Browsing by Subject "learning"

Homework is a part of the day-to-day activities in most schools. The use and benefits of homework is undergoing debate. Existing research in the field is limited and sometimes conflicting. The Finnish curriculum does not require homework to be used in teaching. Thus, it is the teacher who decides if, how and what kind of homework the pupils shall be assigned. Mathematics is a subject where homework is commonly used. It is therefore relevant to study how teachers think about homework within this particular subject and how the homework in use relates to the (social)constructivist view on learning that the current curriculum is largely based on. The aim of this study was to examine what kind of homework in mathematics primary school teachers assign and how they argue either in favor of or against homework in mathematics education. Focus was on effects that develop mathematics performance. In addition, the teachers’ views on the importance of parental involvement relating to homework in mathematics was studied. A questionnaire was sent to primary school teachers in three Swedish-speaking schools in the metropolitan area of Finland. The questionnaire included both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. 19 teachers responded. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis was performed. A deductive methodological approach was applied. The study showed that the teachers view learning in a social-constructive manner. The type of homework assigned does not, however, reflect this. Focus is on repetitive mechanical assignments to be performed individually. For instance, assignments including problem-solving are in limited use, although many believe that such assignments, along with repetitive ones, support learning in mathematics. Homework that these teachers assign does not to any large extent require being done outside of school. This leads to the relevant question whether homework is used due to the insufficiency of time in school. Most of the teachers argued for the use of homework in mathematics by reference to the importance of repetition. A majority viewed parental involvement as important. Despite the fact that the curriculum stresses equality, only three respondents reflected upon the risk that parental involvement might lead to inequality. Homework club at school was most commonly viewed as the remedy against the absence of support at home. Most teachers showed an unproblematic attitude towards the use of homework in mathematics education.

To my knowledge, this is the first study describing student communication, learning, and wellbeing at the university-level during Covid-19 in Finland. This research is meant to correspond to the need for more research regarding the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on youth (aged 29 and younger according to the Finnish legislation). The goal of the research is to provide solutions to the complex challenges which have arisen during the pandemic and a rapid transition to a fully online learning and teaching format in Finland. The thesis brings to light student experiences regarding online learning, communication and wellbeing, during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research is guided by two research questions: 1. How do students at the University of Helsinki describe their experiences of distance communication and learning during the Covid-19 pandemic? And second: 2. How has the Covid-19 pandemic influenced the wellbeing of students at the university? Theoretically, the approach of this thesis builds on social constructionism. Methodologically, reflexive thematic analysis is used, to examine the research material. The empirical data consists of qualitative semi-structured interviews with five university students at the University of Helsinki. The analysis showed significant challenges with communication, learning and wellbeing in the student population, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, communication had deteriorated during the initial phases of the Covid-19 pandemic; however, improved over time. The main recommendation of the research is coordinated action in form of a unified manual regarding online teaching and behavior on Zoom, by universities or similar institutions in Finland, which face a similar challenge as the University of Helsinki. Lecturers are encouraged to take a personal interest in student engagement online, and strongly recommend using cameras, speaking more freely, and participating actively in small groups, for better student success, communication and wellbeing. In addition, students are encouraged to stay social and form support groups on for example Whatsapp or other similar application. In the future, students may be able to use distance learning opportunities for networking and potentially, meeting future colleagues online. Lastly, student wellbeing is in focus, and should be researched further, to implement strategies for the preservation of student wellbeing, wellbeing at university and for sustainable networks in the academic environment.

