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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 3
Publication Date: March 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.83.9909. Krohmer, M., & Budke, A. (2021). Teaching Routines in German Geography Classrooms: A Case Study in North Rhein-Westphalian
Gymnasiums . Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(3) 432-451.
Teaching Routines in German Geography Classrooms: A Case Study
in North Rhein-Westphalian Gymnasiums
Maxim Krohmer
University of Bonn, Department of Geography, Bonn, Germany
Alexandra Budke
University of Cologne, Institute for Geography
Education, Cologne, Germany
ABSTRACT
Teachers develop their professional competence throughout their careers
through education, experience, and reflection. To achieve this, routines are a
vital factor, which can be described by short sequences of teacher actions with
specific functions within a lesson. These short sequences of teacher behavior
within a lesson can be observed particularly well in German geography
classes, because already during the academic education and the subsequent
traineeship a specific lesson sequence, consisting of three phases, is taught to
the prospective teachers. This article focuses on the question of what routine
in everyday teaching by geography teachers looks like with the aim of
contributing to the understanding of professional teaching in geography
education. To achieve this, 112 geography lessons of 45 minutes and 38
teachers were observed in German Gymnasiums in North Rhine-Westphalia
via observation sheets. Subsequently, the collected data was analyzed by
frequency analysis. The results show that the observed teachers have patterns
of routine within specific phases in class, such as in the use of teaching
methods, material and media, and classroom management.
Keywords: Geography education, Routines in teaching geography, Action- guiding cognitions, Teacher actions, Phases of teaching.
INTRODUCTION
In the TIMSS studies of 1995 and 1999, a number of school lessons in mathematics were recorded
and it was identified that the lessons between each of the nations observed were relatively
uniform. For example, in German mathematics lessons, the routine of question-exploration was
the primary teaching tool. However, in a further international comparison, various teaching
patterns were found to differ considerably between studied countries [1]. Differences in teaching
actions can be expressed through different patterns of behavior, which can be described by
subjective theories and teaching scripts [2,3]. Teaching scripts, which usually refer to the lesson as
a whole, contain sequences of actions such as using specific methods, materials, and media, or
teacher behavior that are assigned distinct times. These short sequences, such as those mentioned
here, are referred to as routines (see 3.2). The concept of routine is used to describe the
established patterns of activity that teachers and students follow during school lessons.
Empirically, it has been shown that it is beneficial for teachers to introduce a repertoire of
behavioral rules into a class as quickly as possible. Such rules form a framework to respond to
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Krohmer, M., & Budke, A. (2021). Teaching Routines in German Geography Classrooms: A Case Study in North Rhein-Westphalian Gymnasiums .
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(3) 432-451.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.83.9909 433
spontaneous action [4]. There is a consensus that a repertoire of behavioral rules reduces
cognitive stress and promotes the formation of routine in the above sense. However, routine
action is largely domain-specific and is determined by the extent of previous experience. For
example, when experienced teachers face new challenges, such as introducing a new teaching
method, they behave similarly to beginners [5]. In the context of geography education, routine is
mentioned with regards to dealing with challenges in teaching geography [6]. Teachers should be
routinely using continuous as well as discontinuous media such as texts, maps, and geo- information systems [7]. Also, current publications discuss the teachers’ demand for topicality [8].
As geographical teaching is predominantly focused on topics that are part of the current social
discourse, students already have previous knowledge and bias into the classroom. Therefore,
teachers must routinely include topical and controversial material into the classroom.
Professionalism in teacher actions is expressed through their ability to perceive information more
quickly, to remember similar situations and to develop classroom situation models swiftly. These
actions enable them to react successfully in a variety of teaching and educational situations. So,
what do these teacher routines look like?
RESEARCH QUESTION
The goal of this study is to identify recurring teaching situations in geography and teachers’
routines in these defined circumstances. Therefore, the central questions of this study are:
• What does today’s typical geography lessons look like?
• What are the recurring teaching situations?
• How do teachers act in these recurring situations?
• Which routine are be derived from these actions?
Of interest are not the routines of individual teachers, but the cumulative behavior of teachers in
recurring situations. Through identification of these it is then possible to determine whether there
is a consensus or pattern in the behavior of teachers at specific moments in a lesson.
First, a theoretical analysis of the study’s central concepts, such as routines and scripts, is carried
out and a theoretical model of the formation of routines is proposed. Following this,
methodological approaches are presented and the results of the observations, in the form of the
routines of geography teachers, will be presented and discussed.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This study follows a previous study that focused on the understanding and assessment patterns of
innovation by geography teachers [9]. The result of the present study is linked to the previous
work as routines were perceived as a prerequisite for innovation by geography teachers. Hence,
the central aspects of the present study relate to the identification of action-guided cognitions of
geography teachers in the form of routines in geography lessons.
Causes for Different Teacher Actions
Teachers differ in many areas of their teaching activities. In recent years empirical research has
systematically investigated the differences in the cognition of teachers and how it guides their
actions. Table 1 summarizes some of these action-guided cognitions according to Bromme,
Rheinberg, Minsel, Winteler, and Weidenmann [10] and Perrez, Huber, and Geißler [11].
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 3, March-2021
Table 17: Action-guiding cognitions of teacher - modified in accordance with [10, 11].
Action-guiding cognitions Differences in...
Operational objectives Objectives teachers want to or should achieve
in class
Causal attributions Teachers’ expectations of students’
performance
Reference orientation The assessment of student performance on
the basis of comparisons
Professional knowledge Subject knowledge or pedagogical content
knowledge
Moreover, teachers have subjective theoretical knowledge about students and their learning
processes, teaching methods and learning objectives, and the perception and interpretation of
teaching situations, as well as of their own actions. These subjective theories influence the
professional actions of teachers. In the course of daily work, the use of this subjective-theoretical
knowledge is indispensable, which is why these theories are regarded as the basis for teacher
action [12-15].
There is no clear distinction between these key concepts of action-guided cognitions and
subjective theories, or between the attitudes and beliefs of teachers. When comparing sources on
this topic, various uses of the terms are apparent but Leuchter et al. [16] following Alisch [17]
proposed a distinction between general cognitions (‘distant to behavior’) and specific cognitions
(‘close to behavior’).
Subjective theories of teachers and their convictions are summarized as general cognitions that
are distant to behavior. These cognitions “are intentional and action-oriented on a general level,
but do not necessarily have an effect in concrete situations” [16]. Specific cognitions represent
action-guided cognitions so “they are effective at the moment of action, coupled with it and bound
to the situation and linked to individual experience” [16]. However, an in-depth differentiation
between the presented cognitions is not necessary for the objectives of this study. The teacher
actions that are to be identified and described in this study are routines that, by definition, are
characterized by both general and specific cognitions and will be surveyed by observations of
geography lessons (see chapter 3.2) [1, 18].
Routines, Scripts and Prototypical Routines
Teachers use structured knowledge in the form of routines and scripts in the planning and
execution of lessons [14]. In the following, the main theoretical terms for this study are explained.
Routines
Routines are actions that are target-oriented and used in recurring decision-making situations. A
routine is an option that comes to a person’s mind as a solution when he or she reencounters a
decision situation [19]. According to this definition, the term ‘routine’ refers to the mental
representation of a particular behavior or behavior-sequence that is predominantly associated
with the representation of a situation in which a decision needs to be made. A similar concept to
routine is habit [20]. However, this concept includes the assumption of frequent repetition of
behavior in the past and its stimulus-driven automatic implementation [21]. Routine covers both