Primary school teachers need adequate professional knowledge and motivational orientations to qualify scientifically and technologically literate students. Previous studies have focused on the impact of coursework on (pre-service) primary teachers’ content knowledge, rather than on the development of academic self-concepts. In addition, the influence of the course format and the major field of study has not been investigated much to this date. Thus, this study examines the effects of an interdisciplinary course on pre-service primary teachers’ content knowledge and academic self-concepts in science and technology using a quasi-experimental, quantitative, pre-post-follow-up design (n = 202). Whilst no significant changes in knowledge were revealed for the baseline group not participating in the course, significant short-term and long-term cognitive gains were found for the experimental group. Biology-, chemistry-, physics- and technology-related self-concepts increased significantly when participating in the course. The results also indicate that the course format and major field of study can have an impact on the development of pre-service teachers’ professional knowledge. Regarding the development of academic self-concepts in the experimental group, it can be assumed that both the weekly and block course format are beneficial for heterogeneous learner groups consisting of pre-service teachers with different major fields of study.

African elephants are capable of discriminating scents up to a single changed molecule and show the largest reported repertoire of olfactory receptor genes. Olfaction plays an important role in family bonding. However, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical data exist on their ability to remember familiar scents long-term. In an ethological experiment, two mother-daughter pairs were presented with feces of absent kin, absent non-kin, and present non-kin. Video recordings showed reactions of elephants recognizing kin after long-term separation but only minor reactions to non-kin. Results give the empirical implication that elephants have an olfactory memory longer than 1 year and up to 12 years and can distinguish between kin and non-kin just by scent. These findings confirm the significance of scent for family bonds in African elephants.

Zusammenfassung: Schüler*innen sind immer weniger von ihren naturwissenschaftlichen Fähigkeiten überzeugt. Um diesem Problem im Kontext naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichts begegnen zu können, gilt es, die auf das naturwissenschaftliche Fähigkeitsselbstkonzept (FSK) wirkenden Faktoren zu identifizieren. Individuelle, soziale und kriteriale Bezugsnormen üben einen nachweisbaren Einfluss auf schulische FSK aus. Welche Bezugsnorm Schüler*innen zur Einschätzung ihres experimentbezogenen FSK heranziehen ist Gegenstand der vorliegenden Studie. Diese wurde mit 169 Schüler*innen der gymnasialen Oberstufe realisiert. Hierzu wurde der FbeFSK (Fragebogen zur Erfassung des bezugsnormbelasteten experimentbezogenen FSK) eingesetzt, welcher – in Orientierung an den Skalen zur Erfassungen des schulischen Selbstkonzepts (SESSKO) – das experimentbezogene FSK in drei bezugsnormbelasteten Skalen (individuell, sozial, kriterial) und einer absoluten Skala erfasst. Dessen Validität wurde faktoranalytisch überprüft und die Reliabilität optimiert. Die resultierenden Skalen wurden in multiplen Regressionsanalysen eingesetzt, um den Einfluss der drei bezugsnormbelasteten Skalen auf das experimentbezogene FSK zu untersuchen. Ein besonders hoher positiver Einfluss des kriterialbelasteten FSK auf das absolute experimentbezogene FSK kann festgestellt werden. Der Vergleich der standardisierten Regressionskoeffizienten zeigt jedoch kaum einen Einfluss der beiden anderen Prädiktoren. Neben der Qualität der Skalen und den Ursachen der Befunde werden Implikationen für die Praxis des naturwissenschaftlichen Experimentalunterrichts diskutiert.

Primary school students often do not have differentiated conceptions of human organs and organ systems. As understanding the inner structure of the human body is an elementary prerequisite for the development of health awareness, appropriate forms of teaching must be developed to modify students’ fragmented preconceptions about the inside of their bodies into scientifically accurate concepts. Anatomical models are considered a medium to raise awareness of organs and their systemic integration; however, only a few studies have investigated their effectiveness in the context of primary school. This intervention study, therefore, examines the effect of anatomical models on the conceptions of inner organs in German primary school students (N = 45) in a pretest, posttest, and follow-up test design with anatomy teaching between pre- and posttests. Concepts were measured using students' drawings in two treatment groups (anatomical models versus anatomical illustrations). While in both treatment groups students' conceptions changed toward more scientific concepts, there was little difference in the changes between the two groups. There were even indications that the students of the control group showed more pronounced increases, for example, in long-term systemic integration of the organs. We discuss the reasons for this and furnish recommendations for effective teaching practices.

African zoo elephants live in safe environments with sufficient resources, are protected from threats, and have their health and body conditions cared for. Calves ex situ undergo the same developmental stages as in situ and are raised by the whole family unit. However, due to environmental differences, there might be behavioral modifications between calves in situ and ex situ. We hypothesize that these differences increase with ongoing generations. This ethological study compares social and general behavior and the distance calves kept to their mothers’ between calves of the first (F1) and second (F2) zoo generation and the wild. Using ethological methods, data were collected for ~90 in situ calves and 16 ex situ (8 F1, 8 F2) between the ages of 0.5 to 4 years (120 observation hours per group). Results showed that in situ calves spent significantly more time close to mothers than the F1 and the F2 zoo generations (F1/in situ: p = <0.001; F2/in situ: p = 0.007). The behaviors of eating, drinking, trunk movement, washing, and affiliative behaviors showed significant differences between in situ and ex situ calves. The amount and distribution of affiliative and agonistic behavior initiated and received by calves was displayed with a greater variety ex situ. Ex situ calves not only performed affiliative but, in contrast to the in situ, also agonistic behavior (F1/in situ: initiated p = 0.002, received p = 0.010; F2/in situ: initiated p = 0.050, received p = 0.037). The comparison of zoo generations suggests that differences did not increase with the generation. The more casual binding between mothers and offspring in zoos and the age-dependent improvement of social behavior of zoo-born calves are seen as a result of elephants’ adaptation to secure zoo conditions. The results of this study agree with the faster development of ex situ African elephants, like earlier puberty and more frequent breeding patterns, as known from the literature.

Students’ causal attributions play an important role in recent studies due to their effects on academic self-concept and performances. Most common causal attributions are students’ ability, effort, task difficulty, and chance. The present study aims at identifying students’ preferred causal attributions of failure and success while experimenting. Therefore, the experimentation-related causal attribution questionnaire was developed and used on a sample of 90 upper secondary school students. Its factorial validity, internal consistencies, as well as the autonomy of its eight subscales—success- and failure-related causal attributions based on students’ ability, effort, task difficulty, and chance in experimentation—were confirmed. Further analyses revealed a gender difference in experimentation-related causal attributions. Girls show less favourable attribution styles than boys in case of both, success and failure. With regard to experimentation-related successes, boys show a higher attribution to ability than girls. Girls are more likely to use luck and a low degree of task difficulty as an explanation for their academic successes in experimental settings than boys. Female students also draw on attributions such as lack of ability and task difficulty to account for their failures. Practical consequences for science education are derived from the findings.