Educational Research and Educational Psychology

The main concern of the Department of Educational Research and Educational Psychology is the study of individual STEM education processes over the lifespan in relation to individual, family, classroom, school and extracurricular factors. The latter also consider school system aspects and are reflected in the department's participation in major international school performance studies such as TIMSS, ICILS, and PISA.

Research in the department contributes to a better understanding of successful educational processes and generates leads to improve educational practice. Although the IPN's thematic focus places the emphasis on science, computer science, and mathematics, the work is not limited to this area alone. Rather, research reflects the insight that the acquisition of mathematical, informational, as well as scientific competencies can be better understood in its interplay with social-emotional characteristics, linguistic competencies in the lingua franca German, and the lingua franca English.

The question of how digital technologies can support teaching-learning processes in the future also plays a major role. In addition to its research services and participation in the major international school assessment studies, the department also provides considerable scientific service and infrastructure. These include test development in the National Education Panel (NEPS) and participation in the Quality Offensive Teacher Education.