Lars Friedhoff - two universities, two supervisors, one PhD thesis

A collaboration between the University of Koblenz-Landau and the FHNW School of Life Sciences (HLS)

Lars Friedhoff is originally from Kirchzarten, Germany. He studied mathematics in Freiburg and after two years switched to a teaching degree with economics as a second subject. Last August, he completed his Master of Education (M.Ed.). He is currently enrolled at the University of Koblenz-Landau and has been working at the HLS since September 2021 under Prof. Dr. Julia Rausenberger, lecturer in mathematics and "Applied Mathematics in Life Sciences” group leader. For his PhD, he is working on the promotion of functional thinking and understanding in the "Fundamentals of Mathematics - Analysis I" course. The doctoral thesis is jointly supervised by the HLS and the University of Koblenz-Landau.

For Lars this double supervision is a win-win situation: on one hand he depends on the didactic know-how of the University of Landau; on the other, he needs the knowledge of the HLS for the strong application focus of the project. He thus gains an insight into two completely different worlds. There are institutional differences between Switzerland and Germany, differences between a university and a university of applied sciences, but also differences in subject orientation between the two universities. In addition, he has two direct contacts with whom he can get in touch for any questions or uncertainties.

I don't think the project could have been implemented at all if it weren't for this cooperation.

About once a month, Lars travels to Landau to talk to his supervisor and other members of the working group. It is also important for him to experience at least a little everyday life at the university and to stay in contact with other PhD students, since they are all doing their doctorates in the same field. Problems can be discussed and support offered.

These short stays are financially supported by the Swiss-European Mobility Programme (SEMP) and billed through the International Office.

More about the project:

Lars is designing a digital learning environment based on concrete application examples relevant to later life science studies. On the other hand, the tasks are to be set in such a way that they address basic concepts of functional thinking. In his dissertation he concentrates on the extent to which an application-oriented and basic concept-based development of functional relationships has an influence both on the performance achieved and on affective characteristics such as study motivation or perceived relevance of mathematics for their own courses. What is new is the focus on the tertiary level at a university of applied sciences and the strong application orientation in the elaboration phase.