Browsing by Subject "http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p3757"
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(2017)Along with the technological development, and the transition to knowledge society, our way working has changed. Due to digital solutions and advanced technology employees have the ability to work in a much more flexible work environment. Activity-based working gives employees the opportunity to choose how and where they work. At activity-based workplaces, no one has their own desk. Instead, the concept of free seating is used. Activity-based working creates options and independence for employees, but at the same time activity-based working can be perceived as challenging. In the thesis, a phenomenographic approach was used, and as a researcher, I focused on employees' different conceptions of activity-based working. The purpose of the study was to get a deeper understanding about employees' conceptions of activity-based working, and moreover, how the way of working influences the organisational culture and work identity. The theoretical framework consisted of earlier studies about activity-based working, as well as theories regarding organisational culture and work identity. The data were gathered during spring 2017, and involved 9 interviews with 9 employees, who work at activity-based organisations. The method of analysis was the phenomenographic approach. The employees sense, that activity-based working influences organisational culture, and work identity positively, as well as negatively. It appeared that employees find activity-based working as motivational. In addition, the employees find that activity-based working bring openness to the work culture, and enhance the communication. The employees also sense that activity-based working affects work identity, and that the work role becomes more dynamic and task orientated. However, some employees perceived activity-based working as challenging, and that it causes a formal work environment, constructed by unintended social structures. The results also showed conceptions of activity-based working causing anonymous work identity. Over all, the study proves that the conceptions of activity-based working, and how it affects organisational culture and work identity, differ. Yet, even though the results reveal conceptions of activity-based working coursing formal work environment, and anonymous work identity within the workplace, the employees value activity-based working and the ability to choose where and how they work.
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(2017)There has been a decline in the interest of children and the young in natural sciences. This phenomenon is worrying because it is known that interest affects learning and performing in science positively. Teaching methods have an impact on interest. This research will focus on science camps that are non-formal science education environments. The study describes the interestingness of the teaching methods used in biology science camps from a child's perspective. The study also investigates the development needs of the activities and the tutors' own development during the camps. In the summer of 2016, the BioPop class of the LUMA science education center organized six biology science camps for two age groups of children: 7–9 years old and 10–12 years old. The material of the research was collected from these science camps, while the researcher herself was a tutor of the science camps. The research material consisted of questionnaires for campers (N=99) and tutors (N=8). The campers evaluated the interestingness of the activities on the Flechen-scale from 1 to 5, and filled out open-ended questions about what they 'liked' and what they did 'not like' in the camps. In addition, the tutors evaluated the interestingness and development needs of the activities, and their own development as tutors. The material was analyzed by using simple statistical key figures. It was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U-test whether gender or previous participation in BioPop camps had any effect on the interestingness of the activities. The open-ended questions were analyzed by theory-based content analysis. The campers were very interested in the activities – lab assignments and experiments, outdoor education, plays and nature videos were the most interesting activities. The results of the research supported previous studies of the relationship between teaching methods and interest in teaching natural sciences: for children, functional, inquiry-based and interactive teaching methods were the most interesting. Child's sense of autonomy, optimal challenge and novelty of the activities seemed to be central to children's interest. There were significant differences between the camps in the interestingness of some activities: activities gained mostly higher interest rates on the second camp week than the first. One possible explanation for this is the development of the activity guidance, in which the tutors think they had advanced during the camps. Especially in the older age group, inquiry-based, pupil-centered and interactive activities were the most interesting among children. The younger age group was more interested in independent and teacher-led activities compared to the older age group. Girls were more interested in independent and teacher-led activities than boys. The results of the research can be utilized in the future when developing science camps more inquiry-based, pupil-centered and interactive learning environments of science education.
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