One method for improving the appeal of instruction is found in Christopher Alexander’s work on architectural design patterns. In this qualitative research study, student comments on teacher/course evaluation forms were analyzed to generate six instructional design patterns. The teacher enthusiasm pattern encourages teachers to show (a) increased scholarship and enthusiasm towards the subject matter, (b) genuine concern and enthusiasm towards the students, and (c) mastery of and enthusiasm towards the act of teaching. The balanced curriculum pattern recommends that teachers (a) determine the appropriate depth or breadth of subject matter and communicate it to the students, (b) create a balanced schedule of activities, assignments, and tests, and (c) provide a variety of subject matter topics, instructional strategies, and media delivery technologies. The clear and appropriate assessments pattern directs teachers to (a) communicate the learning objectives related to each assessment, (b) ensure assessment methods are appropriate measures of the objectives, and (c) use fair criteria in grading and administering the assessments. The authentic connections pattern asks teachers to (a) help students understand the connections between the subject matter content and the world of work, (b) promote interpersonal connections between students through instruction and group work, as well as facilitate teacher-student connections by dealing with students honestly and fairly, and (c) encourage students to look at connections that go beyond workplace application and help students become better people. The flow of time pattern recommends that teachers (a) help students plan out their schedules for various time periods, and (b) synchronize the flow of instructional events with the flow of events occurring in the students’ personal lives. Finally, the negotiation and cooperation pattern encourages teachers to apply the processes of negotiation and cooperation to solve problems related to (a) the students’ lack of a sense of freedom, power, or control, (b) the conflict within the students or within the social order of the class, and (c) the general absence of a self-supporting, self-maintaining, and generating quality in the instruction. These six instructional design patterns may be used by teachers to increase the appeal of instruction in higher education settings.

What do history teachers teach about? How do they represent it? Why do they choose to teach the way they do? The main purpose of this study is to analyse what teaching patterns and strategies history teachers in lower secondary schools use in their history teaching for pupils aged 13-16. An additional aim is to get hold of how teachers transform their knowledge and experiences into history teaching. The results are then compared to previous research concerning teaching strategies for history teachers in upper secondary schools. The language the teachers use when they talk about their teaching is also compared to the language found in the field of history didactic research.   Through interviews with five experienced history teachers in two different school contexts their own speech about what they regard as the aim of the teaching of history, what they choose to teach about and what methods they use in history teaching make the foundation for this empirical study. It is the teachers’ words about their own practice, i.e. the thought processes of experienced teachers that are in focus.   Although the study is based on the method of semi-structured qualitative interviews and in some aspects can be regarded as a Grounded Theory study, one theoretical point of view is developed from the thoughts around transformation of the subject history. It concerns how the teachers approach history teaching and what factors the teachers talk about as the main factors of influence.   The study shows both similarities and differences between the teachers’ teaching patterns and strategies as well as between the teachers at lower secondary schools compared to those who teach at upper secondary schools. There seem to be individual patterns for each teacher where their subject matter competence alongside with their personal experiences and interest for the subject history are factors that seem to influence the way the teachers teach. The pupils are one main factor that seems to be important for the teachers in lower secondary schools, as is the use of the national curriculum when planning their teaching. Concerning transformation the question about what methods to use is observed to be the most central. The didactic why, what and how-questions in history teaching are found to be intertwined, and together they build what can be viewed as a teacher’s subject didactic teaching pattern. There are only hints that some of the teachers have developed more sustainable and consequent strategies for their history teaching. One result is that teachers, although they in some sense talk about historical didactic concepts, lack a historical didactic vocabulary to talk about their teaching. / Baksidestext Vad väljer historielärare att undervisa om, vilka metoder används och varför gör lärarna de val de gör? I denna studie intervjuas fem erfarna högstadielärare i två olika skolkontexter. Lärarnas tal om vilka mål, vilket innehåll och vilka metoder som har varit mest centrala under deras senast genomförda historieundervisning ligger till grund för en beskrivning och tolkning av den didaktiska processen där lärare omformar sina ämneskunskaper och erfarenheter till konkret undervisning. De termer och begrepp lärarna använder när de talar om sin historieundervisning är liksom de omformningsfaktorer som påverkar lärarna i den didaktiska processen också av intresse. Resultatet visar att lärarna har funnit särskilda sätt att hantera skolämnet historia vilka kan betraktas som en lärares undervisningsmönster eller, i de fall där mönstret är mer varaktigt och sammanhållet, kan benämnas undervisningsstrategi. Studiens resultat visar både likheter och skillnader mellan lärarna, samt i jämförelse med tidigare studier av gymnasielärares undervisningsstrategier. Det språk lärarna använder liknar snarare den vokabulär som syns i läroplaner och läroböcker än det språk som används i historiedidaktisk forskning.

Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien bieten heute neuartige Möglichkeiten für den Unterricht. Die didaktisch ertragreiche Nutzung dieser neuen Medien verlangt allerdings die Veränderung sowohl der Organisation wie auch der Methoden und Rollen des Lehrens und Lernens, die, wie empirische Studien zeigen, bei großen Teilen der Lehrerinnen und Lehrer noch aussteht. Zielstellung dieser explorativen Studie ist die Entwicklung und empirische Überprüfung eines Lehrerfortbildungskonzeptes, das eine nachhaltige Veränderung des unterrichtlichen Handelns bewirken kann. Im theoretischen Teil der Arbeit werden zunächst mediendidaktische Erkenntnisse diskutiert und daraus der inhaltliche Ansatz der Fortbildung, die Umsetzung einer problemorientierten Lernumgebung mit neuen Medien im Fach Englisch entwickelt. Die Ursachenanalyse der bestehenden didaktischen Defizite im Unterricht mit neuen Medien aus Sicht der professionswissenschaftlichen Forschung zum Lehrerwissen und -handeln zeigt die Veränderungsresistenz unterrichtlicher Routinen, aufgefasst als Unterrichtskripts, auf. Hier setzt die Fortbildung methodisch mit einem dreischrittigen Verfahren an, das den Erwerb neuen Wissens mit dessen praktischer Erprobung und Reflexion verbindet. Dem empirischen Teil der Arbeit liegt ein Prä-Post-Untersuchungsdesign zugrunde, zu denen die unterrichtlichen Handlungsmuster der Lehrpersonen als Niederschlag ihrer Unterrichtsskripts im Fremdbeurteilungsverfahren erfasst werden. Die Analyse der Veränderung auf Gruppenebene mit quantitativen Verfahren und die Auswertungen auf Ebene der einzelnen Lehrpersonen mittels typisierender Verfahren zeigen eine Hinwendung zu einem problemorientierten Lehren und Lernen sowohl im Hinblick auf die gewählte Aufgabenstellung als auch in ihren Ablauf- und Interaktionsmustern. Insgesamt weist die Studie das Fortbildungskonzept als einen fruchtbaren Ansatz dafür aus, eine Neuorientierung beim Unterricht mit neuen Medien anzustoßen. / In today’s modern information society and knowledge economy new media offer novel possibilities for teaching and learning processes in school. Nevertheless, an effective use of new media in instruction requires changes in its organisation as well as in teaching methods and the role of the teacher. Empirical studies show that many teachers still have to implement this kind of reorientation. This explorative study aims to develop and test a concept for the professional development of teachers, which leads to a sustained change of their teaching. Based on prior research on media in instruction, a theoretical framework is developed that applies problem-based learning to the professional development of teachers of English. Also, didactical deficits in the use of new media in instruction are analyzed with a focus on teachers’ cognition. It shows that the existing teaching routines, represented in the form of lesson scripts, constrain a reorientation of teacher performance. Hence, the professional development focuses on changing these routines by devising a procedure consisting of three steps, which combines the acquisition of new knowledge with practicing it and reflecting the practice. The empirical part of this thesis is based on a pre-postdesign. For all participants of the professional training the patterns of action in class were observed and tested in a third-party assessment. The data was transformed into lesson scripts. Both the analysis at group level, which used quantitative methods, and the analysis on the individual level of the teacher using classifying methods showed that after the training the participants made more use of problem-based teaching and learning. This reorganisation happened on the level of the chosen tasks as well as with regard to the interaction models. All in all, the study showed that the concept of professional training developed for this study is a promising approach to initiate the required reorientation in education with new media.