Browsing by study line "Klasslärare, pedagogik"

According to the National core curriculum for basic education (2014) cultural diversity is one of the core values in Finnish education. The purpose of this study was to examine cultural diversity in images of environmental studies textbooks for primary education. As visual representations provoke feelings and thoughts as well as create strong mental images it is important to study them. The aim of this study was to describe how people from different continents are represented in textbook images. Previous studies on cultural diversity in textbooks suggest that Western bias, othering representations and stereotypes are typical in textbooks, especially in images. This thesis is a mixed methods -study. 225 images, from twelve different textbooks of environmental studies for primary education, were used as data. The images were analyzed by using quantitative content analysis. The analysis was completed by qualitative analysis of selected images. The results show that different continents are represented with different kinds of images in textbooks of environmental studies. Differences in the number of images and contents in textbooks from different publishers were also found. Othering representations were found in images, but there were also images that challenged stereotypes. More research on new textbooks and the interest of publishers to use the results in textbook development is needed.

Previous research has indicated that children and young people are less and less likely to meet the recommendations for physical activity. Less than half of children of primary education age engage in physical activity in accordance with the recommendations. The proportion of children and young people fulfilling the recommendations for physical activity is declining when moving from the younger to the older age groups. Moreover, nearly half of the daily sedentary behaviour of pupils in primary education occurs during the school day. However, the physical education lessons in school do not suffice on their own to enable pupils to engage in adequate daily physical activity. As a result, incorporating other physical activities in school days is necessary. The purpose of this study was to examine and describe the means that allow classroom teachers to increase physical activity during lessons. A further aim was to investigate the benefits and challenges experienced by classroom teachers in relation to increasing physical activity during lessons in primary education. This study was implemented using the qualitative research method. The research data were collected in February 2024 using a questionnaire form mostly containing open questions. The research data consists of the responses of a total of 38 teachers working in primary schools in the Kymenlaakso region in Finland. The data were analysed using data-driven content analysis. The study found that classroom teachers can increase physical activity occurring during lessons in multiple ways. Teachers can organise exercises during breaks in the lessons, make use of action-based learning and versatile body positions during learning as well as lesson planning that involves digital materials, technology and the involvement of pupils. Joint classroom practices, the use of the body in learning, effective use of the classroom space and versatile utilisation of the school environment also provide means that enable increasing physical activity during lessons. The teachers felt that there was a variety of benefits in increasing physical activity during lessons. According to the teachers, increasing physical activity during lessons has a positive impact on both health and well-being as well as learning and school performance. It also supports the development of a peaceful and positive atmosphere in the classroom and contributes to creating a clearer and more versatile structure for school days. The teachers felt that there were also many different challenges to increasing physical activity during lessons. According to the teachers, the challenges in increasing physical activity during lessons emerged in connection with transitions between different activities, motivating pupils, restlessness of pupils, restrictions imposed by the classroom space and large group sizes as well as teachers’ own well-being and schedules. The significance of increasing physical activity during lessons and a positive attitude toward increasing physical activity was strongly emphasised in the teachers’ responses.

