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  • Hakala, Pirjo (2003)
    The aim of the study was to find out, how the craftsmen of textile of the archipelago reach for ecological sustainability. In addition, what does the ecological orientation mean for the craftsman and how to understand ecological handicrafts. Both the product and the creator serve as a narrator. To answer these questions interviews were made with nine craftsmen who live in the Archipelago. The interviews were analysed with content analysis method. The research report proceeds in a dialogue between theory and the analysis. The relationship between the sustainable development and the handicrafts of archipelago was observed as the theoretical basis of the research. By investing in cultural, social, financial and industrial sustainability the fundamental aim of ecological sustainability is possible to attain. Values, skills and knowledge of a craftsman have an influence on the various sectors of the development. The operational environment of the craftsmen is the archipelago, its nature and the culture created by man. One objective was to work out, how the archipelago and its notion played a part in their way of working and telling about their products. Ecology in the handicrafts of the archipelago appeared in various ways. Cultural and social sustainability materialized better than economical and industrial sustainability. Education seemed to be the best way to get intermediate goals on the way to the sustainable development. Handicrafts was seen as a part of the culture of archipelago and the networks in a sparsely populated area is experienced as an important thing. The ecological acting is commonly connected to the material of handicraft and its methods of production. Values take shape, when the craftsman talked about his family and told his story about growing into the craftsmanship. Striving for ecological sustainability in handicrafts aroused also mixed feelings. Craftsmanship is lifeblood on the market, which is ruled by the global market economy. Does it mean that striving for ecological sustainability is an attempt to reach for truth?
  • Noso, Elina (2017)
    Objectives The purpose of the study is to find out how the 14 cookbooks selected for research help homemakers towards a more ecological and sustainable future. Research questions are divided into three themes: sustainable development, ecology and ecological choices. This study examines the pictures, recipes and texts for cookbooks as well as the functionality of their instructions. In general, very few studies have been conducted on cookbooks. Methods The study focuses on 14 Finnish cookbooks, each containing a structure of recipes according to different seasons. Cookbooks were published during years 2010-2013 and were written by food professionals, amateurs, musicians, and other people familiar with the topic. The data were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis with the help of key questions: what, why and how. Books within the same theme were compared against each other, and recipes and pictures were evaluated for how they support the homemaker. Results and Conclusions Originally, the cookbooks studied here were supposed to be ecological, however, the seasonal separation was not sufficient to describe ecological qualities, since ecology is the sum of many factors as defined by the theoretical part of the thesis. The cookbooks studied here help the homemaker to move towards a more ecological and sustainable future to varying degrees. Only two cookbooks emerged as more informative on the topic. When the homemaker is ready to make sustainable changes, he or she can get new ideas for everyday life, such as dining instructions, from the ecological cookbooks. Thus it can be said that ecological cookbooks play a role in helping the homemaker to move towards a more ecological and sustainable future.
  • Tuomela, Minna (2015)
    The aim of this study is to explain how student initiations construct in classroom interaction. Study is based on framework of socio-cultural theories. The specific view is on student initiations in whole class lessons and what is the nature of these initiations. Previous studies of classroom interaction has been made especially from teacher's point of view. Research about student interaction has been made about group work and peer interaction. Previous studies have shown that classroom talk is dominated by teachers, but students have growing possibilities to participate classroom discussions. The method of this study is video research and content analysis. The data was part of Learning Bridges – research project. The data was collected by videotaping one third grade class of 18 students and their teacher in comprehensive school. For this study I analyzed four lessons from which I searched for notable patterns considering research questions. The results indicated that student have an opportunity to construct classroom interaction and by making initiative turns they can affect in the content of discussion. Students initiative turns were firstly motivated by lesson themes, secondly classroom practices and thirdly questions that weren't related to ongoing lesson. Students initiative turns have an influence on student commitment. Student initiations were mostly directed to the teacher, but teachers and students constructed interaction mostly together. The study shows that teacher has a conducting role in classroom interaction that provides many possibilities for student participation. The study offers examples of in which way student initiations construct classroom interaction and what is the nature of these student initiations.
  • Syväoja, Josa (2015)
    Objectives. This thesis analyzed disturbances and expansive learning possibilities in benefits officers' learning groups. Pension company Sely organized the project concerning learning groups and the objective of this training program was to develop both individual competence and collective activity in the organization. The theoretical framework of this study was based on cultural-historical activity theory. The aim of the thesis was to study the learning groups in order to discover disturbances, and to also examine how benefits officers manage these problems. Another main objective is to also reveal expansive learning possibilities in the benefits officers' activity. Methods. Two learning groups were established in the organization's learning project. The data consisted of videotaped and tape-recorded material gathered from the meetings of the learning groups. In addition, researcher attended to the meetings and observed the course of conversations. 12 benefits officers participated in this study. Disturbance analysis was chosen for research method. Also, expansive learning cycle was applied in order to analyze the expansive possibilities of the reviewed activity. Results and conclusions. Disturbances in the learning groups discussions' were located to reasons stemming from the subject, the data system tools, and network cooperation. Disturbances were mostly ignored or solved by using already existing solutions. However, there were occasions when benefits officers processed disturbances in a way that questioned the present activity. In addition, there were a few observations where participants also modeled new ideas into the activity. These kinds of observations were analyzed more specifically in order to detect the possibilities for expansive learning. According to the results possibilities for expansive development are connected to the expansion of the boundaries of the benefits officers' activity, such as expansion of the occupational responsibilities and professional roles.
