Cooperation between gifted students and university staff: a micro case study of the Preliminary Academic Research Project (PARP) in Germany

Abstract

The Preliminary Academic Research Project (Besondere Lernleistung, abbreviated as BeLL) is a self-chosen, but also self-responsible contribution of a student to increase the ability to study and to prepare for university studies. By working on a Preliminary Academic Research Project (PARP), students demonstrate complex action competence and further develop their communicative and cooperative skills. This micro case study highlights the importance of working with external partners at universities and shows, from the perspective of an external supervisor, what is expected of actors in the process of creating a PARP and how such work can contribute to the promotion of gifted and high-achieving students in the form of enrichment. To this end, the content and formal requirements of a PARP are presented and placed in the context of the timeline of the work process from a praxeological angle. Based on the theoretical and legal framework of a PARP as well as experience, this micro case study aims at making suggestions on how to support the mentees in the work process in order to provide the external supervisors with a clearer picture of the requirements for their role.

Keywords

• Preliminary Academic Research Project
• Science propaedeutics
• School-university collaboration
• Upper secondary education (Years 11-13)
• Gifted education
• Enrichment

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