The aim of this study was to examine how the texts of Finnish children’s picture books describe death and what kind of expressions are used when discussing death. In addition, a goal of the study was to reflect whether the picture books could be used in educational use, especially in preventive death education for primary school aged children. Previous research shows that teachers experience significant insecurity and helplessness when discussing death with their students, which may lead them to avoid the topic completely. Research about death from an educational point of view has also strongly focused on examining situations where death has already happened, and the subject of death has not been widely researched with taking in consideration preventive death education’s positive significance in children’s well-being. The study was conducted as a qualitative study using theory driven content analysis and theory guided content analysis as the analysis methods. The analysis was based on Tamm and Granqvist’s (1995) category system in which they present that child’s concept of death is formed by biological, psychological, and metaphysical death concepts. In addition, the analysis was guided by previous research, where it has been noticed that both direct and indirect expressions are used when discussing death in children’s literature. The data consisted of texts from ten Finnish picture books published between 2013 and 2023. According to the analysis the texts of picture books focused on describing the sadness of those grieving their loved ones, which was described to be a strong, but also momentary feeling. Other emotions were described far less frequently compared to sadness. The texts also often presented an idea of another world where deceased can continue living after dying. Death was rarely presented as a completely infinite or unexpected incident. Biological aspects of death were described less than psychological or metaphysical aspects. This may be caused by the fact that based on the analysis the books are mostly meant to bring readers peer support and comfort. Over half of the analysed books used direct expressions when discussing death, but the use of indirect expressions was also visible in the data. Based on the analysis the books are not directly suitable to be used in educational use, because they tended to give a partly one-sided portrayal of what death is and how it affects people. There were also references to certain belief systems in the texts. In addition, they seemed to be written with the idea of offering peer support in mind. Therefore, means for teachers to discuss death with their students in a way that enhances students’ well-being need to be examined more. Overall, more research about death from an educational point of view is strongly needed in order to learn more about how the topic should be handled in education and how teachers can support child’s growth and development within the subject of death.

Competition is often used in physical education as a means to motivate students, yet it also carries negative consequences. Competition is commonly associated with negative experiences in school sports, which can dissuade some from engaging in physical activities. Understanding this dichotomy necessitates research into students' own perspectives on competition within physical education. This study aims to deepen the understanding among those in the field of physical education about how competition impacts students' experiences and motivation in school sports. The research questions were: How do students perceive competition in physical education? And how do they see it affecting their motivation for physical activity? By understanding students’ experiences, teaching can be tailored to support positive experiences in school sports and motivation for physical activity. This descriptive case study collected data through observation and interviews with sixth-grade students at the teacher training school of the University of Helsinki. Classroom activities were observed during physical education classes, and after each class, one or two students participated in individual interviews. Eight students were interviewed in total, including three girls and five boys. The collected data was transcribed and analyzed through theory-guided content analysis. The analysis highlighted three main themes: interaction and classroom atmosphere in competition, emotions and attitudes towards competition, and the impact of competition on motivation and participation in physical activity. The study showed that being part of a group and receiving encouragement from peers could support students' motivation and participation in competitive situations. Conversely, negative comments and fear of failure could undermine it. Competition evoked strong emotions such as excitement, enthusiasm, and disappointment. At its best, competition motivates students to perform their best, while at its worst, it could detrimentally affect their self-esteem. The results underscored the importance of a playful nature of competition and the formation of teams balanced in skill level. For participation and motivation in physical activity, the key interpretative factors were experiences of social belonging, autonomy, and competence recognized by self-determination theory, students´ goal orientations, and the motivational climate during lessons.

Objectives. As society sexualizes, the need for sex education grows at the same rate. The development of adolescence needs support and guidance on the way to adulthood, and young people should also be provided with useful reading material as a hobby in support of sex education in schools. In my research, I investigated how the challenges of adolescence are described in youth literature. I will first look at the concepts of adolescence, which play a key role in both books. The aim was to study how sexuality manifests itself in juvenile literature. Methods. This study was conducted with qualitative content analysis. Four works were selected for my research that deal with changes in adolescence and, in particular, the most relevant themes related to sexuality. I study the effects of the hobby of reading, and how the challenges of adolescence are described in the youth literature. I also consider how this type of literature can support youth development. The excerpts I picked up are selected for the results of my research based on how substantially they met the adolescence challenges I addressed. I selected from the works the passages relevant to my research, which I then divided into specific themes. A lot of similarities were found in the material to support each other, as well as the purpose of my research. Results and conclusions. Reading has more of an impact, and identification with the protagonists of the stories carries the ability to cope with problems. Substitute experiences in reading are at their best to help in future situations and emotional states as well. The books I have chosen are well suited to support sex education in their elements. They raised the challenges of adolescence in a variety of ways, and provided a springboard for open discussion with adults. Themes such as interpersonal relationships, emotional turmoil, family life, experimentation with physical boundaries, body image, emotions, and the search for identity are hallmarks of developmental novels, and were also head themes in the works selected for this study. The individual's focus on growth and development was also common. The hobby of reading empowers young people, and showed how its research supports young people on the eve of adolescence.

