University of Hamburg - to research, to teach, to educate and form, to homepage
Faculty of Education
Facultyof Education

Photo: William Iven/unsplash

I. Bildung-theoretical and subject-didactic approach

Starting point:

Dealing with uncertainty must be a central educational goal for any school that seeks to fulfil its legitimizing function for a democratic society committed to the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) and universal human rights. This, in turn, implies that in all subjects we need to look for existing and new forms of teaching and/or conceptions of instruction that take up learning-related irritations in order to induce productive crises or that deliberately stage such irritations.

Uncertainties represent an educational potential—for example, uncertainty regarding

  • how a subject-specific topic or object is to be understood,
  • how contradictions can be resolved, and
  • how to deal with the fact that what was previously regarded as unquestionable can lose its validity in the face of unsettling experiences.

In spaces that are protected by stable relations of recognition and practical solidarity, yet cognitively and emotionally challenging, children and adolescents can gain learning and educational experiences that prepare them to deal productively with uncertainty in life beyond school. To achieve this, both content (didactic level) and forms of enactment/implementation (methodological level) must be considered together.

Research interest:

Our shared research interest focuses on generating uncertainty situations—or deliberately taking them up—in the engagement with subject-specific content in order to trigger educational processes. In this context, the teacher acts as an “initiator of irritation/crisis” and as a guide in dealing with irritation/crisis, while we understand students as shaping agents in dealing with uncertainty.

Research questions:

How does uncertainty relate to the aims of the individual subjects, and which subject-specific contents hold potential for productive uncertainty situations in the classroom (didactic level)?
Which forms of enactment/implementation can be used to realize these aims and contents in subject teaching (methodological level)?
What conditions for success can be reconstructed for “uncertainty-friendly” subject teaching?

Members:

Sort by: