Browsing by discipline "Educational Psychology"

Objectives. Increasingly younger children are faced with rapid mastery of knowledge and social interaction requirements. A new phenomenon-oriented curriculum reform 2016 brings these new challenges in front of the student. Previous studies show that different efficacy beliefs influece individuals actions. The purpose of this study is to describe, analyse and interpret the concept of self-efficacy. In the research field, the term is used with different meanings. The aim of this study is also to find out the related concepts from the selected research articles as well as their similarities and differences from self-efficacy in order to understand and to clarify and differentiate the concept. . Methods. The study is a systematic litterature review. A more accurate method used is conceptual analysis, which allowed the comparison and interpretation of different definitions. The research data was selected from twenty scientifically valid research studies in various articles and literature on the basis of concepts centrality. The materials were compared and restructured, bringing together concepts and definitions of self-efficacy from different researchers. Second, the study looked at the material encountered about the near concepts that were opened and analyzed in a conceptual analysis and the phenomenographic review. Conceptual distinctions were operated using few concrete practical examples. Results and conclusions. Self-efficacy is a complex concept, which this study found a number of different definitions and related concepts. Some researchers defined the term very broadly and also new dimensions, such as social self-efficacy concept were found.; Related concepts used synymously with self-efficacy found were such as skill possessing, self-image, self-concept, self-esteem, outcome-expectations, self-confidence), self-regulation, controllability, personality traits, personal agency, effectance motivation, perceived control and locus of control As a result of the study on the basis of the definitions and comparisons occurring data the core of the concept and its different variations and emphases were located. For the key element of self-efficacy was individuals feeling of efficacy in a particular moment a feeling in relation to the situation or activity. The results will help to structure self-efficacy conceptually as internal process of the individual, which gives the teacher the tools to support student.

Tavoitteet. Lasten ja nuorten vähäinen lukeminen on ollut paljon esillä viime vuosina. Tässä kandidaatintutkielmassa tutkitaan lasten ja nuorten heikkoa lukumotivaatiota. Tarkoi-tuksena on selvittää, mistä heikko motivoituneisuus lukemiseen johtuu ja millaisia piirteitä ja syitä siihen liittyy. Menetelmät. Tämä tutkimus perustuu Lukuklaani-hankkeen tutkimusaineistoon. Lukuklaani on Suomen Kulttuurirahaston rahoittama hanke, jonka tarkoituksena on kannustaa nuoria luke-maan. Lukuklaani-hanke jakautuu alakoulun vuosien 2017-2019 ja yläkoulun vuosien 2019-2020 hankkeisiin. Tutkimusosio toteutettiin Helsingin ja Turun yliopistoissa alakoulun ja ylä-koulun opettajille suunnatuilla kyselyillä ja niiden analyysillä. Tässä tutkielmassa aineistona oli yläkoulun hankkeeseen kerätty aineisto vuodelta 2019. Kyselyyn vastasi 407 äidinkielen ja kirjallisuuden opettajaa. Tässä tutkielmassa etsittiin opettajien avovastauksista syitä sille, miksi kaikki oppilaat eivät olleet lukeneet kirjaa loppuun. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Epämotivoituneista lukijoista voidaan päätellä Lukuklaani-aineiston valossa, että he eivät jaksa tai halua lukea kirjoja, ainakaan koulussa annettua kir-jaa. Joko lukemiseen ei ole aikaa tai siihen ei jakseta keskittyä. Eniten vastauksia oli heikosta motivaatiosta ja kiinnostuksen puutteesta. Lukeminen voi myös olla vaikeaa ja hidasta, mikä tekee lukemisesta epämiellyttävää. Opettajien mukaan moni ei myöskään pysty lukemaan pit-kiä kokonaisteoksia, niihin ei jakseta keskittyä. Osa oppilaista ei myöskään lue kirjoja, jos ne jäävät kotiin luettaviksi.

Aims. This study analyses how valuation of mathematics and self-concept in mathematics are related to mathematical skills in primary school. This thesis relates to Eccles and colleagues (Wigfield & Eccless, 2002) expectancy-value theory in which self-concept and valuation in mathematics explains the student’s motivation. This theory separates the valuation of mathematics in intrinsic value, utility value and cost. The theory and aim of this thesis focused on the on-going international MatMoth project. The project examines 3rd grade pupils motivation factors connection to their mathematic skills Methods. This study is a literature review. The purpose of this thesis was to create an overview of results how motivation factors deal with mathematical skills. As sources I used national and international research reports. Results and conclusions. In primary school motivational factors hardly correlate with mathematical skills. This correlation increases trough out the duration of the primary school. Self-conceptions of mathematics have the strongest correlation to mathematical skills in primary school pupils. The strongest link found in the valuation field was that of intrinsic value connection to skills. Motivation factors causally correlate to mathematical skills in a bidirectional manner. In the other words motivation factors correlates with mathematical skills, and mathematical skills correlates with motivation factors. In conclusion it’s very important for teacher to support their pupils positive motivation and help progress of knowledge building and mathematical skills.

Goals. The new Finnish national curriculum names increasing knowlegde and understanding about the diversity of gender as one of the goals of basic education. Gender diversity contains not only boys and girls, but also transgender students, whose gender identity falls outside the binary. The experiences of these students have as of yet been researched little, especially in Finland, and insufficient information about transgender issues is available to teachers. The goal of this study is to understand transgender indentities through theoretical literature and to map the various factors that affect school experiences of transgender students. The study is based on educational sciences, but I also utilise gender studies as a frame of reference. Methods. I have executed this study as a integrative descriptive literary survey using a feminist approach. My goal was construct a comprehensive and coherent overall view by compiling different kinds of discretionarily chosen theoretical and research literature. I analyzed the material by constructing a general view of gender, sex and transgender identity from the theoretical literature, and by compiling factors that affect the school experiences of transgender students from previous studies. Results and conclusions. The study showed that the school institution is a relatively heteronormative institution, which upholds the idea of binary gender and reproduces both visible and hidden gendered practices. The material showed that expectations of gender control almost all school activity, so it is difficult for a transgender student to find their place as a part of the school community. The physical spaces at school, the toilets and changing rooms for example, have generally been divided by gender, so a transgender student is without a place at school in a very concrete way, as well. Transgender students face significantly more bullying, harrasment and violence at school than boys or girls do. Schools and teachers have not only the opportunity, but also the responsibility to change heteronormative and gendered practiced at school and make the school environment safer and more positive for transgender students. However, it is essential that transgender identities are researched more in Finnish schools.

Preventing younger generation’s social exclusion is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The consequences of social exclusion reflect on economy and as human suffer-ing. Even though the subject has been researched very recently and quite extensively, the phenomenon has not decreased after different kind of interventions in the light of statistics. Different interview-based researches and knowledge based on experience help finding the core of the issue around the young people’s agency. The seminar essay focuses on finding the factors that limit the agency of younger generation who are using or are on the edge of using the public services. The research method used in the seminar essay is a literature survey, which is a theoretical survey of the research literature related to the phenomenon. Younger generation’s agency is examined through three different aspects: (1) the social capital and trust, (2) participation and loneliness and (3) different forms of power. The frame of reference is the public service system which is often the link for the young person to be part of the society. Social capital and trust, which are each other’s preconditions, were essential factors limiting young people’s agency. The fundamental causes to the situation appeared to be the experi-ences of not participating and loneliness. The consequence of these experiences is not be-ing able to have social capital. Different social networks play a great role in building the young person’s agency. In addition, different forms of power seemed to restrict young people es-pecially when using the public service system. Categorising way of talking about young peo-ple and labelizing them highlighted young people not confronting each other and their thought-lessness. Confronting young people by their problems seems to be discouraging and making them more passive.

