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(2017)The purpose of this is to examine self-made wedding dresses in Finland in the 21st century. The aim is to study the meanings of wedding dresses and making for the brides who have made their wedding dresses themselves. In addition, the reasons for making and the self-made dresses are examined. The theoretical background of this study consisted of contemporary weddings, dress and bridal wear and the motivations for making crafts and DIY-projects. The study was conducted as a qualitative research. The data was collected as a web survey on craft and wedding themed Facebook groups, e-mailing lists and online forums. Along with answers to open questions, photos of self made wedding dresses were collected. 59 brides responded to the survey. In the final data there were 41 photos of 25 different wedding dresses. The data was analyzed using content analysis and Atlas.ti software. For most brides the wedding dress has specific worth which can be seen in the dreaming of a certain design, special effort put to the making and desire to keep the dress as a memory. Most of the brides chose a traditional white dress respecting the tradition but the colour white was also simply seen as the one and only colour of the wedding dress. Only a few of the brides considered white as a symbol of virginity even though the symbolism affected the choices of some brides. The reasons for making a wedding dress related to supply covered financial benefits, dissatisfaction to current fashion or quality, dress fit, availability and ecological and ethical values. The reasons related to one's identity link to a wish to be different from others and one's experience or profession as a craft maker. The meaning of making links to the meaning of the making process, for example, as mental preparation for the wedding and as an empowering experience. Self-made wedding dresses were also considered more valuable than ready made dresses which points out the value of crafts as well. In addition to financial choices, striving for individuality was emphasized in this study. The brides desired to express their personality in their wedding dresses but most of them did in the limits of tradition because they also wanted to conform to the norms. On the other hand, the clearly distinctive wedding dresses in this study point out the freedom of an individual not to follow the way of tradition.
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(2019)Objectives. The goal of this thesis is to examine various positive methods in which a teacher can confront a challenging student in the classroom and redirect the student’s behaviour to fit the lessons agenda. This thesis will also aim to examine what kinds of challenging behaviour can be found from analysed drama lessons. Previous research has shown that teachers find interactions with challenging students to be often demanding. In the modern classroom teachers must be prepared to face challenging students and therefore there is a need to research teachers already working in the field to see how they confront challenging students in a positive way. Methods. The research for this thesis was done as a case-study based in video observations, where footage from the 2018 KEHU-project was utilized. The research footage contained five filmed lessons, which were taught by five various drama-specialized teachers across Finland. The teachers participating in this project taught grades one through third grade. The nature of this research was based on qualitative methods. The material was processed through content analysis and classification. Results and conclusions. Challenging behaviour was categorized into four distinct categories based off the filmed drama lessons, which were disruptive behaviour, wandering, disobedience and negative verbal or physical interaction. Challenging behaviour filmed during the lessons were often quite mild forms of challenging behaviour. Based on the results the teachers mostly conducted positive confrontations against challenging students and were able to redirect behaviour with efficient and practical methods. This thesis provided promising information in regards that teachers can redirect behaviour towards the lesson’s goals with positive interactions. Having a respective attitude towards students and striving towards dialogical interactions from the teacher appears to improve confronting the student, which has been proven in earlier research to be meaningful in regards to the students behaviour.
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(2022)The objective of the thesis is to find out how different environmental factors and the quality of school adults' interaction affect the well-being of students and the easing and escalation of challenging situations. The topic of the thesis is important because the mental symptoms and challenging situations of students have been perceived to have increased in the school world. Data was collected through interviews (n = 4). The interviewees were young people who had completed primary school and who had received support from a special rehabilitation class for mental symptoms. The study is phenomenological and its research design is data-driven content analysis. The material has been systematically analyzed by coding and classification. The core of the thesis was the interaction chains observed in the data and the well-being factors. The chains of interaction that ended in a negative outcome included a school adult’s blaming, indifferent, punitive, derogatory, uncertain, or unknown response. Interactions with a positive outcome included seeking a solution, being compassionate, or strengthening positive behavior. In addition to the quality of the interaction, the well-being factors at school also had a particular impact on the prevention of challenging situations and the promotion of pupil well-being. The most significant well-being factors that emerged from the data were the small group, the close-knit group in the class, the best friend in the class, a few friends in the class, differentiated and individualized tasks, and the ability to choose one’s own doing or task. These factors were able to prevent, e.g., challenging social situations as well as challenging school tasks, which often occurred in the triggers of the chains of interaction. In addition, the importance of permanence in the school world was emphasized in the well-being factors.
