Browsing by discipline "Education"
Now showing items 81-100 of 1298
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(2014)Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a dual-focused teaching approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. It has gained increasing popularity in the European educational systems, but it still in the process of establishing it position in the field of language teaching. CLIL teachers have a demanding occupation and the teachers need many kind of skills that are needed in order to teach language and content simultaneously. CLIL teachers face problems like the lack of teaching materials, in-service training and support and mentoring and inadequate resources for teaching. According to the previous research it would be vital to provide extra hours for planning, preparing materials and collaboration and quality in-service training for CLIL teachers. The aim of this study is to examine what kind of problems CLIL teachers have encountered, what kind of solutions they have come up with those problems and what kind of support they would need in their work. This is a qualitative research. The data was collected via a questionnaire and five interviews. 24 CLIL teachers from Greater Helsinki answered the questionnaire and five of them were also interviewed. The data was analysed with the help of previous research. The solutions were analysed using content analysis. The problems CLIL teachers encountered were a lack of teaching materials, inadequate teaching resources, in-service and pre-service training, a lack of support and mentoring, problems with language and teaching language, collaboration and practical teaching work. The teachers solved problems they had encountered with colloquial collaboration, different classroom routines, in-service training and professional literature. They also supported the students' language learning and maintained their own language skills, shared experiences with their colleagues, prepared teaching materials themselves and in collaboration and adapted their teaching methods when needed. Teachers said that they would need better teaching materials, more teaching resources, more time for collaboration and discussion with their colleagues, better tailored in-service training, networking with other CLIL teachers and peer support in order to solve the problems they encounter in their work better.
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(2016)Aims. The aim of this thesis is to bring forth Aalto university School of Engineering associate professors' conceptions of good teaching, their construction of the conceptions and experiences about resources and difficulties in developing teaching. These issues are partly elaborated in the light of teaching competence assessment which is part of the tenure track career path for professors. In this thesis the following research questions were addressed: 1) What are the associate professors' conceptions of good teaching? 2) Through which elements the associate professors construct their conceptions? 3) What kinds of experiences the associate professors have about the resources in developing teaching? 4) What kinds of experiences the associate professors have about the difficulties in developing teaching? Methods. Seven associate professors of the School of Engineering were interviewed and they had all participated in teaching competence assessment before being admitted as associate professor. Seven thematic interviews were conducted in the Winter 2015-2016. The qualitative method of analysis was an abductive thematic analysis. The theoretical framework is based on Boyer's concept of the scholarship of teaching and Kreber and Cranton's (2000) perception of three knowledge domains (instructional, pedagogical and curricular knowledge) that are based on three reflections (content, process and premise reflection) which together construct the scholarship of teaching. Boyer's (1990) concept and Kreber and Cranton's (2000) three types of reflections and knowledge domains were utilized in analyzing the conceptions of good teaching as well as resources and difficulties in developing teaching. Results and conclusions. Three different conceptions about good teaching emerged. The conceptions were 1) teaching as providing multifunctional tools for working life, 2) teaching as activation of students and 3) teaching as emphasizing students. The interviewees constructed their conceptions through eight elements of which pedagogical training and discussions with pedagogical experts were described as central in changing own conception. Activating students was emphasized in all of the conceptions, but in different ways. The most fundamental resources for developing teaching were pedagogical training, discussions with pedagogical experts and proactivity. The most central difficulties for developing teaching were lack of pedagogical skills, time and the distance in between pedagogical experts and teachers. Based on the interviewees reports, the conceptions of good teaching, resources and difficulties in developing teaching could be partly explained with the financial situation of the society as well as university teachers' workload. Additionally, the difficulties in developing teaching could be eased by making the assessment process of teaching competence more transparent and reaching pedagogical experts easier.