In recent years we have witnessed an increase of globalization and immigration all over the world, hence the rise of a new popular concept – multiculturalism. Living in a multicultural society requires citizens to have skills and knowledge such as the ability to act naturally in intercultural encounters. For some time now intercultural competence has been a vital concept in the field of communication, diplomacy and business and lately it has become stable also in the field of education. The concept simply refers to an ability to think and act in an appropriate and effective way in intercultural encounters. The field of multiculturalism is however polysemous which highly calls for consensus. In this study one´s are exploring teacher´s intercultural skills and competence in the field of education. The aim of this study is to introduce how teacher´s intercultural competence has been defined in the previous studies and what kind of dimensions the concept incorporates. The main object in this study is to describe the concept of teacher´s intercultural competence in the field of education in the light of previous studies. The type of my research was a literature review. The data of this research was eight international articles which definitions of teacher’s intercultural competence I compared and classified. Hence the research has also phenomenographical features in a sense that I brought together different researchers’ perceptions of teacher’s intercultural competence and I examined what similarities and differences these definitions had. Analyctical method in this research was pretty much as generally used in phenomenographical studies where the analysis of review data lead to the creation of various categories. The results indicate that the concept of teacher’s intercultural competence does not have settled definition in the research field. Different researchers define the term in different ways; some of the researchers define the term more broadly and leave unmentioned something that some other definitions bring up. In my research I have divided teacher´s intercultural competence into various categories which allows to approach the concept of intercultural competence through various dimensions. Based on the analysis, the central elements of the teacher’s intercultural competence were clarified which helps understanding the term and relating its different definitions in the field of education.

In this thesis, I give a critical look for discourse and the ideals of community in Finnish national core curriculum for basic education 2014. I compare the results with students’ reported experiences of peer community. Communal learning, the active role of a student and practices that highlight peer learning have been the latest trends in Finnish education. In earlier studies these learning theories have been addressed separately with the study of peer relations and dynamics. As there has been a swift change in the nature of education from teacher centered towards communal learning practices, it is important to understand the circumstances where the communal learning takes place. Previous research has shown that for the children gaining popularity among the peers is often more important than succeeding academically. That emphasizes the need to study the relationship between school’s social aims and peer relationship power dynamics in order to adjust the goals and pay attention to possible challenges to them as well as social equality in social learning practices. This study was a critical discourse analysis. The general parts of the Finnish national core curriculum for basic education served as data for the analysis. The focus of the analysis was on the themes of communality and students’ engagement and participation in it. The themes were created based on theory and previous studies. The analysis was executed through careful reading, utilizing methods of rhetoric discourse analysis. The research tradition used was critical so the focus was on the power dynamics and revealing inequalities. The results showed that the Finnish national core curriculum has set up high expectations for communal practices. However, they were idealistic when comparing the dynamics in peer relationships. They did not pay attention to the effect of pupil’s social status which affects pupil’s possibilities to participate. That creates a change of inequality in communal practices as the curriculum favors pupils that already have strong social skills, high status and ability to affect others. The results are not applicable to represent the reality but give an idea and critic to the challenges of the nature of curriculum in this social context of peer relationships. Further research is needed to test these hypothesis.

The main goal of this bachelor's thesis is to find out how a student's introversion appears in school context. Introversion is a personality trait which is a result of an interaction between an environment and a temperament. A psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Jung mentioned the concept “introversion" in 1920s. Also, Briggs and Briggs Myers' (1944) and Eysenck's (1976) theories of introversion were used in this thesis. The energy of an introvert tends to go inward. Introverts reflect and think a lot about their own mind. Unfamiliar people and long meetings are overwhelming and exhausting for introverts which is why they tend to favour peace and quiet. In Finland, there has not been much research about the connection between introversion and school. The purpose of this thesis is also to increase awareness about introversion. The method used in this bachelor's thesis was an integrative literature review which allows to examine and describe the phenomenon diversely. This thesis' material consisted of 17 international researches and a book in which introversion's connection with school was studied. The material was collected systematically and manually from various international databases. The material-based content analysis was used in this study to analyse the material The results of this study indicate that introversion did appear in school in various ways. Introversion had a connection with academic achievement. Introverts benefited from teaching in which students receive information from a teacher. The results indicate that introverts needed a peaceful learning environment. Music and other background noises had a negative effect on introverts' performance. Teachers can take introverts' needs into account by creating an appropriate learning environment and lessons for introverts.