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(2018)Digitalization and globalization have led to increased global competition, which has set new standards for the skills that employees ought to possess in working life. In this study, these capabilities are referred to as the 21st century working life skills, which includes both professional know-how and professional skills, life and career skills, ability to influence, thinking and learning skills, and technology skills. Absorbent workers are seen to bring competitive advantages to companies at national and international level, and now higher education institutions are expected to produce innovative experts with 21st working life skills to their service. The aim of this thesis was to examine the elements of the method of teaching the 21st century working life skills to higher education students. The research has been carried out by analyzing the reflection essays and feedback forms of the participants participating in hackathon events in 2016-2017. Hackathon events were selected for collecting data as their work habits resembled a great deal of future work-related and problem-solving-oriented working life. The material was analyzed by a material-based grounded theory method. The first research question examined whether the hackathon participants felt that they had developed professionally during the event regarding their own working life skills. Based on the research material, participating a hackathon event can support the participants’ professional development. The participants explicitly brought up the social, knowledge and skill related benefits of hackathon events. The participants reported that by participating a hackathon event they were also able to develop as individuals and felt empowerment regarding their future working life and their private lives. The main experience of the participants was that the hackathon event offered them something that their previous studies have not yet been able to offer. The second research question was used to determine what elements of the hackathon event supported the accumulation of 21st century working life skills. In other words it was studied, of what elements a teaching method that successfully transfers 21st century working life skills to higher education students is built. Participants' responses highlighted particularly event facilities, characteristics of their working groups, external supporters, positive and negative emotions as well as meaningful hackathon challenges and ways of working, and collaboration with businesses. As a conclusion it is to say that with such collaborative innovation pedagogy method, such as hackathon, the development of professional and 21st century skills of students of higher education institutions can be supported. By utilizing these kind of methods, the higher education institutions are also able to successfully answer to the new requirements set by the increased global competition.
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(2022)The aim of this study is to describe, analyze and interpret how newly graduated teachers in Sweden experience the availability, the various forms and adequacy of social support in the work community. This study is made in collaboration with the research projects SAMS (Samverkan och social stöd i den finlandssvenska skolan) and ECTPA (Early Career Teacher’s Professional Agency across four European countries). The theoretical framework consists of the model for social support at different system levels (Cornér, 2020; Pyhältö, 2018). The model includes of four components and three of them are relevant to this study: support sources, support forms and support fit. Support sources are the sources of social support, i.e., from whom do the newly graduated teachers feel that they receive support from in the work community. Support forms includes the different types of social support, i.e., emotional support, informational support, and instrumental support The experience for what type of social support is needed versus how much the newly graduated teacher receive in practice, is called support fit. This study is based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews conducted in October of 2021 and on the network plots drawn by each informant. The purpose of the network plots was to map the newly graduated teacher’s professional networks. The study involved 9 newly graduated teachers who worked across Sweden in primary, secondary, and upper secondary schools. The interview data were analyzed by using thematic analysis and with a deductive research approach. The most important assets for social support were mentors, the collegial team and the teachers who share the same grade or subject. The principals were one of the smallest assets. Emotional and informative support is provided by agents with teaching and supervisory roles, while school management only provides informative support. Relatives and friends provide both emotional and informative support, while social media only provides informative support. The instrumental support was deficient in terms of insufficient time for planning. The adequacy of social support has decreased due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the newly graduated teachers want more social support from the school management as well as more time for reflection and feedback. Suggestions for further research could be to research the nature of the distance that exists between the newly graduated teachers and the school management.
