Cooperations
Together with our cooperation partners we are working on new projects and publications.
If you are interested in collaborating with us and exploring new ideas and suggestions, please send us a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Why cooperate with the Schreibmotorik Institut?
We offer
- Expertise/professional advice on writing and learning to write
- Publicity
- Interesting contacts
- Exchange of information
- Possibilities for raising awareness / benefiting from one another
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 Universität des Saarlandes |
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CAREER
The Schreibmotorik Institut is the leading research institute in Europe on the subject of handwriting and writing motor skills. It promotes the transfer of scientific knowledge into pedagogical practice, advises educational organizations, facilitates accessibility of current issues relating writing motor skills to the public, offers praxis-oriented seminars for various target groups and develops exclusive teaching and learning materials. It also links handwriting progress in different educational phases with didactive, social, professional and health topics.
CURRENT JOB VACANCIES
Praktikant (m/w/d) für die Unterstützung bei Forschungs- und Praxisprojekten
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The Schreibmotorik Institut
Mission Statement
The Schreibmotorik Institut is predominantly interested in writing by hand.
Team
PD Dr. Tal Hoffmann directs the Schreibmotorik Institut. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralph Bruder is part of the Scientific Advisory Committee.
Cooperations
Together with our cooperation partners we are working on new projects and publications.
Career
Job vacancies and topics for master theses.
Contact
Do you have any questions or ideas? Then get in touch with us.
PROF. DR.-Ing. RALPH BRUDER
Scientific Advisory Committee Member for Ergonomics at the Schreibmotorik Institut
Full-time vice president of the Darmstadt University of Technology and Director of the Institute of Ergonomics (IAD) in Darmstadt. He studied electrical engineering at the (then) Darmstadt University of Technology and, from 1988 to 1996, was a research fellow at the Institute of Ergonomics at Darmstadt University of Technology. He did his doctorate at the IAD in 1992 and wrote his dissertation on the application of artificial intelligence in ergonomics. From 1996 to 2005, he was university professor of design ergonomics at the University of Duisburg-Essen and Director of the Institute of Ergonomics and Design Research, which he founded in 2002. From 2003 to 2006, he was President and Managing Director of the Zollverein School of Management and Design. Since 2006, he has been university professor of ergonomics and Director of the high-profile Institute of Ergonomics at Darmstadt University of Technology. Professor Bruder is President of the Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft (German Ergonomics Society) and, since October, has been Scientific Director of the Ingenium – Young Researchers.
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About us
The Schreibmotorik Institut is the leading research institute in Europe on the subject of handwriting and writing motor skills.
It was established in 2012 and promotes the transfer of scientific knowledge into pedagogical practice, advises educational organizations, facilitates accessibility of current issues relating writing motor skills to the public, offers praxis-oriented seminars for various target groups and develops exclusive teaching and learning materials. It also links handwriting progress in different educational phases with didactive, social, professional and health topics.
Together with our national and European partners, the Schreibmotorik Institut researches stages in the process of handwriting development, beginning in kindergarten and continuing throughout elementary school, secondary school and professional life.
Our interdisciplinary team combines exceptional competence and expertise in the areas of writing motor skills, ergonomics, pedagogic, psychology, sociology, neurology, occupational therapy, medicine and engineering.
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Dr. Marina Quiner,
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Sonja Lambracht,
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Susanne Salata,
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PD Dr. Tal Hoffmann, Institute director
Education and professional career
since 2024 Director of the Schreibmotorik Institut e.V.
2021 - 2024 Research assistant, Schreibmotorik Institut e.V.
2020 Successful completion of habilitation, Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
2016 - 2020 Research assistant in the habilitation process, Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
2010 - 2016 Postdoc, Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
2004 - 2009 PhD at the Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
2002 - 2004 Master of Science (M.Sc.), Tel Aviv University, Israel
1999 - 2002 Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Tel Aviv University, Israel
Main focus of activities as institute director
In her role as Managing Director of the Schreibmotorik Institut, PD Dr Tal Hoffmann is committed to improving the promotion of handwriting.
The core topic of handwriting is increasingly linked with other important topics such as digitalisation, early intervention, handedness and differentiated learning. She is particularly keen to bring the latest scientific findings from various specialist disciplines into educational practice.
PD Dr Tal Hoffmann is certain that the dialogue with stakeholders from education policy, science and practice on the Institute's key topics will raise awareness of these issues and drive forward the educational support of children.
We want to support the education system with our expertise and are convinced that investments in education are investments in our future. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Contact
Telephone +49 911/567-3040
Mobile +49 172/2019537
e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
MOTOR SKILLS ARE CRUCIAL: NEW APPROACHES TO IMPROVING Writing lessons
For most children, writing their first word is a source of pride. So how does this first word actually look? It doesn’t really matter. However, teachers attach much more importance to style and legibility. As a result, primary school pupils spend a long time practising to write letter after letter of neat writing in the right size and on a straight line. The fact that primary school pupils’ motor skills develop at a very different rate is often neglected. This is where we come in.
Fun whilst writing, fun whilst learning
“In German primary schools, learning to write cannot be described as a success story”, says writing motor skills expert, Dr Christian Marquardt. The Grundschulverband estimates that some 33 percent of boys and 10 percent of girls have considerable difficulties writing legibly by the time they leave primary school. According to a study by the Fraunhofer Institute in 2011, this means that children not only lose interest in writing but these problems also have a negative impact on their learning as a whole. So why is this? Why do so many pupils and adults have difficulty producing relaxed handwriting? And, above all, why have changes, such as the introduction of the Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift (VA – a standard lettering that has been established in several German federal states in order to simplify learning to write), not improved anything?
Problems with writing mainly stem from poor motor skills
Again and again, discussions focus primarily on writing style. However, surprisingly little attention is paid to graphomotor skills. And yet these are tremendously important. “Problems with writing are mainly due to poor motor skills,” says Dr Christian Marquardt. “In part, pupils write ineffectively and are too tense. They take longer, have a cramped writing style and often tire quickly.” Above all, those who are just learning to write experience initial problems: many children do not hold the pen correctly and exercise excessive pressure or experience cramping when writing because they are holding the pen too tightly.
Our objective – flowing, efficient and legible handwriting, without tiring
The Schreibmotorik Institut has embarked upon a scientific investigation of flowing and efficient handwriting. With the help of a computer-aided writing analysis system, we are looking in detail at the movements involved in writing.
We reveal the actual causes of writing problems and then take these as a basis for developing new and simple ways of improving writing lessons that involve much more than simply achieving neat standard lettering. We make our findings available to participating teachers and schools so that pupils can develop flowing, legible handwriting without becoming tired.