How Do Students Experience a Deprived Urban Area in Berlin? Empirical Reconstruction of Students’ Orientations

Abstract

On the one hand, this paper describes the findings from the implementation of subject-matter teaching and learning via fieldwork in a deprived area (Kottbusser Tor) of Berlin. On the other hand, the authors focus on the explicit and implicit knowledge (which we call orientations) of the students concerning this fieldwork. In a problem-oriented approach, according to the model of a social city, students develop a concept about how to renew the deprived area of Berlin. They gain a variety of new experiences, some of which raise ethical questions. Autonomous group discussions with various school classes in the age group of 14 to 16 (n=30) were carried out after the fieldwork. The documentary method was used for data analysis which resulted in a typology of students. Concerning the orientations of the students, two excluding types of students (marginalizing type & distancing type) and two including types (integrating type & normalizing type) could be reconstructed. In addition to the benefit of the typology presented in this paper becoming an impulse for students to engage in self-reflection, the typology can also serve as a diagnostic tool for teachers to grasp learning conditions. Furthermore, an understanding also arises about students´ orientations to support the conceptualization of fieldwork in terms of practical handling and necessary measures for its use.