Maximilian Luppold

I am a research assistant in the research section Cognition, Learning, and Instruction and am a doctoral candidate under Prof. Dr. Matthias Nückles. As part of the research project FiBiFlu – Financial Education through Finfluencers?, I investigate how adolescents engage with explanatory videos created by financial influencers on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram — and how schools can support students in developing a more reflective and critical approach to such content.

My work focuses particularly on identifying common comprehension difficulties as well as metacognitive and epistemic misconceptions that arise when students interact with social media-based educational videos. A key question is how these challenges are influenced by typical features of influencer content, such as emotional appeal, a staged sense of authenticity, or simplified explanations. Based on these insights, I examine the effectiveness of different intervention strategies aimed at reducing such barriers and fostering students’ capacity for critical reflection and informed judgment.

Another focus of my research is the diagnostic competence of teachers: I explore how accurately teachers can anticipate the kinds of difficulties their students may encounter when engaging with influencer videos on financial topics. Building on this, I design and evaluate an evidence-based training program to support teachers in developing this diagnostic skill. The overall aim of the project is to develop a research-based educational framework that helps teachers empower students to critically engage with financial education content encountered in digital media environments.

The FiBiFlu project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMBF) as part of its national initiative on financial education. The multidisciplinary research team is a collaboration between the University of Freiburg, the University of Education Freiburg, and the University of Leipzig, combining expertise from communication studies, economics education, and empirical teaching and learning research.