Inspiring through experimentation

Junior Professor Dr. Johann-Nikolaus Seibert heads the working group for the didactics of chemistry at RPTU: he is passionate about training future teachers. The question of how skills relating to digitalization and sustainability can be brought into schools is one of his main areas of research. The TU-Nachwuchsring at RPTU recently provided him with important preliminary funding.

He studied to become a secondary school teacher for chemistry and mathematics in Saarbrücken. He then completed his doctorate in chemistry didactics there and completed his traineeship at a school in Contwig. “Then I applied for the junior professorship for chemistry didactics at RPTU in the Department of Chemistry in Kaiserslautern,” says Johann-Nikolaus Seibert looking back: "That was a lucky draw. The position was a perfect fit for me and still is."

The 35-year-old feels completely at home in Kaiserslautern. He still holds a tenure-track professorship. A probationary period of several years, so to speak, which should ultimately lead to a full professorship. “My activities will be evaluated,” he explains, in other words, we will see how his academic career develops.

It quickly becomes clear in conversation with him that he has nothing to hide in this respect. He is involved in many different ways in his specialist area - for example, he wants to continuously improve the training of future teachers: Together with the Center for Teacher Training, he analyzes the difficulties that chemistry teacher candidates face at RPTU: "We want to identify stumbling blocks. Get them out of the way. Optimize chemistry learning at the university, reduce drop-out rates and thus counteract the shortage of teachers in the STEM subjects."

Promoting skills in the areas of digitalization and sustainability

In addition to teaching, research is a top priority for him. His academic projects focus on teaching and learning processes. Central questions here are: How does self-regulated learning succeed at school and at university? How can research-based learning help to gain knowledge - and what didactic and methodological aspects play a role in this? “And we want to know how digital skills and sustainability skills can be profitably integrated into schools.”

Together with his team, he wants to find out, among other things, how artificial intelligence, or AI for short, can be used in science lessons. In a current project, Seibert and his team are developing a chatbot that supports pupils in working out experiments in chemistry lessons.

With sustainability as the keyword, they want to teach evaluation skills, promote critical thinking - and strengthen media skills at the same time. Seibert is currently working on a project that is being funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation - and is set to take shape in a number of selected schools in the 2025/26 school year. “We have a communications agency on board,” he adds. In terms of content, the aim is for pupils to learn how to critically evaluate information on the topic of sustainability through a journalistic lens.

TU-Nachwuchsring of the RPTU supports “young science”

The TU-Nachwuchsring of RPTU 2024 helped him prepare this project. “As part of preliminary funding.” He is very grateful that this opportunity exists at his university.

The TU-Nachwuchsring supports young scientists in their development and career planning. In addition to research funding and interdisciplinary networking, workshops are also offered, for example. Seibert himself is actively involved in the TU-Nachwuchsring and is deputy spokesperson. "We have a classic bottom-up structure, by young academics for young academics. We decide things together in an appreciative atmosphere." For example, the junior professor assesses funding applications for research projects that do not originate from chemistry. “This gives me an insight into different areas of research.”

Decision to become a teacher: “You have a huge opportunity to help and shape things”

Why did he decide to study to become a teacher? “For me, it wasn't a career choice, but a vocation,” he says. "You have to want this job. If you choose it, then you have a huge opportunity to help and shape things."

At the beginning of his studies, he saw himself primarily as a future math teacher. At the time, he only studied chemistry because he needed a second subject. But during his academic training, he quickly realized how exciting chemistry didactics is: "The subject of chemistry has the immense potential to motivate and excite pupils with experiments. And with this experimental focus, we can arouse enthusiasm." He adds: “Our chemistry students already spend more time on practical work than in lectures and are prepared for school practice with a strong experimental profile.”

Interdisciplinary work is a top priority

Johann-Nikolaus Seibert attaches great importance to interdisciplinary approaches and networks with other departments at RPTU. His team is in charge of the student laboratory “CLeVerLab” - short for “Chemistry, Learning and Understanding Laboratory”. Seibert: “In the Sportistry project, for example, student teachers from the subjects of chemistry, sport and health and the Bachelor's degree course in Sport Science and Health worked together to guide small groups of sixth form students.” They set up series of experiments and evaluated the results. "The students contributed their different areas of expertise to all of this. The pupils were able to learn something - the students learned and taught. A didactic double-decker on several levels, so to speak."

Another of his projects is the ExperiMINT bus, reports Seibert proudly: "The bus is a mobile school laboratory. It travels directly to school playgrounds." Anyone who is interested can get on board and join in the experiments. Making scientific knowledge and thinking accessible - that seems to be what drives the junior professor.

Teacher training at RPTU: practical and research-oriented

What can he give prospective students? What are the advantages of studying to become a teacher at RPTU? RPTU is the largest teacher training university in Rhineland-Palatinate, he emphasizes. The range of subjects and courses on offer is correspondingly large. In addition, the training is not only practice-oriented, but also strong in research: “In many ways, you are close to current specialist research and developments in teacher training.” If you look at Johann-Nikolaus Seibert's main areas of work, it quickly becomes clear that this is not least possible thanks to dedicated lecturers like him.