Phase models in human geography between scientific quality and everyday plausibility - Analysis of the empirical evidence and reception of selected models and reconstruction of the orientations of teachers (Mod.Ori)

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Diller; Professor Dr. Janis Fögele; Professor Dr. Rainer Mehren
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning ; Human Geography
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 491893808

In the field of urban geography, some models have been established for years that appear plausible at first glance because they seem to accord with everyday observations, but which do not withstand a more precise empirical examination, especially with regard to their generalizability. Even in relatively well-examined research fields such as gentrification research, there is a lack of meta-analysis of research conceptions and approaches. Against this background, the present project aims to compare the international state of scientific discourse from a scientific point of view using four selected phase models from human geography as examples. This tension between intuitive plausibility and empirical evidence unfolds a didactic problem, too. For learners, models are essential for the acquisition of flexible, transferable and applicable knowledge. The reflected application of models can open doors to an understanding of science by promoting a differentiated understanding of a scientific way of thinking and working. In teaching, however, the use of models is usually limited as an illustrative medium. Therefore, the tension between the two is hardly discussed in the classroom, which contributes to a lack of model competence of the learners. It has been shown that this model application is connected with implicit orientations of teachers as part of the professional habitus, which are decisive for the actual practical implementation of subject/content knowledge and didactic knowledge. For research in subject-matter teaching and learning, empirical findings are available on what characterises model competence, but at the same time there is a central research gap as to which habitual patterns (guiding orientations) about teaching and learning on and with models of teachers determine the development of an elaborate understanding of models. Accordingly, the study consists of two consecutive project-phase. In Phase I the aim is to determine the empirical evidence of selected phase models. In this context, the international literature will be systematically analysed in depth and the resulting findings, challenges and perspectives will be discussed with experts for these models in individual interviews and workshops. In Phase II the focus is put on teachers. On the basis of group discussions, the participants' guiding orientations with regard to the use of models in class will be reconstructed as a habitual framework, which is essential for the use of scientific findings on geographical phase models on the one hand and didactic concepts for the promotion of model competence of learners on the other.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants