Browsing by discipline "Education"
Now showing items 101-120 of 1298
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(2020)The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what kind of ideals of a teacher and teaching con-structed in the curriculum texts of teacher education. The research questions are: 1) what kind of discourses can be read out from curriculum texts and 2) what kind of ideals and val-ues are attached in teachers in teacher education curriculum texts. The material of the thesis consists of general descriptions of the program catalogues of teacher education in the univer-sities of Helsinki, Lapland, Tampere and Turku, which were valid in the academic year 2017-2018. The theoretical background draws from curriculum research as well as research on the teacher ideals. The research method is discourse analytical reading of curriculum texts. There are three discourses on teacher education in the curriculum texts. The first discourse is discourse of science that relates teaching to academic teacher education. The second dis-course relates teaching to society considering teachers as actors of social change. I have named the second discourse as the discourse of social change. The third discourse empha-sises the effectiveness of teacher education in responding to the needs of the working life by producing teaching professionals. I have named the third discourse as Discourse of labour market and efficiency. The fourth discourse is an individual-centred discourse in which teaching is discussed as a means to the individual’s own development and the growth of in-dividual strengths. In general, all four discourses are present in each curriculum. The strong-est of these is the discourse of social change. The most significant exception is the University of Lapland where the teacher education cur-riculum text highlights locality, the significance of individual's own internal capabilities and problematisation of gender. The history of the University of Lapland provides the curriculum the specific nature. The question to be considered further is whether it is possible to find strength and new perspectives for teacher education from the strengths of each university in-stead of following the narratives and phrasing of educational ideologies alike in other univer-sities.
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(1999)The purpose of the research was to study how Finnish lower-stage schools participating in the international network of UNESCO schools, also called the Associated Schools Project (ASP), prepare their students for the future at the level of their school-based curriculums. In the research, the future trends were discussed, and the importance of their consideration in educational practice was explained from a global viewpoint: Based on the examination of today's problematic world state, and development trends characterized by globalization, the challenges and demands set for schooling and education in the future were discussed. Understanding the significance of an individual's action and responsibility was considered to be the central resource for building a more just and sustainable future. The study was grounded on a theoretical model developed by the researcher, which combined the models of Dalin & Rust (1996) and UNESCO (Delors et al. 1996) about future-oriented learning. The model consists of four basic elements of curriculum; "Nature", "Culture", "Myself", and "Others", and four dimension of learning; "Learning to know", "Learning to do", "Learning to live together" and "Learning to be". The model represents the holistic aspect of educational theory, and its aim is to maintain a balance between its different components. The research material composed of ten lower-stage UNESCO schools' school-based curriculums. They were analyzed using the theoretical model by the methology of content analysis. The research results were notably consistent between the different schools. They showed cultural learning and learning concerned with "myself" to be clearly more emphasized than learning referring to nature and other people. In addition, they reflected the central position of subjects, knowledge and skills, thus leaving the development of the pupils' personalities, and particularly learning concerned with living with other people, in a marginal role. The question about whether the schools prepare for the future interms of their curriculums, was discussed in the light of the results. The research offered a way and a model to approach the relationship between education and the future, and to evaluate schools' future-orientation. Based on the results, the schools are suggested to lay more stress on learning concerned with nature and other people, and focus more on developing the mental capasities of their pupils and competencies they need for living with other people. Above all, what the present societies require of schools is education which produces balanced and broadly aware human beings who have the mental strength to face the challenges of the future and abilities to direct it along the lines they desire.
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(2018)This study examines university students experiences about the drama pedagogy in foreign language teaching. The study observes students experiences and thoughts about drama pedagogy in foreign language teaching at the university level. How student’s foreign language learning self-concept and student’s goal setting affects to the student’s choise to participate to the drama group at the university?
