work group political didadic

Transformation of State and political education

The research interest of our working team is constituted by the defined problem area "Transformation of State" by the Collaborative Research Center 597 of the University of Bremen. The current political perception describes an asymmetric model of the nation state and diagnoses a multilevel change of the Democratic Constitutional Interventionist State (DCIS) of the 60s and 70s. A change of perspectives towards the importance of everyday perceptions shows that, in everyday beliefs, statehood is not pictured in its full diversity. However, political participation requires a reflective and differentiated perception of political processes.

In order to understand, evaluate and be able to participate in the modern shape of the nation state, the research area as well as the teaching and learning methods concerning "statehood" need to be reconstructed from a point of view which focuses on the methodology and didactics of political education. The theoretical framework of our working team can be specified by the following dissertation projects: 

Internet and political education:

Within the scope of the model of didactical structures, teachers' beliefs about the internet and its relevance for teaching and learning inside the classroom are examined. This aims to find out in which contexts the internet functions as an instrument of political participation under the conditions of statehood. 

Conceptions about changing sovereignty in transformation: 

Also in the context of the model of political structures and processes, this dissertation focuses on the question to which extent the changing concepts about sovereignty are reflected in a teachers' beliefs and how this influences the structure of the teaching of political education. 

Pattern of legitimation of adolescents:

Resulting from political scientific outcomes concerning the legitimation of governmental and non-governmental, which do not always rely on democratic argumentation, analogies to the conception of legitimation of young adults are created and examined by a quantitative survey. 

Expert eye on normative values:

In a qualitative study, didactics and teaching and learning methods are intertwined as well as learning tasks created which establish a political learning environment inside the classroom. This correlation aims to support and understand the formation of pupils' political opinions as mental acts within the framework of the transformation of the state.