Abstracts
Andreas Fischer: Economic Education and constructivist didactics (JSSE 2-2004)
Against the background of constructivist theories, this article is on the lookout for complex teaching-learning arrangements and participant-activating methods for economic education as well as it investigates didactic models that are part of the didactic discourse since the 1970s. Among other things, the didactic principle of the hands-on approach is being analysed critically. It is emphasized that didactic concepts centre on intervening measures of teachers that understand learning as a process directed from the outside and see contents to be imparted as an objectively given structure. The writer argues for economic didactics as a scientific discipline to examine the different existing approaches and forms to design didactic concepts / theories that help in explaining teaching situations in economic classes from a constructivist perspective. In its role as a service provider economic didactics should make recommendations on broadening teacher and learner activities to enable self-responsibility and individuality of the single person.
Gerhard Gerdsmeier: Learning tasks for self-directed learning in economic classes (In German, JSSE 2-2004)
This article discusses questions about appropriate task formats and their curricular-substantial construction as well as implications for teacher qualification. Different types of tasks (decision tasks, exploring tasks, analysing tasks, assessing tasks, interpretation tasks, hermeneutic tasks and creative tasks) are being discussed. In the framework of this article it is concluded that decision tasks are dominant in economic classes. These different types of tasks are characterized by different formats. This is to say that a task as a model of reality can be well- so to say "completely-" structured or ill- so to say "partly-" structured. Oftentimes ill-structured tasks enable learners to understand structures during their operating process. On this account, the writer argues for a more open process and more space for higher complexity and self-directed learning. For this purpose teachers have to manage creativity, framing and application problems for a reasonable task conception.
Britta Goeckede: What would you decide on? Decision tasks in economic classes at business schools – a didactical analysis with regard to self-directed learning (In German, JSSE 2-2004)
Presently, self-directed learning is an important demand in the educational and didactical discourse. Implementing tasks in class is a way to involve students actively. This article discusses the question to what extent two selected exemplary tasks used in economic classes enable learners to self-direct their solution-finding-process. The special nature of both tasks only allows solutions in the form of economic decisions, which means that the solution-finding-process is a decision-making-process. This investigation discusses what a complete and ideal decision-making-process proves to be. This knowledge will then provide a basis for evaluating the tasks in terms of to what extent the learners perform this decision-making-process while they are working on it. Finally, the so called "decision tasks" are analyzed on the criteria of complexity and openness to make a statement about the impact of internal and external control. In the framework of this text analysis, we arrive at the conclusion that the tasks taken into consideration allow self-directed processing only in small parts, but an opening seems to be possible while they are being used in class.
Rolf Dubs: Instructive or constructive teaching approaches in economic education? (JSSE 2-2004)
Even if the polarizing discussion about instructive and constructive teaching approaches is widely overcome, some misapprehensions still seem to distort the discourse. Thereby thesis, like the future of teaching would only lie in self-directed, process-oriented, casuistic and interdisciplinary learning (predominantly constructivist paradigms) and instructed, product-oriented, systematic and discipline-oriented instructive teaching and learning would be replaced, emerge. This absoluteness is challenged in this article.
Possibly the trend towards "moderate constructivism" alludes to which one of both approaches will succeed in future. Though hands-on and self-directed learning in complex problem situations plays a central role in constructivist theories, because it opens ranges of options and contributes to a holistic understanding of coherences, this type of learning still requires a certain amount of instructed knowledge. Self-directed learning therefore excludes a completely independent process of content and goal setting by learners in order that education does not get lost in arbitrariness. Here, instruction is not understood as decided tutorial for teaching and learning, but teacher-conducted stimuli that are supposed to assist the formation of significant knowledge and the process of gaining competencies.
Horst Siebert: Social constructivism – society as construction (In German, JSSE 2-2004)
Constructivism is a theory of cognition based on the science of neurons that emphasizes the operational closeness and structure determination of the human perception and thinking processes. Learning as well is a self-acting, creative construction of knowledge. The learning process can be activated, but not directed by teaching efforts. The construction of knowledge is not only an individual mental process. On the one hand society itself constructs knowledge, on the other hand society is a result of constructions. The social constructivism, as conceived by P. Berger, T. Luckmann, J. Searle, K. Gergen, is especially inspiring for social science education. A differentiation between different forms of construction is suggested: reconstruction, deconstruction, self-construction, co-construction.
Peter Bendixen: The backward world of economists – a dilemma of perception (In German, JSSE 2-2004)
Human acting has the form of a cycle that encloses phases of sensual perception and cognitive processing as mental efforts and phases of physical intervention in the world of things. Every acting, as well economic acting, is mentally prepared. Acting is subject to conditions of the physiology and psychology of thinking and engraved pictorial recollections of memory shaped by former experiences. Figures emanate that ought to be carried out. The traditional economy has closed itself to this wide, culturally affected cycle of thinking and acting and focuses on the mechanics of optimal arrangements of things, the so called production factors. Modern economic thinking has to open itself to the broad scope of its cognitive object and understand intellectual powers as the basics of economy.
Bärbel Völkel: "What is my part in it?" – the importance of constructivism for historical-political learning in school (In German, JSSE 2-2004)
The article at hand assumes that deprecating utterances of students with regard to history and politics classes could be a sign of a deficit of legitimization.
Furthermore the writer hypothesizes that students are willing to deal with historical and political matters if they are able to derive an "active shaping of a sustainable path of life" (see Jung 2001, 17).
In this context the importance of history as a historical social science is reflected. If we manage to enlarge the range of primary experiences of present with the secondary experiences of history it will be possible to construct "a tradition of acting". Consequently, changes can be perceived and ascribed to the acting of people in periods. According to this background, a more intensive cooperation between the social reference sciences history and politics seems to be preferable and essential.
The cognitive model of constructivism composes the theoretical reference frame of the considerations at hand.
(c) 2005 sowi-online e.V., Bielefeld
Editor of JSSE 2-2004: Andreas Fischer
WWW-Presentation: Norbert Jacke
Processing: Saad eddine Fidaoui
URL: http://www.jsse.org/2004-2/abstracts.htm
Publishing date: 2005/02/24
Corrections: 21.03.2005