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Today information and communication technology allows us to use multimedia more than ever before in e-learning materials. Multimedia though can increase cognitive load in learning process. Because of that it cannot be taken granted what kind of learning materials should be produced. This paper intended to study the diversity of e-learning materials and the factors related cognitive load. The main purpose was to study the multimodality of the multimedia learning materials. The subject of this study is the learning materials on the web site "Kansalaisen ABC" published by YLE. Learning materials in the web site were approached from three different perspectives. The specific questions were: (1) What kind of form features are used in the representations of the learning material? Are certain form features preferred over others? (2) How do the cognitive load factors take shape in learning materials and between the forms? (3) How does the multimodality phenomenon appear in the learning materials and in what ways are form features and cognitive load factors related to multimodality? In this case study a qualitative approach was used. Analysis of the form features and the cognitive load factors in learning materials were based on content analysis. Form features included the specification of a format, the structure, the interactivity type and the type of learning material. The results showed that the web sites include various representations of both verbal and visual forms. Cognitive load factors were related mostly to visual than verbal material. Material presented according to the principles of cognitive multimedia theory multimedia representations did not cause cognitive overload in the informants. Cognitive load was increased in the case of students needing to split their attention between the multimedia forms in time and place. The results indicated how different individual characteristics are reflected by the cognitive load factors.

The objective of this thesis (study) is to find out if a web-based learning concept is effective in a subject matter that is traditionally taught in contact where the core of the learning pro-cess has been direct feedback, individual homework, and correcting student performance. The theoretical background of this survey/study is based on the theories and studies of learning environments, blended learning, and adult pedagogy. In recent years a lot of web-based studying and teaching materials have been created, for example YouTube has many educational videos for specific skills that are available for all. Alongside these kind of medias, entire music education learning environments are starting to emerge. In this study I have examined one of them, a Finnish web-based music school, Rockway. The goal has been to survey what sort of experiences students have had involv-ing the teaching material, user friendliness, and the quality of teaching. The second subject of this study has been finding out how the Rockway web-based learning environment works as part of the blended learning, where information can be acquired through many different channels, or how it works as a sole form of independent music studies. Methods: The research material has been gathered through a web-based e-form, which was sent to users of Rockway.fi in the summer 2017, and the survey ended in March 2018. Alto-gether, 75 Rockway-users answered the e-survey. The research material has been ana-lyzed mainly with descriptively quantitative frequency charts, which the open-ended answer descriptions reinforce. Results and conclusions: The results of the study are encouraging from the view of the web-based music studies development. The students were relatively satisfied with the web-learning service. They felt that they had improved in their instrument skills, and they had received assessment tools for evaluating their own musical skills. The Rockway service was user-friendly. However, a portion of the students emphasized that the web-based in-struction can never fully replace the contact teaching. There is a demand for developing the web-based learning platform that offers more interactive and blended learning environ-ments, where the web-based learning can be blended into contact situations.

Aims. Vision of good motherhood is culturally dependent and standardized. Adolescent motherhood is not common and many times it is considered negative. Young mothers ability to cope with children and everyday life is questioned many times. The purpose of this Master's thesis is to describe adolescent mothers' views on motherhood and their daily life and to find out how peer group could be used to support their everyday life. The theoretical background is based on theory of mastery of everyday life in home economics science (Haverinen, 1996) and research of everyday life and peer groups. The main research questions are for example: what is young maternity, how do mothers define the mastery of everyday life in their own lives and how peer groups of young mothers supported the other adolescent mother and helped them in the mastery of everyday life? Methods. The data of this study were collected by interviewing nine 20-22 years old one child mothers, who were taking part of young mothers peer support group in Tyttöjen talo in Helsinki and two registered midwifes, who were working as mentor in these groups. The classification of research data were .. data-based. The data were analysed in Atlas.ti –qualitative analysis program using content analysis. Results and conclusions. Most of the mothers thought that becoming a mother at a young age separates them quite strongly from the other youth. In the peer group the mothers got many friends who were in the similar life situations. Adolescent mothers considered the group support and the social relationship very important to themselves. They felt that they could be accepted characterized by themselves too. Group activities were effective and helped mothers to keep the rhythm in their everyday life. Discussions with the other mothers, the practical advice and the work in the peer groups cause positive effects to young mothers mastery of everyday life. Peer counselors' and mothers' views on the importance of the activities for the mothers were similar. The results of this study give information on adolescent mothers everyday life and mastery of it. Findings can be used for planning activities and organizing young mothers peer groups. Peer group effectiveness can also be researched with longitudinal studies following the same families throughout the period of participation in peer group activities. When developing the activities it would be necessary to do further research on how adding more functionality to the groups and the cooperation assists the mothers mastery of everyday life.

