Browsing by Author "Laine, Janne"

The main idea in this research was based on practice. As a teacher in crafts I noticed that pupils had very strong differencies in their skills and know-how in. The aim of this research was to make planning of the classes easier. Then, by pure curiousity, the basic idea widened to concern all the pupils in crafts in our school. I had also noticed that lack of skill or know-how leads often to lack of motivation and therefore problematic behavior. Lack of motivation also causes lack of skill and know-how. To make classes positive experience for the pupils, it’s extremely vital to plan the teaching carefully so that needs of pupils and aims of curriculum goes hand in hand. My research questions were: 1. Does the pupil have enough skill and know-how to work safely in crafts? 2. Is it hard to fulfill the aims of curriculum when the resources are lower all the time? 3. Is the lack of motivation the main reason for lack in skills and know-how? This research was taken in Maininki school, Espoo. The pupils engaging this research were from grade six to grade nine. There were total 98 pupils in the crafts classes envolved. Research query was four pages and total 36 questions. There were different scales in the questions. Most of the questions were answered with scale 1-4/5 and some of the questions were only yes- or no-questions. At the end of the query there were two open questions. The results of the query were analyzed using SPSS statistics program. I analyzed statistical properties of the data like mean value and standard deviation, frequensis and correlations. I also used factor analyses to find common factors in different parts of the query. I found some answers for the questions I had. Concerning safety in crafts classes there was evidence that pupils have good skills and know-how and they also pay attention to act safely in the class. The other question was more complicated and therefore there weren’t any straight answers. But there were some hints that the concern about the resources isn’t irrelevant. The pupils feel they need more help than they nowadays get and they think that used materials should vary more. With this query I didn’t get the answer for the third question. More research has to be carried out if we want to learn more. I wasn’t satisfied with the query I made. The analyzes gave quite reliable information but the questions were not as good as they could’ve been. This information helps me to plan my classes, but the results cannot be universalized due to quite small amount of data gathered.