Der Treibhauseffekt

This worksheet aims to teach students how to actively monitor their own reading comprehension using structured self-check strategies

Content and methods: The worksheet introduces two self-monitoring tools through informational texts about caring for the planet. First, students apply the "Traffic Light Check" by moving a paper clip across colored indicators to rate their paragraph-by-paragraph understanding and identify comprehension breakdowns. Second, they use the "3-2-1 Quick Check" to extract three facts, formulate two open questions, and summarize the central idea in one sentence, followed by a peer discussion and a plenary question round.

Competencies:

• Reading comprehension and metacognitive self-monitoring
• Information extraction and summarization
• Question formulation and inquiry skills
• Collaborative peer exchange and communication

Target group: Grade 5 and above

Note: Each student will need a piece of paper and a paper clip to complete the activity. The progress checks should be completed on paper, not digitally.

Learning Objectives

The overarching learning objective is to develop students’ awareness and mastery of the characteristics of academic and subject-specific language, as well as to strengthen their ability to transform language. Students should learn to analyse typical features of academic texts (technical terminology, passive voice, and nominal style) according to defined criteria, reflect on their functional effects in terms of objectivity and how they guide the reader, and purposefully translate dense, nominalised academic language into clear, accessible verbal style using active voice.

Content and Methods

The worksheet introduces the key characteristics of academic non-fiction texts (technical terminology, passive voice, and nominal style) and combines text analysis with practical language exercises. Working with a subject-specific text, students first compile a glossary of technical terms with context-based definitions and distinguish between passive constructions and nominal style using a two-colour highlighting technique.

Building on this, they conduct a functional stylistic analysis to examine the intended effects of linguistic density and the author’s conveyed stance towards the subject matter. The worksheet concludes with an active language transformation task in which students rewrite a highly nominalised example sentence that omits the agent, turning it into dynamic active-voice sentences. This involves breaking down complex verb-noun constructions and explicitly introducing the actors performing the actions.

Competencies

• Linguistic and grammatical analysis: Confidently identifying and clarifying technical terminology, as well as recognising syntactic forms of linguistic compression (nominal style and passive constructions).
• Functional and stylistic judgement: Reflecting on the rhetorical effects and functions of linguistic distance, objectivity, and impersonal presentation in academic texts.
• Language transformation: Purposefully translating complex, agentless nominal constructions into clear, action-oriented active sentences using verbal style.
• Lexical comprehension: Deriving the meaning of unfamiliar or highly specialised technical terms from context and formulating concise definitions (glossary work).

Target Group and Level

Upper secondary school (advanced level).

This worksheet aims to provide students with a reliable methodological tool for systematically interpreting non-continuous texts—such as diagrams, tables, infographics, and charts—across various subjects. Learners will recognize that, unlike traditional continuous text, these formats cannot simply be read linearly; rather, individual visual elements, numbers, and text blocks must be actively linked together. By systematically applying a 4-step plan, they develop the ability not only to accurately grasp complex data from a wide variety of subject areas but also to interpret it with subject-specific expertise and to critically evaluate the visual representation for its informative value.

Content and Methods:

The worksheet combines methodological guidance with a structured, step-by-step approach. After a brief introduction to the variety of discontinuous texts (including line charts, bar charts, pie charts, data series in tables, thematic maps, and complex diagrams), students develop a systematic 4-step plan. This plan guides them through the analysis process like a detective:

• Step 1: Orient & Describe: Students identify the topic, type of representation (diagram, table, etc.), axis labels, and symbols used.
• Step 2: Analyze & Interpret: This involves recognizing patterns and trends, accurately reading values (including maximums and minimums) while specifying the units, and comparing different data sets.
• Step 3: Explain & interpret: The focus here is on context- or theory-based interpretation; students connect notable features with their prior knowledge and subject-specific expertise and learn to strictly distinguish between pure observation and interpretation.
• Step 4: Critical Analysis: In the final step, learners evaluate the design of the presentation, such as the selection of data, visual distortions caused by truncated scales, or the relationship between percentages and absolute numbers. The process concludes with a visually organized “cheat sheet” that concisely summarizes the four steps of analysis for future work with other discontinuous texts.

Competencies:

Students can...