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(2018)The purpose of this study was to find out how humor is constructed in Finnish 21st century ABC books and what kind of meanings are given to these humorous discourses. The humor phenomena have long been studied and debated, but there has been no scientific research on humor in ABC books, even though humor is highly used in contemporary children literature. Studies have examined the pedagogical implications concerning the use of humor in teaching. Humor has been associated with a positive effect on learning, motivation, concentration, remembering and enhancing a positive classroom atmosphere. The research material consisted of four 21st century ABC books, published by Sanoma Pro Oy. The method of this study was discourse analysis, which entail a preference for a social constructionist epistemological perspective. Social constructivism stresses that knowledge is constructed via the interactions with the environment and the other people. The result of the study show that humor in contemporary ABC books is multileveled, using a wide variety of textual and narrative tools. The multileveled humor took place in three main humor discourse: language, narration and the narrated, typically absurd, world. Humor at the level of language arised mainly from the foregrounding of language and playing with words and meanings. Humor at the level of narration arised mainly from its coherency and incoherency. High forms of humor, for example irony and intertextual references, can be found, but they seem to demand more advanced reading skills, and therefore seem to be aimed for adult readers. Humor at the level of the narrated world based on its stereotyped and ambivalented characters and absurdities in its episodes. When it comes to certain themes, like bullying or illness, humor doesn’t seem to arise. Humor discourses of the studied ABC books amuse readers using a wide variety of textual and narrative tools, constructing different kinds of interpretational opportunities for different kinds of readers, not only for children and adult readers (primarily teachers), who adapt and understand humor to fit their own literary competence.
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(2021)It is important to look for new approaches and means to support learning in the constantly changing world. The potential of live-action role-playing games or larps to affect motivation and learning is examined in this study. In the center of the study is a larp called Velhokoulu. The skills taught by role-playing games and their other positive effects has also been studied earlier, but the children's point of view is rarely emphasized. Furthermore, the Velhokoulu-larp is a fairly unique case in a Finnish context. The aim of the study is to empirically find out the effects of larping both from the view of motivation as well as learning. The study was carried out as a case study, which data was collected with both qualitative and quantitative methods. The motivation and the learning were examined through the vision of the designers of Velhokoulu, the assistants’ execution and the players' experience. The material concerning the designers and assistants was collected with semi-structured interviews, while the players' experiences were surveyed with a quantitative questionnaire. The methods for analysis consisted of the qualitative content analysis for the interviews and simple methods of the statistical description for the questionnaire. The results showed that Velhokoulu can support the player's motivation and psychological basic needs in many different ways. Some of the most centered results concerning motivation were influencing one's own character and the action in the game, an optimal level and supporting it and the good and safe atmosphere. These principles were supported by enabling different action, taking the players' different age and experience into consideration and through safe roles and the model of assistants. Some centered results from the point of view of the learning were the development of the imagination, taking others' perspective, cooperative skills and critical thinking and questioning. The learning of the skills was supported by creating atmosphere, assistants' own model and the concrete examples, active encouraging and the challenging of the players. The player’s experience mainly highlighted the fact of Velhokoulu supporting both the basic needs and learning of the skills. On the basis of the results can be said that concepts such as Velhokoulu bring many benefits with it from different points of view. The filling of psychological basic needs is a precondition for the development of inner motivation, in addition to which the skills taught by role-playing games are important for example from the point of view of the wide-ranging skills mentioned in Finnish curriculum. The study indeed offers a viewpoint and example of how the untapped resources of games could be brought into use in practice and could be adapted for example in the context of education.
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(2014)Aims and background: The purpose of this study is to find out what kind of challenges a visually impaired meets in a kitchen when preparing food. First I consider shortly visual impairments, secondly what kind of special equipment there are for visually impaired in a kitchen and thirdly what demands there are for the kitchen environment to be functional for visually impaired. The Research questions are 1) What kind of challenges a visually impaired person meets in a kitchen when preparing food and 2) How does she/he copes with the challenges she/he meets when preparing food and what kind of strategies she/he uses to cope with the challenges. Material and methods: This study is a case study which was based on observation. The Data was collected by videotaping food preparation and baking in a rehabilitation Centre for Visually Impaired. A test subject was a visually impaired person. Results: The most important result was that the visually impaired person used very much sensory skills, first of all sense when she/he was preparing food. Secondly an equally important thing was the systematic performance when she/he was working throughout the whole cooking session. The third but not so significant observation was the use of other senses vision, hearing, smell and taste. Any special equipment for visually impaired were hardly used. Conclusions: Tactual skills are the most important means to cope with the challenges. Another important mean is the systematic way of working. Using these means cooking goes safety and fluently. These results can be used for decreasing those challenges which can be faced when visually impaired are preparing food, baking and working in the kitchen and for making improvements in a kitchen environment.
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(2018)Object. The purpose of the study is to find out, what kind of possibilities there are for ethical sensitivity to appear in the context of game development. This operating environment is considered in this study both concrete surroundings related to the work and colleagues and virtual environment, the game itself which is created by the game developers themselves. The study aims to clarify what kind of meanings ethical sensitivity gets in the speech of game developers taking account to that behavior in practice might differ from the ideal of an individual. Ethical sensitivity as a concept is defined by earlier studies of the subject considering for example the moral thinking of teachers and nurses and it is linked in this study to its context by research of game industry and methodology specialized to virtual environments. Methods. The material of the study was collected with half-structured theme interview from six different game developers whom where either working or studying the subject. Background knowledge for the study was also collected from the games themselves as environments with nethnographic methods. In addition, more material was collected from the culture build around the games, things such as game videos and social media platforms handling the games. The main sources in this study were nevertheless the interviews, which made it possible to search for the answers with grounded theory -based methodology. That supported the making of theory of ethical sensitivity in this distinctive context. Conclusions. The ethical sensitivity of game developers and awareness of societal issues were clear, and they also mainly experienced their values to be similar with others in the work or study environment. The issue that came up repeatedly was constant discussion and counseling with others, which was relevant part of the work itself. It also helped interviewees to reflect their own actions. Also, every participant had something to do with gaming during their free-time and some of them had somewhat passion towards gaming and games which can be seen as a reflection of hacker ethics that promotes passion as an ultimate motivation to work. However, the notions in this study were not strong enough to prove or dismantle this kind of thinking. The flexibility of identity and thinking as well as effects of separate groups were shown as an important part of conclusions and worked as a promising path for further studies.
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(2010)The rise of Special education numbers in Finland has caused a situation where Finland's ten largest LEA's so called kymppikunnat (ten communes) have expressed their growing concern of organizing the special education in the current institutional settings. The LEA's started the conversation of redefining special education system in 2004. Their aim was to target the governments attention to the problematics of special education. By the request of the Ministry of Education the LEA's prepared a final report concerning the central questions in the Finnish special education system. On the basis of the LEA's survey it became even clearer that the legislation, funding system and curriculum are tightly linked together. The following LEA's took part into the writing process Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Tampere, Turku and Vantaa. The report was hand over to the Ministry of Education at 18.8.2006. After the delivery the Ministry organized special education development group meetings 17 times in the year 2007. The result of the LEA's report and the development meetings was a new Special Education Strategy 2007. I am observing the dialogue between administrational levels in governmental institutions change process. The research is a content analysis where I compare the "Erityistä tukea tarvitsevan oppilaan opetuksen järjestämisen uudistaminen osana yhtenäistä perusopetusta- kohti laatua ja joustavuutta" (The renewal of the organization of teaching for student with special educational needs as part of unified education for all - towards quality and flexibility) document to "Erityisopetuksen strategia" (Special education strategy) document. My aim was to find out how much of their own interests have the LEA's been able to integrate into the official governmental documentation. The data has been organized and analyzed quantitatively with Macros created as additional parts in Microsoft Excel software. The document material has also been arranged manually on sentence based categorization into an Excel matrix. The results have been theoretically viewed from the special education reform dialogue perspective, and from the angle of the change process of a bureaucratic institution. My target has been to provide a new viewpoint to the change of special education system as a bureaucratic institution. The education system has traditionally been understood as a machine bureaucracy. By the review provided in my pro gradu analysis it seems however that the administrational system in special education is more of a postmodern network bureaucracy than machine bureaucracy. The system appears to be constructed by overlapping, crossing and complex networks where things are been decided. These kinds of networks are called "governance networks . It seems that the governmental administrational - and politic levels, the third sector actors and other society's operators are mixed in decision making.