Tavoitteet. Nykyajan lapsia kasvatetaan tulevaisuuteen, jossa menestyksen uskotaan vaativan aiempaa enemmän kriittistä ajattelua, luovuutta sekä monenlaisia sosioemotionaalisia taitoja. Sosioemotionaalinen oppiminen nähdään yleisesti tärkeänä osana tulevaisuuden taitoja, mutta käytännöt sen tukemiseen vaihtelevat. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena oli selvittää minkälaisia hyötyjä oppilaiden sosioemotionaalisen oppimisen tukemisesta intervention keinoin on havaittu olevan. Tutkielmassa kootaan tietoa siitä, mitä havaintoja tutkijat ovat viimeisen viiden vuoden aikana tehneet sosioemotionaalisen oppimisen interventioiden toteuttamisesta koulukontekstissa. Aiemmissa tutkimuksissa vastaavilla interventioilla on havaittu olevan positiivisia vaikutuksia ainakin oppilaiden hyvinvointiin, käyttäytymiseen ja oppimistuloksiin. Menetelmät. Tämä tutkielma on menetelmältään systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus. Tutkimuksen aineisto koostui seitsemästä vertaisarvioidusta tutkimusartikkelista, joissa jokaisessa on toteutettu jokin sosioemotionaalisen oppimisen interventio. Aineisto kerättiin EBSCO-tietokannasta systemaattista hakua käyttämällä, hakusanoilla social AND emotional learning sekä intervention OR program. Analyysimenetelmänä käytettiin aineistolähtöistä teemoittelua, jonka avulla tutkimuskysymykseen vastaavat havainnot jaettiin neljään kategoriaan. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Sosioemotionaalisen oppimisen interventioilla havaittiin olevan positiivisia vaikutuksia oppilaiden sosioemotionaalisiin taitoihin, hyvinvointiin, akateemiseen suoriutumiseen sekä käyttäytymiseen. Sosioemotionaalisten taitojen osalta oppilailla esiintyi kehitystä neljällä viidestä osa-alueesta: minätietoisuudessa, itsensä johtamisessa, sosiaalisessa tietoisuudessa ja ihmissuhdetaidoissa, mutta ei vastuullisessa päätöksenteossa. Intervention vaikutukset hyvinvointiin näkyivät etenkin positiivisina muutoksina oppilaiden mielenterveydessä. Akateemisen suoriutumisen paraneminen ilmeni koulumenestystä ennustavina käyttäytymisen ja asenteiden muutoksina. Myös oppilaiden muussa käyttäytymisessä havaittiin positiivisia muutoksia. Tämän tutkielman tulosten valossa sosioemotionaalisen oppimisen interventioilla näyttäisi olevan monipuolisesti oppilaan kasvua, hyvinvointia ja akateemista menestystä tukevia positiivisia vaikutuksia.

Goals. Flow experience is a state where the individual is so immersed in ongoing activity that nothing seems to disturb him or her. The purpose of this literature review is to find out what things need to be taken into consideration in teaching, so that pupils could achieve this kind of state of immersion in learning. The aim is to expand the factors of the flow experience in learning and highlight ways how teacher can support flow experience from research results. The aim of this study is also to find links between research results and theoretical literature. Methods. This study is a descriptive literature review. The research material of this study based on 13 scientific articles, related to different aspects of the flow experience. The data of this study was analysed by thematising the research results. Theoretical literature was used to support the analysis of the research results. Results and conclusions. In this study, the research results showed that, when the teacher focusing on the factors which influencing the flow, it is possible to support pupils in achieving the flow experience. The most prominent research results was supporting individual pupils competence and autonomy. However, it is important to note that the flow experience is a personal experience, so it can be influenced by different factors between individuals.