The overarching research aim of the department of Learning and Instruction is to understand and promote effective and efficient learning and teaching by providing optimal support to pupils and students in their learning processes and to teachers in their pedagogical and professional practice. The department’s research focuses primarily on the micro-level: how does learning take place and how can we promote it? The research objective is divided into two substantive sub-objectives that further define the research domain. These two substantive sub-objectives are, firstly, to understand and promote cognitive and social learning processes that support effective and efficient learning. A second sub-objective is to understand and promote self-regulation in pupils to support effective and efficient learning.

In addition, the department has two more practice-oriented sub-objectives in which the insights gained from the first two sub-objectives are examined and implemented in authentic teaching situations and in teacher professional development. These two more practice-oriented sub-objectives firstly involve developing and testing subject-specific teaching strategies based on an understanding of pupils’ learning processes in authentic situations. The second practice-oriented sub-objective is to investigate how teachers, individually and in teams, can be supported and facilitated, based on scientific insights, to develop effective and efficient teaching.

With these research objectives, the department aims to generate scientific knowledge within a clearly defined domain that has a direct impact on practice, particularly in primary and secondary education. The scientific knowledge generated by the department also guides the content of the educational programmes of the department, the bachelor LOU and the master educational sciences.