This study discusses the importance of artistic practices and community arts centres for development understood as a process of social and individual emancipation. Specifically, the study looks at emancipation from the point of view of overcoming social and psychological hindrances to the autonomy of an individual. The empirical case under scrutiny is a community centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, its arts and crafts project (ACP) and one of its drama projects. The study asks, what is the role of the projects in project participants’ lives, and what kinds of spaces the projects are. Initially, I assumed that the role of the creative action taking place in the projects, as critical theory suggests, would be substantial for the participants, because of the “learning by doing” taking place in the projects, and because of bigger “ownership” of one’s own doing, when compared to, for example, school environments. The research material is derived from 18 interviews, observations, written products of the projects, and my field and research diaries, which compose the text for hermeneutic analysis. The research questions were developed and further answered through a hermeneutic process of dialogue with this text. The analysis results in new ‘facts’ that answer the research questions, as is the nature of results in hermeneutic studies. These facts, or, the findings, support the assumption about the importance of the method of learning by doing, and ownership of one’s doing, but turn the emphasis towards the social context of the projects. The projects had a great impact in the project participants’ lives in two intertwined spheres. These are: 1) sphere of learning, and 2) sphere of “feeling at home”. The projects enhanced the participants’ feeling of freedom. One of the main reasons for this was the non-discriminatory social environment of the projects, especially regarding non-discrimination based on socio-economic class. In the study, I argue that both projects contributed to the emancipation of their participants. The theoretical framework of development as emancipation, which is discussed with the empirical part of the study, is founded on the Freirean concept of humanisation, the capabilities approach as developed by Martha Nussbaum, and the idea of orienting towards objects formulated by Sara Ahmed. The study is an addition to the recent body of research on community arts centres in South Africa, conducted by South African researchers such as Gerard Hagg, Eben Lochner, Thamsanqa Mzaku, and Zanele Madiba.

Aims. Previous research on entrepreneurial education has mainly been driven by economic interest. It has been based on quantitative approaches focusing on learning outcomes. Entrepreneurial competencies have been observed as learnable and teachable, although there has been contradictory evidence about effectiveness of entrepreneurial education. Process perspective on entrepreneurial education has left as a minor viewpoint. By now, researchers’ have recommended socio-constructive and experiential approaches to pedagogics. The objective of this study is to bring together previously separate research traditions on educational outcomes and process, introducing more profound picture of learning entrepreneurial competencies especially from the students’ perspective. Methods. The study was conducted by interviewing 18 fifth-year engineering students, who had started their studies on August 1, 2013. The interview invitations were targeted based on study register data for reaching participants from diverse backgrounds on entrepreneurial studies. The research instrument was built on directions of narrative research, critical incident technique and lifeline approach. The data were analyzed with content analysis combined with abductive reasoning and data quantification. Results and conclusions. Consistently with the previous studies, entrepreneurial competencies were shown possible to learn. All students recognized learning of business competencies. However, competencies needed in early-phase entrepreneurship were emphasized by students, who had accomplished several entrepreneurial courses. Results concerning learning process indicated that combining formal learning environments with elements of informal learning resulted as a wide spectrum of learned entrepreneurial competencies. Learning was located especially in problem-solving and project working environments where students co-worked in inter- or multidisciplinary groups. However, other than entrepreneurial courses did not directly support learning of entrepreneurial competencies. Thus, the findings set base for further actions in integrating the elements of entrepreneurial courses into project courses.

Objectives. This thesis aims to explore temporal changes in task-related physiological arousal and their connection to performance in repeated trials of a steering task. Moderate physiological arousal is believed to direct attention towards task-relevant stimuli, leading to performance improvements, while too high or low arousal is detrimental (the Yerkes-Dodson law). However, this approach does not explicitly account for changes in arousal over time. In this study, temporal changes in task-related sympathetic arousal are modelled as habituation, which has traditionally been used to describe changes in orienting responses to repeated presentations of non-target stimuli. Habituation during task performance is interpreted in terms of predictability and significance, aiming to describe changes in attentional processing during learning in an evolutionarily plausible manner. Furthermore, connections between performance and individual differences in habituation rate and spontaneous (task-unrelated) sympathetic activity are examined. Finally, habituation is compared to deviations from predicted performance. Methods. Participants (N = 9) played a total of 40 trials of a high-speed steering task in eight sessions over a period of 2-3 weeks. Electrodermal activity during baseline and task performance was recorded in five sessions. Change in task-related skin conductance response (SCR) frequency over trials 1-5 within sessions was used to determine individual rates of habituation whereas SCR frequency during baseline indicated individual spontaneous activity. Trial-level difference scores were used to explore habituation and deviations from predicted performance (a power-law learning curve) within participants. Results and conclusions. Task-related arousal was found to decrease with repeated trials for all participants in nearly all sessions, indicating that a habituation model was successful in capturing changes in arousal in a task situation. Furthermore, sustained task-related arousal (slow habituation) was connected to better performance both between and within participants. High spontaneous activity, on the other hand, was associated with performance decrements. Taken together, these results suggest that temporal changes in task-related arousal during learning are related to the processing of task-relevant cues and may reflect motivational states that direct selective attention, while high spontaneous activity is related to performance decrements, perhaps due to interference from task-unrelated stress.

