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(2016)Depression is a psychiatric disorder composed of several clusters of symptoms, which do not necessarily reflect common pathways of pathophysiological processes. Thus, a new conceptualization of depression has been proposed, which suggests that depression should be dissected to its key components instead of treating it as one homogeneous concept. Personality trait neuroticism is a risk factor that is consistently linked with depression. Several models have been suggested for the association between neuroticism and depression. One of them is a so-called common cause -model, which assumes that a shared etiology explains the co-occurrence of the two. Research from twin studies supports this notion, as neuroticism and depression have been found to share a large proportion of their genetic basis. However, earlier research has examined depression as a composite concept, and there are no studies to date which would have examined the shared genetic basis of specific symptoms of depression in relation with neuroticism. This study tests the common cause -model by estimating, whether the same genetic and environmental components are relevant in explaining the covariation between neuroticism and specific symptoms of depression. The data used in this study was from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study (n = 1515, av. age = 62.0). Depression was measured with The Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale (CES-D), and separate analyses were conducted for three factors: somatic complaints, (lack of) positive affect and depressed affect. The results showed that all of the depressive symptoms shared the same genetic and environmental components when modeling the association with neuroticism, which supports the common cause -model. Over a half of the phenotypic correlation was explained by genetic influences between neuroticism and somatic complaints, as well as neuroticism and positive affect. Half of the co-variation between neuroticism and depressed affect was due to genetic influences. Findings of the current study suggest, that genetic and individual specific environmental influences are important in explaining the relationship in all of the symptoms. For future endeavors, it is suggested to search for concrete risk factors and neurobiological endophenotypes that are shared between specific symptoms and neuroticism. While the use of composite concept of depression was supported in this study, the research question has not been yet examined in molecular genetic studies. A twin model can only differentiate sources of variation, not concrete risk factors. Thus, the results presented here only apply in the context of twin modeling. Also, the robustness of the results should be tested by replicating the results among younger samples.
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(2016)In this study I examine the discussion of school choice in Helsingin Sanomat in early 2010s. School choice has been part of the finnish comprehensive school system since 1990s. In the earlier studies school choice has been linked to educational inequality. It causes segregation of schools when taking into account students' socio-economical backgrounds, learning results and school's reputations. In 2010s Finnish media has also started to publish more articles about school choice from this point of view. Research literature considers that media has power to control discussions in the society: it defines which topics are important and what should be thought about them. The aim of this study is to examine what kind of discourses can be found in Helsingin Sanomat during 2011–2015 and discover if some of the discourses are hegemonical. The research material consisted of 52 articles about school choice. The articles can be found from the internet archives of Helsingin Sanomat. I used rhetorical discourse analysis as a method. Discourse analysis is based on the idea of language as social actions that reconstructs reality. From this point of view newspaper discourses are crucial part of school choice phenomenon. There were four discourses in this material: segregation discourse, trust discourse, parenthood discourse and realism discourse. First three of the discourses were more critical towards school choice than realism discourse. Segregation discourse emphasized the consequences of school choice to equality. Trust discourse represented trust to the Finnish comprehensive school system and parenthood discourse described parental actions. Realism discourse questioned connection between school choice and segregation. It doesn't believe in denying school choice as a solution to segregation. Segragation discourse and parenthood discourse were in hegemonical position, whereas realism discourse in marginal. The study concludes that the Finnish comprehensive school system has strong position in Finnish society and that there were concerns about growing segragation. In addition to that parents' growing interest in their children's education were essential part of school choice phenomenon.