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(2015)Objectives. In this study, the aim is to examine pupils' behaviour and behaviour management in drama lessons. Drama education is based on student-centred teaching and experimental learning, which is seen as a challenge for behaviour management and a huge risk for misbehaviour. On the other hand, in drama education pupils learn through creating and producing different solutions in groups, which is not possible in a strictly controlled environment. The aim of the study is also to clarify whether the behaviour management prevents group creativity in drama. At the same time, in this study, the observation tool of The Class Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and its suitability for analysing the behaviour management of drama will be evaluated. Methods. This study is defined as a qualitative case study. The subject of the study was eight drama lessons for pupils ranging from first to third graders. The research material consisted of secondary video data that had been shot in drama lessons of four class teachers all specialised in drama. The material was analysed by using the behaviour management section of the CLASS tool and by categorising the situations of misbehaviour and the means of behaviour management. The results were then compared to previous study results of creative action in the drama lessons. Results and conclusions. The research shows that the pupils behaved as per the expectations and there were only minor occasions of misbehaviour in the lessons. Pupil behaviour received mainly high grades (6–7 on a scale of 1–7) while the grades of behaviour management were constantly lower (3,5–6 on a scale of 1–7). Behaviour management was based on reactivity instead of proactivity. The results endorse previous information that pupil compliance is supported by persistent prevention including created and sustained drama contract as well as active working for good group relations and positive atmosphere. Pupil behaviour was at its best when the teachers did not constantly control the pupils. Previous research shows that high-quality behaviour management supports group creativity in drama. CLASS tool is seen suitable for analysing behaviour management in drama lessons especially when considering drama elements such as the drama contract and pupil devotion.
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(2022)The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe and interpret the meaning and grounds of worldview education from the guardians perspective and their wishes regarding worldview education in early childhood education. Previous research has shown worldview education to be a tense content area within early childhood education. Studies have focused mostly on the professionals point of view. Whereas little attention has been given to the guardians perspective. The research questions were as follows: 1. What meanings do guardians give to worldview education in early childhood education? 2. What grounds do guardians present for worldview education in early childhood education? 3. What wishes do the guardians express towards early childhood worldview education? The data consisted of four thematic interviews and open-ended entries of the questionnaire. 11 guardians answered the questionnaire. The data was analyzed using theory-driven content analysis, and utilized methods based on discourse analysis. The results were mirrored with Balčin et al.'s (2021) model of the worldview dimension of worldview education. The data shows that guardians see multi-perspective worldview education as a way of promoting accepting differences and as a mediator of a model of a good person. The necessity of the content area was questioned as early childhood education resources are critical. The meanings were built from a secular and pluralistic dimension. The guardians' grounds for worldview education focused on a shared Finnish value base, the nurturing of cultural tradition and the rights of the child. The grounds were located in the secular and monovalent dimension. The guardians expressed a preference for religious sensitivity and valued a high level of competence in worldview education from the professionals, nonalignment of worldview education, uniform practices, caution on trips to other worldview communities and stronger description of worldview education and discussion about it. The wishes were focused on the secular dimension. The guardians had a positive attitude to multi-perspective worldview education, but the practices related to its implementation revealed tense questions and attitudes in which the interpretation of one's own background in worldview education was highlighted. This thesis reveals that discussion about world-view education between guardians and personnel in early childhood education is in major role promoting multi-valued society which allows different worldviews. Discussion requires personnels' competence of worldview reflection and sensitive attitude towards religion and worldviews. In the light of this thesis, these previous skills should be supported among personnel in early childhood education.
