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This qualitative research addresses a three-week pioneering intervention which is based on positive pedagogy and was conducted in a day-care centre in Eastern Finland. A pre-school group of nine children took part to the intervention but four of them attended as research participants and were given pen names. Adam and Bella were studying according to the general education plan, Carrie had intensified support and David received special support. During the intervention, the pre-schoolers were taught about the character strengths of self-regulation and honesty via various stories, poems and pictures which transitioned to reciprocal conversations among the child group. Through different kinds of child plays the pre-schoolers had the opportunity to train those skills in action and in touch with creative documentation exercises they built perceptions of the terms themselves. The material was collected through semi-structured interviews and a concentration questionnaire called pikkuKESKY. As a result of analyses each participant got personal profiles which illustrate their skills and development. The results indicate that the students who needed the most support in learning about self-regulation and honesty showed individual improvement during and after the intervention. Many themes in the teachers last interview often came back to the feeling of success which seemed to be widely in a key role when strengthening the pre-schoolers self-esteem.

Objectives.This study is part of a research project, Taikava. The purpose of the study is to examine how the pedagogy of teaching art can support the collaboration and inclusion of children between the ages of 3–5 years. The aim was to find out how the children are taken into account as individuals. It was also examined how the children's interaction can be supported. In addition, the aim was to find out the interaction situations in which the pedagogy of teaching art is used in kindergarten. It was also studied what kind of changes about the collaboration of the children appeared when the pedagogy of art was used in kindergarten. Methods. This study was conducted as a qualitative research. The material was collected by observing and interviewing. The observation happened in day-care centres in Vantaa. The aim was to observe the interaction between children and adults. In addition, four kindergarten teachers and four art pedagogues were interviewed to this study. The material was analyzed by using material-based analysis. Results and conclusions. The participants felt that children's needs and their co-operation can be supported by using the pedagogy of teaching art. They felt that the presence of an adult, a child-oriented perspective and a positive and supportive atmosphere was important when try to increase children's collaboration. They also valued the fact that adults increase children's participation and encourage them to work together. Art education was carried out as a planned or spontaneous activity in small-group sessions and the everyday interaction in other situations. The first year of Taikava brought some positive changes when it comes to children's collaboration and inclusion. Children's social skills, team spirit and the sense of belonging among others increased. Also the inclusion between children developed. Children made new friends. In addition, the bullying was decreased. It was felt that art became part of the everyday life.

Objectives. The purpose of the study was to examine which factors affect the formation of the interactive relationship between a special needs assistant and a class teacher and to explore if there is multiprofessional co-operation and professional agency between a special needs assistant and a class teacher. The theoretical background of the study was the concept of professional agency (ammatillinen toimijuus) by Anneli Eteläpelto (2017) which refers to the possibilities of influence of an employee and experientiality of their job. Subject focused sociocultural approach i.e. the idea of selves–that are shaped by experiences and values–is also connected to professional agency. Methods. The material was collected in December 2017 in one of the comprehensive schools in Helsinki metropolitan area. Two pairs consisting of a third-class special needs assistant and class teacher were interviewed. The pairs did not work together or operate within the same cell of classrooms, but the special needs assistants worked as cell centred special needs assistants co-operating with the other class teachers of the same cell of classrooms although mainly they worked with the class teacher participating in the study. These pairs were coded as work pair 1 and work pair 2. The material was collected by pair interviews with the semi-structured theme interview and the material was analysed by using material-oriented content analysis. The material was coded by using the theory by Eteläpelto (2017) and the conclusions drawn on the material were based on the theme categories created with the same theory. In this study the theoretical background was supported by a previous literature review on the same topic. Results and conclusions. There are all dimensions of professional agency between the work pairs, and the subject oriented sociocultural approach is a significant part of the formation of an interactive relationship. In this study, the school building is not an influencing factor in the formation of interactive relationship, but the resources of the working environment advance the interactive relationship e.g. by alert phone system. The interactive relationships are advanced by time spent together, appreciation, the clarity of the work roles and multiprofessional co-operation. The interactive relationships are weakened by space planning, rush, incompatibility of the pairs, turnover of the staff and the unappreciation of the special needs assistant in the working community. The work pairs feel the relationship between them to be important because it has positive effects on the working community and the learning process of the children. The work pairs think that the school environment is not fit for working if one is unwilling to co-operate. The special needs assistants and class teachers feel that their interactive relationship should be improved considering the time resources by adding more time for them to spend together.