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(2017)Home-school collaboration has become a truism in educational policy and practice. Cooperation between home and school is considered particularly important when a child has challenges with school attendance. However, not much critical research has been conducted on the quality of that cooperation. The point of view of the parents, in particular, has often been overlooked. In my study I examined how negotiations between school and parents are seen from the parents' perspective in cases in which a decision concerning special support is being considered. I interviewed eight parents with children in special education. I analyzed the data by drawing from discursive theories. In my analysis I asked how the parents position themselves in the interview talk when they tell about negotiations between home and professionals. I also explored how "special needs" and special education are seen and made understandable from the positions available to the parents. The negotiations between parents and professionals were described as strained in the parents' narration. The parents described experiences of having been set aside in decision-making processes and told that getting information about the support system was difficult. The interviewees also talked about experiences of having been evaluated as parents. In their narration, the parents also constructed resistance in relation to the definitions and positions offered to them by the professionals. On the basis of my analysis, I suggest that it is hard for the parent to achieve the position of a knowing subject in the power/knowledge relations between the parents and the professionals. The professional knowledge produced within medical and psychological discourses is considered as predominant at school, whereas the parents' knowledge is understood as informal and inferior. I suggest that schools should critically examine their practices of labeling children as "having special needs" and locating challenges with school attendance primarily within the individual. In addition, the asymmetric nature of the power relations between professionals and parents should be recognized. In my view, this would contribute towards a home-school cooperation in which parents feel that they are heard better.
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(2018)Goals. The aim of this study was to better understand the ways in which young people make sense of sexual and gender-based harassment. Harassment is recognized as a problem both in public discussion and at the institutional level. However, previous studies have shown that harassment can be difficult to recognize as it intertwines with other phenomena in everyday life, such as humour. In this study harassment was viewed from a feminist post-structural perspective as a phenomenon which is understood through different discourses and categories, and is linked to social differences. This study focuses on how young people make sense of sexual and gender-based harassment in their everyday lives and how the categories of gender, age, and ethnicity, which are connected to perpetrators and targets of sexual harassment, affect the sense making. Methods. The data consisted of theme interviews with 15 ninth graders and a 5-day observation period in a secondary school located in the southern Finland. Discourse analysis was used in analysing the data, and analytical tools from membership categorization analysis were also used. Findings. Harassment and its meanings were constantly negotiated and normalized. Harassment was understood through different discourses that gave it different meanings: on the one hand harassment was interpreted as distressing and on the other hand as ordinary phenomena. Many situations, such as name-calling in schools were often interpret not as harassment, but as common humour. One’s own experience was considered important when defining harassment, but also situations that were not necessarily seen as fun, could be normalized as humour. Harassment was also actively located away from one’s own everyday life. Categories of gender, age, and ethnicity were used to describe and explain both the perpetrators and the targets of harassment. The categories were first and foremost used to make sense of sexual harassment done by strangers. The categories were also used to highlight differences between the perpetrator and the target and some of the used categories strengthened stereotypes. The assumption of humour was constructed mainly on the friend-category. The findings show that the different meanings of harassment are constructed in local interactions which are embedded in broader social culture. The findings can be utilized in the preventive work done by schools, as the study increases our understanding of the ways in which harassment is entangled with school culture and everyday life.
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(2016)The objective of this study is to examine how young people become subjects and construct their future in the discourses of youth workshops. In current governmental and European neoliberal discussion, the youth is expected to be active, effective and straightforward in their transitions to education and employment. Furthermore, the youth outside working life and education is considered to be "at-risk" and in need of guidance and support. In this study, my objective is to examine how it is possible for young people in youth workshops to construct their subjectivity and their future by repeating and mastering the discourses available in current time. My perspective on this study is based on post-structural theories. I conducted three group interviews and one individual interview in the youth workshops. I visited two youth workshops located in Helsinki metropolitan area and interviewed 17 youngsters. As a research method, I applied discourse analysis. By discourse I'm referring to historically, culturally and socially constructed "truth structures" that allow certain ways of thinking and acting. I have applied the concepts of subject position and subjectification as my analytical tools. According to this study, young people had assimilated the idea of an education- and working life-centered society. They constructed their subjectivity in relation to an ideal citizen who is educated and in working life. In the discourses of youth workshops it was possible for young people to become subjects through a position of "non-ideal youngster", "ideal a-like youngster" and through a position where the ideal was critically and reflexively questioned. Further, as constructing their future in the discourses of youth workshops, in addition to discussing education and employment young people brought up the requirement of individuality and uncertainty. Based on the results of this study, it seems clear that according to young people, integrating into the society requires education or having a job. In the discourses of youth workshops there is not much space becoming subject in any other way. However, due to the individuality and uncertainty of young people's future constructions, the straightforward transition to education and working life is challenged and questioned.
