Some children experience pervasive learning difficulties in reading, writing, and arithmetic, persisting throughout their educational journey. These difficulties are distinguished based on underlying intellectual abilities: Borderline intellectual functioning (school performance T < 40 and IQ < 85) and mixed disorders of scholastic skills according to ICD-10 (school performance T < 40 and IQ ≥ 85). This longitudinal study investigates the development of these two groups compared to a control group of children without learning difficulties until the end of schooling in young adulthood. Already in primary school, children with learning difficulties perceived their challenges, particularly reflected in a low academic self-concept (Skowronek et al., 2018). Both groups rated their abilities in reading, writing, and arithmetic comparably lower than the control group. The question arises whether this pattern remains stable throughout the school years and is still observable at the end of schooling. Furthermore, the study explores whether there are also impacts on academic self-efficacy and learning motivation (hope of success; fear of failure). In the follow-up assessment of the longitudinal study, a total of n=15 participants with borderline intellectual functioning, n=18 with mixed disorders of scholastic skills, and n=71 control participants were involved. Measurements were conducted as app-based questionnaires around their 18th birthday. The findings revealed that young adults with borderline intellectual functioning and mixed disorders of scholastic skills did not differ from each other concerning their academic self-concept, academic self-efficacy, and achievement motivation, but scored significantly lower than the control group. This pattern of results suggests that the impact of learning difficulties remains stable in the examined areas until the end of schooling, regardless of the level of intelligence that differs between the two groups.

Crop type information derived from satellite remote sensing are of pivotal importance for quantifying crop growth and health status. However, such spatial information are not readily available for countries in Central and South Asia, where smallholder farmers play a dominant role in agricultural practice, and food security. In this study, we provide insights into crop type mapping for three study sites in the region: 1) Panfilov District in Kazakhstan, 2) Jaloliddin Balkhi District in Tajikistan, and 3) Multan District in Pakistan. A collection of Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 satellite data was used along with the random forest classification algorithm. To train and validate the classification model, field data were collected between May and October 2022 in each of the study areas. Our main objective was to evaluate the performance of a combined Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 mapping approach in comparison to a single source result. In addition, this contribution will provide insights into the performance with regard to crop type mapping accuracy of different temporal data aggregation intervals. Preliminary results indicate a small increase in overall accuracy for a combined Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 mapping approach. However, Sentinel-2 data might be sufficient for reliable crop type mapping, in case cloud coverage is not a constraint. Future studies might consider evaluating the potential benefit of using a full Sentinel-1 data set without temporal aggregation for mapping crop types.

Children of immigrants might be at elevated risk for developing mental health problems. To assess the need for specific preventive interventions and treatment programs, a reliable instrument for measuring mental health problems is needed. For younger children in general parent reports are used to assess their mental health status. However, widely used parental report screening instruments for children’s mental health have been questioned as to providing comparable scores. Reasons for the lack of this measurement invariance could be differing response styles, impression management effects or differing socialization goals in immigrant and native parents. One way to assess and adjust for biases in self-reports is the use of anchoring vignettes, brief texts depicting hypothetical individuals who manifest the trait of interest (e.g. mental health) to a lesser or greater degree. Differences in ratings of the vignettes indicate response biases. We use vignettes of children that show externalizing or internalizing problem behaviour in an online survey. Parents (German native, Turkish and Russian origin parents, approximately N=100 per group) of underage children rate the problem severity of the behaviour in the vignette and their own children’s mental health via items from the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire. We further examine if impression management (Parental Stress Index subscale: Defensive Responding) and socialization goals mediate the effect from culture of origin on response behaviour. We additionally test, if the response scale (7 pt. Likert scale vs. 3 categories, random assignment) influences the impact of bias, expecting the bias to be more pronounced when using a category response scale. Repeated measures MANCOVA, Mediation Analysis with Process in SPSS and the Anchors package in R are used to test hypotheses.

