Learning Science at University in Times of COVID-19 Crises from the Perspective of Lecturers—An Interview Study

The COVID-19 pandemic changed higher education radically and challenged faculties to adapt their teaching to the new circumstances. The aim of this study is to highlight changes, in particular, the advantages and disadvantages associated with them, and to find out what conclusions were drawn for the future in the three experimental natural sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics at the University of Konstanz (Germany). In a guided interview, the majority of the university teachers in the bachelor's programs were interviewed, and their statements were subsequently categorized. While lectures and tutorials in distance learning were held asynchronously or synchronously online, laboratory courses used a variety of formats. The number of disadvantages cited, as well as the number of university faculty citing the same disadvantage, is greater than for advantages. The most commonly cited drawbacks fall into the areas of workload, communication, feedback, and active student participation. Physical presence and a return to the original learning objectives in the lab courses is wanted by the majority. The results point to commonalities between the science subjects and should encourage science departments to work together on similar problems in similar formats in the future. Furthermore, there is an urgent and ongoing need for the training of natural science teachers in competence-oriented digital teaching. © 2023 by the authors.

ZuKon 2030: An Innovative Learning Environment Focused on Sustainable Development Goals

Global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the need for visionary innovations in chemical education. We recently deigned a new learning environment called "ZuKon 2030”, which addresses sustainability from a chemical perspective while simultaneously introducing students to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda 2030. It integrates modern and innovative learning strategies by creating a format that can be used in either face-to-face or distance learning settings. In addition to the modules designed as exit games embedded in the overarching narrative of a fictional science conference, the Future Conference, paper materials enriched with Augmented Reality are used in order to allow students to complete the modules independently. In this paper, we present the basic concept of the learning environment and concretely show the implementation of the concept. We use the module "The Mystery of Coral Death” as an example, and we report our results and experiences with the entire learning environment. In the preliminary study, the students rated the hybrid learning environment mostly positively in the areas of thematic content, realization of the learning environment, digital content, and game elements. © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

ZuKon 2030: An Innovative Learning Environment Focused on Sustainable Development Goals

Global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the need for visionary innovations in chemical education. We recently deigned a new learning environment called "ZuKon 2030", which addresses sustainability from a chemical perspective while simultaneously introducing students to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda 2030. It integrates modern and innovative learning strategies by creating a format that can be used in either face-to-face or distance learning settings. In addition to the modules designed as exit games embedded in the overarching narrative of a fictional science conference, the Future Conference, paper materials enriched with Augmented Reality are used in order to allow students to complete the modules independently. In this paper, we present the basic concept of the learning environment and concretely show the implementation of the concept. We use the module "The Mystery of Coral Death"as an example, and we report our results and experiences with the entire learning environment. In the preliminary study, the students rated the hybrid learning environment mostly positively in the areas of thematic content, realization of the learning environment, digital content, and game elements. © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.