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(2016)In this master's thesis, I have reviewed, how women who have moved to Finland from abroad, position their motherhood under the influence of both Finnish residency experiences and transnational residency experiences. In particular, I have clarified the type of negotiations contained in their narration of motherhood, and how the feelings of belonging and not belonging to the Finnish society and motherhood environment are described as a part thereof. The study's questions are set in the fields of educational and social immigration and motherhood research. In terms of theoretical and methodological choices, it focuses on social constructionism, narrative constructionism and a theoretical framework on positioning. The empirical material of the study is formed of the interview narration by three mothers. We produced one oral interview and a second, either oral or written, interview with each interviewee. In the interview method, I utilised the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM). The analysis I produced had two phases: in the first phase, I aimed to define narrative themes in the narrations by means of narrative content analysis, where motherhood experiences were given particular emphasis. In the second phase of the analysis, which utilised position analysis, I paid attention to the position the mothers took in their narrations, objected or built on when telling about motherhood, what categorisations could be defined in the narrations, and how and in what relation were the feelings of belonging, or not belonging, told. In their narrations, the mothers brought up several positions that they found significant, of which the position of being a resource, the position of requiring strength and critical thinking skills and the position of lonely and limited motherhood were the most significant. When the motherly ways and values of the mothers I interviewed did not correspond to the equal and uniform requirements encountered in the Finnish society's social or institutional communities, they were said to be made strange, exceptional or limiting. Holding on to the characteristics of one's own motherhood, when the Finnish representation of motherhood is considered uniformly discriminating, is said to e.g. be a place that requires particular strength and questioning skills. The successful experiences, particularly concerning prenatal clinic services and the arrangements of giving birth, seem to have, on the other hand, strengthened the sense of security and the formation of the sense of belonging towards the institutional society and in general, the entire Finnish society.
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(2022)Aims. The aim of this dissertation was to find out and understand how children view different ways of touching: how they name them, what meanings and situations they associate with different ways of touching, and with whom they see different ways of contact as possible. I examined touch as part of social interaction. The aim has been to understand how touch is used and interpreted differently in different situations. Examining contact from the perspective of children is especially important for teaching. Teachers, school staff, and caregivers of children can take advantage of available research information when working with children. In addition, it helps to pay more attention to touches with children and important features associated with them, such as different individual ways of interpreting and dealing with touch. Previous research has shown that touch is an important means of interaction and can communicate a wide variety of things (Wiio, 1994). Through touch, the teacher can, among other things, help students with school assignments, facilitate concentration, comfort (Tainio et al., 2019), enhance learning, relieve stress, calm down (Owen & Gillentine, 2011), encourage and motivate (Guéguen, 2004) the students. Methods. The material of the study consisted of 30 student interviews collected by Koskettava koulu -project. There were 16 interviews, which two of them were individual interviews and the remaining 14 were paired interviews. In the interviews, students were shown 6 different images, each with different ways of touching. Pupils answered the interviewer's questions about touching and were also free to share their own thoughts about the images and the ways of touches. This dissertation is a qualitative study and I used content analysis and thematic methods as methods. Results and conclusions. Various themes emerged from the students' interviews, the largest themes were: 1. Touch in teacher and school activities, 2. Touch in emotional communication, interaction and expression, 3. Touch with close people, 4. Touch in hobbies and doing things together, and 5. Ritual touch and norms and limits of touch. Pupils often viewed the touch used by the teacher from a positive perspective, and many aspects of helping, encouraging, guiding, and comforting were associated with the touch. The teacher was considered to use touch as part of teaching and interaction with students. The teacher’s touch was often interpreted as positive and benevolent, although in some cases the teacher’s touch could also interfere the student’s concentration. Pupils were positive about touch from the teachers they personally liked. A teacher was considered to touch children when he or she liked his or her students or when the student was succeed at something. Touch was interpreted mainly in school, spare time, and home contexts. Touch contacts were mostly with close people. Touch contacts with strangers were generally viewed with suspicion.
