Wissenschaftsdidaktik

Science as an object of teaching and learning as well as the connection between research, teaching and study are relevant characteristics of didactic action at universities. University teachers are also researchers, and it is no coincidence that we call learners students, because learning in the sense of studying also differs from learning in other educational contexts. The term didactics of science expresses this well. Science didactics is based on a didactic moment in science, which is characterised by the fact that there is a necessary relationship or interaction between knowledge and communication: Science is dependent on communication to the specialised community; likewise, it communicates to the public and - in teaching - to novices. Closely linked to communication is critical reflection as a further constitutive feature of science. Against this background, a synergy between (a) academics as experts for the subject matter and for the enculturation space in teaching, (b) subject didacticians for the transformation of scientific knowledge into teachable knowledge and (c) higher education researchers for the coupling of teaching and learning/studying is necessary.

• Science didactics is a field of research at the HUL that we are currently pursuing through several small projects with our own funds (e.g. book series on science didactics) and which we intend to advance in the future with further third-party funding (e.g. preparatory project on science didactics).
  

• However, academic didactic research can also take place outside of institutionalised higher education research: Within the framework of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), the academic examination of one's own teaching, academics from all disciplines can themselves reflect on the connections between research, teaching and studying, enter into a theoretical discussion on teaching or empirically research teaching and learning. Approaches to this are currently being pursued in the DDLitLab project (in cooperation with the HUL).

• Projects of this kind can also benefit if they are implemented in cooperation with higher education researchers. At the HUL, we support SoTL projects on request and can also enter into SoTL collaborations (to a limited extent).