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CrossFit-harrastajan liikuntasuhde : "The first rule of CrossFit is always to talk about CrossFit" (2018)The purpose of this thesis is to examine the aspects and elements of physical activity relationship of CrossFitters. The objective is to provide scientific data about CrossFit as a hobby and to consider confluences between CrossFit and physical education. Answers to these questions were sought by interviewing CrossFitters about their experiences and perspectives. The point was to find out the aspects and elements of physical activity relationship of CrossFitter’s, and the characteristics of CrossFit, and to give a description of the interviewees' views and experiences in regard to CrossFit in relation to their social lives, the ideals of physical appearance and the overall impact on their lifestyle. This thesis is a qualitative case study. The primary method used in the study was a semi-structured interview of the participants. Six (6) CrossFitters from different age groups were selected for this study. All the participants belonged to the same CrossFit gym and had been doing CrossFit for at least a year, three times a week minimum. I approached the study from the phenomenological-hermeneutical perspective by interpreting the collected data while keeping the dialogue within theoretical context. The CrossFitter’s physical activity relationship is typically constructed of various aspects and elements, such as health, competition, goal-orientation, joy and fun -all of which were especially important to all participants. There were no major differences between the sexes. They had very similar experiences about the way CrossFit had impacted their lives and general wellbeing. Physical activity relationships appeared positive and consistent among all the participants and CrossFit had become a part of their lifestyle. Although CrossFit is an individual physical activity, CrossFitters tend to form tight communities. By researching physical activities that are popular among the adults, the findings can also be useful when contemplating physical activity regimens for children. CrossFit can be identified as a lifestyle sport (Wheaton, 2004). It is defined by the curriculum that school should guide their students towards physically active lifestyles.
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(2018)he aim of this Thesis was to examine in which way a Finnish-speaking immersionprogram affects Swedish-speaking children’s attitudes towards the Finnish language, seen from a parent ́s perspective. The context in which the study was made and in which the children are growing up, is very homogeniously Swedish-speaking. A view on attitudes as socially constructed and strongly imprinted by the surrounding culture and the ambient environment acted as theoretical frame for the study. Immersion is a volontary form of education, that is why the study proceeds from a hypothesis on parents wanting to place their children in immersion, in hope of mediating a positive attitude towards the Finnish language. The research questions were as follows: 1. Which discourses emerge when parents talk about the Finnish language, the immersionprogram and their children’s attitudes towards the Finnish language? 2. Which functions do these discourses fulfil? A discoursepsychological approach enabled an interpretation of the material where the context is strongly present. Six parents were interviewed for the study. They had all had at least one child in the same immersionprogram kindergarten. The result shows that the parents consider Finnish as a difficult language and that the attitudes toward Finnish in the own municipality are poor. Finnish is seen as necessary, and the own experiences confirm this view. Participation in the immersion program, and the immersion program itself, are seen as effective ways of strengthening the positive attitude in the context in which the children grow up. The immersionprogram is based on a principal of functional multilingualism, which is also what the parents wish for their children. The results confirm that the parents consider this a good starting position for the future. The immersionprogram and the positive attitude strengthen the childs selfassurance, facilitate in future study- and workcontextures and contribute to a greater tolerance against other cultures, languages and languagespeakers. Accordingly, the immersionprogram would be an advantage for all children who grow up in a similar context as in this study. On a local political level this should be taken into consideration.
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(2001)The aim of the study was to explore why the MuPSiNet project - a computer and network supported learning environment for the field of health care and social work - did not develop as expected. To grasp the problem some hypotheses were formulated. The hypotheses regarded the teachers' skills in and attitudes towards computing and their attitudes towards constructivist study methods. An online survey containing 48 items was performed. The survey targeted all the teachers within the field of health care and social work in the country, and it produced 461 responses that were analysed against the hypotheses. The reliability of the variables was tested using the Cronbach alpha coefficient and t-tests. Poor basic computing skills among the teachers combined with a vulnerable technical solution, and inadequate project management combined with lack of administrative models for transforming economic resources into manpower were the factors that turned out to play a decisive role in the project. Other important findings were that the teachers had rather poor skills and knowledge in computing, computer safety and computer supported instruction, and that these skills were significantly poorer among female teachers who were in majority in the sample. The fraction of teachers who were familiar with software for electronic patient records (EPR) was low. The attitudes towards constructivist teaching methods were positive, and further education seemed to utterly increase the teachers' readiness to use alternative teaching methods. The most important conclusions were the following: In order to integrate EPR software as a natural tool in teaching planning and documenting health care, it is crucial that the teachers have sufficient basic skills in computing and that more teachers have personal experience of using EPR software. In order for computer supported teaching to become accepted it is necessary to arrange with extensive further education for the teachers presently working, and for that further education to succeed it should be backed up locally among other things by sufficient support in matters concerning computer supported teaching. The attitudes towards computing showed significant gender differences. Based on the findings it is suggested that basic skills in computing should also include an awareness of data safety in relation to work in different kinds of computer networks, and that projects of this kind should be built up around a proper project organisation with sufficient resources. Suggestions concerning curricular development and further education are also presented. Conclusions concerning the research method were that reminders have a better effect, and that respondents tend to answer open-ended questions more verbosely in electronically distributed online surveys compared to traditional surveys. A method of utilising randomized passwords to guarantee respondent anonymity while maintaining sample control is presented.
