Meta-textual competence is the ability to analyze, assess and re-interpret texts. It is an important prerequisite for the development of scientific literacy and is thus a key qualification for the successful compilation of a pre-scientific work (VWA). In the presented project, the focus was on how to promote the metatextual competence of high school pupils.

Four classes from two Graz schools participated in the research project. In the course of dealing with unresolved issues of science (for example, "Why do Zebras strip?"), pupils and pupils in groups read and produced both their own and foreign scientific texts. They also drew up their discussions, in which they judge texts, themselves and analyzed these conversations on a meta-level. The aim was the formation of metatextual competence within the framework of a three-step didactic setting, which took up the existing metatextual practices of the pupils and enriched them with tried and tested concepts for the promotion of scientific writing. In addition, the young people participating in the project could apply for a total of eight research fellowships at the University of Graz. The winners of this call for tenders participated in a deepening text and conversation analysis as part of a multi-week internship during the summer holidays of 2018. From established scientists, the scholarship holders learned the fundamentals of scientific work and then applied them themselves under guidance. They then pass on their expertise to their classmates as multipliers and so-called "VWA coaches" in their schools.

This project has been completed.