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IDeA Center: Projects in this context

The “Center for Research on Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk“ (IDeA) conducts research projects from both a basic and an applied perspective, in the area of child development and related risk factors. This interdisciplinary center is under the auspices of the DIPF, which was awarded the funding together with the Frankfurt Goethe University, within the LOEWE funding programme for scientific excellence launched by the federal state of Hesse. The research findings will provide empirically grounded insights into how social and neuro-cognitive risks affect the cognitive development and learning achievement of children. The main focus of interest is on the possible interaction-effects of different risk factors. IDeA is initially being funded for a period of six years, and the planned projects will be conducted in two successive phases: In the initial phase, the projects will analyse the factors that either support or impede learning, and study how children at risk can be identified at an early stage of their development, in order to initiate appropriate preventive measures. The insights gained from this first phase of research are fundamental to the second phase of systematically developing and testing adaptive interventions for pedagogical practice, as well as providing advice for their practical implementation. In this transfer phase, IDeA will thematically focus on studying the nature of optimal learning environments, and on professionalising the training of pre-school and school teachers.

For the DIPF, IDeA co-ordinator Marcus Hasselhorn, director of the Center for Research on Education and Development, and Eckhard Klieme, director of the Center for Research on Educational Quality and Evaluation, collaborated in setting up the main proposal for IDeA. For the Goethe University Frankfurt, Andreas Gold, Professor for Pedagogical Psychology, Götz Krummheuer, Professor for Mathematical Didactics, and Ruxandra Sireteanu (†), Professor for Physiological Psychology and Biopsychology, submitted the main proposal. Furthermore, project-related proposals were delivered by Petra Schulz, Professor for German as a Foreign Language, Theory and Didactics of Second Language Learning, Michael Fingerle, Professor for Special Pedagogy, and Gerhard Büttner, Professor for Pedagogical Psychology. The Sigmund Freud Institute (SFI) in Frankfurt acts as a third co-operation partner, and its director Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber has also contributed a proposal to IDeA.