The research project focuses on the practical teaching reflection processes of teachers in the context of so-called STEM [MINT] lessons at Austrian STEM secondary schools (BMBWF, n.d.a.). The project is being carried out as a dissertation within the framework of the initiative "Innovationen Machen Schulen Top! (IMST).

 A definition of the term is essential for determining practical processes of reflection in teaching. The concept of reflection is defined on the basis of school practice. Reflection is therefore understood as ‘thinking about one's own actions in and around the classroom (Heinzel, 2022) and mentally deriving the consequences (Nguyen et al., 2014)’ [Nachdenken über die eigenen Handlungen in und um den Unterricht und die gedankliche Ableitung von Konsequenzen]. Based on this understanding, reflection processes are characterized by certain features. Reflection processes need to be triggered and can be depicted using reflection models (e.g. Dewey, 1933). The distinction between the reflection that takes place during the performance of an action (reflection-in-action) and the reflection that takes place afterwards, focusing on looking back on the action (reflection-on-action), is an essential condition for reflection processes in the context of school teaching (Schön, 1982). Reflection to guide future action (reflection-for-action) extends this understanding (Killon & Todnem, 1991). Further considerations relate to the content to be reflected upon and intensity of reflection (Leonhard & Rihm, 2011). This understanding of reflection and the characteristics of reflection processes are taken into account in the empirical study. As reflection processes in the context of the research project relate to teaching practice in schools, we refer to them as practical teaching reflection processes.

STEM teaching is used as a specific research context for practical teaching reflection processes. The abbreviation STEM stands for the subjects of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology, which are taught in an interdisciplinary manner in eleven additional lessons spread over four school years as part of a school trial at 57 Austrian secondary schools (BMBWF, n.d.a.). The school trial is justified by the increasing demand for STEM specialists with corresponding STEM skills and STEM education to counteract an unreflected belief in science and technology and to overcome social challenges (BMBWF, n.d.b).

The research project is guided by two research questions: 1) How do teachers reconstruct their practical teaching reflection processes in the context of their own STEM teaching? 2) What types of practical teaching reflection processes can be identified?

Fundamental to the development of the research questions is the assumption that practical teaching reflection processes are understood as an unspoken, intellectual and action-guiding set of rules (Von Aufschnaiter, 2023). For this reason, the focus of the study is on the collection of this tacit knowledge of teachers, with the aim of descriptively recording practical teaching reflection processes.

To empirically investigate practical teaching reflection processes, the 'video-stimulated recall interview' method will be used to gather mental knowledge (Messmer, 2015). The ‘video-stimulated recall interview’ is an interview that is supported by a stimulus, e.g. pictures or videos (Zhai et al., 2024). In the research project, video sequences of ten STEM teachers' own teaching activities are used as stimuli. Therefore STEM lessons are recorded on video, sequences are selected and edited. The sequences are selected by the teacher with the support of field notes made by the researcher during the recording. This field notes are then shown to the teacher with the request to prioritise three sequences according to the criterion of promoting student understanding with their actions (Steffens & Haenisch, 2019). Once the video sequences have been edited, the ‘video-stimulated recall interview’ is conducted in three rounds per video sequence: 1) Complete viewing of the video sequence; familiarization with the video sequence 2) Watching the video sequence again; expressing thoughts in and around the lesson 3) Watching the video sequence again; expressing the consequences of one's own actions The questions focus on the thoughts underlying the teaching activities and are to be understood as instructions (Messmer, 2015). During each session, the video sequence is played and paused at the discretion of the participants to take notes or elaborate on thoughts. The instructions are given before the video sequence is played. No intervention by the interviewer is planned during the viewing in order not to interrupt the narrative flow and to generate in-depth narratives (Nohl, 2017). The ‘video-stimulated recall Interview’ is analyzed using the documentary method, as the research interest lies in the collection of action-guiding, mostly unspoken knowledge, the tacit knowledge (Nohl, 2017). Four evaluation steps are carried out (Bohnsack, 2013; Nohl, 2017): 1) In the formulating interpretation, the explicit meaning of the interview is reproduced. 2) Individual interview passages are subjected to reflective interpretation by identifying the background to the statements made as the researcher's interpretation in reflection of the implicit knowledge of the interviewees. 3) The individual cases are then described, and an attempt is made to work out different frameworks of orientation by means of contrasting comparisons. If no frameworks can be identified, the results are presented in the form of case descriptions. 4) If different frameworks can be identified, types are created. Cases with common frameworks are grouped into types and their characteristics are described.

The research project can be divided into three phases. The first phase involves the selection of the sample, the recording of the STEM lessons and the selection and editing of the video sequences. While the initial contact with the sample has already been established, the further steps of the first phase are directly related to the second phase, the data collection. In order to enable recall of the lesson, the 'video-stimulated recall interview' will be conducted within 48 hours of the lesson. This procedure is planned for the summer of this year [approximately in May]. Following the data collection, the first steps of analysis will begin immediately. First results are expected for the conference in September 2025. The poster will present the data collection process and in particular the data collection method of the ‘video-Stimulated Recall Interview’ with its practical experience as a means of recording teachers' practical teaching reflection processes.

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