Simulations to help pre-service teachers in diagnosing scientific reasoning in physics and biology

Since it is important for teachers to be able to impart and diagnose not only subject-specific but also interdisciplinary competences, we developed simulations to quantify and furthermore support the ability to diagnose scientific reasoning skills of secondary school students. The simulations are video-based containing short, scripted videos showing two students working on a biology / physics experiment. Participants have to observe the students and can individually decide which pre-formulated questions they want to ask the students before, during and after the experiments to gather relevant information. This information is later used to write down a diagnosis. We use these simulations to study the performances of pre-service teachers and how they are influenced by prior knowledge and interdisciplinary teacher cooperation.