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(2015)Purpose The purpose of my study is to examine school discourse in the draft of new Finnish national curriculum in 2014 and to analyse to what extent the theory of Wishful Rationalism reconstructed by Hannu Simola applies to it. According to Simola (1995) one explanation to the continuous need for school reform might be the new principles in school discourse which have emerged during the development of basic comprehensive school since 1970s. Simola calls this new way of speaking wishful rationalism. The main point of the theory is that the official school discourse has decontextualized which leads to the failing educational reforms. My study tests the theory of Simola in a new context. Method The method of my study was a qualitative theory-based analyse of the contents. The precise objects of my study were chapters 1-12 of the draft. Based on the theory of Simola, I created six categories which functioned as a frame for my analysis. These categories consisted of three truths of school discourse which Simola had created and of their counter-truths. With these counter-truths I could better test the theory of Wishful Rationalism. To these categories I collected thought-units from the draft using principles of inductive analyse of the contents. Results Based on my analysis I could say that the theory of Wishful Rationalism was still alive in the draft of new curriculum. Truths of school discourse and some dominant models and paradigms of schooling could still be detected from the draft and they were keeping this old discourse alive. Especially the truths of school as rational and of decontextualized learning were strongly alive. Also the truth of individual-centered school was stronger alive than its counter-truth although the truth of group-centered school was also strongly alive again especially in the form of education for the society. From the models and paradigms keeping the discourse alive the most important was the model of Tyler Rationale. Central meaning of my study is to bring these subconscious elements keeping the discourse alive more visible now that the school reform is taking place again.
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(2020)At the time of conducting this study, the Finnish upper secondary schools were facing a major change in the school system. Universities were changing their admission system, and a reform in upper secondary education resulted in a new curriculum for the school year 2021, five years after the current curriculum was put into use in 2016. Guidance counseling has gained a more prominent role in the curriculum and individual counseling and development has become increasingly emphasized. The proportion of upper secondary school teachers who often experience stress has risen from 14% to 17% between 2017 and 2019, and previous research indicates that guidance counselors are at risk of burnout. Stressors have been discovered to be lack of timely resources, lack of role clarity and a large workload. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Finnish guidance counselors’ well-being at work, and how they experience their workload. This is explored on the basis of the variables job satisfaction, satisfaction regarding job duties, social support, time resources, access to further training, experienced challenge and experienced stress. The data was collected with an electronic questionnaire sent out to the guidance counselors in Swedish speaking upper secondary schools in Finland, a total of N = 42. The questionnaire was answered by a total of N = 22, all of which were analyzed in the study. The program IBM SPSS 25 was used in the processing and analysis of the data. All group comparisons are performed with nonparametric tests: Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test by ranks and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The results showed that the guidance counsellors generally experienced a high level of job satisfaction. Symptoms of stress or perceived burnout had a negative correlation with several factors: job satisfaction, perceived social support, timely resources at hand, and a higher experience of stress and challenge. Work experience was also significant for job satisfaction. Despite this, the guidance counselors with experiences of stress or burnout reported a high job satisfaction.