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(2024)This study deals with Finns' relationship with wood. The importance of wood is examined as part of Finnish culture, economic well-being and as a producer of ecosystem services. In Finland, trees and forests have traditionally been central elements as a building block of identity and a producer of well-being, both economically and from a recreational perspective. The aim of the research is to generate new information about Finns' relationship with wood. The research aims to find out what meanings people attach to wood in nature, how they perceive wood as a material, and what significance woodcraft has in their lives. In addition, I examine what meanings people will give to wood in the future. The research aims to find ways of speaking in which people talk about their relationship with wood from different perspectives of meaning. As research material, I used interviews that were conducted in Töölönlahti at Ilona Rista's Flower Pavilion in the summer of 2022. Using discourse analysis, I identified five different ways of speaking; wood as a builder of Finnishness, wood as a nurturer, wood as a promoter of equality, wood as a producer of well-being and wood as a valued material. The traditional view of wood as a resource has acquired new meanings alongside it, such as the importance of trees and forests for the climate and as a material to replace non-ecological materials. Wood was seen as a valuable material, the use of which was thought to have almost unlimited possibilities in the future. The pleasantness of wood as a living natural material, even compared to a human, also came to the fore. The forest was seen as worth protecting, revitalizing and trees was even perceived as a friend. The study strongly highlighted the importance of woodcraft as a promoter of equality in the school context, both between different families and genders. Woodcraft skills were also seen to improve the experience of self-esteem and thereby influence the formation of identity. Based on my study, it can be concluded that wood is still an important part of Finnishness, both in everyday life and in terms of identity. This research can provide valuable information about the role of forests and wood in Finnish society and support decisions that are made, for example, regarding school crafts, forest management or urban planning.
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(2017)Objectives. As a special education teacher, I consider the welfare of the students in school to be important. Forming the class into a group of students that can work well together and have positive atmosphere to support learning. Research has shown that emphasizing courage has improved the social relationships between students and it is assumed to also support the group processes in the class. The research question of the study is to see how can courage as a character strength support the group processes in the class. The objective of the study is to figure out how the students experience courage and how courage appears during group work in drama lesson. Methods. The study was qualitative case study. The target group of the case study was a third grade special education class of ten students. The empirical evidence of the study was gathered from three different source materials: sociometric measurements done at three different points during the research period, student interviews, and drama lessons in small groups. The analysis was based on group theories of social psychology, positive psychological definitions of courage and the fields of learning in drama education. Results and Conclusions. The students of the special education class that were observed in the study proved to be brave and compassionate. They showed a growth mindset towards the idea of increasing and developing their courage. These qualities supported the interaction among the students in the class. Drama as a cooperative learning method supported the development of student interaction, a positive atmosphere, and proved to be effective for teaching and improving character strengths.