Objectives. Most sex education related studies prior to this study have focused on describing the current sex education situation from different perspectives, often bringing attention to certain problems. The field of sex educational research has been in need of studies that focus on solving those problems. This study aims to find ways to develop school sex education by defining what sex education should be, how the teaching should be organized, and how it could be developed. Methods. The research approach of this study was qualitative. The data was collected by interviewing eight sex education experts from different backgrounds. The experts were selected due to their sex educational experience that varied from scientific research concerning sex education to decades of sex educational teaching experience. The interviews were transcribed and processed using content analysis. The main subject of the analysis was the information from the experts, not so much the experts themselves. Through content analysis the information was brought to a more general level in a more compact and informative form. Results and conclusions. Increasing and developing school sex education was considered important. Experts wanted to improve the quality of sex education by taking sexuality more into account in the everyday life of schools. The basis of sex education was set on the fact that children have a right to good quality sex education and teachers need professional skills to implement this right. The most important goal of sex education is to raise individuals who are satisfied with their lives and allow the same to others. When this goal is fulfilled can sex education generate positive chance in both personal and community level. The results can be applied to the development of school sex education and used by individual teachers, schools, municipalities and national projects.

Teachers who identify as sexual minorities face multiple hardships and problems in the workplace based on their identity. This study aims to approach these issues by examining the perceptions that queer teachers have about their respective speech styles and the context- based language variation that occurs. Spoken language and voice can act as meaningful cues of a person’s sexual identity, thus having the power to inflict various consequences on a person’s life. This study aims specifically to find out what queer teachers find to be meaningful reasons behind the context-based language variation, and how these reasons are connected to both heteronormativity and to their work as teachers. This research was conducted through semi-structured thematic interviews of eight Finnish primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school teachers who identified as being part of a sexual minority. The collected data was analyzed by discourse analysis, more specifically using methods from critical discourse analysis (CDA). The use of critical discourse analysis enabled this study to try and uncover hidden power relationships and inequalities from the data. The results indicate that sexual minority teachers strategically alter different features of their language and show variation in their speech styles when faced with unjust situations and contexts that are based on heteronormative power structures. Four separate discourses were derived from the data: the discourses of safety, incompatibility, strength, and resistance. The discourse of safety brought out that queer teachers prepare for possible homophobia and have various means to protect their safety. The discourse of incompatibility revealed that queer teachers experience an inner conflict between working as a teacher and identifying as a sexual minority. The discourse of strength brought out that queer teachers can make good use of their minority identity, essentially it being an aid to their work as a teacher, and that they utilize their authority as teachers when tackling challenges brought on by heteronormativity. Finally, the discourse of resistance revealed the critical and questioning stances that teachers have adopted towards heteronormativity and its hegemonic power, as well as towards the obligations and assumptions that is expected of them as queer teachers.