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(2014)The purpose of this study was to carry out a two phase design study. The aim of the first phase was to create learning material for the division of decimal numbers and after that gather evaluation information of the material. In the second phase the objective was to use the evaluation information to modify the learning material so it can be better adapted to school lessons. The main objective in developing the learning material was to highlight student oriented methods and the use of concrete tools and assignments related to the context. In the first phase of the study the learning material was created using a theory-based research method. In the second phase two teachers were interviewed and asked to evaluate the learning material. Partly transcribed interviews were analyzed by using the guidelines of qualitative research content analysis. The results of this study show that teachers considered the learning material to be useful. Teachers interview estimated that student oriented methods are well suited for the learning material. There still were parts that needed to be improved. Development process can be continued by letting students to test the learning material and simultaneously collecting data of the effectiveness of the learning material.
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(2019)The goal of this thesis is to study gender equality within the Finnish technology industry. Recently the imbalance between the sexes in the workplace has become a part of the general discourse. This has led to both organizations and governmental institutions taking actions to promote gender equality in the workplace. Previous research has shown that socialization into traditional gender roles affects future career choices and steers individuals into occupations where the majority of employees have the same gender identity as themselves. Furthermore, studies have shown that stereotypical perceptions about the technology industry as masculine are hindering women from seeking a career in technology. This study aims to analyze how technology companies approach gender equality within their organization and the industry in general. The research questions of this thesis are: How do technology companies relate to gender equality? Have companies taken action to promote a more gender equal staff structure? And, how do these companies write about their female employees online? Organizational studies with a social constructivist feminist approach have shown that the ideal employee is still today identified through masculine norms. Thus, women have had to create strategies for how they are doing gender in their daily work, by taking on some traditionally feminine or masculine processes and leaving others out. This thesis is based on a qualitative research approach. The research material consisted of Finnish technology companies' blog texts published on their own websites. The material consisted of 18 blog posts written by 14 companies. The material was analyzed through theme analysis. Social constructivist feminist organization theory laid the theoretical framework for this thesis. The results of this research show an active discussion on gender equality in the Finnish technology industry. The approach to the issue of having too few women in the technology industry differed greatly between the different companies. Only a few companies expressed in their blog texts an understanding that inequality originates from social constructs in society. Most companies place the responsibility of gender equality on women as individuals. There were clearly a desire to include more women in technology, but the benefits of diversity in itself were only identified by few of the researched companies. Most companies unconsciously reproduced the prevailing normative masculine power structures of the industry in their attempts to promote gender equality. The results of the research indicated a willingness in the Finnish technology industry to promote gender equality, but a lack of understanding the structural nature of the problem and the tools required to handle this challenge.
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(2015)The aim of this study is to explore factors that affect novice teachers' well-being and thereby gain increased understanding for teachers' situation in Finland. The purpose of this study is to examine how novice teachers experience their first year of teaching and well-being, which factors affect novice teachers' well-being, how novice teachers perceive mentoring, what can lead to teacher resignation and how it can be prevented. In this qualitative study I have used phenomenographic analysis. In this analysis the focus is on description and understanding of experiences. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and there were six respondents in total. The respondents were all novice teachers. Three of the respondents work as primary school teachers and the other three respondents have left the teaching profession. The interviews were arranged in September-November 2014. The findings show that the transition from student teacher to newly qualified teacher is a period filled with confusion, insecurity and excitement. Many of the respondents felt unprepared for the working life. All the respondents highlighted the importance of support during the first year of teaching. All the respondents felt mentally energetic and were emotionally invested in work, even though they all described the first year of teaching as an exhausting and tiring period of their lives. The findings also indicate that there are several factors that affect the well-being of a novice teacher. The respondents felt that it was challenging to find themselves, their working methods and routines. They also noticed having too high demands placed on themselves. The working environment is mentioned as one of the most important factors that influence teachers' well-being. The results also show that there are huge differences in how new teachers are being introduced to the school environment in Finland. All of the respondents felt that they were welcomed to their schools, but only three of the respondents received an own mentor. Respondents explained that they mostly needed help and guidance with different practical things. They also think that a supporting work climate is the most fundamental thing that promotes teachers' well-being. The findings of the study show that there are several factors that influence teacher resignation, for example a desire for greater challenges and more opportunities for career development. The teaching profession can be frantic, stressful and the workload can become overwhelming. Many respondents also think that teachers are underpaid and overworked. Respondents think that more effective mentoring methods could prevent teachers from leaving their profession. It is important to keep on developing new methods that support novice teachers during their first year of teaching.