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(2020)Purpose of the study. During the past few years, there has been quite little research on classroom management in Finland. Based on international research, it is known that preventive practices, such as positive teacher–student relationships and motivational teaching, are found important by students and teachers. However, some differences can be found in students' and teachers' views and in their ways of explaining the underlying factors of disruptive situations. This study is a phenomenographic type of study, the purpose of which is to study students' and teachers' views of factors that influence a peaceful and functional learning environment and successful classroom management in the Finnish school context. Methods. The interviews were conducted in Helsinki with three primary school teachers and one secondary school teacher who teach in different schools and five sixth-graders from one school and seven ninth-graders from the other school. The teachers were interviewed individually, the students in groups of 2–4 students. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The data was analyzed by searching for similar and frequent meanings and creating categories of descriptions. Findings and conclusions. According to both students and teachers, successful classroom management is enhanced by the teacher's skills to manage classroom activities democratically but assertively, the teacher's positive and appreciative attitude to students, good teaching and parents' support. In contrast to previous research, both students and teachers acknowledged their own responsibility in creating a peaceful and functional learning environment. However, the teacher's role is highlighted in students' and teachers' views. According to the results of this study, the educational partnership between the teacher and the parents, and the teacher's communication skills in classroom management should be promoted to enhance successful classroom management. The requirements to meet the needs of the students with special education needs should also be fulfilled.
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(2024)Primary school teachers are generally employed in a public service capacity. Central to this status is the concept of official responsibility, which refers to a broad accountability for potential mistakes. Primary school teachers require specific legal knowledge in their field to act legally correctly in their everyday work. In the worst case, a teacher might intentionally or unintentionally commit a crime. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how legal knowledge in their specific field has developed among currently serving primary school teachers. Furthermore, the thesis examines the level of legal knowledge among primary school teachers in relation to chapter seven of the Basic Education Act and self-efficacy from a legal perspective. This study was conducted using qualitative research methods. The data was quantified when presenting results. The final research material consisted of ten currently serving primary school teachers. The data was collected through interviews specifically designed for this thesis. Research permissions were obtained, and the interviews were conducted face-to-face. The data was analyzed using data-driven and theory-guided content analysis. According to the findings of this thesis, there are deficiencies in the legal knowledge of primary school teachers. The best performing teachers got eight out of twelve points, while the least successful managed only half of the questions correctly. The subjects cited several sources for the accumulation of legal knowledge in their field. Employers or supervisors were considered important from the perspective of ac- quiring new legal knowledge and understanding the need for it. About half of the participants felt their legal knowledge was sufficient. Interviewees described various reasons for the perceived detachment of laws from practice, although only three out of ten felt the laws were disconnected from practical application. In examining self-efficacy, a new concept was formed: legal self-efficacy. One teacher exhibited strong legal self-efficacy, while another had weak legal self-efficacy. The rest had legal self-efficacy that ranged between strong and weak. The results of this thesis could particularly benefit Finnish teacher education and employers, who play a key role in the accumulation and updating of legal knowledge.
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(2015)Aims. In Finland there is only a limited amount of research on the development of the lexicon after toddler age. There is also a need for valid and comprehensive assessment tools for children. The assessment tools help for example in identifying the children who need support in their linguistic development or with reading and writing skills. This study is a part of a research project conducted in the University of Oulu (Kunnari & Välimaa, 2011). The aim of the project is to gather Finnish normative data to make the vocabulary tests valid for the use in Finnish. In the present study, the vocabulary skills of the school starters were investigated using Finnish versions of The Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test 4- and The Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test 4 (Martin & Brownell, 2011). The connections between the test results and different background variables were studied. The results were compared to earlier research data. Methods. The study subjects were Finnish speaking 1. and 2. grade pupils. In order to take part to the study it was required that the subjects were born full-term and that their overall development had been normal. 53 children from three schools in Helsinki participated in the study. There were 26 boys and 27 girls and the age varied between 7;0 and 9;0 years. The test results were inserted anonymously into a program (SPSS) for statistical analysis. Non-parametric methods were used for the data. Results and conclusions. 7;0–7;11 -year-old subjects had significantly smaller test scores in both tests than the 8;0–9;0 -year-old subjects. The standard deviation was greater in the receptive vocabulary test than in the expressive vocabulary test. There was a strong correlation between the scores of the two tests. In the younger age group the boys had greater scores in both tests than the girls. In the expressive vocabulary test the boys' results were significantly better. In the older age group the girls had greater scores in both tests, but the scores weren't significantly better than the boys'. None of the background factors (parental education level, family size, birth order, amount of ear infections) were connected to the scores in the vocabulary tests. Difficult and easy test words were mostly the same within both the girls and the boys, although there was a few interesting exceptions. The results of the study can be considered only indicative due to the small sample size. The comparations of the scores between the boys and the girls are not reliable partly because of the younger age of the girl subjects in this study.
