Research

In spite of academic reforms aiming at shorter study periods, there are still students exceeding the specified course duration. Thus, it is of great interest for university managers to know where the causes for exceeding the specified course duration can be found, in order to be able to take appropriate measures. In a first sub-project, reasons for exceeding the standard period of study were identified and systematized in order to develop questionnaires for the collection of relevant causes. For this purpose, reasons for long study times emerging from the literature were systematized and categorized. As a further source for the categorization, qualitative data (N = 565) from a student survey...

To which extent do primary school children with and without a migratory background use reading and writing competencies as well as artistic-creative competencies that they have acquired in school in their leisure time? Which behavioral, normative, and control beliefs  predict the extent of leisure reading, writing and artistic-creative activities? The aim of the proposed project is a longitudinal study of these questions. Effects of beliefs, gender and socio-economic status are studied on an individual level. Features of quality of instruction are added on class level. The results of the project are meant to serve as a starting point for the development of measures to support reading, writing and artistic-creative design as leisure activity...

Today, a large number of children and adolescents show deficits in terms of motor-coordination competences. A possible reason is the lower extent of physical activities compared to former generations. Although elementary school age is probably pivotal for establishing habits related to physical activities, this has rarely been studied previously. Starting from the theory of planned behavior, suitable scales were developed and piloted. These scales have been applied in a large-scale longitudinal study on determinants and effects of physical activities in primary school children...