Working in groups, and developing children’s group experiences and group skills, are a crucial part of primary school (Trach, Lee & Hymel, 2018). Grouping is a part of group’s developmental process, where a group gets to know one another and becomes functioning, tight, and safe for its members (Jauhiainen & Eskola, 1994; Karlsson & Riihelä, 2004). According to earlier studies, focusing on the exercise and doing one’s own part in that, working together, and using collaborative skills are important to children when working in small groups (Cera Guy, Williams & Shore, 2019; Ladd, Kochenderfer-Ladd, Visconti & Ettekal, 2012). Based on database searches of the thesis, grouping has only been studied little from the perspective of children. At child-focused research children are listened, considered, and participated into making the research (James & James, 2012). This thesis adds understanding and knowledge of grouping, shows children’s views on groups and so develops small group actions at school. This thesis studied what children think is a good small group and how it relates to the concept of grouping. The data of this study was collected at a third-grade class in Greater Helsinki by observing a few classes with small group studying and by interviewing 11 pupils. The data was analyzed with content analysis. Codes found from the data were first grouped to 12 theme categories. After that theme categories were typified to five categories which depict phenomena that occur in groups. ATLAS.ti, Microsoft Word and digital notepads were used as a practical aid with the analysis. As the results of the study was stated that according to children, groups are joint spaces where it is salient to be together, do together and plan together. Important elements were also enjoyment in a group, a common goal, safety, sense of belonging, interaction and things that relate to performing the exercise. Challenges at groups were similar to those Cera Guy and colleagues (2019) found. Challenges were, for example, related to goofing around in groups, group size and collective decisions. Being a member of a group was understood to be a relatively permanent feature. However, children thought that a group and its members could change for example if somebody changes their mind or a member talks to others about their behavior. Children’s concepts about good small groups had many similarities with grouping’s central parts and features. Therefore, grouping may refer to becoming good groups. According to what children said to be the challenges in groups, it would be good to support small groups at schools by supporting especially interaction skills and conflict solving, setting a common interesting goal, and focusing on a task.

Children’s mental health and its promotion have been featured a lot both in research and public debate within recent years. Concerns regarding the well-being of children and adolescent have arisen, as there is an increasing prevalence of mental health among children worldwide. In particular, the COVID19 pandemic brought children’s well-being to the surface. The long-term consequences of the pandemic are still the subject of research and cause long queues for mental health treatment in healthcare. The purpose of this thesis was to find out class teachers’ perceptions of children’s mental health and its promotion in the school context. School is an important environment that promotes equally all students’ mental health. This thesis aims to deepen the understanding of the promotion of children’s mental health at school and to present a current picture of the class teachers’ perceived role in promoting mental health. The thesis was carried out between March and October 2023. The data was collected between August and October with semi-structured thematic interviews. The sample of the thesis consisted of five elementary school classroom teachers, all of whom were interested in promoting children’s mental health. The data analysis process was carried out qualitatively during September and October using databased content analysis. The thesis revealed that teachers define children’s mental health more through ill-health than well-being. The state of mental health was seen to affect everything. The teachers emphasized the effects of the child’s mental health in both schoolwork and social relationships in the school context. In addition, the research results highlighted the importance of teachers’ role in promoting children’s mental health. The results emphasized cooperation with parents and the student welfare team. The results also highlighted the perceived relevance of mental health speech to attitudes and well-being. This thesis creates up-to-date information about the experiences of teachers regarding the visibility and promotion of children’s mental health, as well as the experienced challenges, which can be considered to support children’s well-being.

