Browsing by department "Department of Teacher Education"

Abstract Self-regulation means the ability to control own emotions, behavior and cognitive operations as required by the environment. This research focuses on examining how self-regulation skills of children from 3 to 5 years are supported in the kindergarten. The research question was (1) how is the development of self-regulation skills of children from 3 to 5 years supported in the kindergarten according to kindergarten teachers? The research question had three parts. (1.1) How kindergarten teachers define self-regulation? (1.2) In which ways development of self-regulation is supported in the kindergarten? (1.3) How kindergarten teachers explain these methods? Previous research has shown that child learns self-regulation by interacting with others. Feedback from environment and the way how adult responds to child’s actions have an impact on development of self-regulation. The method of this research was qualitative. The data was collected by using half-structured interview. The data consists of three interviews, which were conducted in three different kindergartens in Vantaa. All three interviewees had kindergarten teacher degree and they all had worked in the field at least five years. The data was analyzed by themes, which were based on research questions and interview questions. The results of this research brought out that the way adult guides and encourages child in the kindergarten activities in the early childhood education were essential. Creating positive atmosphere, presence of an adult, and adult’s own example were seen as important parts of teaching self-regulation skills. It also seemed to be important to use different kind of pictures while guiding child and vary the size of child groups. Kindergarten teachers defined that self-regulation skills include of the way child controls their actions, behaviors and how child concentrates on doing something without the distraction of environment.

The purpose of this study is to research views of early childhood teachers about the social skills of 3 to 5-year-old children and how to enhance them in the day care group. It is also interesting to find out how teachers see their role in the development of childrens’ social skills. Previous studies have shown that teachers see the achievement of socio-emotional skills very important. In the past, studies have also shown that consistent teachers’ emotional support contributes to the development of social skills in children with this age. This research is qualitative and the material was collected by interviewing four teachers of early childhood education. The interviews were conducted at agreed times at the teachers' workplaces. The interviews were 14-26 minutes long and the total length of the transcript was 16 pages. The material was analyzed using theory-driven content analysis. As a guiding theory in the analysis phase I used earlier studies, The National Core Curriculum for Early childhood Education and Care 2018 and early childhood education act. Five different themes related to the social skills of children aged 3 to 5 and their promotion came up from the interview material. Consistent themes in teachers' perceptions were the importance of skills, individuality in development and goals. All interviewees felt that promoting skills was an important goal in their work. The skills of being in the group, self-regulating and negotiating skills, and working with others were seen as important goals in the development of social skills. Among the answers to the questions about the promotion of skills were the building of the environment and the role of the adult. Building the environment for social skills development emerged in all interviews. Safety was seen as an important factor in the construction of the environment, and this is created by the presence and, if necessary, interference of the adult in different situations. All interviews emphasized the importance of an adult's presence in the sense of child safety and the resolution of conflict situations. I contrasted the interview material with the Basics of Early Education Plan 2018 and the Early Childhood Education Act. The views that emerged from the interviews were consistent with the content of the documents.

Basic motor skills are the base of mobility and learning those skills is a the central aim of physical education targets. The stage of learning basic motor skills is on average from the age of three until the age of seven, when the child adopts most of the basic motor skills. It is important for children to have a lot of physical experience to practice basic motor skills. The aim of this study was to find out how basic motor skills for 3 – 5-year-old children’s basic motor skills can be supported by kindergarten’s organized physical education. The aim was also to find out how the kindergarten teacher motivates and inspires children who are passive movers. The questions in this study were the following: What kind of challenges do 3 – 5-years- olds have in their physical exercise? How can the development of basic motor skills be supported in organized physical exercise and in particular how are the different skills of children supported? How to inspire and motivate 3 – 5-year-olds to move? The study was a qualitative case study which was made in cooperation with a day-care center in Espoo. The material was collected in October 2018 by interviewing the kindergarten teacher and by observing a organized physical exercise. A small group of 3 – 5-year-olds with eight children participated in the observation. The interview was a thematic interview where the interviewee answered to the pre-defined questions. Some of the responses were supplementary questions about the issues raised by the observation. The processing phase of the material started by searching similarities through the themes that were shown in the interview and observation. The study material was processed with by theming. The material of the interview was analyzed by content analysis. The research results found that a kindergarten teacher can motivate and inspire children to move with the teacher own attitude, encouragement, catching children’s interests as well as with imagination and play. Kindergarten teacher sees the challenges of behavior and instructions to be more challenging than problems of child’s motor skills. The results of this study provide guidance and models for the pedagogical work of educators in the field of physical education for kindergartens.

