Maria Knobelsdorf, University of Dortmund, Germany - Didaktik der ...

“self-concept of ability in Informatics” and “vocational orientation”
(after one year of Informatics lessons) and between
“self-concept of ability in Informatics” and “interest in Informatics”
(regardless of whether or not Informatics lessons
take place).
Contrary to our assumptions no correlations can be determined
mathematically for the girls between “interest in
Informatics” and “vocational orientation” . We’ll have to
wait and see whether this phenomenon can be confirmed in
the surveys at the beginning and the end of the last project
year. If the answer is positive we’ll have to search for the
reasons.
A strong correlation for the girls and a moderate correlation
for the boys between “interest in Informatics” and
“self-concept of ability in Informatics” exists at the level of
significance of p < 1%. The results demonstrate that the
“interest in Informatics” plays a crucial role. In addition the
“self-concept of ability in Informatics” is important for the
girls and correlates strongly with the “vocational orientation”.
Figure 1: Statistically significant correlations between
the examined characteristics after the first
project year
The statistically significant correlations between the examined
characteristics after the first project year are presented
in figure 1. The continuous lines in this figure show
the relationships between the characteristics regarding all
students, the dashed lines only regarding the boys and the
dotted lines display the results regarding only the girls.
The correlation results can not give answers to the question
of whether variable A influences variable B or vice versa.
Therefore further research is required, for example observation
of the teaching-learning situations from the perspectives
of teachers and learners. For the verification of the positive
outcomes of the InTech-project we have to compare classes
that have Informatics lessons with classes that do not.
7. CONCLUSIONS
We can summarize the following results after the first
project year:
• The Informatics lessons are perceived to be more student-oriented.
Consequently the competence of the
teachers and thereby the quality of the Informatics
lessons seem to increase.
• “Student-orientation” correlates positively and significantly
with the “interest in Informatics”, the “selfconcept
of ability in Informatics” and the “vocational
orientation regarding Informatics”after the first project
year. These and further correlations are presented in
figure 1.
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• Regarding the girls, the “interest in Informatics”, the
“vocational orientation regarding Informatics” and the
“self-concept of ability in Informatics” increase.
It is surprising and of course encouraging that the girls’
“interest in Informatics” significantly increased contrary to
the trend in science subjects like chemistry. Consequently
they should get the opportunity to learn Informatics in the
middle grades to enable them to discover possible interests
in technical fields.
According to the findings of Downes and Looker (2011,
see [5], 191) home use and home-based ability belief regarding
Informatics are indirectly related to the variable to take
up CIT subjects (the second factor for the boys directly).
Therefore the acquisition of knowledge about the functional
principles and utilisation of information systems should not
depend on coincidences such as social or regional origin, but
should instead be part of general education. The subject
of Informatics is well-suited as an introduction to a general
technical education, as the required equipment and facilities
are already in place at schools. With the help of the published
experiences of the InTech-schools explaining how to
introduce the subject Informatics and offering the existing
teaching material, more schools can start offering the subject
Informatics in the middle grades. And thus the number of
highly qualified graduates in technical professions and study
courses could increase. So far we can call the implementation
of InTech a success.
8. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The realization of the project InTech was only possible
with the support of many different people. At this point we
would like to thank Eckart Modrow (Georg-August-Universität
Göttingen), Vera Reineke, Astrid Tengen and Gudrun
Köppen-Castrop (Niedersächsisches Kultusministerium), Peter
Golinski (Arbeitgeberverband NORDMETALL), Natascha
Clasen and Sabine Stöhr (VME-Stiftung Osnabrück-
Emsland), Andreas Breiter (ifib - Institut für Informationsmanagement
Bremen GmbH), Ilka Parchmann (IPN - Leibnitz-Institut
für die Pädagogik der Naturwissenschaften und
Mathematik in Kiel), and last but not least all participating
teachers and their schools.
9. REFERENCES
[1] Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (Hrsg.).
Berufsorientierung. Version: 2012. demand:
30.04.2012. http://www.good-practice.de/3337.php.
[2] I. Diethelm. Wie forschend-entdeckendes Lernen
gelingen kann - Forschendes und entdeckendes Lernen
im Kontext zum Thema Datenschutz, Internet und
Urheberrecht. LOG IN, (168):28–34, 2011.
[3] I. Diethelm, C. Hildebrandt, and L. Krekeler.
Implementation of computer science in context - a
research perspective regarding teacher-training. 9th
Koli Calling International Conference on Computing
Education Research, Finland, pages 96–99, November
2009.
[4] I. Diethelm, J. Koubek, and H. Witten. IniK -
Informatik im Kontext - Entwicklungen, Merkmale
und Perspektiven. LOG IN, (169/170):97–105, 2011.
[5] T. Downes and D. Looker. Factors that influence
students’ plans to take computing and information