The central question of the proposal is how the design of learning environments in schools can foster individual learning and secure participation in the knowledge society of the 21^st century.

A project carried through by the OECD in about 20 countries, most of them European countries, focuses on how so called “Innovative Learning Environments” (ILE) are created and how they contribute to the fostering of learning.

The project aims at getting to know more about the phenomenon of learning and at using this knowledge to find out more about how different designs of learning environments affect learning and development for all groups involved. The researchers intend to take a closer look at how school research can create knowledge on effective schooling and what type of research is useful to make this knowledge meaningful to practitioners.

On the international level Anne Sliwka will give an overview of the OECD approach to the research design and will come up with first results of the project.

Ilse Schrittesser and Sabine Gerhartz will present methodologies and methods that seem to be appropriate to study formal institutionalized learning settings. Methods will be presented which aim at discovering not only how mainstream schools cope with the challenges they face but also help to find out if they have the potential to offer diverse and innovative learning opportunities.

On the interpretative level Angelika Paseka will show how the use of the documentary method can open up new perspectives in school research. Based on Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge Ralf Bohnsack elaborated the documentary method which takes into account practical or incorporated knowledge as well as theoretical or reflexive knowledge. The central idea is the change in analytic stance from asking ‘what’ social reality is in the perspective of the actors to asking ‘how’ reality is produced in the practice of schools.

Bohnsack, R., Pfaff, N. & W. Weller (eds.) (2010). Qualitative Analysis and Documentary Method in International Educational Research. Opladen & Farmington Hills: Barbara Budrich Publishers. Dumont, H. & D. Istance (2009). Analysing and designing learning environments for the 21st century. In Dumont, H., D. Istance & F. Benavides (eds.). The Nature of Learning. Paris: OECD Publishing, pp. 19-34. Geertz, C. (1973). Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture. In Geertz, C. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books, pp. 3-30. Marland, P.W. (1984). Stimulated-recall from video: Its use in research on the thought processes of classroom participants. In O. Zuber-Skerrit, (ed.). Video in hiqher education.London: Kogan Page. O’Brien, J. (1993). „Action Research Through Stimulated Recall“. Research in Science Education, Vol 23, pp. 214-221. Sawyer, K. (2008). Optimising Learning: Implications of Learning Sciences Research. In Dumont, H. et al. Innovating to Learn, Learning to Innovate. Paris: OECD Publishing, pp. 45-65. Schrittesser, I., Fraundorfer, A. & M. Krainz-Dürr (eds.) (2012): Innovative Learning Environments - Fallstudien zu pädagogischen Innovationsprozessen. Wien: Facultas.