Objective: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a life-long condition, but because of its historical status as a self-remitting disorder of childhood, empirically validated and reliable methods for the assessment of adults are scarce. In this study, the validity and reliability of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and the Adult Problem Questionnaire (APQ), which survey childhood and current symptoms of ADHD, respectively, were studied in a Finnish sample. Methods: The self-rating scales were administered to adults with an ADHD diagnosis (n = 38), healthy control participants (n = 41), and adults diagnosed with dyslexia (n = 37). Items of the self-rating scales were subjected to factor analyses, after which the reliability and discriminatory power of the subscales, derived from the factors, were examined. The effects of group and gender on the subscales of both rating scales were studied. Additionally, the effect of age on the subscales of the WURS was investigated. Finally, the diagnostic accuracy of the total scores was studied. Results: On the basis of the factor analyses, a four-factor structure for the WURS and five-factor structure for the APQ had the best fit to the data. All of the subscales of the APQ and three of the WURS achieved sufficient reliability. The ADHD group had the highest scores on all of the subscales of the APQ, whereas two of the subscales of the WURS did not statistically differ between the ADHD and the Dyslexia group. None of the subscales of the WURS or the APQ was associated with the participant's gender. However, one subscale of the WURS describing dysthymia was positively correlated with the participant's age. With the WURS, the probability of a correct positive classification was .59 in the current sample and .21 when the relatively low prevalence of adult ADHD was taken into account. The probabilities of correct positive classifications with the APQ were .71 and .23, respectively. Conclusions: The WURS and the APQ can provide accurate and reliable information of childhood and adult ADHD symptoms, given some important constraints. Classifications made on the basis of the total scores are reliable predictors of ADHD diagnosis only in populations with a high proportion of ADHD and a low proportion of other similar disorders. The subscale scores can provide detailed information of an individual's symptoms if the characteristics and limitations of each domain are taken into account. Improvements are suggested for two subscales of the WURS.

In the latest PISA measurements conducted in 2018 it was found that when comparing the reading performance scores of non-immigrant students and students with an immigrant background, Finland was the country with the highest score-point difference between these groups. Several previous studies have shown that reading is a skill that everyone needs – it is a crucial skill to have to be able to function and be a part of society today. The aim of this study was to find out how Finnish primary school teachers differentiate their literary teaching for pupils with Finnish as a second language. In order to develop the teaching of reading to a way that would reduce the skill gap between these groups, there must be an understanding of its current state. In addition to this, this study aimed to find out the reasons why some teachers do not differentiate their literary teaching for these students. This study is based on survey data collected by the Lukuklaani research project group. The survey was conducted in 2017 and the entire number of respondents was 885. The data selected for this study was the answer data of one question of the survey, which had a total of 378 open responses. All the respondents were Finnish primary school teachers. This study showed that 89 % of the teachers studied differentiated their literary teaching for pupils with Finnish as a second language in one way or another. They mentioned multiple methods and practices to differentiate the teaching, and most of the methods mentioned were cooperative methods, where the pupil is working with either the teacher or other pupils. Some of the practices were related to the way the teacher is functioning, but only a few mentioned methods where students work by themselves. Most of the respondents described that the literature their pupils with Finnish as a second language read was specifically chosen for them based on certain criteria. Most of the criteria they mentioned was related to the language of the books, but also content-related criteria was mentioned. The 11 % of teachers who brought out that they do not differentiate their literature teaching for their pupils with Finnish as a second language justified their decision with arguments related to either the pupil or their school culture.

In this study the staining of cellulose fibers with mordant dyeing and disperse dyeing techniques are investigated. Previous studies have shown disperse dyeing gives better staining results than mordant dyeing when using synthetic fibers with natural colorants. This study explores the suitability of the disperse dyeing method for cellulose fibers. The study focuses on four cellulosic fibers: viscose, bamboo viscose, lyocell and Ioncell-F. The reference fiber for testing is merino wool. All samples are knitted. There is a little research on disperse-dyed cellulosic fiber with natural colorants, but no previous research with Ioncell-F fiber at all. Disperse dyeing was tested with and without tannin mordant. Mordant-dyed samples are for comparison. Flavonoid-containing onion skins Allium cepa and anthraquinone-containing fungus Cortinarius semisanguineus were used as sources of dyes. The pH for the dye liquor was adjusted to 8 with sodium hydroxide, except for the dyebath for the merino wool that is poorly resistant to bases. Merinos dye liquor adjusted with hydrochloric acid to pH 4. Different dyeing techniques were used with the same dyebath, except for the extra batch of celluose fibres, for which a separate dyebath was prepared from the onion skins and the pH of the dyebath was kept acidic. The color values of the dyed samples were measured on a spectrophotometer, whereby the dyeing results could be viewed as L*, a* and b* values according to CIELAB. In addition, the color fastness to light and washing were tested according to the ISO standards. The dyeing results of the cellulose fibres were lower than merino wool reference in all dyeing techniques. Ioncell-F fiber dyed very similarly to the other cellulosic fibers. Onion skins gave a darker and more stable color compared to the fungus whose color was light throughout the samples and the color fastness in light and washing tests were low. According to the results of this study Cortinarius semisanguineus is poorly suited for dyeing cellulose fibers. It is preferred to dye with the onion skins with the natural pH of the dyebath, under acidic conditions by the dispersion dyeing technique. In this case, the results of the dyeing are better and more stable even without the mordant.