Sector models are tools that make it possible to introduce students to Einstein's general relativity. Using video analysis we study how students acquire knowledge about constructing geodesics on sector models until they are able to perform the construction on their own. Using sector models of curved surfaces, the acceptance of the materials and their handling as well as the students' understanding of the method are investigated.

Reading competence is of crucial importance for success at school. Reading comprehension in particular plays a central role (Ehm, 2018). Children who grow up with German as a second language (L2) often show lower school performance than children with German as their first language (L1). Large school performance studies show that especially reading performance lags far behind that of their classmates growing up speaking L2 (Bos et al. 2016; Hesse et al., 2008, Naumann et al., 2010). Various linguistic and phonological competencies make a significant contribution to the learning of reading in children growing up monolingual in German. Given the increasing number of children with L2 in German schools, the influencing factors of their reading performance are still to be understood. The present study therefore investigated the question of whether linguistic and phonological competencies equally count for reading achievement in children L1 and L2. Using a data set of N=449 third grade children (L1: 61%; L2: 39%) who, according to teachers, showed low performance in reading, the influence of phonological working memory, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and language skills (in grammar and vocabulary) on reading comprehension performance was examined. Children with L2 showed lower performance in reading comprehension and language skills, but not in phonological information processing skills. However, moderation analyses show that there is no evidence for a significant interaction with language acquisition background. Thus, it must be assumed that phonological and linguistic competencies contribute equally to the variance of reading proficiency in L1- and L2- learners. Nevertheless, the lower linguistic abilities of children with L2 limit their reading performance.

Perspective taking is highly relevant in every-day life. In two studies we found relations between perspective taking of generalized other and Theory of Mind. These results lend support to the assumption that Theory of Mind is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for perspective taking of generalized other.

This presentation describes the status quo of the incorporation of general relativity into physics classes at secondary schools in Germany. Secondary school (Gymnasium) curricula and university curricula for pre-service physics teachers (Lehramt Gymnasium) are analyzed with respect to instructional goals related to general relativity. The study includes the secondary school curricula of all 16 states and the university curricula of 50 universities nationwide. The general relativity content of the curricula is discussed with a view to current physics education research on teaching general relativity at secondary school level.

Agricultural activities affect soil fauna and may thus impede biological soil functions. In the field of soil biology, uncertainty remains about which specific activity adversely affects biological soil functions. This study aimed: (i) to quantify the effect of ploughing activity on earthworm abundance in an experimental farm of the University of Göttingen, Reinshof, and (ii) to compare the earthworm abundance between an ecologically managed field vs. a conventionally managed field. Earthworm sampling, using the mustard method, was done between the 22nd of April and 3rd of May 2021. Three differently managed fields were sampled: ecologically managed with ploughing, conventionally managed with ploughing and conventionally managed without ploughing. Earthworms were collected in 30 locations per field. Soil organic matter contents, penetrometer resistance, and soil moisture were also measured. The conventionally managed ploughed field exhibited a mean earthworm abundance of 98.9 individual per square metre, which was more earthworms than the ecologically managed field that showed a mean earthworm abundance of only 7.86 individuals per square metre. The highest mean earthworm abundance of 160.8 individual per square metre was observed in the conventionally managed non-ploughed field. Species richness of earthworms was also higher in the conventionally managed fields compared to the ecologically managed field. The conventionally managed non-ploughed field had the highest soil organic matter content, moisture status, nitrogen content, and penetrometer resistance, in contrast to the ecological ploughed field, which showed the lowest values for all these parameters. The findings of this study are consistent with previous studies that the non-ploughed fields provide a suitable environment for earthworm communities, as perturbation of earthworms is avoided and soil organic matter levels are maintained, which is a key requirement for earthworms’ survival, therefore increasing their abundance. The very low earthworm abundance of the ecologically managed field was unexpected, but might be explained by the frequent ploughing, used for weed control instead of herbicides. We concluded that ploughing is an important activity that impacts the abundance of earthworms.