Our Research Activities

We invite you to get to know the diversity of educational research at our university. On this page, we present selected projects that have recently been acquired and provide an insight into structured research and early career programmes. Many of our projects are funded by the DFG, the BMBF and the EU, thereby strengthening our national and international cooperation with numerous partners.

The University of Education offers a range of structured research and early career development programmes in which academic staff conduct research into interdisciplinary issues.

Ongoing Doctoral Programmes

Completed Doctoral Programmes

In the Competence Network for Empirical Research in Education and Teaching (KeBU), colleagues from the fields of educational science, psychology, sociology and many other subject didactics work together with colleagues from the University of Freiburg and the Freiburg University of Music. 

The International Centre for Science Education (ICSE) is an internationally networked research centre with the aim of promoting the development of STEM teaching to prepare students for the 21st century. 

The Centre for Didactic Research on Computer Games (ZfdC) sees itself as an innovative education and research centre that focuses on the potential and possible application scenarios of digital screen media. 

The Research Center for Climate Change Education and Education for Sustainable Development (ReCCE) is a central scientific institution of the University of Education Freiburg for research and teaching in the field of empirical educational research in the fields of climate education (CE) and education for sustainable development (ESD). 

The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Digital Education (CIRDE) has set itself the goal of advancing interdisciplinary research on digital education. 

All research and development projects since 2011 can be researched in the research database. Earlier research activities from the years 2000 to 2011 have been published in research reports: 

The publication activities of members of the University of Education Freiburg are regularly catalogued and published.

Here you will find the publications of the University of Education Freiburg from 2017 to 2020:

Here you will find the publications of the University of Education Freiburg from 2011 to 2016:

Campus

The research profile of the university is focused on empirical and hermeneutic educational research as well as didactic development research.

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Newly Acquired Projects

Communication of Evidence-Based Education for Sustainable Development in Schools

The aim of the KeBNE project, financed by the Ministry of Education and the Stiftung Naturschutzfonds, is to develop and evaluate adaptive, narrative explanatory videos. These videos are to be used in the context of teacher training and made available for self-study.

QuaMath - Algebra and Modelling

QuaMath is a ten-year programme funded by the KMK and run by the German Centre for Mathematics Teacher Education and the IPN. In the Algebra and Modelling sub-project, further training on this topic is being developed and tested for secondary school teachers, and multipliers are being trained accordingly. The research in the project focuses on questions regarding the effectiveness of the further training.

Sustainable Care in Hospitals

In the NapiK project, funded by the ESFplus programme ‘Work in Change’, concrete tools for sustainable development in hospitals are developed, tested and evaluated. In addition, nursing staff are empowered to participate in these processes. The team from the University of Education Freiburg is working together with the Karlsruhe Clinic and the German Hospital Institute.

The Potential of Multidimensional Spatial Exploration for Developing Literary Comprehension Processes in Primary School Students

The Baden-Württemberg Stiftung-sponsored empirical research project MultiVers is investigating the opportunities offered by virtual reality applications for teaching literature at the primary level.

Structured Research and Early Career Programmes

A Focus on Science and Evidence in the Teaching Profession

The aim of the WISE research group is to investigate how the use of subject-specific, educational and didactic knowledge can be systematically and sustainably promoted as a basis for teaching.

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Didactics of Digital Teaching: Digitally Supported Teaching-Learning Settings for Cognitive Activation

The research and training group Di.ge.LL, funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg, develops and evaluates research-based teaching and learning methods using digital tools for use in the classroom.

Health Equity

The Cooperative Doctoral Programme in Health Equity is based at the University of Education Freiburg, the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg and the Catholic University of Applied Sciences Freiburg. It is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.

International Graduate School GFL

The doctoral projects of this DAAD-funded international doctoral programme (joint PhD) are in the field of research ‘German as a Foreign Language’ with a focus on language teaching, classroom interaction, digitalisation and methodology/didactics of German as a foreign language.