Teaching and learning are interactional processes between the teacher and his or her pupils. Good interaction skills are an essential part of the teacher profession. Learning good interaction skills and creating ways and practices that promote the use of those skills is of ten recommended. However, the teacher studies do not direct the students to process these skills. In the present study, it was explored whether comprehensive school teachers of Finland participating in the three credit follow-up training learned to use social interaction skills during the intervention. The studied skills were based on Gordon's theory (2003). The participants were 20 teachers who attended the training, and 20 teachers not attending the training. The effects of the intervention on teachers were examined by using the DCI-instrument (Talvio, Lonka, Kuusela, & Lintunen, 2012). Qualitative, theory-driven content analysis was used to classify the data. The statistical differences between the pre-test and post-test scores were examined with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. After the intervention, teachers who participated in the training used significantly more listening and active listening skills and communicated in more constructive ways. Furthermore, they used significantly less roadblocks to communication. In the comparison group, no differences between pre- and post-tests were perceived. To conclude, the teachers' course on social interaction skills appeared to achieve its goals, since the teachers learned to apply the studied skills during the intervention. This study adds to the development of continuing teacher training by presenting a way of teaching students skills that enhance the quality of interaction.

Workshops can be seen as a one kind of occupational model in the field of the social employing. The objective of social employing is to support the employment of those persons who are in a weak labour market position and to maintain their ability to function. The objectives of the workshops, which are offering work experience and learning of life management, maintain the same goal as social employment. Workshop services in Finland are relatively little scientifically studied in spite of their fairly long history. The workshop as a concept is still quite sparsely defined and also an unknown occupational model to the large part of people. The starting point for this study was to clarify what the workshops are like, what the services are like and how learning can be seen from the point of view of the workshop services. The objective of this study was to analyse how the apprentices experience the workshop services as well as learning in the workshops and thus describe how the workshops are shaped at the youth workshops. According to earlier studies the apprentices have experienced the workshops as useful periods in their lives and also they believe that other people in society appreciate the experience that apprentices have been received from the workshops. This study can be described as a qualitative study. Its methodological foundation is in phenomenology and especially in existential phenomenology. The research material consisted of seven individual interviews and two group interviews. In the group interviews five apprentices were those who had also participated in the individual interviews and one apprentice who did not participate. The interviewees' ages were between 17-22 years. The interviews were carried out as semi-structured interviews. The method which was utilised in the analysis of the research material is developed by Juha Perttula (2000). This analyse method is based on existential phenomenology. The apprentices considered that significant experiences in the workshop services were the entry to the workshop, the form of activity of the workshop, workshop community, the achieving of life management and work experience, the understanding of the significance of the education and the planning of the future. Regarding to learning the attitude, on-the-job learning, the importance of the mentors, the new information and new skills achieved were significant experiences at the workshop for the apprentices. The apprentices' experiences reflect well the achievement of the objectives which are set for the workshop services. Results of this study are also compatible to the results of earlier studies of apprentices' positive experience of the workshop services. The results can be utilised in developing the workshop services to offer more versatile experiences than before and to improve learning conditions on the workshops. The arranging of the on-the-job learning and the significance of the actions of mentors should also be noticed.

Abstract The theoretical framework for this study comes from Carol Dweck’s (2000, 2006) theory of mindsets. Mindsets impact on core beliefs that individuals hold about the malleability of qualities of the human condition. A person with a growth mindset believes that abilities can be developed. A person a with fixed mindset believes that people have a certain amount of abilities, such as talent and intelligence. Mindsets have an impact on learning results, persistence and goals. Mindset also affects on how person reacts to challenges. Whilst theory of mindsets is internationally known and well researched, there has been less research regarding young children’s mindsets. The aim of this study is to examine what are the school subjects third grade pupils like and which factors influence that. In addition, study aims to examine what factors in learning motivates third grade pupils and how mindsets are presented in pupil’s answers. This study examined third grade students from two primary schools in Helsinki. The data of this study was collected as a part of Kirsi Tirri’s Copernicus research project’s intervention which utilized growth mindset pedagogy. The data of this study was gathered before intervention. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis was performed using inductive and deductive content analysis. Statistical methods were used to examine how two factors, gender and school, impact on pupils answers. The results of this study showed that mathematics was clearly the most popular subject, which differs from the previous study. Results suggest that subject-specific motivation was most often affected by a factor inherent in the nature of the subject, such as calculation. Factors behind learning motivation highlighted learning environment, especially it’s social dimensions. Mindsets were one of the factors that affected subject-specific motivation and learning motivation. Most pupils reflected a fixed mindset. Mindsets were presented in many ways. Pupils answers highlighted attitudes towards challenge. The results also implicate that mindset can differ in different subjects.