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Dialogin monet äänet : dialogisuus suomalaisessa kasvatustieteessä Gadamerin hermeneutiikan valossa (2020)Dialogicality is an actual topic in pedagogical studies. Both in theoretical and ordinary speech, the term is often used as a synonym of discussion and interaction. The use of the concept, however, only seldom reveals the equivocal nature of the phenomenon. In pedagogical discourses, it is often difficult to discern the background conceptions or theories determining in each case the concept of dialogue. The aim of the present study is to address this challenge and help to clarify the situation by examining the various ways in which dialogicality has been understood in pedagogical studies in Finland in the 21st century. The research material consisted of 24 international research publications written in English. The material was first studied in relation to the notions and definitions of dialogicality put forward in them, and these were then analysed in the light of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutical philosophy. The research questions to be answered were: 1. How is dialogicality defined in the pedagogical research in Finland during the las two decades 2. What do these conceptions reveal of the understanding of dialogicality, when related to Gadamer’s phenomenological-hermeneutical understanding of its nature? The research combines two different approaches: the material was organized with the method of systematic literature review and it was analysed through philosophical research. The study’s vantage point, and the theoretical framework directing its questioning, was constituted by the phenomenological-hermeneutical thought of Hans-Georg Gadamer. According to the results of the study, there are four central theoretical frameworks defining the research of dialogicality in the pedagogical research in Finland in the 21st century. Apparently, the studies are to a certain extent compatible with each other in their thematic content and in their descriptions of interconnected phenomena, but their ways of understanding the nature of dialogicality prove to be incommensurate. When analysed with the help of Gadamer’s hermeneutics, the research also shows itself as internally divided: the decisive differences are, firstly, whether dialogicality is understood as communication of knowledge, and secondly, whether dialogue is understood instrumentally as a method. With the help of Gadamer’s hermeneutical though, the study attempts to clarify the phenomenon of dialogue and to sharpen the required conceptual grasp and so to elaborate pedagogical research of dialogicality.
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(2020)The aim of this research was to investigate how the different possibilities and challenges of dialogue and encounter with a student appear in Waldorf school class teachers’ descriptions. Although dialogue has a central role in Waldorf education, little research has been conducted on this topic. This work approaches the concepts of dialogue and encounter with a student from the theoretical framework of Martin Buber’s thoughts on education and philosophy of dialogue, as well as through their interpretations. Furthermore, Waldorf education is examined from the point of view of dialogue and teacher-student encounter. The research material was collected using interviews. The material consists of six interviews of Waldorf school class teachers from three different Waldorf schools in Finland. The research method was theory-based content analysis. The findings of this study indicate, that in line with the idea of dialogue, Waldorf schools’ aim of education and school culture have characteristics of encouraging both the unique potential of a student and the dialogical relationship with the world, while primarily respecting the individuality and otherness of student. The same principles of the school culture of Waldorf schools that promote dialogue and encounter with students, such as artistic qualities, individuality, situation-basedness, and teachers’ self-education, are also distinctive features of Waldorf education. Many of the educational practices of the school culture of Waldorf schools that support dialogue, such as artistic making, 8-year teacher-student relationship, teaching without schoolbooks and the method of child observation, are also based on these principles. Furthermore, they form the basis of the teachers’ dialogical action and attitudes of encounter with a student. This research also brings forth challenges related to dialogical encounters with students in Waldorf schools. Some of the challenges were related to internal attributes of teacher-student relationships, such as defining the uniqueness of a student or losing one’s temper. On the other hand, the issues touched upon the difficulty of harmonizing the ideals and practices of Waldorf education with the neoliberal education policy, making teachers busy and exhausted as well as encounters with students almost impossible. Moreover, the challenges of teacher-parent relationships were experienced as time-consuming and wearing.