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(2020)Objective of the study. This Master’s thesis investigates dyslexic university students and their learning experiences. Previous research has shown that dyslexia is related to learning in a variety of ways. However, previous research is primarily focused on children and adoles-cents. Further academic studies set new types of requirements to learning. Thus, it is neces-sary to explore dyslexic university students in order to find out especially the factors that are impeding and enhancing their studies. Efficient progress and the completion of academic studies are important for the students themselves, but also for the university and the society. This research examines the obstacles that dyslexic students face during their studies, and the variety of means and practices they use to overcome these challenges. Methods. The research material consists of ten semi-structured theme interviews. In the in-terviews the students were asked about their study habits, how dyslexia appears in their studies, which impeding and enhancing factors they could name, and what kind of social support they have received during the studies. The interview data were analysed by using a qualitative abductive content analysis. Finally, four different student profiles were formed based on the analysis. Results and conclusions. Results of the study indicated, that the dyslexic students experi-ence various impeding and enhancing factors in their academic studies. In addition to the factors related directly to dyslexia, study exhaustion was named as a major impeding factor. Self-regulation skills, study engagement, and social support were considered to be the most central factors in overcoming those challenges. Student profiles provide direction for differ-ent measures of support. According to the results, the interventions that are most crucially needed relate to the development of self-regulation skills during the studies, and to recogniz-ing and reducing study exhaustion at their early stages.
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(2014)The emotional instability and the risk of being socially excluded are growing all the time among the children and young people. The chances of physical activities improving the quality of life is an interesting and current study, as for a human being the physical activities play a big role in one's psychological well-being, and there is a good chance to prevent children's and young people's social exclusion with sports. This study was purposed to find out what kind of children take part to Helsinki's EasySport -easy access sport clubs. The study is supposed to find out if the EasySport -action is reaching the right children, which are in threat of being socially excluded or are the participating children mainly already having experience in sport clubs and sport as a hobby. I am also analyzing if participating a sport club is improving child's social interaction or if it's bringing more friendships. I also think it's very important to know the children's opinion about how this easy access action differs from a traditional sport club action and physical education at school. The study's theoretical frame of reference forms from the social exclusion and it's prevention as well as the affection of sports in psychological and social development of a person. The sport club action and physical education in relation to easy access sports are also handled in the theory part. The research questions were: What kind of children are participating the EasySport-clubs? Is the EasySport-action reaching the right children to support the prevention of the social exclusion? How do the EasySport-clubs differ from the traditional sport club action? What makes the EasySport an easy access action? Are the EasySport-clubs encouraging children's social development? The target of the research was, therefore, the children participating the Easy Sport -ball clubs. The study was carried out in form interview by visiting eight Easy Sport -ball clubs. A total of 71 children from age 7 to 13 responded to the survey. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study and the data was analyzed using content analysis. Based on the study it became clear that the children participating the EasySport-clubs are mainly boys with immigrant background. The activity supports the integration of immigrants, which is part of the prevention of the exclusion. Ball clubs also develops children's communication skills and the regular participation in the club can improve the children's quality of life and ignite the enthusiasm of exercise. The results of the operation can also be seen as contributing to children's social development and friendships. The children participating the Easy Sport -ball clubs experience the activity meaningful and different from the school sports or sport club activity, because the children have the opportunity to decide what the program includes and the activities are considered more free.
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(2017)The ways of gender production are strongly culture specific. The school and school's textbooks reflect our cultural values and norms. Cultural gender biases and stereotypical representations of gender can be observed on the textbooks with ease – the books portray a very traditional and one-sided vision of feminine and masculine genders. There has been a growing attention to cultural gender biases in school's textbooks especially due to the most recent national curriculum. I approach the gender bias in this thesis from the viewpoint of girls' studies and therefore the research subjects are girls and girlhood. Science education textbooks based on the National Core Curriculum (2014) form the research material used in this study. Science education covers themes that are influential in shaping students gender identity. The goal of this study is to answer a question how and what kind of a girlhood are the science textbooks, based on the most recent curriculum, producing? My research questions are how and what kind of girl's agency is produced and how in the most recent textbooks have the ways of producing girlhood changed. My master's thesis consists of a theoretical literature review section of girlhood and production of girlhood in basic education textbooks and of a research section. I focus especially on Finnish research literature even though there is only a limited amount of research on the topic conducted. In the research section I study both qualitative and quantitative production of girlhood. In the quantitative part of the study I quantify the research material i.e. I calculate representation of gender in the textbooks. The qualitative section focuses on girl's agency and on the changes in the production of girlhood. In the light of the research I have conducted I can state that there has been a progress in the gender equality: quantitative inequality does not exist in the new textbooks. However, there was still a very traditional representation of the gender and its agency. There was development in the variety of girl's agency but there were still major deficiencies in especially intersectionality; the girls were still all but white, middle class, and heterosexual.
