New Perspectives in Science Education

The pedagogical-psychological construct of diagnostic competence has a strong practical relevance, as adaptive instructional designs are impossible without knowledge of a specific group’s performance and learning requirements (McElvany et al., 2009, p. 223). Accordingly, the ability to assess accurately should have a positive impact on students' learning growth (Kaiser, Südkamp & Möller 2017, p. 876). Therefore, it is of paramount importance to assess teachers’ and teacher students’ diagnostic competencies in a scientifically sound manner. In the field of empirical educational research, diagnostic competencies are measured by determining the level of agreement between a teacher's judgement of a specific characteristic of a student’s performance and the student’s test performance. In our study, we address the question of the extent to which pre-service teachers of chemistry are able to accurately assess simulated students’ performances when also having to use person-based judgements and task-based judgements (see Schrader 1989, p. 57). A particularly objective and authentic assessment of diagnostic competencies can be achieved using the Simulated Classroom, a digital tool for simulating communication between students and teachers (Südkamp 2010; Bolte et al. 2011). As part of our research, we constructed the Simulated Chemistry Classroom (SiCC), a chemistry-specific simulated. In the SiCC the participants (pre-service chemistry teachers) communicate with simulated students by asking them questions or giving them tasks. Depending on a previously determined motivational parameter, several simulated students raise their hands. When being called upon, a student responds according to their previously set performance parameter. After a certain amount of time the participants of our study judge the simulated students’ chemistry-related performances and their motivation. Based on the participants’ judgements and the simulated students’ performance parameters, the accuracy of the participants’ judgments can be determined. In our contribution, we will introduce the Simulated Chemistry Classroom and present relevant findings regarding the diagnostic competencies of pre-service chemistry teachers.

Keywords Diagnostic Competencies, Simulated Classroom, Pre-service Teachers

References (1) Bolte, C., G. Koeppen, J. Moeller, A. Suedkamp (2011): Diagnostic competencies of pre-service teachers analysed by means of the Simulated Science Classroom. Proceedings of the European Science Educational Research Association (ESERA), Lyon, France, September 2011.
(2) Kaiser, Johanna, Anna Südkamp, and Jens Möller. “The Effects of Student Characteristics on Teachers’ Judgment Accuracy: Disentangling Ethnicity, Minority Status, and Achievement.” Journal of educational psychology 109.6 (2017): 871–888. Web.
(3) McElvany, Nele. “Diagnostische Fähigkeiten von Lehrkräften Bei Der Einschätzung von Schülerleistungen Und Aufgabenschwierigkeiten Bei
Lernmedien Mit Instruktionalen Bildern.” Zeitschrift für pädagogische Psychologie 23.3-4 (2009): 223–235.
(4) Schrader, F.-W. (1989). Diagnostische Kompetenzen von Lehrern und ihre Bedeutung für die Gestaltung und Effektivität des Unterrichts. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (p. 57).
(5) Südkamp, A. (2010). Diagnostische Kompetenz: Zur Genauigkeit der Beurteilung von Schülerleistungen durch Lehrkräfte. Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophischen Fakultät der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.