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(2020)The sampler is a work which has helped girls to practice sewing and embroidery for centuries. It is not common to sew them anymore, but there are lots of old samplers in museum collections. This study discusses the samplers at the Helsinki University Museum Craft Science Collection. The collection has been accumulated within textiles teacher education in Helsinki since the late 19th century. Most of the objects are practice works made by students in textiles teacher education. While both the Craft Science Collection and single objects of the collection have previously been studied, the samplers and the collection formed by them have been less focused on. The aim of this study was to survey the samplers of the Craft Science Collection and to analyze meanings related to sampler as a needlework and to the collection formed by the samplers. The study was carried out by using the Significance analysis method which is originally created for museum objects. The method consists of the stages of preparation, data acquisition, familiarization and contextualization. Then, the research material is evaluated with seven criteria: representativeness, authenticity, historical and cultural significance, memorable significance, communal significance, ideal situation and usability. As a result, the study shows that sampler as a needlework conveyed traditions and values. As part of studies of textiles teacher education, it functioned as practice work which formed identity and connected generations from the late 19th century until the early 20th century. The collection of samplers was found to have especially communal, historical and cultural significance. This collection conveys information about handicrafts, craft education and textiles teacher education of the past – and about the values behind them. The collection would have potential to act as teaching, exhibition or research material, but in some cases, the absence of context information may complicate it.
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(2016)Youth violence has been a topic in public debate for many centuries and violent entertainment has been a main focus in search for reasoning youth violent behaviour and the acceptance of violence. The aim of this study is to survey the aspects of major consumers of entertaining history culture on the legitimacy of violence. The hypothesis was, that the major consumers of entertaining history culture do not justify the use of violence as problem solving measure. The entertaining history culture is limited to include historical movies and tv-series together with computer and console games. This study was executed as qualitative research with phenomenography as the methodological philosophy. The focus was to find out the thoughts about justified violence of ninth grade students who consume a lot of entertaining history culture. The research material was collected from inquiry from one hundred participating ninth graders. The inquiry was held to find out major consumers of entertaining history culture that would be suitable for semi structured interviews. Seven people were chosen for interviews. The study revealed that the major consumers of entertaining history culture react negatively to the legitimacy of violence both in historical context and in real life. The youth say that movies and games aren't a direct cause of violent behaviour, but can be harmful if a person has another mental difficulties already. The youth told that they can easily separate movies and games from real life and think them as entertainment that you can also learn from. The youth also had a positive image about the future, although they saw the media stirring up some threats. This study should stand by earlier research which say that violent entertainment don't increase either youth violence or the legitimacy of it.
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(2022)The purpose of this study is to examine classroom teacher students’ views on their civic competence. According to previous studies, teacher students have been found to have conservative values and they have participated in society through traditional ways. Teachers have found concerned towards political and social issues and that have been claimed to be the reason for young people’s passive participation in the society. The conception of an active citizen could be understood deeper by examining civic competence. The study was conducted as a qualitative theme interview study of six classroom teacher students. The interview themes were subjective civic competence, political participation and teacher as a social influencer. All of the interviews were recorded and transcribed. The analysis was accomplished using four-step phenomenography. According to the results, classroom teacher students perceived themselves being aware of societal and political issues. In the students’ perceptions the knowledge, the conversational skills and being aware of the teacher’s role were shown beneficial when improving the ability to deal with civic issues. The fear of influencing too much on pupil’s opinions affected negatively on students’ views of their own competence. The results show that the students saw themselves as active influencers both participating conventionally as well as being teachers but controversially, students evaluated their actions rather passive.
