Educational Sciences

Psychology is represented in all its subdiscip­lines at the Institute of Psychology. The focus of activities is on diverse educational science research topics. At the centre of Prof. Annette Boeger’s research group is the project funded by the Center for Higher Education Development and Quality Enhancement, “E-learning in teacher training”, in which new lecture formats are being developed. Other research includes studies on motivation among teaching students, improving study skills on teacher training programmes, and job satisfaction among teachers. The central topic in the research group of Prof. Annemarie Fritz-Stratmann is the development of diagnostic techniques and training to identify numeracy problems and support affected children and young people. In cooperation with the University of Johannesburg, the MARKO-D mathematics test for pre-school children was translated into four South African languages and validated. Instructional psychology is the focus of educational research in Prof. Detlev Leutner’s group, with a special emphasis on learning with multimedia, self-regulated learning, problem-solving and teacher competencies. The research group welcomes the new DFG Research Unit on success in MINT (mathematics, informatics, ­natural sciences and technology) programmes (FOR 2242), which is jointly coordinated by Detlev Leutner. More than 20 contributions were made by members of the research group to international conferences and symposia. In Prof. Marcus Roth’s group, the current focus of research is on self-­regulation in relation to empathy among employees in social professions. A training programme on the subject was developed and implemented in an extensive evaluation study. A further central interest in the group is analysis of the determinants in personality psychology of stress awareness and processing among school students. The research group of Prof. Gisela Steins focuses on the relevance of and changes in the quality of relationships in education and childcare. One priority was research into the social processes (acceptance, resistance) in a quality analysis in schools, which was conducted as part of a cooperation project with the NRW Ministry for School and Further Education and is to be extended further in the future. Other research topics include the effectiveness of the guidance and support services of the City of Essen for parents and children and an analysis of conditions that are beneficial to the development of school children in need of emotional and social support. Prof. Lisa von Stockhausen’s research group is chiefly concerned with language processing and the cognitive effects of mindfulness. In its psycholinguistic research, the group is exploring the influence of gender stereotypes on cognitive processing of formal language features. It is working with the research group of Prof. Silja Bellingrath on a mindfulness project funded by the Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR), in which children of a grade 5 class received training in mindfulness techniques. A further priority of the Bellingrath group is on stress in the teaching profession. The focus here is on biological and psychological determinants of dealing with chronic stress and the consequences of differences in stress regulation on cognitive performance.