Besuch aus Taiwan am IPN: Im Gespräch mit Prof. Dr. Hsin-Mei Huang
Unter dem Namen TaiGer wurde bereits 2016 von der Abteilung Didaktik der Mathematik am IPN ein Forschungsnetzwerk initiiert, in dem Kooperationspartner aus Deutschland und Taiwan daran forschen, wie sich die unterschiedlichen Kulturen und Bildungstraditionen der zwei Länder auf die mathematischen Kompetenzen der Schüler:innen auswirken.
Eines der Projekte aus dem Forschungsnetzwerk befasst sich zum Beispiel mit dem Schätzen von Längen im Mathematikunterricht der Grundschule und der Frage, inwiefern Unterrichtstraditionen und Curricula einen Einfluss auf die Kompetenz des Längenschätzens von Grundschüler:innen haben. Kooperationspartnerin des IPN ist in diesem Fall Prof. Dr. Hsin-Mei Huang von der University of Taipei, die Prof. Dr. Aiso Heinze und Kristin Litteck von der Abteilung Didaktik der Mathematik am IPN im vergangenen Jahr in Taiwan besucht haben. Frau Prof. Dr. Huang ist nun nach Kiel gekommen und wird sich die Forschung am IPN anschauen, die Zusammenarbeit im gemeinsamen Projekt vorantreiben und Kolleg:innen kennenlernen, die sie bisher nur aus der Entfernung gesehen hat.
Wir haben bei der Gelegenheit mit Frau Prof. Dr. Huang gesprochen und sie zu ihrer Rolle im Projekt, zentralen Erkenntnissen aus dem Kooperationsprojekt sowie ihren Eindrücken von Kiel befragt (Interview in Englisch):
IPN: Prof. Dr. Huang, welcome to Kiel! One of your research areas deals with how elementary school students learn to estimate lengths accurately. What sparked your interest in this particular field of research?
Prof. Dr. Hsin-Mei Huang: Thank you, I am happy to be here at the IPN! The main purpose of this visit is to meet and discuss with Prof. Dr. Aiso Heinze for exchanging ideas regarding the current Taiwanese-German project on textbook analyses for the topic length measurement and estimation. The goal is to compare German and Taiwanese textbooks for elementary school mathematics.
IPN: How did the cooperation between IPN Kiel and University of Taipei come about?
Prof. Dr. Hsin-Mei Huang: The cooperation between IPN Kiel and University of Taipei started in 2016. Several research outcomes were published in journals or international conferences from 2018 to 2023. Currently, cooperative studies on textbooks analyses and teachers’ pedagogical knowledge on length measurement and estimation between Germany and Taiwan are undertaken through working with other team members, including one from University of Frankfurt and another one from University of Lüneburg. In addition to the cooperative research mentioned above, Prof. Dr. Aiso Heinze was invited as a keynote speaker for sharing his work on textbook analyses at the “2023 Symposium on Learning Materials and Instructional Innovation: Learning Materials in Interdisciplinary Development and STEAM/STEM Education” on May 12th, 2023 at University of Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
IPN: Based on your findings from the project so far: What key differences or similarities in length estimation skills have you and your German partners been able to identify between Taiwanese and German students? What do you think might be the reason for those?
Prof. Dr. Hsin-Mei Huang: In brief, the key similarities in length estimation skills of Taiwanese and German students, based on the findings from the project* so far, include: (a) students are able to make good use of body parts as reference points for estimating lengths, and (b) students’ estimation performance may be affected by the size of the to-be-estimated objects and whether the to-be-estimated objects are touchable or not. Taiwanese and German Students tended to perform better in a situation involving small objects, such as shorter/smaller than 12 cm, than a situation involving large-sized objects, such as longer/bigger than 15 cm (but within 100 cm). The key difference in length estimation skills of Taiwanese and German students may be the skill of using reference points mentally, particularly in situations in which the to-be-estimated objects are large but not touchable. Taiwanese students performed better than German students in the following two estimation situations: one involving small-sized objects that were touchable and untouchable, and the other one involving large-sized and touchable objects. In contrast, German students performed better than Taiwanese students in the estimation situation in which the objects are large but not touchable.
I think the reasons for the similarities and differences mentioned above could be resulted from students learning experience in school. German teachers tend to stress greatly on constructing knowledge of the lengths of body parts and objects that can be used as personal reference points (benchmarks) mentally while estimating lengths. German teachers are incline to highlight the importance of using mental ruler while estimating lengths of daily objects because such skills can be effective for various situations no matter how the to-be-estimated objects are visual/not visible and touchable/not touchable.
IPN: What implications for educational practice do your research findings have for mathematics teaching in Taiwan?
Prof. Dr. Hsin-Mei Huang: I think that teachers highlight the importance of constructing knowledge of benchmarks and mentally use it may be one essential factor for improving students’ skills in length estimation, specifically in a situation which the to-be-estimated objects are large and not touchable. Although instruction of length estimation is provided in mathematics classrooms in Taiwanese elementary schools, encouraging students to construct knowledge of benchmarks and using it as mental rulers, like German teachers do, should be emphasized more in classroom teaching in Taiwan.
IPN: Is this your first visit to Germany? If so, what surprised you the most?
Prof. Dr. Hsin-Mei Huang: This is the sixth visit to Germany. Take an example of mathematics classroom observation in one elementary school in Frankfurt, what surprised me the most is that the students explored mathematics in the classroom while doing tasks requested by their teacher, and then they moved to sit at a so called “discussion plaza” which is in front of the blackboard, and they shared and discussed what they found and thought with teachers and students. This is quite a good approach for having students concentrating on sharing and discussing mathematics tasks.
* Hoth, J., Heinze, A., Huang, H.-M. E., Weiher, D. F., Niedermeyer, I., & Ruwisch, S. (2023). Elementary school students’ length estimation skills: Analyzing a multidimensional construct in a cross-country study. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 21(6), 1841-1864. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-022-10323-0