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(2013)The study examined a bilingual child's agency in the context of a bilingual school. Previous research has shown that supporting a pupil's agency improves his or her motivation and engagement towards school and hence also enhances learning results. The traditional roles of teacher and pupil can be changed by encouraging pupils to agency. Bilingualism is a pervasive phenomenon in the world and affects the Finnish school worlds as well. The need for language proficiency and the demands for bilingual education increase perpetually. The study sees language as a base for human action and that it is used as a tool in the expressions of agency. The study strived to find out how children express agency and how they use their mother tongues if they have two mother tongues instead of just one. The goal of the study is to examine how the agency of an English?Finnish-bilingual child is expressed through verbal communication in a classroom. The study also strived to investigate what kinds of tasks the two mother tongues are used for in interaction. The case study centers on one 11-year-old American Finnish focus student who speaks English and Finnish as her mother tongues. The data of the study were collected by videotaping in a fifth grade of a bilingual school. In addition, a semistructured interview was used to interview the focus student and her mother in order to find out what kind of language choices the child makes and how was the development of the child's bilingualism and two mother tongues supported. The data consisted of approximately 8 hours of video material. Agency and language were examined from the viewpoint of the sociocultural framework. The results were interpreted using qualitative discourse analysis. The main result of the study is that the focus student's agency was expressed in verbal communication in a classroom through three different ways: through expertise, providing humor, and playing with institutional roles. Another finding was that agency was created partly through language. The focus student used her two mother tongues consistently for different tasks, of which communicating with family, friends, and teachers was the most significant one.
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(2016)The aim of this study was to examine how temperamental sensitivities and self-worth contingency predict achievement goal orientations. In this study, BIS and BAS were used for measuring temperamental sensitivities. BIS/BAS theorization refers to individual's dispositional sensitivity to reward and non-reward and punishment and non-punishment. Contingency of self-worth reflects the domains in which success or failure leads to increases or decreases in self-esteem. In this study, self-worth contingency on academic competence was measured. Achievement goal orientations refers to individuals' generalized tendencies' to aim and favor for certain goals and end results in achievement situation. In this study, the purpose was gain more information about the possible factors that influence individuals' goal choices in achievement situations.In this study, there were 506 participants (434 females and 72 males) and three different scales were used for measuring BIS/BAS, contingency of self-worth and achievement goal orientations. Sensitivity for BAS was divided into three sub-scales: BAS Novelty seeking, BAS Social Reward, and BAS Positive expressiveness. After preliminary analysis, a series of hierarchical analysis were run for examining the effects of BIS/BAS on achievement goal orientations in the first step, and the additional prediction of contingency of self-worth the second step. As expected, BIS/BAS sensitivities were related to achievement goal orientations. Mastery intrinsic orientation was predicted by BAS Novelty seeking, performance-approach orientation was predicted by BIS and avoidance orientation was predicted by BAS Social Reward. Contingency of self-worth was found to significantly increase the explained share of BIS/BAS relations on achievement goal orientations. Contingency of self-worth also had a direct effect on all achievement goal orientations, except for performance-avoidance orientation. Results point out, that dispositional differences are of importance, when considering individual differences in achievement-related motivation. As a practical implication, the results suggest that the learning culture should be failure permissive and encourage learning for learning's sake.
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(2017)Goal. Multidisciplinary approach is considered to be the objective of education. Studies however show, that designing lessons that integrates subjects is perceived to be labor-intensive, and planning requires a lot from the teacher. Some studies show, that teachers often rely on materials that are easily available, such as teacher's manuals. Hence, the content that guides how to integrate subjects, should be studied. My research task is to analyze the integration tips in the 5th grade teacher's manuals. I focus particularly on the integration of subjects. Methods. I studied 5 teacher's manuals, I use at work, which contained tips on how to integrate subjects. They represented the following subjects: environmental and natural sciences (2 manuals: biology and geography, physics and chemistry), religion, history and social studies. The material was quantified, analyzed by content analysis and categorized by integration style. Results and conclusions. The manuals contained a total of 167 integration tips. Up to 51% of all content integrated to visual arts, 23% to mother tongue and 16% to music. These contents accounted for 90% of all integrating tips in the teacher's manuals. The proportion of other subjects was marginal. 42% of the content was subservient as integration style. 52% was co-equal and only 6% represented the affective integration style. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the tips guided to integrate the subjects co-equally or subserviently almost as often. Visual arts was the discipline most used and its methodological goals were often taken into account in the contents. On the other hand, visual arts was also used as a form of presentation of information. making its role subservient. For the same reason 2/3 of the tips integrating to mother tongue represented the subservient integration style.
