Abstract
A model of decision-making competence for secondary school students was developed and validated within the project “Decision-Making Competence Regarding Challenging Issues of Sustainable Development”. The model rests on three pillars: Education for Sustainable Development, decision-making theory, and educational competence modeling. Three dimensions of decision-making competence were identified: (1) “Understanding values and norms” in the context of Sustainable Development (SD), (2) “Developing solutions”, and (3) “Evaluating solutions” for SD problems. The two last-mentioned dimensions stem from decision-making theory, and were adapted to educational purposes. Related measurement instruments were developed according to Wilson’s developmental cycle, using a between-item-multidimensionality approach. The test development procedures and results are described for the dimension “Developing solutions”. Moreover, we started with an experimental validation of a theory of socioscientific decision making. More specifically, we used training-induced strategies to realize experimental variation to differentiate empirically between two decision-making dimensions and problem solving. The results of a pilot study addressing the validation of “Developing solutions” and “Evaluating solutions”, vis-à-vis problem solving, are reported and discussed. We close with considerations of future research, to realign the boundaries of our research program.
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Acknowledgments
The preparation of this chapter was supported by grant BO 1730/3-3 from the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the Priority Program “Competence Models for Assessing Individual Learning Outcomes and Evaluating Educational Processes” (SPP 1293).
We thank J. Hartig, D. Leutner, J. Rost and R. Watermann for methodological discussions as well as M. Möhlhenrich, F. Ostermeyer, and S. Teschner for contributing to the competence model.
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Bögeholz, S., Eggert, S., Ziese, C., Hasselhorn, M. (2017). Modeling and Fostering Decision-Making Competencies Regarding Challenging Issues of Sustainable Development. In: Leutner, D., Fleischer, J., Grünkorn, J., Klieme, E. (eds) Competence Assessment in Education. Methodology of Educational Measurement and Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50030-0_16
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