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(2015)Previous studies have confirmed that educational practices have not changed with the digitalization of society. The use of ICT in teaching is mainly low and there is an ongoing public debate regarding the Finnish students well-being. This study tried to find out is there a hypothesized gap between the technology-mediated practices of adolescents and school. The aim of this study was to investigate how and how much ICT is used for learning and what kind of technological attitudes and school well-being experiences students have. It was also examined how the use of technology, attitudes and well-being are interrelated and which factors of these phenomena can explain academic achievement, schoolwork engagement, school value, happiness and school burnout. Finally it was investigated what kind of profiles of ICT use and attitudes could be found among the participants. The study was part of the Mind the Gap -project. The data was collected by questionnaire in the 2013. The participants (n = 735) were sixth graders from Helsinki. The use of digital technology, technology attitudes and school well-being were examined by mean values and gender differences by t-test. Correlational analysis and stepwise regression analysis were carried out to find out the factors that were related to academic achievement, schoolwork engagement, school value, happiness and school burnout. Students were grouped into profiles that represented their technological attitudes and use of ICT using SPSS two-step cluster analysis. One-way ANOVA and cross-tabulations were used to examine group and gender differences. The results indicated that the technology is not used on a regular basis to support learning, even though the students felt quite high ICT enthusiasm (the use of technology was seen as a positive contribution to the schoolwork engagement). Information-orientated use was reported most common. Mechanical technology use (eg. writing) was the next most common, producing technology use (eg. projects, multimedia) came in the third. Communicative technology use (online discussion about schoolwork) was the least common. The majority of the sixth graders felt relatively high schoolwork engagement, happiness and school value. Further, students reacted positively towards the teacher's activity and the conditions of the school. ICT enthusiasm was associated with lower experience of school value, schoolwork engagement as well as negative experiences of teacher's activities. Technology-related problem-solving predicted schoolwork engagement positively. Information-orientated use, and fear of failure using technology were repeatedly negative predictors for school well-being and positive predictors for school burnout. Four different groups (actives, slackers, passives, enthusiastics) showed clear differences in the use of technology, attitudes, school well-being and the associations between these phenomena. To conclude, teacher's role and how the technology is used in schools appears essential. It's important to understand students' predispositions towards using digital technologies and support adolescents' natural ways of utilizing ICT. Students need guidance to understand the possibilities of digital technologies as collaborative and creative learning tools. This, however, does not happen by chance. Therefore, I argue, that there is a need in basic education to build new support systems for national, municipal, school and grade levels to minimize the gap between the technology-mediated practices of adolescents and school.
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(2019)Aims. This thesis aims to study how digital technology can overcome disabled student’s learning obstacles or restrict their learning opportunities in vocational special education context. In addition, the thesis addresses to what degree digital equality is achieved with the available aiding digital technology. Previous studies have shown that digital technology can support learning and overcome challenges set by physical disabilities. However, it is not yet clear what kinds of challenges and restrictions digitalization and digital technology can set for the disabled in studying and for the realization of their equal opportunities. Deepening our knowledge of the possibilities, limitations and questions of equality regarding digital technology helps us to understand the conditions for achieving educational equality for disabled youth. Methods. I used ethnography as my research method and collected the data in upper secondary vocational education. I observed three business and administration students needing intensive special education at their lessons or practical training environment. I also interviewed the students, their teachers and school specialists. As a basis for my ethnographic analysis was meanings found behind the data and the critical point of view offered by the chosen paradigm. Results and conclusion. According to the results, digital technology helped overcome physical challenges and enabled the student’s participation in their studies, but only to some extent. Individual unsuitability, limited functionality, lack of developmental sophistication and slow of use of aiding digital technology restricted studying and achieving digital equality. The results showed that digital technology enables much but can also create inequality if the aiding digital technology does not support individual challenges. The digitalization of education and the development of aiding digital technology should take account of the individual needs of the disabled to achieve educational equality and advance their employment opportunities.