Advances in computational linguistics have made analyzing large quantities of text data a more feasible task than ever before. In particular, the recent distributional language models hold promise of effective semantic analysis at a low computational cost. Semantics, however, is a multifaceted phenomenon, and although various language model architectures have been presented, there is relatively little research evaluating the semantic validity of such models. The aim of this research is to evaluate the semantic validity of different distributional language models, particularly as tools for representing Finnish language online text data. The models and methods are evaluated based on their performance on three empirical studies, each estimating a different aspect of semantic representation. The language models in the studies were built using word2vec architecture. The models were taught on approximately 2.6 billion tokens from the Suomi24 corpus of Finnish language social media discussions. 18 models were built in total, each with a different combination of feature processing methods. The models were evaluated in three studies. For Study I, a resource consisting of 300 similarity ratings for word pairs from 55 human annotators was collected. This resource was used as an evaluation task by comparing model estimated similarity scores to the human rated similarity judgments. Study II investigated relational semantics as an evaluation method and were operationalized in form of an analogy task, for which a Finnish language resource is presented. In Study III, the language models were evaluated based on their performance in document classification of Suomi24 messages to their respective topics. The results of the Studies indicate that each presented evaluation task is sufficiently reliable method for estimating language model semantic validity. In turn, distributed language models are reported being able to represent semantics given morphologically rich yet fragmentary Finnish language social media data. Feature processing methods are shown to increase the semantic accuracy of language models in most cases, but to a limited extent. If evaluated valid, semantic language technologies are proposed to hold widespread applicability across scientific as well as commercial fields.

This thesis analyzed interaction and learning in simulation debriefing. Simulation usage has increased in the social and health care during the last years, and the new technology has given more opportunities to use high-fidelity simulations more widely. Simulations enable a new way for students to learn different kinds of patient situations in the real life and in work-based environments that are still completely safe. The investments are expensive and create discussion in universities whether these simulations can create the learning they are supposed to create. The research focused on simulation debriefing is an essential phase in simulation learning. The research approach drew on adults learning theories as well as on simulation and debriefing research. The approach is based on socio-constructivist understanding on learning and on studentcentered teaching (Engeström 1982; Miettinen 1993), which represents criticism towards traditional classroom teaching and introduces the concept of learning activity. From these theoretical starting points emerged three key learning concepts, interaction, feedback and reflection. The research questions were: 1. How is the interaction of the debriefing constructed? 2. What kind of feedback by peer students and by the instructors and 3. what kind of reflection takes place during the debriefing? The data was collected from one simulation center's simulation day in the Southern Finland University of Applied Sciences. The data includes one simulation group's (9 students and 2 instructors) all five videotaped debriefing situations. The analysis was both data and learning theory driven, and both qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied. The results indicate that debriefings interaction was led by the instructors, and was based on a question–answer dynamics. The analysis found three different kinds of peer feedback types, four instructors' feedback types and five self-reflection types. Both the peer and instructor feedback were mostly positive encouragement. Students' self-reflection was mostly reflecting on the confusion caused by the simulation. . Clinical skills were emphasized in both feedback and self-reflection. It can be concluded that debriefing's script and the way it is used leads and restricts the interaction. The script should be developed to be more dialogical. Especially the form and meaning of peer feedback should be critically considered. The peer feedback remained quite superficial, whereas instructors' feedback has a clear impact on students' constructive self-reflection. The instructors' cultivation of constructive criticism would best enhance the students' learning.