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(2016)The purpose of this thesis is to study, how sixth graders in a normal school describe their student teachers. The aim is also to find out if the representations made by the pupils are similar to the representations of teacher's profession and a good teacher that are prevalent in our society. The research approach of this study was qualitative. The qualitative survey data with open questions was collected in the winter 2013 from 6 graders who studied in a normal school. 73 pupils participated in the study. The survey data were analysed applying principles of qualitative content analysis. Five categories emerged from the data describing good student teachers. These categories were: personality, pedagogical relationship, didactical relationship, industrial peace and other qualities. The pupils' representation of the personality of a good student teacher consisted of friendliness, kindness and humorous. A good student teacher had a good style as well as a personal handwriting or a way of speaking. Representation of the pedagogical relationship of a good student teacher included treating the pupils according to their age, treating them equally, respect them and help them when needed. A good student teacher didn't yell or rage and didn't complain unnecessarily. The didactical relationship representation consisted of creating a relaxed and fun atmosphere as well as keeping the classes interesting. During class a good student teacher knew how to take it easy and explained everything clearly. With his/hers own action a good student teacher could make dull topics interesting. He/she used diverse methods like using drama or group assignments. Industrial peace was seen as a quiet class where a little noise was allowed. Keeping the peace in classroom was an important skill to have as a student teacher. It was not done by yelling but having a relaxed and positive way of doing this. The pupils' representation of the other qualities that a good student teacher had were being young, giving candy and not smelling. In regard of the earlier studies there seems to be similarities with the representations of the pupils of a good student teacher and the representations of teacher's profession and a good teacher that are prevalent in our society.
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(2016)Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine class teachers' opinions and experiences of teaching health education in primary school level. The main purpose was to explore what kind of significant experiences do teachers have of teaching health education, in which kinds of situations do they teach contents of health education, and do they appreciate health education as a school subject in primary school. The health of children and youth has gotten worse during the last decades. It provides food for thought about the importance of coherent health education even for young kids. Methods. The study involved six class teachers, men and women, aged between 26 and 55. They worked as class teachers in the metropolitan area or in the North of Finland. They all had taken university degree of education in a Finnish university. Three of them worked as teachers for second graders, three of them taught pupils at 5th or 6th grade. Research material was collected by interviewing the teachers with structured theme-interview in April-May 2016. After interviews the recordings was transcribed and analyzed using the methods of content analysis. Results and conclusions. The results show that the class teachers give health education mainly without consciously considering that as health education. For the most part, the interviewees didn't consider the contents as a health education except for when they taught contents of puberty and sexuality at grades five and six. Overall, health education as a school subject is experienced challenging because of its common essence. The conclusions are that teachers teach health education according to their own values of health and when the topics come up in the daily life. The teachers aren't conscious enough about the contents of curriculum of health education and aren't that sure about the role of health education as a school subject in primary school level.
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(2019)The promotion of care and compassion has been regarded as primary goals of education in order to achieve a more sustainable world. For this reason, compassion—inseparably related to both moral and values—should be studied in the context of practical education. The aim of this thesis is to analyze compassion as an empirically observable phenomenon that manifests as emancipatory action targeted against violence and oppression. The data, consisting of video re-cording of a nature school field trip among 10-11 year olds, is approached in the theoretical frameworks of sustainability- and environmental education as well as that of compassion re-search. By theoretically conceptualizing acts of emancipatory compassion, the focus of this study is on the analysis of moral construction. The hypothesis is that these acts are embodied in order to negotiate and criticize the institutional limits of compassion and the emerging circle of concern. As a conclusion, the meaning of compassion is discussed in the context of educating for holistic sustainability. The theoretical conceptualization of emancipatory compassion is based on both empirical observations and theoretical studies concerning compassion, constructional violence, and emancipatory action. Qualitative methodology in the general framework of social constructionism and approaches of grounded theory are utilized in order to analyze the video-ethnographic data using methods of critical discourse analysis and interaction analysis. In the data, there were several occurrences of acts of emancipatory compassion. The phenomenon manifested as exceeding the limitations between human and non-human life, and served to construct the institutional circle of concern in relation to other forms of life. Acts of emancipatory compassion were also used to express several factors relating to the construction of morality; some of these interpreted as acts of oppression in themselves. In relation to normative attempts to define the meaning of both violence and oppression, the teachers embodied moral authority over the students. It is concluded that education promoting holistic sustainability should acknowledge the essential meaning of compassion in the context of education in order to allow the questioning of established moral norms, encourage negotiating the limits of the circle of concern, and to recognize implicit manifestations of violence and oppression. It is also stated, that by identifying the inherently violent nature of the human condition, it is possible to overcome the boundaries constructed by perceiving particular agents as either violent or non-violent—inhibiting inclusive promotion of compassion towards subjects interpreted as being in the wrong.
