How can teacher candidates be supported in the science-based reflection of self-experienced school situations? A quasi-experimental study on the learning effectiveness of prompts and feedback in internships

Abstract

This article addresses current research questions on the connection between theory and practice in the context of internships and focuses on tools that should support the application of theories and findings in explaining school situations. These reflections are written down in the form of learning diaries. The instrument under review contains both structuring instruction in the form of hints (prompts) and subsequence guide-based feedback from the accompanying lecturers. Accordingly, three groups of learning attendance through the internship in the Master of Education are compared in a quasi-experimental way: While the first experimental group only received prompts, these were combined for the second experimental group with guide-based feedback from the lecturers. The control group received general advice to reflect on the school situation. The results show that learning support based on prompts and feedback has a positive effect on the application of theories and findings when explaining school situations.