Seminar paper
A seminar paper is a work that has to be done by upper school students in several federal states (including Thuringia , Saarland ). In contrast to the specialist work in other federal states, it is usually done as a group work by three to five students and has a much greater influence on the Abitur grade .
history
The seminar paper had to be written for the first time at selected test schools by students of the 2000 Abitur class. It has been compulsory for all students since the 2001 class. The reason for the introduction of the seminar work was to supplement the Abitur, which was completed in Thuringia after only 12 school years, with extensive extracurricular work and thus make it equivalent to the 13-year Abitur in most other federal states.
meaning
Evaluation and influence on the Abitur grade
The seminar paper consists of three separately assessed parts:
- Working process: 20% of the overall grade
- written work: 30% of the overall grade
- Defense of the thesis (colloquium): 50% of the overall grade
The overall grade for the seminar paper is part of the so-called qualification area in the Abitur certificate , which makes up one third of the Abitur grade . The qualification area consists of the four grades in the examination subjects in the school half year 12 / II, the three-fold examination grades and the four-fold evaluation of the seminar subject mark. However, the student also has the option of not including the seminar paper in the Abitur, in this case the examination grades are each rated four times.
In the case of a seminar performance of 0 points, the student is not admitted to the Abitur.
goals and tasks
According to the Thuringian School Regulations (ThürSchulO), the tasks of the seminar subject or the seminar work are the following:
- "In the seminar subject, the students should be guided in more depth to independent learning and scientific work, problem-related thinking should be initiated and trained and social forms of learning should be trained that require independence as well as communication and teamwork skills and prompt the students to think about their position in the work group to reflect. The seminar subject aims at the training of competencies. " (ThürSchulO §75 Abs. 4)
The seminar paper is intended to introduce the students to scientific work and therefore contains many elements of the seminar work at the universities. These goals become clearest in the demand for a new scientific value in the seminar paper as well as the exact requirements for structure and layout.
procedure
Seminar subject
→ Main article: Seminar subject
The preparation of the seminar work is preceded by lessons in the so-called seminar subject , which is given in one hour per week during the first school year of upper secondary level . There, the students receive initial information about the requirements for the seminar paper as well as instructions for scientific work and presentations.
Finding groups and topics
Until the end of the school semester 11 / I (depending on the school, even earlier), the students must come together in groups. The Thuringian school regulations require groups of three to five people; Individual work or a seminar group of two people must be requested from the school principal and will only be approved in exceptional cases. It is also possible for students from different schools to work together. The task of the pupils is to familiarize themselves with their planned topic and their group. The group receives a report booklet in which they should record the progress of the work process.
The topic must have a new scientific value and cover at least two of the three fields of activity (see Abitur in Thuringia ). In addition, the group can independently look for a so-called external supervisor who will look after the topic outside of school.
After the group formation, the pupils must hand in a form with details of all group members, the external supervisor and the topic of the work in its final formulation at a time set by the school. The topic must be formulated in such a way that a complete analysis is possible. All groups and topics must be approved by the school management. Each group is also assigned a teacher from the school as a subject supervisor. However, if the group has an external supervisor, this is not absolutely necessary.
Work process
After submitting the form, the students have about a year to complete their work. The individual work steps must be recorded in the report portfolio. During this process, the students must have at least four consultations with their supervising teacher and then be able to prove these through protocols.
For the form of the written work there are precise specifications regarding font type and size as well as line spacing. However, this information depends on the school and can be changed to a certain extent by the respective school commission. Each member of the group has to write a number of pages, also specified by the commission.
Each seminar paper requires a new scientific value (so-called own contribution ), which can take the form of performing and evaluating an experiment , a survey or a scientific comparison , for example.
If a student changes to another grammar school within Thuringia while working on the seminar paper, he will continue to work on the seminar paper at his old school. If a student ends his school education prematurely, the other group members must continue to work alone. In individual cases it can also happen that a student has to finish the work on the seminar paper alone.
After completing all written work, the work must be printed in duplicate and bound. During the school half year 12 / I, the completed work must be handed in on a date set by the school, usually before the autumn break. In addition, a written assessment of the work must be submitted by the external supervisor.
colloquium
The end of the work process is the so-called colloquium (also known as the defense of the seminar paper ), which, according to the school regulations, can take place in the semester 12 / I or 12 / II and is usually carried out at the beginning of the school semester 12 / II. In it, the student groups must clearly present the main results of their work and then answer questions about their subject.
Before the colloquium, the report book must be handed in, which also contains a basic schedule for the colloquium. At the same time, a thesis paper must also be submitted. The theses laid down on it should reflect the content of the colloquium and must be proven (indirectly or directly) in its course. A colloquium (regardless of the number of group members) lasts 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the school, whereby the speaking time for each student should be at least 10 minutes. A commission of three teachers, including the subject supervisor, evaluates this presentation. After 60 minutes at the latest, the presentation is interrupted and the committee asks the group questions, the professional answers of which are included in the evaluation of the colloquium. The chairman of the commission can also allow questions from other viewers.
Special regulations
At some high schools (e.g. in Thuringia ), which in particular have a mathematical-scientific-technical orientation, it is required to do the seminar paper in small groups of usually three people, whereby it is imperative to deal with a topic from the MINT area got to. But there are usually some individual work every year.
criticism
Some seminar papers prepared by students are often submitted (in a shortened version) to Jugend forscht . In fact, it is even convenient to do and plan for this, since the school also provides the students with organizational support for their seminar work. Some seminar papers often manage to win prizes in the national rounds.
In contrast to the regular subjects, teachers for the seminar subject do not receive any special training, but have to acquire their own knowledge of the subject of seminar work. Therefore, the students often receive contradicting information from the teachers about the demands placed on them. This and the general lack of subject-specific competence of the teachers (who have to rely on their own research as well as on the judgment of the external supervisor with regard to the technical correctness of the work) repeatedly causes criticism that the evaluation of an actually well-founded scientific work within the framework of the School is not possible without restrictions.
In order to criticize or question the scientific value of the seminar paper, the high proportion of the colloquium also contributes to the overall evaluation. In this way, groups that only received an average rating in the written area can noticeably improve the grade for the overall work through a well-rated colloquium. It is criticized that the teachers could not evaluate the presented topics objectively with regard to their content-related correctness due to their lack of technical competence, but are dependent on their subjective judgment about the way the students are presented. When finding a topic, the students are therefore often advised to choose a topic that offers good opportunities for a clear presentation.
Another point of criticism is that in the colloquium an unfair assessment of the different seminar subject groups by the different teachers can take place. Since the examiners can usually only assess the presentation subjectively (see above) and often have different demands or ideas, it cannot be guaranteed that all seminar subject groups will be treated equally. Although there are regulations and point catalogs for the assessment, there is hardly any other high school examination of this importance, in which the personal demands and ideas of the teachers are so decisive.
See also
Individual evidence
Web links
- Thuringian school regulations , section on the upper secondary school level (for seminar work, see in particular §§ 74 and 78a)