Selected BMBF Projects

Scientific Monitoring of the Startchancen Programme

The subject-related competence centre for mathematics supports and scientifically substantiates processes for the further development of mathematics teaching at Startchancen schools and mathematics-related offers from the support systems of the federal states. The Freiburg site focuses on the development, implementation and research of modules for statistical and financial mathematical core competencies.

Learn and Work in the Sustainable Plumbing, Heating and Ventilation Trade

In order to increase learning skills and promote lifelong learning, the learn.SHK project is developing digitally supported ‘(Self-)Learn-SHK’ modules for apprentices and further education participants, a digitally supported tool for learning process support for training personnel, and a digitally supported analysis tool for measuring and reflecting on the development of learning skills.

Strengthening Social Relationships in Inclusive Classrooms

The Sozius project is investigating how the development of unfavourable social structures in school classes can be recognised early on and addressed pedagogically through appropriate measures. To this end, the relationship network of school classes receiving inclusive teaching is analysed using sociometric and psychometric methods over five measurement points from the middle of the 5th grade.

Teacher Training as a Game. Transferring Complex Concepts with Serious Games Using the Example of the BOLIVE Game to Promote Student Achievement in Literature Classes

The BOLIVE-Game project focuses on the development, testing and evaluation of a serious game on the topic of ‘literature mediation’ as a low-threshold, independently implementable continuing education programme for teachers, in order to test new transfer paths between research and education.

Selected DFG Projects

Developing Competence in Comma Placement in Secondary School and University

The KoKoSS project is conducting a pre-post-follow-up intervention study to test the effectiveness of verb-based teaching of the sentence comma in comparison to conventional ‘signal word’ teaching in 5th and 8th grades and in online courses for university students.

Social Effects in Video-Based Online Courses: The Effects of the Visibility of the Lecturer and the Influence of Language Use

The SEvOK project is investigating whether videos should concentrate on the essential visual information (blackboard; PowerPoint) or whether lecturers should be visible in the video. In addition, the lecturer's use of language is to be examined as a moderator variable.

Activation of Prior Knowledge During Problem-Solving Before Instruction

The project investigates the influence of the conceptual diversity of prior knowledge activation on learning in PS-I in experimental studies. Furthermore, the effect of goal type and goal specificity on prior knowledge activation and the resulting learning success is explored.

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Health Literacy in Early Childhood Allergy Prevention

The research group HELICAP (FOR 2959) is investigating the health literacy of parents with the aim of reducing the risk of allergies in children. Two subprojects are based in Freiburg.

Selected EU and Co-Operation Projects

Interpreter Mediated Deaf Education with Signed and Spoken Languages in Primary Schools

The Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership Project IDE investigates success factors and barriers to participation and the experience of inclusion among pupils in primary school classes with language mediation by interpreters into German sign and spoken language. It develops evidence-based teaching and learning materials for (deaf and hearing) students, teachers and interpreters to promote inclusive educational experiences for students.

Service Learning on Sustainability in Textile and Fashion Education

The DAAD-funded project TexUnite promotes the key competencies needed to achieve the SDGs by introducing service learning in textile, clothing and fashion study programmes through project-based seminars. The Virtual Exchange method is used to establish an intercultural exchange between the six European partner universities.

Integrating Primary and Pre-school Virtual Exchange Projects into Language Teacher Education

The Erasmus+ project INVITED aims to promote linguistic and cultural learning in Virtual Exchange (VE) projects at the pre-school and primary school level. Materials for teacher training and professional development are being developed and opportunities for networking and exchange are being created via the Etwinning platform.

Eye Teach Stats

The cooperative EU project ‘Eye Teach Stats: Supporting teachers to diagnose and deal with students’ statistical misinterpretations – innovative teacher training with eye-tracking vignettes’ develops and researches the use of innovative eye-tracking vignettes in teacher training to deal with systematic misconceptions in the field of statistics.

Further current international projects can be found here.