• identify and explain various types of discontinuous texts (e.g., different types of diagrams, tables, charts) and recognize that the reader must independently connect the information presented.
• navigate complex graphical and tabular representations across disciplines by purposefully identifying and describing key elements such as titles, axes, units, colors, and symbols.
• objectively analyze depicted patterns, trends, and extreme values (maximum/minimum), compare groups with one another, and precisely read values in relation to their units.
• Interpret selected data trends from a technical perspective, derive theory-based causes for them, and clearly distinguish in their formulations between objective observation and their own interpretation.
• Critically evaluate the design of diagrams, tables, or infographics by questioning aspects such as data selection, axis scales that appear manipulative, or the informative value of absolute numbers versus percentages.

Target audience and level: Grade 8 and above

Note: This worksheet is designed as a universal methodological tool. It provides students with a subject-independent 4-step framework for analyzing non-continuous texts. A non-continuous text is required to use this worksheet.

This worksheet aims to provide students with a solid understanding of the significance and function of academic language and to help them practice actively using it in subject-specific instruction. Students will recognize that academic language serves as an essential tool for presenting complex topics in an objective, impersonal, and precise manner, and that the ability to switch between everyday language and academic language is a key skill. Through guided practice in translating everyday observations into formal language, they learn to use subject-specific linguistic tools, to put their own thoughts into writing in a structured manner, and to reflectively evaluate their own learning process and linguistic expression.

Content and Methods:

The worksheet combines cognitive awareness, guided writing practice, independent text production, and self-evaluation. After an introductory informational text on the distinction between everyday language and academic language, as well as an introduction to subject-specific language tools (e.g., for cause-and-effect relationships, hypothesis formation, or evaluations), learners gradually translate given everyday statements into logically structured academic language. They then apply this translation technique to their own current course material and reflect on the advantages and challenges of academic language formulation. The module concludes with a structured self-assessment matrix designed to evaluate their own language competencies and identify remaining learning needs.

Competencies:

Learners can...

• identify the difference between everyday language and academic language and explain the importance of precise technical language for subject-matter understanding.
• identify and purposefully apply specific subject-specific language tools (e.g., phrasing guides for descriptions, justifications, and analyses).
• systematically translate colloquial observations into precise, factual, and logically structured sentences using formal language.
• structure their own conceptual ideas derived from current classroom activities and independently put them into writing using appropriate technical terms.
• critically reflect on their own language translation process and evaluate their individual strengths and areas for development in the use of formal language.

Target Audience and Level:

Grade 8 and above

This worksheet aims to raise students' awareness of hidden advertising and sponsored content across social media platforms, equipping them to critically evaluate disclosure labels and understand the commercial mechanisms behind creator brand partnerships.

Content and methods: The worksheet introduces covert advertising through a true/false warm-up and key vocabulary definitions (such as affiliate links, discount codes, and PR packages). Using a signal checklist, students independently analyze and categorize six real-world social media case studies, comparing their findings in pairs ("Ad Detective"). They then evaluate disclosure transparency using the "Label Test" and rewrite non-compliant posts to ensure transparent disclosure. A final challenge question prompts students to reflect on why commercial brands often prefer covert marketing strategies.

Competencies:

• Identifying and distinguishing between overt, hidden, and non-commercial social media content
• Criteria-based media analysis using visual signals, hashtags, and disclosure placement
• Critical evaluation of promotional transparency and legal disclosure standards
• Practical writing and communication skills by redrafting posts with compliant disclosures
• Collaborative reasoning and debate through partner discussion

Target group: Middle School

The goal of this worksheet is to enable students to independently identify and critically examine manipulative marketing strategies in retail. Using a specific case study, they will develop the theoretical foundation needed to distinguish between genuine sustainability promises and deliberate consumer deception, so they can make informed, independent consumer decisions in their daily lives.

Content and Methods: The content focuses on the definition and strategic characteristics of greenwashing, its psychological impact, and an analysis of legal consequences. Methodologically, the worksheet combines an image-based case analysis with in-depth journalistic text analysis. A video-based summary of theoretical categories of deception and a practical, criteria-based checklist serve to reinforce knowledge and facilitate active application to students’ own consumer behavior.

Competencies:

Analytical Competence: Students can systematically deconstruct visual design elements, price placements, and advertising messages in digital user interfaces.

Substantive Competence: They understand the definition of the technical term “greenwashing” and can distinguish between vague marketing phrases and verifiable sustainability labels.

Critical thinking skills: Students are able to critically evaluate the discrepancy between corporate sustainability reports and actual environmental impacts.

Reflective thinking skills: They can critically examine their own susceptibility to manipulative sales strategies and identify alternative courses of action.

