topic Education

SINUS, ChiK and PiKo - Improving teaching of maths and the sciences

Mathematics and the sciences are considered to be difficult subjects. In international comparison, the results of our pupils are average, in mathematics in the bottom half. Yet, there are materials and models for good teaching. The Federal Government and the Länder have therefore launched a transfer programme to bring the results of the SINUS Programme for increasing the efficiency of teaching mathematics and the sciences into all schools nation-wide. Furthermore, the BMBF supports other projects to improve science classes at school.

After five years (1998 - 2003), the BLK pilot project "Increasing Efficiency of Teaching Mathematics and the Sciences (SINUS)" was concluded on 29 April 2003 with a central final event.

15 Länder had participated. Schleswig-Holstein had the lead, while the Leibniz Institute for Science Education (IPN) at Kiel University (head of project Prof. Dr. Manfred Prenzel) acted as project management agency. The State Institute of School Education and Educational Research (ISB), Munich, was subcontractor and cooperated with the chair for mathematics and its didactics at Bayreuth University in the area of mathematic-didactical monitoring.

All in all, 180 schools participated. Six schools each cooperated in a local network (a school-set), while one of the schools had an outstanding position as 'pilot school'. 30 such school-sets were set up nation-wide. On average, about five teachers actively participated in the programme at each school.
The Steering Committee consisted of representatives of the participating Länder. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Baumert was chair of the scientific council.
The SINUS Transfer Programme was launched on 1 August 2003. 13 Länder (with the exception of Mecklenburg West-Pomerania, Saarland, Saxony) participated with 734 schools in the first two-year cycle. The Federal Government and the Länder made available about €10 million.

Once again, Land Schleswig-Holstein shouldered the task of national programme coordination. Schleswig-Holstein charged a working unit of the Institute for Science Education (IPN) at Kiel University under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Prenzel with the programme management and the scientific monitoring (programme management agency). The ISB Munich will be involved in the programme management as subcontractor. The programme management agency establishes a body for programme management which is responsible for all participating Länder and schools.

It is likely that several thousand schools will participate in the second transfer round which is planned for the period 2005 to 2007. The Federal Government will, once again, make a financial contribution.

Furthermore, the BMBF supports other projects with a focus on promoting the interest of children and young people in the natural sciences as well as on improving the quality of teaching in the long term.

Chemistry in Context (ChiK) is a research project funded by the BMBF over the period 2002 to 2005. It deals with the introduction and implementation of innovative teaching concepts. Three main objectives are pursued:

• development and realization of an implementation strategy
• evaluation of the implementation strategy and the teaching concepts
• empirical survey of conditions that facilitate or hamper implementation.

The project is implemented under the leadership of IPN in Kiel in cooperation with Dortmund University and Universität des Saarlandes. School-sets in twelve Länder are participating.

The Physics in Context (PiKo) project is funded by the BMBF over the period 2003 to 2006 and is being implemented by a project group under the leadership of IPN Kiel. Innovative teaching concepts for different school levels within the framework of context-based access to physics and modern technologies are being developed, tested and evaluated. PiKo primarily wants to increase the openness of pupils towards physical and technical issues and reacts with practice-oriented project work to the results of studies such as TIMSS and PISA. Eight Länder are expected to participate in the project, each with one or two school-sets.