Objectives. Previous studies show that using music and songs in particular is an effective way to teach a new language to a child. Linguistically incompetent child may take part in a music moment and experience the feeling of achievement and belonging to a group. According to research it is also important to support the child's native language in order to make it possible to learn a new language. The objective of this research is to find out how do kindergarten teachers experience the use of songs as a tool in supporting language learning of 5 to 6-year-old children with Finnish as a second language. The research studied the tools used in supporting the learning of songs and mapped out kindergarten teachers' visions of themselves as an implementer of music pedagogy. Methods. This research was executed as a qualitative research. The research method was thematic interview and I interviewed five kindergarten teachers who work in the metropolitan area. Material's analytical method was content analysis. Findings and the conclusion. The kindergarten teachers experienced singing as a daily and significant way to teach language. Songs were appointed as the best method to teach language, for both children speaking Finnish as a native language and for those speaking Finnish as a second language. Each interviewee had experiences and examples of how linguistically incompetent children can express themselves by using songs. Children with Finnish as a second language, whose persuasion forbids music education or some parts of it, are taken into consideration especially during Christmas. Pictures and signs were definitely the most used methods supporting songs. In addition, the kindergarten teachers used methods of drama and physical education. Apart from one respondent the interviewees experienced the use of songs as "their thing" and told that they also have music related hobbies. None of the kindergarten teachers clearly brought out the way the native language of the child is supported. Arguing the use of songs was left at a practical stage. With additional research, it is possible to find out how kindergarten should support the child's own culture and the development of their native language.

Goals. The goal of this bachelor’s thesis is to investigate and describe 9th graders’ eating habits. Previous studies have shown that teenagers eat irregularly and skip important meals. In addition, studies show that especially boys eat less fruits and vegetables than is recommended. On the other hand, girls seem to skip more meals during the day but also consume more delicacies than boys. Based on previous studies, my hypothesis is that teenagers’ eating habits do not follow current recommendations. Many previous studies have been focusing on teenagers’ school time eating and families’ food practices but in my opinion teenagers’ eating overall needs more attention. This thesis concentrates on teenagers’ overall eating on work days: before, during and after the school day. Also, the goal is to define which factors influence teenagers eating habits. Methods. The focus group of this thesis were students on 9th grade and the data was collected using food diaries. The food diaries were collected in two different cities, in two separate schools. Altogether 20 students took part in the study, from which 9 were from Helsinki and 11 from Vantaa. The gathered data was analysed thematically and by using tabulation. Results and conclusion. Meal rhythm was quite irregular among teenagers. From all meals students skipped school lunch most frequently. Also, breakfast was skipped often but dinner instead was eaten quite regularly. Majority of students consumed fruits and vegetables daily. Eating delicacies was not as common as eating fruits and vegetables but every third ate del-icacies on a daily basis. Gender was significant factor influencing on teenagers eating habits: on average girls ate all meals scantier than boys. In addition, weekday also had a slight im-pact on students’ eating, students ate more regularly in the beginning of the week. Location of the schools also somewhat affected on students eating, for students from Helsinki ate most of their daily meals more regularly compared to students from Vantaa, but on the other hand also delicacy consumption was more frequent in Helsinki.

Aim. In pre-primary education ADHD-diagnosed children can be found in special groups, integrated groups and also in ordinary groups. It is important that teachers, who work in pre-primary education groups, recognize the individual needs of ADHD-diagnosed children and consider them in all teaching situations, including physical education. The purpose of this study was to find out the needs of ADHD-diagnosed children in pre-primary education during physical education and teachers’ ways to consider these needs. Methods. This study was a qualitative study. The material was collected in January 2018 by interviewing four pre-primary teachers working in the Helsinki metropolitan area, whose groups included an ADHD-diagnosed child. The interviewees were all trained as kindergarten teachers and one of the interviewees was also a qualified special kindergarten teacher. All pre-primary education teachers had at least 15 years of teaching experience and two interviewees had also worked as a day-care centre’s manager. The interviews were conducted as theme interviews in the pre-primary teachers’ workplaces. After the interviews, the material was transcribed and analyzed by content analysis. Results. The results showed that some of the ADHD-diagnosed children had difficulties with regulating their behaviour and emotions. Additionally, one ADHD-diagnosed child had weak motor skills and two very low self-esteem. The needs of ADHD-diagnosed children in physical education were, in spite of the common diagnosis, individualised. Pre-primary teachers make sure to consider ADHD-diagnosed children’s needs in physical education making sure that children have various options to move, simplifying the teaching situations, developing routines that add the feeling of safety and strengthening the child’s self-esteem for example giving lots of positive feedback. All pre-primary teachers evaluated the meaning of physical education as very important in their group that includes ADHD-diagnosed child. Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Aim. In pre-primary education ADHD-diagnosed children can be found in special groups, integrated groups and also in ordinary groups. It is important that teachers, who work in pre-primary education groups, recognize the individual needs of ADHD-diagnosed children and consider them in all teaching situations, including physical education. The purpose of this study was to find out the needs of ADHD-diagnosed children in pre-primary education during physical education and teachers’ ways to consider these needs. Methods. This study was a qualitative study. The material was collected in January 2018 by interviewing four pre-primary teachers working in the Helsinki metropolitan area, whose groups included an ADHD-diagnosed child. The interviewees were all trained as kindergarten teachers and one of the interviewees was also a qualified special kindergarten teacher. All pre-primary education teachers had at least 15 years of teaching experience and two interviewees had also worked as a day-care centre’s manager. The interviews were conducted as theme interviews in the pre-primary teachers’ workplaces. After the interviews, the material was transcribed and analyzed by content analysis. Results. The results showed that some of the ADHD-diagnosed children had difficulties with regulating their behaviour and emotions. Additionally, one ADHD-diagnosed child had weak motor skills and two very low self-esteem. The needs of ADHD-diagnosed children in physical education were, in spite of the common diagnosis, individualised. Pre-primary teachers make sure to consider ADHD-diagnosed children’s needs in physical education making sure that children have various options to move, simplifying the teaching situations, developing routines that add the feeling of safety and strengthening the child’s self-esteem for example giving lots of positive feedback. All pre-primary teachers evaluated the meaning of physical education as very important in their group that includes ADHD-diagnosed child.