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(2015)Many international organizations have defined the so called 21st century learning skills that students should have in order to be successful in today's society. Digital literary is one of those skills. Experts say that schools do not really have the concrete tools to teach these skills. Research shows that digital storytelling is one way to develop many of the important 21st century skills. The purpose of this study is to analyze how students could develop their digital literacy by creating digital stories. More precisely, what kind of media content production, editing, and sharing skills will they learn by making their own video stories. This study is based on Digital Storytelling Project by the University of Helsinki. The project was a part of Finnable 2020 research funded by Tekes. This study involves all the 6th graders that participated to the Digital storytelling project from Finland, a total of five classes. The research material consists of student and teacher interviews and video stories made by the students. The research material was analyzed with content analysis. The framework for the analysis was based on research on digital literacy, digital storytelling and film narrative. The results of this study show that the students learned many digital literacy skills involving media content production by creating video stories. By making their stories the students learned to plan their own content, to search for relevant information and material to their stories, and to use mobile devices for filming. They also learned about filming, and how to deliver their own message through the video stories. By editing their stories the students practiced how to edit and remix pictures and videos with different video editing tools. By sharing their video stories with others the students learned how to share information, how to evaluate their own work and the work of others, how to consider the audience, and how to interact and influence through video stories.
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(2017)In the 1970s information technology started to become part of everyday life and as a result of this process, computer programming has become an important theme in the digital society both in the labor-market and on the educational field. In this study, I examine high school students' everyday conceptions of computer programming and technological development. I explore these conceptions relying on the theory of social representations which is focused on defining how people make foreign technical and scientific phenomena familiar. I interpreted the meanings produced by the high school students in relation to the cultural history of computer programming and especially in relation to the general meanings given to computer programming on the educational field. As a separate research question I examined computer programming in relation to meanings that are connected to technological development. The aim of this study is to offer more understanding about how computer programming is made familiar in an increasingly digital society where it has emerged as an important skill, especially through education. I produced my data by interviewing seven high school students who had attended a voluntary high school course combining electronics and programming. I analyzed the interviews discourse-analytically by defining oppositions that describe the social representation of programming. I also produced concepts that seemed to synthesize the oppositions and examined subject positions that were constructed in the speech. Besides, I analyzed how the representations of programming and technological development were connected in the speech. The representational field of programming was constructed by the oppositions of human-computer, material-virtual, technical-playfulness and proximity-remoteness. I defined the opposition human-computer to be the most fundamental themata of the social representation of computer programming. Programming was perceived as taking technological development to the next level. Technological development was seen as a partly autonomous process but humans were still given the most fundamental role in the definition and delimitation of technologies. On the basis of this study it can be summarized that high school students saw programming as an important phenomenon which at the same time was difficult to approach and define. This observation r a challenge for the establishment of programming both in education and in the wider society.
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(2015)The aim of the study: The preschool education of mathematics has been studied fairly little. However, the earlier studies have showed that mathematical education in preschool has failed to compensate the differences in mathematical skills of the pre-schoolers. The aim of this study was to find out how the Varga Neményi teaching method effects in the Finnish preschool education and especially for children with problems in their learning or development. The effectiveness of the teaching method was studied from the view of children's mathematical abilities and their involvement to activity. Also children's opinions of mathematics and themselves as learners of mathematic were studied. Research method: Multiple research methods have been used in this study. The study has features of the action research. The intervention of mathematic, based on Varga Neményi-teaching method, was carried out in preschool group with children of special needs. All ten pre-schoolers participated in the research. Some of the children had need for intensified or special support. Children's skills in mathematics were studied using MAVALKA 1 – survey in the beginning and in the end of the intervention. Children's involvement to activity was observed and assessed using LIS-YC Scale also in the beginning and in the end of intervention. Children's opinions of mathematics and themselves as learners of mathematics were studied with interviews and drawings. Findings and conclusions: The engagement of children was statistically significantly higher during the mathematic lessons based on Varga Neményi- method than during the other type of preschool action. The engagement of children strengthened during the intervention both in mathematics and in other preschool activities. Children's skills in mathematics improved during the intervention. The skills in mathematics of the children with lower performance in the beginning of the intervention improved the most. The children experienced mathematics to be something functional, interactive and mainly pleasant. In the light of these findings, the Varga Neményi teaching method seems to suit well to the Finnish pre-school education, and for children with special needs.