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(2016)Objectives. The aim of this study is to analyze pupil agency and pupil initiatives in the formal context of school. Based on previous studies, the traditional school is claimed to offer limited possibilities for student agency and initiatives, even though current research and national curriculum highlight the active role of pupils. The purpose of the study is to find out what kind of initiatives pupils express during interaction in their peer groups and with the teacher, how the teacher can support the agency of pupils, and what kind of challenges the fulfillment of pupils' agency faces in the school's formal activity. Methods. This study is an ethnographic case study. The research site was a combined 5th and 6th grade class in a small comprehensive school in Southern Finland. The data was collected by videotaping and observing the class working on a Good Life Project during four school days, and also interviewing the teacher of the class. The data on pupil initiatives in peer group was collected in a Desert Island exercise of c. 3 hours. A thematic interview of the teacher was carried out at the end of the data collection period. The material was analyzed by utilizing interaction analysis and narrative approach. Two analyzers were used as a way to improve the reliability of the results. Results and conclusions. The results show that in their peer group pupils generate constructive initiatives, supportive initiatives and deconstructive initiatives in many different ways. Deconstructive initiatives could also advance activity. Pupils generated initiatives more diversely with their peers than with the teacher. In interaction with the teacher, pupils' initiatives were mostly answers to teacher's questions or questions about the task. The teacher could support the pupils' agency by using self-evaluations, giving positive feedback to pupils, using humour and creating positive interaction. The teacher was aware of the tension between agency and control in the school institution. However, the data shows that pupils in this study did not express initiatives equally. Expressing initiatives was gendered in a way that in the Desert Island exercise boys were more active than girls. There was a tense relationship between pupils' activity and passivity, and in this study this contradiction was observed as a dialectical dimension of agency.
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(2020)The purpose of this study is to find out, through the class teachers' own experiences, how differentiation was implemented in the distance education during the exceptional period incurred in spring 2020. This research is focused on finding successes and challenges teachers experienced in distance teachings differentiation. In addition, the study examines the types of support teachers received during this time. Being a fairly topical issue at the moment, the available scientific research, which would specifically address classroom distance learning, is limited. The research approach in this paper is mainly qualitative also utilizing multi-methodological means. The research material has been collected through a questionnaire and four interviews in order to obtain additional qualitative information. A total of 33 primary school classroom teachers from 24 different municipalities responded to the survey. The survey comprised of 26 questions, some of which were Likert-scale questions and some open-ended questions. The respondents were mainly collected from a Facebook community of almost 40,000 teachers and those interested in education. The quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire has been analyzed with Microsoft Excel and the open questions have been coded. Qualitative material was collected through four short semi-structured thematic interviews. The interview questions were based on questions already answered in the questionnaire, that required further qualitative research. The majority of the teachers who responded to the study found distance learning differentiation challenging. However, some found it even easier to implement differentiation than in face-to-face teaching. The most common way to differentiate teaching was the variations in the number and level of schoolwork and the use of implements. The successes of differentiation experienced by the teachers were related to provision of support to pupils who needed it, the usage of new ways of working, such as instructional videos, and more personal communication with students. Majority of teachers felt that the support they received from their colleagues most important form of support. Some would have liked more unified guidance from superiors. Others, on the other hand, found the guidance from their superiors unnecessarily demanding in a situation where support and understanding would have been needed. The challenges faced by teachers in distance learning were mainly due to the rapid transitioning to distance teaching, as well as the unpreparedness.