The purpose of this study was to research how the children in one early childhood education center exclude and include each other and what kind of tools the ECE-staff uses to support inclusion and prevent exclusion. The study also examines whether the children’s behavior matches the staff’s ways of describing exclusion and inclusion in the group. According to Helgekand and Lund (2016) exclusion is something children are most afraid of. Öhman (2010) points out that the excluding child has developed faulty communication patterns and manners for relations. Physically aggressive behavior is the most common and easiest to spot. Relational exclusion, like leaving someone outside the fellowship, is much more difficult to recognize (Öhman, 2010). The data collection consisted of 16 hours of observation of 19 five-year-old children and interviews with three different educators. The study was conducted in one Swedish speaking daycare center during December 2021 and January 2022. Qualitative content analysis was used for analyzing the data. According to the results, the most common way of excluding someone was ignoring another child non-verbally. The children also excluded each other verbally by saying to another that they are not allowed to play with them. The most common way of including someone was verbally asking someone to join them or non-verbally letting someone join in a play situation. Chosen and involuntary loneliness also occurred but the latter was slightly more common. The staff mentioned three kinds of ways of exclusion, verbal, non-verbal and unconscious exclusion. The unconscious exclusion refers to when the children do not notice if someone is excluded or alone. According to the staff, the ways of inclusion were verbal or unconscious inclusion. Tools for supporting the inclusion were playing stations, randomly drawn playmates, or using the program ‘SET in preschool’. The staff also mentioned the importance of spontaneous discussions with the children. Playing stations were often used, but the lack of resources led to very few spontaneous discussions or conflict resolutions.

Objectives. Parental alienation is known to be manipulation aimed at a child in the family interaction context in order to make the child reject a parent to please the other parent. Although parental alienation has been described already in the 1950's little quantitative research has been done in the field. It has been found parental alienation occurring typically in divorce conflicts is associated with psychosocial problems and clinical symptoms in adulthood. As the studies of parental alienation have focused on the adults until now, it is not known what kind of association there is between parental alienation and adolescents' well-being. The objective of this quantitative pioneering study aimed at teenagers was to find out about parental alienation's prevalence and association with Finnish adolescents' quality of life as well as with the family background factors. The focus of the study was on the association of parental alienation behaviors with an adolescent's quality of life disregarding whether the parents had divorced or the alienating parent succeeded in the alienation of the child or not. The following hypotheses were made: One to two percent of the adolescents has experienced parental alienation. Parental alienation is more prevalent in divorced families and associated with (1) higher rates of depression and anxiety and the lower quality of life (2) meeting the rejected parent after the divorce (3) the deteriorated relationship with the rejected parent after the divorce. Methods. The research was carried out as an anonymous web survey, which was completed by 2027 adolescents (mean age 17.7 years, 87.4 % female). About 36 % of the participants came through 19 Finnish high schools and about 64 % through five websites aimed at teenagers. The questionnaires used in this study were Parental Alienation Behavior Scale (parental alienation), KiddoKINDL-14–17 (quality of life) and Raitasalo's modification of the short form of the BDI (mood). Results and conclusions. As it was hypothesized parental alienation was associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, the lower quality of life and parents' divorce or separation although it also occurred in families where the parents had not divorced. On the contrary to the hypotheses parental alienation was not associated with meeting the rejected parent, neither was the relationship deteriorated after the divorce of the parents associated with the rejected parent but with the alienating parent. Thus the previously found association between parental alienation and low well-being in appears in to occur already in adolescence. Further research is needed to find out the need for the parental alienation screening for example.

When a person experiences a sense of belonging, she can feel joy, contentment and excitement. This feeling emerges in groups, in relationships with others. Sense of belonging, relational pedagogy and group dynamics constitute the theoretical background in this research. The purpose of the research is to distinguish variation in students' perceptions of sense of belonging in school. The problem that the study highlights is that sense of belonging and group development is not explicitly noticed in pedagogy, neither for new teachers nor in the curriculum. Relational pedagogy focuses on the space between us humans and on the meaningful that grow in the human encounter with the world. Group dynamics is a complex whole. The students in the classroom, how these interact with each other and the climate between them form the structure of the group. The processes, how something take place in a group: cooperation, influence and communication, are affected by the group structure. In addition, groups in general are developing and changing. The study was qualitative and phenomenographic. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews, the questions in the interviews were compiled based on central themes in the theoretical background of the thesis. The data collection took place at the same time as a work placement, which favoured the relationship between the interviewer and the students. The sample consisted of nine students aged 12–13. The material was examined using a phenomenographic analysis method. The most characteristic aspects that contributed to the students experiencing belonging in the classroom were that no one is left out and that they always have someone to turn to. It was also clear that it is important to have fun in the classroom and that you need to respect each other. The teacher has a significant role in promoting perceived belonging. The teacher needs to care about her students and be supportive, she needs to be empathetic and have an inviting attitude. The students need to feel confident with the teacher. The teacher needs to be appropriately strict and support the students. Group work is an example of activities that promote a sense of belonging between students. In addition, peer relationships are significant for both the students' sense of security at school and for the perception that they sense a belonging with their classmates.