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(2016)The present study is part of Handling Mind: Embodiment, Design and Creativity research project. This study has two main goals: 1) to shed light on the participants' opinions of an experiment they participated and 2) to map their problem solving strategies used in different clay forming task. As the latest previous research has suggested in addition to the cognitive aspects, problem solving in design and crafts has embodied side too, that is, for example, related to the interaction with materials and tools. Both sides of problem solving are discussed in the present study. Thirty participants from various fields of design participated drawing and clay forming experiment and were interviewed afterwards using stimulated recall method. In the experiment the participants performed three types of tasks: copying, design and free improvisation. Fifteen of the interviews were transcript and analyzed using content analysis. The results show that the experiment situation was a positive or at least neutral situation to fourteen out of fifteen participants. In the copying and design tasks problem solving was related to finding a quick and suitable technique to perform the task, whereas in the free improvisation tasks techniques were more experimental and clay material was a source of inspiration to many of the participants. There are some things to consider from the participants point of view, when planning new experiments, such as the timing, repetition of the same tasks and the total length of the experiment. In clay forming tasks, problem solving is strongly connected to the material, which shows the importance of the embodied side of problem solving. Setting or redefining goals and choosing working strategies are examples of the cognitive side of problem solving.
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(2017)Aims. The aim of this qualitative study was to find out what information the special education students' IEPs' (Individual Educational Plan) includes about different activity areas. The activity areas are based on the National Curricula for basic education and they are motor skills, language and communication, social skills, skills in daily functions and cognitive skills. The aim of the study was to find out what other information the IEPs' includes. The study also aimed to find out what information IEPs' includes about multi-professional cooperation and the different responsibility that they share. Even though, the aim of the IEP is to ensure that the right special support is given to the student, there are also concerns about the documents. Earlier research shows for example that the information that has been written to IEPs mainly describes the problems and the challenges that the student has. The goals that have been written to the documents are often general and not measurable. Methods. The research data consist 20 IEPs that has been written to the children with special needs. The data of the research was collected earlier to the use of Special Education Research of the University of Helsinki. The IEPs were written to the students that are in need of the special support and who are studying by the activity areas. The data was analysed by using the qualitative text content analysis and discourse analysis. Results and conclusions. Based on the research, when the data was analysed by the activity areas the IEPs contained mainly information about students' cognitive skills. The discourse analysis showed that the information about activity areas were mainly positive, but there was also negative information concerning the activity areas. The information that were not about the activity areas were for example about student's hobbies, integration, student's self-esteem, motivation and studying environment. The results showed that the other information in the IEPs were mainly neutral. In the IEPs there were all in all 21 different multi-professional cooperation mentioned, but in the documents there were no more information about how the cooperation was organized.
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(2017)The aim of this study was to analyse how applicants applying for faculty of law and participating in a preparatory course while preparing for the entrance examination speak about the competition connected to the applying. The study focuses on discourses that are built when talking about the competition. The aim was also to study constructed discourses when talking about possibilities of succeeding in the competition in law school admission. Previous studies show that capitals have impact on one's educational choices. One of my aims was to construct understanding of what kind of meanings the cultural, the social and the economic capital get in the process of applying to a law school and participating in a preparatory course. There has been only little research about the role of preparatory courses in admission to higher education. The goal of this study was to fill this research gap and produce researched information about the role of preparatory courses. The qualitative research data consist of interviews with six law school applicants who took part in preparatory courses. The data was collected with a semi-structured interview. One of the interviews was a pair interview and four were individual interviews. The data was analysed with critical discourse-analytical approach The higher education applicants aim to make reasonable education choices when participating in the competition over study positions. The applicants assessed their own position and possibilities to succeed in the competition in relation to the other applicants. The preparatory course was constructed as a trump card that applicants could use to succeed in the competition. It was also produced as something that is self-evidently part of applying to law school. On the other hand preparatory course was constructed as something one could use to decrease the uncertainty caused by the competition.Based on the reasonable educational choice -discourse, the self-evidence -discourse, the imaginary competitor -discourse and the trump card -discourse one can argue that cultural, social and economic capital are constructed as meaningful factors in the competition of higher education. They create possibilities and limitations when participating in the competition over study positions in higher education.
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