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(2023)The aim of this study was to examine the dyeing properties of dried nettle stems and evaluate the color fastness. The purpose is to find out the possibilities of nettle dyeing on a larger scale. This study contributes to the larger BioColour project, which seeks to develop a comprehensive palette of natural dyes. Nettle has been traditionally utilized in the fiber industry. It is also widely acknowledged for its therapeutic qualities, having demonstrated efficacy in treating anemia and burns. Furthermore, nettle is acknowledged for its high nutritional value; however, research regarding its use in dyeing remains scarce. Ensuring the Earth maintains its carrying capacity requires prioritizing sustainable development and circular economy goals. As a key step towards this, developing less toxic dyes to replace the ones that threaten the environment and human health is imperative. The current study was framed as an experimental investigation, wherein stem extracts from the nettle plant were utilized to create dye baths for colouring a variety of textiles such as cotton, bamboo, and wool. Before the dyeing process, the fabric samples were subjected to pre-treatment using both organic and synthetic tannins, iron, and alum. Furthermore, a subset of samples was left untreated to assess the impact of different pre-treatments on resultant colour vibrancy and resilience. After dyeing, the samples were subjected to standard colour-fastness assessments, including colour-fastness tests for washing, rubbing, and light, and were also visually evaluated using a grayscale. Additionally, colour measurements were captured using a CIELAB colour measuring device, and the acquired data were analysed and interpreted using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Various shades of light colors were successfully produced using cotton and bamboo viscose alongside nettle. However, the merino wool displayed a darker shade. The samples with iron mordant, organic, or synthetic tannin mordant, resulted in significantly deeper color than those treated with 0-mordant and alum. Remarkably, in the washing fastness test, colors remained well preserved with commercial detergent compared to the standard variant. Similarly, abrasion fastness yielded favorable results, except wet rubbing on wool. In contrast, lightfastness testing revealed the least favorable outcome for samples with 0-mordant and alum. The study highlights the prospective value of using natural dyes for nettle dyeing.
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(2015)Nettle (Urtica dioica) has been used as a textile fiber among other bast fibres. Its culturohistorical significance is not clear, due to lack of studies focusing on nettle fiber. Main reason for that is the similarity of nettle fiber with all other bast fibers in their microscopic structures. The identification may have been inadequate. Main purpose for this Master's Thesis was to find those structural features that makes nettle fiber distinguishable from other bast fibers and to find the methods to study these features. I chose flax and hemp to be the reference fibers, because they are the two other bast fibers growing in Finland that can be used in textiles. My Thesis is divided into three parts. In the first theoretical section I study nettle as a textile fiber, and identification methods and physical structures of bast fibers in general. In the research section I introduced the methods suitable for identifying bast fibers from each other, and explained the structural differences between nettle, flax and hemp. The methods I used in this study are longitudinal observation, cross sections, Herzog's test with polarized light microscopy and SEM. From these results I created an Identification Manual for Nettle Fiber. It is a practical manual for archeologists, conservators and all textile researchers to use. From the photographic material I précised referential photo collection of physical structures of bast fibers. The manual and the photo collection are found as appendixes at the end of the study. In the final section of my research, I piloted the manual to a small sampling of textiles from the Finno-Ugric and Historical collections of The National Museum of Finland which were suspected to be made from nettle fibre. My conclusions in this study is that it is possible to identify nettle from other bast fibers. I was able to identify the materials of the textile sampling with the methods I had chosen. 16 from 25 samples that I studied were nettle. This partly disproves former results. My study points out that it is important to re-identify materials in ethnographic museum textiles to find out and discuss further the culturohistorical significance of the nettle fiber.