Target audience and grade level: Intermediate (8th-10th grade)

Objective: This worksheet uses the cooperative learning method known as the “group puzzle” to teach complex concepts in chemistry and atomic physics. The goal is for students to gain a deep understanding of the selected topic through self-directed learning and peer teaching.

Content and Methods: The content is taught using a structured five-phase model that combines cooperative and independent learning: In home groups, each member takes on a specific subtopic, which is then explored in a subsequent “expert phase” in groups of students with the same subtopic, using informational texts and in-depth tasks. Afterward, the students return to their core groups, share their knowledge with one another, and consolidate their findings together before moving on to a cooperative work phase in which they solve complex tasks that can only be mastered by combining all the individual aspects. The process concludes with a joint evaluation in a plenary session and a reflection on the learning process.

Competencies:

• Subject-Specific Competence: Acquiring in-depth knowledge of a topic in chemistry
• Social Competence: Fostering teamwork and communication skills through the “expert” model
• Methodological Competence: Applying cooperative learning methods to independently process information and convey knowledge
• Transferability: Applying expert knowledge to hypothetical scenarios, such as the discovery of new elements

Target Audience and Level: High School

This worksheet aims to raise students’ awareness of the mechanisms, economic dimensions, and psychological strategies of modern digital marketing in everyday life.

Content and Methods: The material focuses on the economic significance of social media marketing based on statistical data, as well as the analysis of specific digital posts. Methodologically, the worksheet relies on a combination of practical case studies—in which an exemplary social media post is deconstructed both textually and statistically—and theoretical insights into behavioral economic effects. In addition, the material encourages multi-perspective discussion through reflective writing assignments and the comparison of contrasting stakeholder perspectives. Finally, the discussion of complex issues is used to synthesize what has been learned into the formation of independent judgments.

Competencies:

Analytical and Deconstructive Competence: The ability to systematically examine media content and linguistic and statistical devices for their manipulative or promotional effects

Reflective and Critical Thinking Competence: The ability to critically examine one’s own consumer behavior and evaluate economic phenomena from different perspectives

Media and Economic Competence: Understanding of digital market mechanisms, psychological influence strategies such as the authority bias or the bandwagon effect, and their impact on the economy

Target Audience and Level: 9th/10th grade

Objective: This workbook explores a historical and materials-science phenomenon: the production of casein, an early milk-based bioplastic. Students work as a team of researchers to investigate how the organic components of liquid cow’s milk can be transformed into a solid plastic through the action of acid.

Content and Methods: The content is conveyed through a combination of historical contextualization, experimental laboratory work, and material analysis: Starting with the question of how a solid material can be produced from milk, students explore the composition of milk and the effect of acids on proteins. They then experimentally extract casein, document the course of the reaction, and examine the properties of the resulting bioplastic. Finally, the results are used in a scientific application to evaluate the historical significance and material properties of casein as an alternative to plastic.

Competencies:

• Technical expertise: Understanding of protein denaturation (acid precipitation of milk protein/casein) and the classification of galalith as a historical bioplastic
• Knowledge acquisition: Planning, conducting, and systematically documenting a preparative organic chemistry experiment (filtration, solid isolation)
• Materials and testing skills: Criteria-based analysis of the physical properties of a self-produced solid
• Argumentation and language skills: Writing a technically sound report using precise scientific explanations

Target audience and level: Middle school

Objective: This worksheet explores the electrochemical fundamentals of galvanic cells and how a lemon battery works in the context of modern, sustainable technology development. Students take on the role of a startup research team to experimentally and ecologically evaluate the suitability of a lemon as an environmentally friendly electrolyte, as well as the efficiency of various electrode pairings.

Content and Methods: The content is taught by combining theoretical fundamentals, experimental data collection, error analysis, and sustainability assessment: First, students explore the structure and functioning of electrochemical cells as well as the underlying redox reactions. They then test their hypotheses in an experiment, document measurement data, and analyze typical sources of error in the laboratory. Finally, they evaluate the performance and sustainability of various materials before summarizing their results in a technical report and a persuasive presentation.

Competencies:

• Technical Competence: Understanding of redox reactions, electrode potentials, and the role of electrolytes in generating electrical power
• Data Analysis: Conducting quantitative electrochemical measurements, systematically comparing variables, and identifying sources of methodological error
• Evaluation Competence: Balancing maximum technical performance with environmental factors (extraction, recycling, toxicity) in the context of sustainable chemistry
• Communication skills: Targeted, audience-oriented presentation of laboratory data for a business analysis or an investor pitch

Target audience and level: Middle School