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(2020)A good occupational health is what every human wish for. Because people spend a lot of their time at the workplace the concept occupational health is an important factor to consider as a leader. Also due to a raise in the retairement age and changes in worklife, occupational health has become a current and known topic at workplaces. Occupational health refers to wellbeing at work and that an employee should experience physical, psychological and social wellbeing at the workplace. In this study the teachers occupational health is in focus. This study aims to find out wether a headmaster conducting a healthpromoting leadership would be of advantage for the teachers, when it comes to experiencing a good occupational health. It also aims to find out if teachers have any certain expectations regarding healthpromoting leadership and what thoughts they have conserning the topic occupational health and their own experienced occupational health. Background and contextual research consist of theory and previous studies on leadership, leadership in schools, healthpromoting leadership, educational leadership and occupational health. The thesis is a qualitative research project with a phenomenograpic perspectiv. The data was collected in fall 2019 and the sample consisted of eight teachers from swedishspeaking schools in the south of Finland. The data was collected through semistructured interviews and was later on analysed with help of inductive content analysis. The result refers to that most of the teachers have sometime during their career experienced a minor setback concerning their occupational health and consider therefore a healthpromoting leadershipstyle to be desireble. The teachers expectations are many and individual. Their expectations refer to being present, structured and flexible, and communicativ as a headmaster. Characteristics of the headmaster that the teachers refer to as being important for their occupational health are trust, honesty and personality. Other important leadership qualities for a headmaster to have is to give support and structure, and to be good at allocating resources and time. The research result can hopefully contribute to a better occupational health for the teachers true healthpromoting leadership. In addition, the result can give an indication, not only to the headmasters, but also to municipalities and state institutions, concerning what has to be accomplished and altered within education for the teachers to achieve a good and sustainable occupational health.
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(2021)Making crafts is no longer based on need alone. The importance of craft as a subject emphasizing self-expression has grown, and craft teachers have a significant role in how craft is valued in the future. The theoretical framework of the study examines the sociocultural context of craft and which elements affect the expressive meanings of craft. The study outlines the meanings associated with craft expression by craft teacher students and discourses based on the research data. The use of language as a research subject reflected the contextual nature and culture of the meanings related to craft expression. In the study, discourse referred to a fairly established discussion about issues that construct social reality. The research data consisted of 38 essays written by the craft teacher students in the University of Helsinki during the Study planning course in 2014 and 2017. Part of the essay assignment was to reflect on one’s own craft expression. The qualitative research method was interpretive discourse analysis. Initially, through content analysis, I outlined what meanings craft teacher students attached to craft expression when describing their own craft expression. In the discursive analysis phase, I interpreted what kind of discourses were constructed from the data. The data emphasized product- and need-based understanding of craft, in which practicality was found to exclude expressiveness of craft. Based on the data analysis, four discourses of craft expression were constructed: sustainable craft, flawless craft making, beauty and non-expression. Like the meanings associated with craft expression, discourses overlapped, and the topics got various aspects in different discourses. The meanings and discourses associated with craft expression open up the effects of craft culture and help to understand the significance of craft as part of the diversity of life.
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(2006)The aim of the Thesis is to examine what kind of images children aged between 8 and 12 years in Ghana, Great Britain, Finland and Tanzania hold of their future. The study is a qualitative analysis based on data that consists of 214 drawings, digitally photographed and analysed using AtlasTI computer program. The data was coded and divided into " families " whose frequencies were compared in order to maintain results. The assignment was given to the children in the language used in the school and it was similar in each country. The children were introduced to the idea with a set of stimulating questions and after that they were asked to draw and colour with a pen a picture of 1) him/herself as an adult, 2) his/her future home and 3) the people and the animals they think they will be living with. The children were also asked to write down the country and the place they believe to live in their future. They were also encouraged to write down e.g. their dream profession, what they would like to have as hobbies in their adulthood and other important things in their lives. The analysis focuses on the content of the drawings instead of artistic or psychological interpretations. The differences between the drawings from different countries as well as the differences in a single country were significant. The current trends and the experiences children had lived through were present in the drawings. There were no differences in the colour of the skin and the most popular professions were doctor, police and football player. The football was very strongly present in all of the data; almost fourth of the children had either drawn or mentioned football as their future profession or hobby. Different flora was present in 84% of Tanzanian and 70% of Ghanaian drawings compared to the 23% of British and 17% of Finnish drawings. Of all the family forms a dream of the traditional nuclear family could be found among 29% of the drawings. Compared to that a total of 30% wanted either a child of their own without a spouse (15%) or a spouse without a child (15%). Also grandparents, childhood friends, other adults, animals or even space aliens were present and sharing a home with the children in the drawings. Of all children 15% wanted to live totally alone in the future. This was most typical (38%) among the Finnish boys. The cat and the dog were the most popular animals to appear in the drawings. Moving abroad proved to be purely a western phenomenon, dreamed by 57% of the British and 18% of the Finnish children. As results, a negative self-image, violence, lack of expressions of positive feelings and solitude among the Finnish boys in the data were very concerning.
