Project Ada*Q
Adaptivity and teaching quality in individualized lessons
The research project “Adaptivity and teaching quality in individualized lessons” (Ada*Q) is part of the Robert Bosch Foundation’s “How does a good school work? – Research for practice” programme. The project investigates how individualized teaching in elementary school is implemented and designed at the schools that have won the German School Award.
The focus of the research interest is the adaptability of teaching. In other words, the aim is to investigate the extent to which teaching concepts of differentiation and individualization can contribute to creating the best possible fit between the lessons offered by the teachers and the individual learning requirements of the pupils. The importance of teaching quality for this fit will also be examined. Teaching quality in terms of the three quality dimensions of classroom management, constructive support and cognitive activation is seen as central to the favorable learning and performance development of students. The empirical results of the project will be discussed and interpreted together with the schools. Upon request, all participating schools will receive personalized feedback on the data collected at their school. The findings will then be made available to other schools and teachers as well as to the wider education community.
In order to incorporate the expertise of the German School Award-winning schools from the outset, interviews will first be conducted with the head teachers of all award-winning schools in the primary sector on the practice of individualized teaching in the 2018/2019 school year. Following this, teaching at selected schools will be examined during the 2019/2020 school year using various survey methods. At the heart of the surveys will be the short surveys of pupils after each lesson over the course of a week using tablet computers and the simultaneous videography of lessons.
