• possibility to share material digitally
  • variation of teaching materials and working methods
  • flexible adaptation of the teaching materials
  • graphic illustration of complex learning content
  • the location-independent collaboration of the teachers with the learners
  • better overview of the learning progress of individual learners
  • improved, more targeted support by teachers

As a result of digitization, teachers have an increased range of digital tools, methods, and working methods at their disposal, which varies the lessons and complements them in a way that promotes their competence. Digital tools are currently not only digital end devices but also learning platforms, programs, or apps.

Various digital channels and learning platforms allow teachers to create their own materials and share them with their students. With the help of digital technology, teaching and learning materials can be produced that combine different forms of expression such as image, sound, and text.

Shaping the classroom of the future

We are convinced that digital and digitally supported teaching makes pedagogical sense for subject teaching because it opens up many opportunities in the area of teaching and learning processes. Especially in view of the increasing social diversity, which is also reflected in the increasingly different learning requirements of the pupils in the common classroom, the use of technology in the classroom has great potential, provided that its use is embedded in an individually supportive teaching and learning culture. Digital media can help tailor content, pathways, and learning methods to the needs of individual students. They, therefore, support an action- and development-oriented design of the lesson.

School practice and studies indicate that future-oriented teaching requires a combination and balanced adjustment of classic analog and digital teaching and learning activities, coordinated with the respective subject didactics. Digital tools in the classroom are most beneficial when used alongside traditional classroom materials. All classrooms in secondary level I and secondary level II at the Mentora Gymnasium are designed in such a way that a digital learning environment is available to all students at all times if it makes sense from a pedagogical point of view during the course of the lesson.

Digital teaching and learning materials

The teaching materials of the future will no longer be comparable with conventional teaching materials, which are strongly based on the "book" and "booklet" models. Sustainable teaching and learning materials are developing in the direction of a digital, networked, participatory teaching and learning environment in which both learners and teachers actively participate. Publishers such as Klett and Cornelsen are already offering high-quality textbooks as e-books, and many teachers are creating their own teaching materials more often than ever.

However, digital teaching materials are not only to be understood as didactically structured and prepared learning content from teachers or publishers but also as learning spaces expanded with communication, cooperation, and interaction functions. The training of subject matter can be accompanied by digital learning programs or learning apps, for example.

Your own digital device as a learning tool

Furthermore, the execution of work orders as well as the production and documentation of certain content with the help of digital devices at the Mentora Gymnasium should be increasingly encouraged. If laptops or tablets are not only understood as research and writing devices but also used for the creation of learning products and for documentation, their use becomes more complex.

So if the teaching materials of the lower secondary level and upper secondary level are increasingly digitized, one's own digital device becomes an even more important learning tool. From the 2023/24 school year, digital end devices will therefore be included in the material lists of our high school, because many pupils already use a laptop, notebook, or tablet for active learning at school and at home.

Digital skills in mathematics, physics, and computer science lessons

Digital skills are of great importance in mathematics, physics, and computer science classes. Here are some key digital skills relevant to these subjects:

Programming: Computer science classes often focus on learning programming languages and writing code. These skills are also useful in mathematics and physics to model and solve complex problems.

Data Analysis: The ability to collect, analyze and interpret large amounts of data is an important digital skill. For example, in mathematics and physics, students can collect and analyze data from experiments to identify patterns and trends.

Simulations: Digital simulations can be useful in all three subjects to visualize and understand complex concepts. In physics, for example, students can carry out simulations to understand the movement of objects.

Online Communication: In the modern world, the ability to communicate effectively online is an important aspect of digital literacy. For example, students can communicate online to exchange ideas with other students or to communicate with teachers and tutors.

Security and data protection: In the digital world it is important to be informed about the risks and possibilities of data protection and data security. Pupils should learn how to protect their data and stay safe online.

Overall, digital skills are essential to succeed in today's world. They can help students solve complex problems, gather and analyze information, and communicate effectively.

The subjects of mathematics, physics, and computer science are therefore closely linked and together form an important basis for many areas of technology. Mathematics is the language computer scientists and physicists use to solve problems. Computer science helps calculate and model physical systems, while physics forms the basis for many technologies.

Example: Mathematics provides a foundation for the theory of computer science and helps with the development and analysis of algorithms and data structures. Computer science uses mathematics to model, calculate, and solve complex problems. Mathematics helps in the development of computer programs, data analysis, and encryption.

On behalf of the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK), work has been done in recent years to revise the existing educational standards for individual subjects at high schools. During the revision for mathematics, the competency model was supplemented by the process-related competency "Working mathematically with media". In its revision, the KMK illustrates how digital mathematics tools and mathematics-specific digital media can be used sensibly in the classroom. These additions will be introduced for Berlin in the coming years through curricular information.

The Mentora Gymnasium attaches great importance to teaching its students not only technical skills but also interdisciplinary skills such as process-related skills. Within the framework of these competencies, the students should learn, for example, how to identify and solve problems or how to obtain, evaluate, and present information.

Moreover, the Mentora Gymnasium is working on innovative teaching concepts in order to impart these process-related skills in a practice-oriented and interdisciplinary manner. The students should not only combine their technical knowledge from different subjects with each other but also acquire a general basic knowledge of information technology.

In this context, computer science also plays an important role, since this discipline is becoming more and more present in our society today. The Mentora Gymnasium would therefore also like to teach its students the basics of computer science and enable them to use modern technologies safely and effectively.