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(2014)Objectives: In my thesis, I studied the fourth, the fifth and the sixth graders views about the conceptions of the influence at school. In the thesis it was also surveyed what kind of matters the pupils wanted to influence at school. Furthermore, it was studied what kind of influencing skills pupils thought they have. The theory part of the thesis consisted in an overview to the children's and youth's different kind of needs for participation as well as an overview to the curriculum system which forms the base of the school work was studied. In addition, in the theory part of the thesis the democracy expressed at school and the awakening of the children's interest in civic matters were studied. Methods: The thesis was a survey-research and structured questionnaires were used when information was collected. The research group consisted of 112 pupils who studied at the fourth, the fifth and the sixth grades in the primary school situated in the Southern part of Finland. The data was analyzed with the quantitative research program SPSS. At first different numbers such as averages and standard deviations were examined and after that factor analyses were used. Correlation examination was also used. Results and conclusions: The results showed that the pupils had a positive image about their own influencing skills and they trusted their own opinions. They felt that it was important to have influence on they own matters as well as on the common matters at school. However many of the pupils felt that they didn't have possibilities to influence what happens at school during the school day. In addition, the pupils didn't want the teachers or the headmaster to decide solely how the work at school was carried out. The things that the pupils wanted to influence the most were the lunch and the snack at school, the seating arrangement in the classroom, the visits carried out at school and the optional subjects. According to the results it's possible to draw a conclusion that the pupils' participation at school is necessary. The pupils value the possibilities to take part in and seem to understand that it is needed them to contribute themselves so that it is possible to enjoy more the time spend at school. It's also possible to draw a conclusion that although the possibilities to participate are valued there is a lack of real enthusiasm to participate. This is why it seems that there is a need for different kinds of ways to participate since the current ways to participate at school lack to motivate many pupils. Also the work of student body needs to be improved since many of the pupils didn't want to participate to the work of student body although they thought the work done by the student body was important.
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(2020)Hemp was once the most widely used textile fiber, as it can be grown in a large part of the world, including Finland. It is an ecological textile plant, because it doesn't require much irrigation or pesticides. Hemp fiber is very durable, breathable and moisture-absorbing and doesn't mold easily. The aim of the study is to explore the weaving methods of the hemp yarn, find the functional product applications and produce weaving patterns for amateur weavers. The goal is to make it easier for hand weavers to start using hemp fiber in their projects. The research method was qualitative design-based research. The data consisted of prototypes produced by the researcher, prototyping process journal and interview with an expert in the field. The prototypes were woven with various weaves and setts with Java-hemp yarn. 39 samples were woven from two warps. The properties of the samples were evaluated independently and in the interview with the expert. The properties were examined with haptic and visual perception. The evaluation of the samples emphasized the applicability of the patterns to the weaving amateurs. Couple of the samples were washed in order to find out how the textiles change after washing them. The data was analyzed by using content analysis. The results were applied by producing five weaving patterns using different weaves and setts. The products of the weaving patterns were bathroom rug, decorative acoustic board, garden apron, drawstring backpack and grocery bag. The weaves utilized were warp-faced corkscrew, honeycomb, m's and o's, undulating twill and double fabric. The yarn used in the study was inelastic, got easily broken and produced lint, so it is suitable for experienced weavers and should be handled with care during the weaving process. Due to the washing properties, the most suitable weave patterns for this yarn have short floats and tight setts. The yarn was rough, thick and stiff, so it is not suitable for products that need to drape well or are worn next to skin. The best applications are easy-care home decor textiles and bag fabrics. The advantages of the yarn are its expressive appearance and fast weaving process due to the thickness of the yarn.