Children have an intrinsic motivation to play, and play is an essential part of the versatile development of a child. A child learns, for example, social, emotional, motoric, and cognitive skills through play. The same skills are taught in Finnish schools. It is justifiable that play is a visible part of the Finnish elementary school curriculum, in which play is encouraged to be used as one of the methods in teaching. The significance of play decreases in the curriculum for the 3-6th graders even though that age of students are still children who play. The aim of this research was to study how play appears in 4-6th graders’ actions and speech in the school context, to give a voice to the school children. In addition, the aim was to study how play appears in learning and motivation, and how it appears in the building of the sense of community in a new group. This master’s thesis is qualitative research, and it is conducted through an ethnographic method. The data was collected from a class of 25 students in grades 4-6th in a Finnish ele-mentary school in August and September of 2021. The collected data had field notes, video material, photos, and interviews. The data was analyzed by coding it in themes to answer the research questions. The concluded themes discussed how play appeared in the school con-text and what kind of role play had in the building of the sense of community. The research results indicate that the students experienced play to be an inspiring and moti-vating way to learn. The students felt that play was a refreshing break from the ordinary book-oriented studying even though they were also studying while playing. The results also show that the teacher had a significant role in building both the sense of community and the learn-ing of the students. With the teacher’s support, the students learned while playing and had the courage to play with the classmates who they did not know before.

The purpose of the present multiple case study was to examine how highly regarded expert consultants specialised in design and development of digital products and services, reflect on the nature of their professional expertise. The study focused, further, on qualitatively tracing personal social networks of the key experts and their ways of developing and cultivating their expertise in their network-centric organization. Organizational consultancy is creative knowledge work taking place at inter-organizational contact zones. Because technological and social innovations are interdependent, consult work is closely related to organizational learning, transformation, and change. The theoretical foundations of the study were provided by Senge’s theory of learning organisations, Nonaka’s theory of knowledge-creating companies, Engeström’s theory of expansive learning, and theories of social networks. The study was carried out within a Finnish consultancy company, developing digital systems for supporting public and private organizations in transformation of their workflows and practices. Interviewees for this study were selected by asking employees of the organization to nominate colleagues who they see to be experts in consulting and team-building. Two people who gained the most mentions in each skill area were invited to take part in the study, whom all agreed. Interviews were conducted via video call. Beyond background information, the participants were asked to reflect on the nature of their own expertise, active efforts of developing expertise and building of personal network. They were also asked to report critical incidents they saw to have a positive impact on the development of expertise. A personal network was drawn by the experts with the instructions of the interviewer, using an infinity board tool, and analysed qualitatively. Gathered data was first coded and then analyzed by relying on qualitative analysis of content. The results indicated that each expert consultant had unique and sophisticated expertise, and it was connected to their professional identity. The results revealed that the experience years of the experts were a relevant factor while considering how confident the experts were with their own expertise. Experts felt that both skills were difficult to define but they appeared to value similar aspects while defining these skills. Experts appeared to learn the most while working on a project. The significance of mentors was also important, especially in the early phases of a career. Different challenges and solving them with various methods appeared to be significant in developing consulting and team-building skills. The size of the personal network emerged not to be the determinant factor of the development of expertise. Experience and current work description appeared to affect what kind of personal connections experts value. Each expert approached the active development of one's skills differently, and only one expert felt that he was not actively developing his skills. Challenges regarding the cultivation of these skills appeared to relate to communication and unclear career paths. The expertise of consultants is a complex entity. It comes to life in the processes and conventions between consultants, clients, and organizations. The origin of this expertise is hard to track, and it requires time and effort to build it. This study scratched the surface of how experienced consultants develop and cultivate their skills. Shedding light on this matter is necessary so that the steps to begin further examination become visible.