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(2015)Children's societal participation occasionally occurs as an important topic in public debate. There has been actions for increasing children's point of view both in research and in real life operating models. The purpose of this research was to describe the picture of children's societal participation in school context painted by parliamentary debate during years 2007-2010. In this research the picture of children's societal participation in school context is analyzed, delineated and interpreted. The material used in this research were the statements used in parliamentary debate in Matti Vanhanen's second government term of office (2007-2010). There were 44 proceedings that were relevant in this research, and in those proceedings there were 104 statements that were analysed. The analysis proceeded first by categorizing the research material by using content analysis. After that categorization the research material was analysed with the methods of critical discourse analysis and different discourses describing ways of speaking about children's societal participation were formed. The process of forming the discourses was delineated by using Teun A. van Dijks macrostructures. Every discourse formed in this research was divided into micro – and macrostructures. These discourses formed together also formulated two superstructures. These two ways of speaking were reigning the picture constructed of a child as a societal participator and school as a place of participation. According to this research the picture of a child as a societal participator seemed to be rather passive. The child was seen as an object of the actions of the adults that can be influenced by interventions, also made by adults. Those interventions seemed to produce participation and agency that was highly normative. The actions of a child and his/her possibilities for participation were also found concerning from adults point of view – children were seen to be adults' responsibilities. The picture of a school as a place for participation was formed as a production facility that produces active citizens and future participators in to society. On the other hand, the ways of speaking about school were also highlighting different problems linked in school and its possibilities to produce participation. The concept of agency also arose from the results of the analysis. This concept is considered through the modality model of agency made by Jyrki Jyrkämä.
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(2019)The aim of this study was to describe the collaborative invention process of two groups of elementary school students and to analyze the emergence of matters relevant to agency. The purpose of the study was to examine how the invention process proceeded in the target groups, and what kind of issues relevant to agency were apparent in the activities and discourse of the learners. The research data for this study consisted of video recordings and structured interview material of two groups of elementary school’s 5th grade students (N=8). The groups participated in a collaborative invention project combining different school subjects in the Helsinki capital area during the spring of 2017. Videos were coded with ELAN multimedia annotator to build striped process rugs visualizing the students’ discourse and action during the invention process. The research data was analyzed in three levels by using content analysis method: from the general description of the invention project to the selection of situations relevant from the agency standpoint, further to the more detailed discourse and action manifesting the emergence of matters relevant to agency. Indications of the issues essential for agency were found in the discourse and actions of the students. Students perceived their own knowledge and expertise through their personal strengths and weaknesses. The activities of the groups were co-regulated by taking responsibility for the activities of the group, by regulating other group members behavior, involving all group members to common activities and collectively overcoming obstacles. Group members provided social support and encouragement to each other, and all learners participated in group work and social interaction. Learners strove to make compromises, work together and keep the group together. The subject-specific expressions related to the invention were divided into the themes of producing the invention, taking responsibility for it and finding the invention meaningful. The results of the study provide insight into how learners’ agency can manifest itself in a collaborative invention project and how participating in such project can support the development of learners’ agency. The importance of this study culminates in the development of pedagogical models that support learners and their agency in a collaborative learning process.
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(2014)This study examines what kind of fears children have in day care (pre-school education) and how those fears are related to their age and sex. The study analyses the social interaction in a day-care centre and its relationship to children's fears. The theoretical framework of the study is based on children's fears, the factors causing fear as well as children's mental development. The theory part of the study evaluates how children behave while in day care and what kind of social interaction they have with each other. Previous studies on children's fears indicate that children regard day care as safe, and children's fears are part of their normal development. The research material of the study comprises a survey conducted among parents/carers whose children were in a public day-care centre in Keski-Uusimaa (Kuuma) region. The survey was carried out as part of the project Searching for Orientation, coordinated by the University of Helsinki as well as the municipalities of Kuuma region. The survey, to which parents/carers answered online after interviewing their children, was a structured feedback form including open questions regarding children's views on day care. According to the results of the study, children are seldom afraid in day care: 71 % of the children interviewed were not afraid in day care and 29 % of the children interviewed had sometimes been afraid in day care. Girls were more often afraid than boys. Younger children had more fears than older. Mostly, children's fears were related to social situations, such as relationships with friends and the fear of getting bullied. Day care itself can be frightening to a small child in terms of physical environment and new situations. Furthermore, meeting the staff in a day-care centre and longing for parents during the day may increase fear among children.