With the global migration movement, even more classes have students whose strongest or clearest first language is some other than Finnish. However, only a few studies have been conducted on multilingual interaction practices in the classroom, and most of them have focused on schools in the capital area, although there are multilingual classrooms all over the Finland. In addition, studies have shown reserved attitudes towards multilingual classrooms. In this qualitative case study, the manifestations of translanguaging are investigated as part of the interaction in a multilingual classroom by examining in which activity sequences translanguaging occurs and who participates in the action. The study focuses especially on the person initiating a translanguaging and how the participation framework is determined and examines how multilingual turns are perceived in the classroom. The data for research has been collected from the second grade of an Eastern Finnish primary school. Of the nine students participating in research, most spoke other than Finnish as their heritage language. The data collection for the study was carried out using an ethnographic research method, combining field observations, video- and audio recordings. The study lasted two school days in the classroom, in addition to which a test recording was carried out. Manifestations of translanguaging were examined using conversational analysis. The findings of this study indicate that translanguaging turned out to work as a pedagogical resource, which was used for increasing mutual understanding or show a positive affective attitude towards the topic of speech. In the classroom, translanguaging functioned, among other things, as a demonstration of linguistic expertise and made it possible to hand over the turn to a certain speaker. Both the student and the teacher acted as initiators of multilingual shifts, but the study revealed that it is not always easy to identify the initiator of translanguaging in the context of an institutional discussion. Translanguaging can be seen as a pedagogical resource, which can originate from the students or the teacher, and which works as a creator of positive class spirit.

Objectives. The aim of this Master's thesis was to investigate whether there is a connection between dyslexia and reading motivation in young people aged 12-16. Previous studies have found that improving reading skills is associated with increased reading motivation, and difficulties in reading have been found to cause avoidance of reading. Dyslexia and learning difficulties have been found to be related to self-esteem and self-efficacy. Methods. The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. The study material consisted of 8 articles, which were found in 4 different databases. These databases were: SCOPUS (Elsevier), Eric, Helka and Education database. The search terms used were: “(dyslex* OR “reading difficul*” OR "reading disorder*" OR "reading disabilit*") AND motivat* AND (“junior high school*” OR “middle school*” OR “upper comprehensive school*” OR "upper level comprehensive school*" OR "lower secondary school*" OR "lower secondary education*")”. Results and conclusions. In the articles used in the study, a connection was found between dyslexia and reading motivation. According to the research, dyslexia reduces leisure reading and increases the likelihood of experiencing more negative emotions during reading tasks. During the intervention study, the motivation of students with dyslexia decreased, while those without dyslexia did not show the same result. The studies also found a positive correlation between improved reading skills and improved reading motivation. In one study, results were obtained where a reading intervention could improve different aspects of reading skills as well as reading motivation in children with dyslexia. These studies provide evidence that dyslexia has a negative impact on reading motivation and that improved reading skills increase reading motivation.

Aim of the study. The aim of the study is to find out what kind of tools novice teachers have to support students with ADHD symptoms. This study aims to find out how much novice teachers know about ADHD and the challenges it brings to the students with ADHD. The research examines the tools, that novice teachers use to support students with ADHD symptoms and the solutions they have found out to be the most useful in supporting students with ADHD. The study also focuses on the co-operation between school staff and student’s parents, and evaluates the key aspects behind succesful co-operation, that provides the best possible help for the student with ADHD symptoms. Methods. This research is conducted as a qualitative interview research. The interviews were conducted as half-structured theme interviews. The interviews were transcribed and the findings from the interviews was compared to previous studies. Five primary school teachers with less than five years of experience participated in the interviews. Results and conclusions. This research found out, that good co-operation between school and student’s home supports students with ADHD symptoms. The key to good co-operation is active communication between the different stakeholders. According to this research, novice teachers have a good acknowledge of ADHD and the challenges it brings, but the novice teachers believe, that they don’t have enough knowhow on how to provide the best possible support. Good knowledge about the students was considered important and the most important factor in supporting students was to provide clear written instructions and to have a good structure when providing the assignments and when planning the studies.