Technology education in elementary school using the example of 'learning robots' – development and evaluation of an in-service teacher training concept

The context of the study is the increasing digitalisation of the living environment of primary school students, which is to be introduced into primary schools according to theoretical and educational policy guidelines. In this regard, further teacher training on digital media in classrooms are particularly relevant, on the one hand to promote teachers’ digital-related pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge (DPaCK). On the other hand, studies also reveal positive correlations among teacher training, teaching activities, and students’ learning outcomes. In-service teacher training courses with adaptive support by a trainer in particular have proven to be effective. Against the background of various research studies on professional development of teachers, a corresponding model of tripartite learning outcomes has been established and serves as a broad theoretical framework. However, the specific relationship between in-service teacher training with adaptive support, DPaCK, and computational thinking of primary school students in the context of the German primary school subject Sachunterricht has not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, the following research questions can be derived: (1) To what extent does training with adaptive support on the topic of learning robots contribute to the development of teachers’ DPaCK? (2) Which effects can be ascertained on the students’ computational thinking in technology-related Sachunterricht? To investigate this relationship, an intervention study in a pre-post design with an experimental group, a control group, and a baseline is appropriate. As results are not yet available at this point, the present paper focuses on the presentation of the theoretical background and empirical approaches.