Research
We explore how adult education can be made inclusive, digital and effective.
Services
Digital tools, specialist portals and data – for teachers, researchers, students and interested parties.
Institute
We offer research, transfer and infrastructure for lifelong learning.
Mathematics, natural science and engineering are not among the most favourite learning objectives of either pupils or adults. While they do enjoy a high esteem, they are also perceived as difficult. The authors discuss why this should be so, and give a summary over participation statistics of Volkshochschulen in the past decades, where courses in mathematics, science or technical matters have been on the decline for some time. Against this background, they present aims and methods of their proj…
Contrary to communications scientist Kepplinger’s thesis that public opinion can be significantly influenced by journalism, the author maintains that this influence is not very substantial. Scientific journalism is shown to be relevant in three different ways: the information it conveys may simply be useful, or it may constitute a relevant aspect of our culture, or it may play its par t in decisionmaking. Finally, the author sums up the tasks and gives characteristics of good scientific journal…
Ein historischer Längsschnitt zum Thema Wissenschaft im Dialog und Wissenstransfer vom 18. Jahrhundert bis heute.
Begriffklärungen rund um das Thema Wissenschaft und Dialog.
Historischer Längsschnitt zur Bedeutung eines Begriffs, dessen Geschichte noch sehr jung ist.
Support ist mehr als seine deutsche Übersetzungen „Unterstützung“, „Dienstleistung“ oder „Service“. Eine Begriffsklärung.
In modern society, the production of knowledge is multiplied and taken from the universities who were traditionally dedicated to this task, into the general public. The role of institutions of secondary education changes from diffusing to producing knowledge; teachers representing, in this context, the once-universal authority of science. Against this background, the authors present their DFGfunded project „Wissensgesellschaft. Umgang mit Wissen im Kontext sozialer Welten vor dem Hintergrund de…
The author diagnoses a widening gap between scientific and general public: as political and social estimation of science rises, it vanishes from daily life and is taken into well-funded but not ver y well-known institutions and thus hidden from the view of the public. At the same time, ever-rising numbers of people are confronted with the results of scientific research in their daily lives and thus in a way in intimate contact with science, but at the same time unable to understand its workings…
The author discusses the way in which scientific knowledge and results of research are made public. He questions Gordon Shepherd’s assertion that scientists themselves are best qualified for a transmission of their results to the interested public, and rather makes a case for the expert as a mediator. In order to do so, he identifies the characteristics of science versus expertise, and defines the expert as one who, in addition to the knowledge required, also possesses communicative skill, disc…