Aims. Aggressive behaviour should not be allowed to children. At the day care, it is important to intervene every situation when child behaves aggressively and guide him to find better ways to behave. The aim of the research was to find out how kindergarten special education teacher and kindergarten teacher understand child’s aggression behaviour, what kind of experience they have about it and how they support a child who behaves aggressively at day care. In my research, I focus on children who are over 3 years old. Methods. Research method was qualitative, phenomenographic research. As a data collection method, I used theme interview and as a method of analysis, I used content analysis. I interviewed one kindergarten teacher, one special education kindergarten teacher and one kindergarten resource special education teacher. All of them work for the city of Helsinki and they have between 20 to 40 years of work experience. Results and conclusions. According to the research results, the interviewees thought that child’s aggressive behaviour was both physical and verbal. All of the interviewees told that they encounter child’s aggressive behaviour almost daily at their work. There were similarities and differences in the way kindergarten special education teachers and kindergarten teachers support a child who behaves aggressively. Different educational backgrounds might be explanatory factor. All of the interviewees brought up that it is important that adults remain calm when a child acts aggressively. Due to the safety reasons, they sometimes had to hold the child until the child can be calmed down. The kindergarten special education teachers brought up teaching the child the skill to recognize and name feelings.

Tunnekasvatuksella voidaan vaikuttaa oppilaan kokonaisvaltaiseen hyvinvointiin, akateemiseen menestykseen sekä koulun sosiaaliseen ilmapiiriin. Tunnetaitojen heikkous puolestaan altistaa käytöshäiriöille ja syrjäytymiselle. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on kuvata, millaisia mahdollisuuksia tunnetaitojen opetuksen integroimisella äidinkielen ja kirjallisuuden oppiaineeseen voi olla. Tunnekasvatuksen tarve on huomioitu uudessa opetussuunnitelmassa, mutta käytännössä opetus ei ole vielä systemaattista ja ennaltaehkäisevää, oppilaiden tasapainoisen tunne-elämän kehitystä tukevaa. Tutkielmassa kuvataan tunnekasvatuksen asemaa suomalaisessa alakoulussa opetussuunnitelman velvoittamana, oppiaineeseen sitoutumattomana sisältönä. Tutkielmassa selvitetään, miten äidinkielen ja kirjallisuuden oppiaineessa voidaan tukea tunnekasvatuksen tavoitteita ja mikä merkitys lastenkirjallisuudella voi olla oppilaan tunnetaitojen ja kokonaisvaltaisen hyvinvoinnin kannalta. Tutkielma toteutettiin kuvailevana kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Aineistona käytettiin kotimaista ja ulkomaalaista teoriakirjallisuutta, tutkimuksia ja muita tieteellisiä artikkeleita, sekä muutamia opinnäytteitä. Aineisto on rajattu harkinnanvaraisesti suhteessa tutkittavaan ilmiöön. Tunnekasvatuksen asema alakoulussa on yhä hajanainen, vaikka opettajat tunnustavat tunnetaitojen merkityksen oppimisen edellytyksenä. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen perusteella tunnekasvatuksen integrointi äidinkielen ja kirjallisuuden oppiaineeseen näyttäytyy tarkoituksenmukaisena ja tehokkaana. Tunnekasvatuksen tavoitteita on mahdollista tukea äidinkielen ja kirjallisuuden opetuksen osana, kun toiminta on tavoitteellista ja opettajat tietoisia vaikutusmahdollisuuksistaan. Lasten- ja nuortenkirjallisuuden lukemisella ja käsittelyllä voi alakoulussa olla tunnetaitojen tukemisen kautta rooli oppilaan kokonaisvaltaisen hyvinvoinnin edistäjänä.

