Fostering Scientific Habits of Mind and Systems Thinking in Secondary School Science Education Supported by Teachers' Enhanced Teaching and Assessment Competence

The majority of the knowledge and skills expected from students in school is increasingly available online. Concurrently, society has a growing need for knowledge, skills, and attitudes to solve local and global problems. One potential solution could be to enhance the development of a scientific mindset, a critical need in a world where trust in science can no longer be taken for granted. Due to the exponential growth of information, the learning outcomes in curricula far exceed the contact hours available for their achievement, leading to the fragmentation of students' knowledge. The easy accessibility of information might also create a false impression that problem-solving is possible without systematic and conceptually correct knowledge. Therefore, the teaching of natural sciences should focus on shaping students' systems thinking, which, however, is not achieved if their cognitive engagement in the learning process is low. However, it is possible to design learning activities in such a way that they best support the development of students' autonomous motivation and the internalization of (learning) motives and attitudes, thereby ensuring greater cognitive engagement. Among other things, this requires teachers to implement diverse assessment strategies, which, according to existing research, tend to remain somewhat one-sided. Objectives: ● Develop theoretically sound instruments for researching the scientific habits of mind and systems thinking in students at the III and IV school levels, as well as teachers' knowledge of systems thinking. ● Create digital core concept maps along with corresponding learning scenarios, which would help shape students' systems thinking, scientific habits of mind, and autonomous motivation, and investigate the impact of the intervention on students' respective characteristics. ● Enhance science teachers’ competence through training, which will be examined through changes in teacher beliefs and knowledge.