Objectives. The aim of the thesis is to find out fifth and sixth graders' perceptions of economic inequality. The focus of the thesis is children's perceptions of economic inequality, the thoughts it evokes, and the meanings children attach to it. Inequality has increased in Finland over the past three decades, especially among families with children, and since the effects of the phenomenon extend not only to adults but also to children, it is worth looking at it from their perspective as well. Methods. The material for the thesis was collected from the fifth and sixth grades of an elementary school located in Helsinki with the help of life stories and thematic interviews. There were 28 life stories and 7 themed interviews. The material has been analyzed by means of material-based content analysis using a phenomenographic approach. Results and conclusions. The fifth and sixth graders linked economic inequality to family life, going to school and spending free time, among other things. The children most clearly identified differences in financial resources based on external signs, such as clothing and goods. The poor had the necessities, but their clothes and belongings did not meet the norms prevailing among children. In peer relationships, economic inequality was most clearly manifested as differences in financial resources. Similar consumption opportunities were seen to create cohesion in peer relationships, but on the other hand, to produce inequality with children. Among the consequences of economic inequality, the children brought up bullying. Being bullied almost always affected children, the financial resources were especially weaker than others. The bully's role was strongly associated with a well-off child. The reasons explaining economic inequality that appeared in the research material were largely realistic. Economic inequality was seen to be caused by wage differences and unemployment. The importance of studying in order to achieve a good profession and thus a better financial result.

The objective of this research was to determine the types of affectivity and linguistic means of affect expression produced by linguistically diverse 5th-grade students while working in small groups on a linguistically aware comic project. The purpose of the study is to increase understanding of the significant role of affect, especially in the language and interaction of multilingual children and youth, within the context of school and the classroom. The research data comprised of two 45-minute class sessions video recordings focusing on interactional sequences where affect expression was notable. The research data is part of a broader research project titled "Kuva, kieli ja kielitietoinen kuvataidekasvatus". The study is a case study with a conversation-analytical approach utilizing a narrative ethnographic perspective. The findings were categorized into four classes: 1) multifaceted teasing, 2) peer translation as an act of solidarity (brokering), 3) the use of slang as an expression of affect, and 4) humour-infused complaining and self-deprecation as expressions of affect. Teasing served as a strategy for students to amuse themselves and maintain friendships, while also expressing dissatisfaction and attitudes towards school tasks and peers. The intensity of affect in the teasing category varied from light-hearted to serious, making its classification occasionally challenging. Peer translation and the use of slang as expressions of affect functioned as tools to display solidarity with peers and construct one's identity and plausibility. Students utilized humorous complaining and selfdeprecation as means to express frustration, dissatisfaction, but also empathy. Affect proves to be a treasure trove as a research focus, warranting further investigation in the future, particularly within the contexts of the school and the multilingual classroom.

My qualitative interview research examines the music preferences of today's fifth graders. I dealt with the topic by researching the interview group's favorite pieces of music, the basis for music choices, and openness to new music. The material of my research was collected through two group interviews, in which six students of one elementary school in Helsinki were interviewed. During the group interview, the interviewees listened to and rated their preference for four music samples. In addition, the group interview discussed the music that the interviewees usually listen to. The fifth graders I interviewed knew their preferences exactly. According to the results, they listen to a limited number of music styles and quite similar songs. Based on this research, music if fifth graders like it is globally known hit music among young people, and listening to music among the age group is determined especially by the video service TikTok. When talking about the motives of music choices, the music choices of fifth graders seem to be determined by prevailing trends. The fifth graders in the interview group seem to listen either to music that they have heard before or that is close enough to their own preferences, as well as music that is well-known or familiar. The state of alertness brought by the choice of music should also be similar to the right one: you don't want the music to be too calm, harsh, simple or complex. The respondents who took part in my research had a positive attitude towards the genres of music they were more familiar with, and with reservations towards the genres of music they were unfamiliar with.

Aims/Objectives. The use of wine has become more common in recent decades in Finland and besides restauraunts the use has also increased at homes. The wine is also consumed more with meals, reflecting a change in the Finnish eating and drinking culture. This study analyzes how widespread is the use of wine at meals, who drinks wine with meals and what are the socio-demographic factors associated with drinking wine with meals. In addition, the study examines how drinking wine with meals is associated with self-reported well-being. Data and methods. Drinking Habits Survey (2008) collected by STAKES (today National Institute for Health and Welfare) was used as a data. This nationally representative survey has 2725 respondents aged 15 to 69. Response rate was 73.6. Analysis included those aged at least 18 years (n = 2591). Main variable of interest is drinking wine with meals at least once a week. Other variables were psychological distress, self-efficacy, self-reported health, uncontrolled drinking and negative events associated with drinking. Different socio-demographic variables were as well investigated. The data were analyzed with descriptive methods and regression analysis. Results and conclusions. Although wine drinking has become more commonplace in Finland, drinking wine with meals is still rare. Of respondents, 11 % used wine with meals at least one a week and one-third of the respondents never used the wine with meals. Drinking wine with meals was linked to high education and living in urban environment. It was especially common among those aged 30 to 65. Drinking wine with meals was associated with well-being and self-reported health. The results support earlier finding showing that drinking wine with meals is connected to a healthier and lighter food taste.