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(2011)This study examines the experiences of students with chronic illnesses in higher education. I chose to study rheumatic and other musculoskeletal diseases because they are group of diseases that are nationally significant in Finland. From students experiences I do interpretation of their agency. My research problems are: What kind of obstacles and possibilities student with chronic illness experiences in studying? What kind of obstacles illness set up for the agency or does it set any? How agency of student with chronic illness shows in the context of the university? I collected the data by using interview and focus group method. Additionally I had different kinds of documents of accessibility and equality in the university. Interviews were like halfstructured theme and open interviews. Focus group method I have applied. All the people that participated in the study were students from the university of Helsinki. They all have rheumatic or other musculoskeletal diseases. I have five interviewees and the group consisted of two people and the researcher. In the data analysis I use categorizing by the themes. Students that participated in my study spoke about their pain related experiences of their illness which also connected to their experiences of the higher education. Students agencies were limited the more they experienced pain. Pain forces students to certain activity - one actions avoidance and another's favouring. If part-time studying would have been possible economically, it would have made the life easier for a part of the students. Students were aware of the available resources of their body - for some of the students illness and life control set challenge and for some it set conditions. Students thought that university education is more possible to them than vocational education. Students didn't feel their own body limited in the context of university that emphasize intellectual and knowledge connected values and some of the students had reversed their illness as a resource of studying. However students felt their illness as a private matter and they considered illness profit and disadvantage before telling about it, which I interpreted limiting students agencies. In the university terms of students agencies were bond to individuality that came up in positive and negative. Freedom of studying was positive but official and individual study accommodations made agency bounded. Majority of the students didn't see possibilities to do differently in the university's practice but some of the students had recognised values underneath the practices that made it possible to reflect them, do differently and made space for agency.
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(2015)The aim of this study is to explain how student initiations construct in classroom interaction. Study is based on framework of socio-cultural theories. The specific view is on student initiations in whole class lessons and what is the nature of these initiations. Previous studies of classroom interaction has been made especially from teacher's point of view. Research about student interaction has been made about group work and peer interaction. Previous studies have shown that classroom talk is dominated by teachers, but students have growing possibilities to participate classroom discussions. The method of this study is video research and content analysis. The data was part of Learning Bridges – research project. The data was collected by videotaping one third grade class of 18 students and their teacher in comprehensive school. For this study I analyzed four lessons from which I searched for notable patterns considering research questions. The results indicated that student have an opportunity to construct classroom interaction and by making initiative turns they can affect in the content of discussion. Students initiative turns were firstly motivated by lesson themes, secondly classroom practices and thirdly questions that weren't related to ongoing lesson. Students initiative turns have an influence on student commitment. Student initiations were mostly directed to the teacher, but teachers and students constructed interaction mostly together. The study shows that teacher has a conducting role in classroom interaction that provides many possibilities for student participation. The study offers examples of in which way student initiations construct classroom interaction and what is the nature of these student initiations.
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(2015)Objectives. This thesis analyzed disturbances and expansive learning possibilities in benefits officers' learning groups. Pension company Sely organized the project concerning learning groups and the objective of this training program was to develop both individual competence and collective activity in the organization. The theoretical framework of this study was based on cultural-historical activity theory. The aim of the thesis was to study the learning groups in order to discover disturbances, and to also examine how benefits officers manage these problems. Another main objective is to also reveal expansive learning possibilities in the benefits officers' activity. Methods. Two learning groups were established in the organization's learning project. The data consisted of videotaped and tape-recorded material gathered from the meetings of the learning groups. In addition, researcher attended to the meetings and observed the course of conversations. 12 benefits officers participated in this study. Disturbance analysis was chosen for research method. Also, expansive learning cycle was applied in order to analyze the expansive possibilities of the reviewed activity. Results and conclusions. Disturbances in the learning groups discussions' were located to reasons stemming from the subject, the data system tools, and network cooperation. Disturbances were mostly ignored or solved by using already existing solutions. However, there were occasions when benefits officers processed disturbances in a way that questioned the present activity. In addition, there were a few observations where participants also modeled new ideas into the activity. These kinds of observations were analyzed more specifically in order to detect the possibilities for expansive learning. According to the results possibilities for expansive development are connected to the expansion of the boundaries of the benefits officers' activity, such as expansion of the occupational responsibilities and professional roles.
Now showing items 101-120 of 1298