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(2022)In these days, the role of sports coach is very diverse. The coach’s task is to help an athlete succeed and develop as athlete, but also help the athlete to grow and develop as a person. Children’s sports coach is always an educator. According to previous study, coaches sees that education part is important in their work, but also challenging. Sports coaching has been found to have potentiality educational opportunities, but these have not been fully make use of yet. This study examine single skating coaches’ educational views. The aim of this study is to find out what kind of responsibilities single skating coaches have, but also find out what kind of educational challenges they have. The study also examines how coaches sees the value of education in relative to coaching. This study was a qualitative research. The data was collected by interviewing five single skating coach. The interview was semi-structured thematic interview. After the interviews, the data was transcribed and analysed by using thematic analysis and classification by type. In the view of single skating coaches, their educational responsibilities includes teaching rules and boundaries, educating to world of sport and single skating, creating a safe environment, supporting growth as a person, make educational cooperating with parents and being a role model. Educational challenges in their work was loneliness of work, obscurity in their educational responsibilities, need for a personal development, challenges in the work community, individual consideration and support for athletes and cooperating with parents. The valuation of educational work and teaching single skating skills revealed slightly different views in interviews with single skating coaches. There were clearly three different types: educational part in bigger role than teaching single skating skills, teaching single skating skills in bigger role than educational part and educational part and teaching skills equally important.
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(2023)Objectives. Around the profession of teaching, certain stereotypes have formed about the types of people who become teachers and what interests and motivates them in that field, creating a certain mold for teachers. However, there are many variables behind this orientation. Previous studies have shown that individual's internal, external, and altruistic motivations particularly influence the choice to become a teacher. The goal of this study was to increase knowledge and understanding of the attractiveness of teacher education, focusing on the perspective of those interested in psychology. I wanted to find out what motivated students to be interested in elementary teaching and delve into how they justified their choice to themselves. I wanted to know which motives influenced the selection of the secondary choice the most and whether the secondary choice was still considered secondary later on. The theoretical framework was based on Reiss's (2004) motivation theory and Watt & Richardson's (2007) FIT-Choice scale. Additionally, I explore factors influencing career choices, such as education and the teaching profession. Methods. The study took the form of a case study, where I delved into four cases of elementary teacher students by conducting interviews to gather information about their experiences. I interviewed them individually using a semi-structured thematic interview, and then analyzed their responses through theory-driven content analysis. Results and Conclusions. As with case studies in general, the results of the study are not generalizable. The study revealed that for the interviewees, the choice of profession was guided by some form of alternative to psychology. The responses of the interviewees also indicated that there was not complete satisfaction with the teaching profession. Each interviewee had some future plan outside the classroom, albeit only much later. Surprisingly, the results showed that, contrary to the theory, working with children was a very significant motivation to choose teaching as a career for each interviewee.
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(2022)This master's thesis aims to elucidate the experiences of eighth-grade elementary school students in home economics distance learning periods in the spring of 2020 and spring of 2021. The aim was also to outline the change in household education during the exceptional period caused by the corona pandemic. The study was carried out using qualitative research methods. The research material was collected through in-depth interviews with eight eighth graders in elective home economics course who had experienced both distance learning periods. The analysis of the material uti-lized the principles of content analysis and thematic analysis. The general opinion of the interviewees about distance learning was negative. According to the respondents, social isolation had a negative effect on experiences also on distance learning in home economics, as the formerly interactive subject turned into studying alone. There was a distinct decrease in interactions between teacher and student, which affected negatively in the experiences of the student about distance learning. Tasks in distance learn-ing seemed more boring than in contact learning, as many tasks were written assignments instead of cooking, as in the name of equality the home economics teacher could not de-mand students to acquire the necessary materials. Respondents found the education tech-nological applications to be easy to use. However, the simultaneous use of many applica-tions was a concern for respondents, as the school did not have common policies on the use of applications during the first distance learning period, so many teachers had different appli-cations in use.
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