The article presents results from the project Religious Education Laboratory digital (RELab digital): At a time when exclusive access to religion in the classroom seems less and less plausible, the concept of digital religion education we propose leads back to the existential needs for religion. It can refer to the thematic fields of digital religions, which in turn are not new for religious education, but remix its traditions and themes in the mirror of transforming communication cultures: authority, community, truth, communication, autonomy, religion, identity, and ritual. Chapter 1 contains a description of the project structure. Chapter 2 is dedicated to the pedagogical challenge of teaching Religious Education (RE) in the digital change. Chapter 3 reflects from a pedagogical standpoint on empirical findings of the project, which were developed in the context of classroom observations and interviews. Chapter 4 focuses on topics related to the profession of teachers: What self-concepts are pursued by teachers of Religious Education and/or can be reconstructed through the way they act in the classroom? How can the often critical perceptions of teachers who use digital media in religious education be put to good use in the future? The conclusion bundles the most important insights and highlights examples of further research.

Environmental and sustainability education (ESE) traditionally relies on green teaching environments and active participation. Thus, during the lockdown phase, a gap between curricular goals and learning outcomes appeared. This study investigates the impact of ESE distance teaching on 288 Bavarian fifth-graders and learning factors that could bridge this gap. The influence of digital preferences on learning progress is examined and compared with the influence of fascination levels. A negative correlation between spending time outside in nature and spending time inside in front of a digital device is expected. A control group completed a learning unit about biological topics such as plant identification and environmental factors, as well as ESE topics such as characteristics of sustainable agriculture, at an out-of-school ESE center. The experimental group completed the same learning unit in distance teaching. Fascination with Biology (FBio) and Digital Nativity Assessment Scale (DNAS) were applied in addition to a customized knowledge test. Both values seem to have a positive impact on learning outcomes. There were no significant differences between the control and experimental group. Surprisingly, Fascination and Digital Nativity show a low, if not negligible, relationship. Implications for digital ESE, especially between outdoor learning centers and schools, are discussed.

Die Symbiose zwischen Mensch und Hund ist die wohl engste und zugleich auch älteste Verbindung zwischen Mensch und Natur. Dass Hunde als Rudeltiere vorurteilsfrei und ehrlich die bewusste Nähe zu Menschen suchen, wurde sich bereits im anglo-amerikanischen Raum im psychologisch-pädagogischen Bereich bedient. Im Internatsbereich der Caritas Don Bosco gGmbH, bei dem das Promotionsprojekt ein halbes Jahr stattgefunden hat, sind die jungen Menschen, die aufgrund einer physischen bzw. psychischen Teilhabeeinschränkung eine berufliche Reha-Maßnahme durchlaufen, untergebracht. Aufgrund des vorausgegangenen Versagens in ihrer vorigen (Bildungs-)Laufbahn, ihrer negativen Erfahrungen oder auch wegen ihrer Einschränkungen besitzen sie kaum bis keinerlei soziale Kompetenzen, die für ein späteres Leben in der Gesellschaft unerlässlich sind. Da das Tier mit keinerlei Erwartungshaltung an die Betroffenen herangeht, kann sich dies zunutze gemacht werden. Den jungen Menschen wird in diesem tiergestützten Trainingskonzept die Möglichkeit gegeben, in verschiedenen Übungsinteraktionen mit dem Hund ihr (non-)verbales Verhalten abzustimmen, um anschließend einen sozio-emotionalen Kompetenzzuwachs zu erlangen, der sich dann im Verlauf unterbewusst auf den zwischenmenschlichen Bereich transformieren lässt. In dieser Arbeit zeigt sich, inwieweit der eingesetzte Hund, den jungen Menschen als assistierendes Erziehungsmittel der pädagogischen Studienleiterin dabei helfen kann, über die positiven, nonverbalen Interaktionserfahrungen mit dem Tier einen sozio-emotionalen Kompetenzzuwachs zu erlangen.

Digitalisierung und Mediatisierung prägen die Gesellschaft und auch die Erwachsenenbildung/Weiterbildung. Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, wie Digitalisierung in Angeboten der Erwachsenenbildung/Weiterbildung gelingt. Damit wird ein Fokus auf den Einsatz digitaler Medien gelegt. Dazu werden die Angebotsentwicklung für Adressatinnen und Adressaten sowie Teilnehmende, medienbezogene Inhalte, Lehr- und Lernarrangements mit digitalen Medien, der Einsatz digitaler Medien und die Zugänglichkeit von Lehr- und Lernmaterialien als relevante Merkmale identifiziert. Insgesamt zeigen die analysierten Interviewdaten, dass der Einsatz digitaler Medien in Angeboten eine Erweiterung der didaktischen Aufgaben darstellt, da Angebote mit digitalen Medien zielgenau auf die Bedarfe und Möglichkeiten von Adressatinnen und Adressaten sowie Teilnehmenden abgestimmt werden müssen.

Educational robotics is an innovative approach to teaching and learning a variety of different concepts and skills as well as motivating students in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. This especially applies to educational robotics competitions such as, for example, the FIRST LEGO League, the RoboCup Junior, or the World Robot Olympiad as out-of-school and goal-oriented approach to educational robotics. These competitions have gained greatly in popularity in recent years and thousands of students participate in these competitions worldwide each year. Moreover, the corresponding technology became more accessible for teachers and students to use it in their classrooms and has arguably a high potential to impact the nature of science education at all levels. One skill, which is said to be benefitting from educational robotics, is problem solving. This thesis understands problem solving skills as engineering design skills (in contrast to scientific inquiry). Problem solving skills count as important skills as demanded by industry leaders and policy makers in the context of 21st century skills, which are relevant for students to be well-prepared for their future working life in today’s world, shaped by an ongoing process of automation, globalization, and digitalization. The overall aim of this thesis is to try to answer the question if educational robotics competitions such as the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) have a positive impact on students’ learning in terms of their problem solving skills (as part of 21st century skills). In detail, this thesis focuses on a) if students can improve their problem solving skills through participation in educational robotics competitions, b) how this skill development is accomplished, and c) the teachers’ support of their students during their learning process in the competition. The corresponding empirical studies were conducted throughout the seasons of 2018 and 2019 of the WRO in Germany. The results show overall positive effects of the participation in the WRO on students’ learning of problem solving skills. They display an increase of students’ problem solving skills, which is not moderated by other variables such as the competition’s category or age group, the students’ gender or experience, or the success of the teams at the competition. Moreover, the results indicate that students develop their problem solving skills by using a systematic engineering design process and sophisticated problem solving strategies. Lastly, the teacher’s role in the educational robotics competitions as manager and guide (in terms of the constructionist learning theory) of the students’ learning process (especially regarding the affective level) is underlined by the results of this thesis. All in all, this thesis contributes to the research gap concerning the lack of systematic evaluation of educational robotics to promote students’ learning by providing more (methodologically) sophisticated research on this topic. Thereby, this thesis follows the call for more rigorous (quantitative) research by the educational robotics community, which is necessary to validate the impact of educational robotics.