Foreign Language Classrooms: Perceptions of Teachers and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Peijian; Yuan, Rui

2018-01-01

This study explored the congruence and disparities among three groups of foreign language (Chinese, French, and German) students' and teachers' perceptions of collaborative/cooperative language learning (CLL) strategies in novice-level classroom contexts. A total of 168 participants from a university in the USA took part in this mixed-method…