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(2020)Objectives. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of the individual and systematic support for the pupil who has wide learning difficulties and slight mental disability. The purpose of the study is to develop my own work as a special class teacher and to gather information about the effectiveness of the support. The theoretical background of the study is based on six principal themes. The themes are pre-reading skills, learning to read, reading disability, how does the mildly mentally handicapped pupil learn to read, evaluation of the pre-reading skills in the school and a model of response support. Methods. The thesis is a qualitative case study. Three pupils who have wide learning difficulties and slight mental disability participated in the study. First the study examines pupils’ pre-reading skills with evaluation tools. Based on the evaluation, an individual training program is designed for the pupil which purpose is to promote the pre-reading skills of the pupil. Results and conclusions. The use of evaluation tools was found suitable to evaluate the pre-reading skills. The slight mental handicapped pupil benefitted from a long-term and planned teaching experiment. All pupils pre-reading skills were progressed during the teaching experiment. The teaching experiment in the thesis is clear and feasible to use in a teachers work. The teaching experiment gives new information about the need of pupil’s support and helps the teacher focus the support on practicing the right skill.
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(2014)Objective: Low-grade inflammation underlies a wide variety of long term diseases. Serum level of C-reactive protein (CRP) is a widely used biomarker of inflammation. Its associations with different risk factors of inflammation e.g. psychological stress, depression and health behavior are well known. Previous research suggests that personality is a potential factor underlying several of these risk factors of inflammation. According to Cloninger's model of temperament and character, temperament trait harm avoidance is related to vulnerability for psychological stress and character trait self-directedness is related to maturation of personality and various aspects of well-being. However little is known about the relationship between these personality traits and inflammation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether harm avoidance and self-directedness was able to predict changes on serum levels of CRP in prospective 11-year follow-up study design. Methods: The present study included 1191 participants (aged 35-50 years) from the longitudinal and population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns -study (CRYFS) started in 1980. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between CRP and personality dimensions harm avoidance and self-directedness assessed by Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) in 2001 and 2012. CRP levels from 2012 assessment were used as a dependent variable and mean scores from 2001 and 2012 studies of harm avoidance and self-directedness were used as independent variables in analysis. CRP levels from 2001 were used for baseline adjustment of CRP. Other covariates adjusted in analysis were assessed in 2012. Results and conclusions: The results showed that only self-directedness was weakly associated with serum levels of CRP, partly contrary to prime hypothesis. However, the main finding was that neither harm avoidance nor self-directedness predicted changes on serum levels of CRP over eleven years after adjusting CRP baseline and covariates. The current findings are mainly inconsistent with previous research. These findings suggest that harm avoidance and self-directedness are not independent risk factors of inflammation from an epidemiological perspective.
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(2016)PISA-studies (Linnakylä, 2004; Sulkunen et al, 2010) and evaluations of education (ia. Harjunen & Rautopuro, 2015) show that young boys read little and they have poor reading skills. But there are still opposite results: Merisuo-Storm and Soininen (2014) say that students in elementary school largely see reading as a positive hobby. The aim of this Master's Thesis was to study and analyze the characteristics of the reading hobby of third grade boys. The aim was achieved by studying the time boys use to read, their favourite books and their attitudes towards reading. This study was performed as a qualitative case study in four schools around the Helsinki metropolitan area. 33 third grade boys filled out a questionnaire after which ten of them were chosen to be interviewed. The data from the questionnaires was categorized and adapted as graphs and the data from the interviews was analyzed by data based content analysis. The attitudes of third grade boys towards reading were positive. Nearly all boys who participated in this study read non-school texts daily. Most of them read less than 30 minutes a day. The boys liked funny and exciting literature the most. They read more books than magazines or electronic literature. The reading hobby of their parents and family members didn't automatically impact how the boys read. All of the ten interviewed boys thought that reading is important. Most of them based that on the importance of reading skill as an instrumental value. Third grade boys had very varied reading skills. Some of them still read picture books while others read long fantasy novels. This puts schools in a challenging position as readers of every level need to be offered meaningful reading experiences during literary education. According to this study, negative regard towards reading seems to affiliate with older students. The role of schools is remarkable when talking about maintaining and encouraging the reading motivation of children so it could carry on to adulthood.
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