Cross-disciplinary research settings are highly challenging for young scientists. In our research centre, Ph.D. candidates with various disciplinary backgrounds are expected to cooperate. To support cooperation, we designed a Ph.D. programme that fosters cross-disciplinary communication. The programme uses an innovative teaching format that aims to broaden the participants’ understanding of technical basics and to improve their academic teaching skills. Being faced with dissatisfaction among the Ph.D. candidates at first, we introduced a targeted feedback process that paved the way for successful cross-disciplinary communication and cooperation.

Metal-containing ionic liquids (ILs) are of interest for a variety of technical applications, e.g., particle synthesis and materials with magnetic or thermochromic properties. In this paper we report the synthesis of, and two structures for, some new tetrabromidocuprates(II) with several “onium” cations in comparison to the results of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic analyses. The sterically demanding cations were used to separate the paramagnetic Cu(II) ions for EPR measurements. The EPR hyperfine structure in the spectra of these new compounds is not resolved, due to the line broadening resulting from magnetic exchange between the still-incomplete separatedparamagneticCu(II)centres. Forthemajorityofcompounds,theprincipalgvalues(g∥ and g⊥) of the tensors could be determined and information on the structural changes in the [CuBr4]2´ anions can be obtained. The complexes have high potential, e.g., as ionic liquids, as precursors for the synthesis of copper bromide particles, as catalytically active or paramagnetic ionic liquids.

To support student self-study and facilitate learning in groups, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) started the "LearnING Center" in April 2013. The LearnING Center is a room where all students can study on their own or in groups. For 28 hours per week, student tutors are present in the room, assisting students in their learning process. While there are similar projects at many universities, especially in the US, most of these are associated to one department. Contrary to those, the LearnING Center at TUHH is open for students from all departments, including mathematics, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. Thus, tutors may be asked questions about any of theses subjects. To prepare tutors for their work in the LearnING Center, we designed a training program that includes role-play elements and video analysis. In this, tutors are shown how to help students by asking them questions and thus entering a Socratic dialog. This approach allows them to help students even with only limited content knowledge about the subject in question. We are very pleased to observe an increasing number of students using the opportunity to study in the LearnING Center and also an increasing number of questions asked. The aim of this paper is to present our training approach and illustrate the concept of the LearnING Center to promote its implementation at other institutions. We will report on the lessons learned during the first two years and make suggestions for similar projects.

In a previous publication, we reported on an ongoing investigation on student understanding of the concept of voltage. Using a worksheet, we had introduced students to the concept of electric potential to deepen their understanding of voltage. After instruction, we had found, that many students still had difficulties with both concepts. Most of their reasoning was inconsistent, which suggested that they were unable to link those concepts. [1] The purpose of this paper is to report our findings after a revision of the instructional material. We developed a new worksheet that focuses on the connection between potential and voltage, instead of the individual concepts. Potential is now mostly introduced as an algorithmic approach for determining voltages in a circuit. This approach allows us to confront students with their misconceptions regarding voltage. Using pre- and post-tests, we measured the effectiveness of this new approach. Compared to the results from last year, a significantly larger percentage of students in the post-test showed a functional understanding of voltages, as they were e.g. able to correctly identify the voltage at an open switch. A similar number of students was able to correctly rank the voltages in a given circuit. The overlap between both groups of students was significant. This overlap shows that our approach works in principle. However, as the percentage of students with a functional understanding of voltage is not as high as we had hoped for, the instructional material still has to be improved.