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tutkia käsityöntekijä Julia Latva-Panttilan elämäkertaa hänen käsitöistä käsin. Julia Latva-Panttilalta jäi valtava kokoelma käsitöitä hänen elämänsä varrelta ja hänet muistetaan tarkkana ja ahkerana käsityöntekijänä sekä erittäin aktiivisena Kurikan kansalaisopiston opiskelijana. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miten käsityöt ovat kulkeneet Julian mukana läpi hänen elämänsä sekä miten kansalaisopisto on vaikuttanut yksittäisen opiskelijan elämään. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin elämäkerrallista tapaustutkimusta. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla Julian vanhinta lasta Liisa Kirvestä. Aineistona toimi myös Liisa Kirveen Kurikan kansalaisopistossa keräämä haastatteluaineisto, johon osallistui neljä Julian tuntenutta henkilöä. Tutkimuksessa esiintyvät tapahtumat ovat ajoitettu aikajärjestykseen, mutta tarkkoja vuosilukuja kaikille tapahtumille ei ole. Huomioitavaa myös on, että haastattelu on toteutettu toisen ihmisen kertomana eli itse asianomainen Julia Latva-Panttila ei ole asioita kertonut ja muistellut. Julia Latva-Panttilan elämässä käsityöt olivat hyvin suuressa roolissa. Kudonta oli Julialle ehdottomasti tärkein käsityötekniikka. Julia oli käsitöitä tehdessään hyvin tarkka ja täsmällinen eikä sallinut epäsiistiä jälkeä. Käsityöt kulkivat Julian elämässä läpi eri elämänvaiheiden ja asutettujen kaupunkien. Tutkimuksessa selviää, että vapaalla sivistystyöllä oli erittäin suuri rooli Julian elämässä. Kansalaisopisto toi hänen eläkepäiviinsä rytmiä, ohjelmaa, seuraa ja uuden oppimista. Julia oli nopea ja innokas oppija, joka muistetaan kansalaisopistolla ahkerana opiskelijana. Kansalaisopisto ylläpiti Julian käsityöharrastusta ja toi siihen uusia ulottuvuuksia uusien käsityötekniikoiden avulla. Kansalaisopiston avulla Julia oppi sellaisia tekniikoita, joita hän tuskin olisi opetellut yksinään ilman seuraa ja opettajaa. Vapaa sivistystyö ylläpiti Julian kohdalla elämän mittaista harrastusta ja toteutti elinikäisen oppimisen periaatetta.

The purposes. Aino (1894 – 1949) and Alvar Aalto (1898 – 1976) were architects and designers whose work is well known around the world. Aalto had a holistic way of thinking about architectural work, which meant creating detailed compilations, including designing textiles also. Artek used other textile producers too, but this paper focuses on the textiles Aino and Alvar Aalto designed themselves for their interior designs, furniture and world exhibitions. The purpose of this research is to figure out what textiles Aino Aalto designed at the time when Artek was founded in the 30´s and what textiles Alvar Aalto designed later, in the 50’s. Aino and especially Alvar Aalto’s architectural work and furniture design has been researched extensively, but less has been written of their textiles. Therefore, one purpose of this research is to lighten this less known area of the Aalto’s work. The methods. For the artefact study in this research I photographed every fabric sample (over 100pcs) in the Alvar Aalto Archives in Jyväskylä and sorted them by the models/prints, colours and designers. The following steps in the research were done based on the photographs. There were five different models designed by Aino Aalto among the samples, four of them were screen printed fabrics and one was a woven textile. There were five different prints designed by Alvar Aalto. For closer examination, four of Aino Aalto’s and four of Alvar Aalto’s textiles were chosen for this research. The research work analyses the textile design careers of the Aalto’s and how their fabric designs have been in use. The conclusions. Many different colour variations exist of these print designs and they have been printed on various fabrics, for example same print were printed on upholstery and curtain materials. Aino Aalto’s fabric designs have stayed as part of design history and have not been manufactured ever since. She ended up designing fabrics when she worked as Artistic Director in Artek. Alvar Aalto’s ”Siena”-fabric is still in production by Artek, perhaps because of its timeless design.