  • Rissanen, Sirja (2015)
    In my study I examine expatriate teachers' experiences of working abroad and the development of their professional identity. The starting point of my study is the idea that a person's identity is formed through interaction with other people and is a constantly changing process. My study is based on a narrative inquiry. This is because my intention has been to open up new perspectives to better understand the experiences of expatriate teachers, instead of trying to get measurable results. My research questions are: 1. What kind of image(s) do teachers give about expatriate teacher's work? 2. How do teachers reflect on their professional identities after their working period abroad? a) How do teachers experience the fact that they have been expatriate teachers? b) Have teachers' professional identities changed according to their stories? Four teachers who taught in Abu Dhabi as part of EduCluster Finland's education export program were interviewed. In my interviews I used the method of thematic interview which gave space for stories. In the data analysis I used the perspective of the different roles teachers held. This approach is based on Hermans' (2001) positioning theory according to which people have different roles depending on context and interaction with other people. In my first research question I used content analysis as a method to find out the different roles teachers held in their different social contexts. In my second research question I used Webster's and Mertova's (2007) critical event analysis to outline the conflicting roles from the data. In the end I focused more on the conflicting roles by using dialogical analysis based on Hermans' (2001) positioning theory. The results revealed that expatriate teachers have multiple roles many of which are in conflict with each other. From the roles of expatriate teachers were formed four different classes of conflicting roles through which the teachers reflected on their professional identity. As a result of their self reflecting process the teachers created an in between identity in order to survive among all the conflicting roles. In the end the teachers found their experiences as expatriate teachers positive but also educational. They experienced that the period abroad had an influence on their professional identities in different ways and that it brought change to their thinking as well as to their teaching in practice. The results of the research can be used in the development of teachers' international mobility and teacher education.
  • Hakman, Jasu (2020)
    The aim of this Master’s Thesis in the field of special education was to find out, in what ways does an explicit intervention programme (ThinkMath) make a difference on mathematical skills of mathematically weak pupils straight after the intervention and also at delayed measures. Also this research was made to find out, is there a statistically meaningful difference in mathematical skills between children, who only have difficulties in mathematics compared to children, who also have difficulties in language additionally with difficulties in mathematics? Considering previous studies on this subject, one could expect an influence from the intervention programme. Also statistically meaningful difference can be expected, considering previous studies which have pointed out, that difficulties in language add risk for difficulties in mathematics. The data of this research consists of 274 primary education children. All children made tests at three different time points. The tests were about mathematical and language skills. After the first timepoint, the children were divided in to groups, which were the intervention group, a control group and the others. The other time point was right after the intervention and the third was delayed after the intervention. / The results of this research are conflicted with previous studies on this subject. The results showed that skills of the intervention group grew more than the control group at first, during the intervention, and better skills showed at tests right after the intervention, but not anymore at the delayed tests. Also, there was not a statistically meaningful difference between the groups with different learning difficulties. These results may occur because of the small size of the groups and also by the wide range of reasons and implications of mathematical learning difficulties. These results can not be generalised, but they give reason to make a new research with larger groups.
  • Munck, Lilli (2021)
    The objective of the study was to clarify how animal rights view and animal-protection appears in the adolescents´ perceptions of animals´ use in food production. In the animal rights view animals´ use is critically examined, whereas animal-protection focuses on the animal welfare without challenging animals´ use itself. Animal rights view was examined by two animal philosophic theories, preference utilitarianism and animal rights theory. In the examination of the animal-protection views utilitarianism and the ambivalence of the human-animal relationship served as a theory. The connection of diet followed by the young people to their views was also examined, because the earlier study shows that following vegan and vegetarian diet supports animal rights view more strongly, whereas the omnivore´s animal ethical views are multiple. Animal ethics has been presented to be added to the contents of the home economics subject, because it is strongly related to today's sustainability- and food education. The data of the study was collected as a part of a survey that was published in Helsingin Sanomat in March 2020. The analysis focused on the age group 15–25. Material included answers to one open question about animals' welfare and rights in food production. The material was qualitatively analysed by using thematic analyses. As a result, five themes were found: questioning of the animals' use, criticism of factory farming, promotion of welfare, defence of the Finnish production and defence of eating meat. The first two represented the animal rights view. Respondents questioning animals´ use considered using animals ethically problematic, whereas in the criticism of the factory farming the animals' intensive production was resisted but not animals' use itself. The animal-protection view appeared as a desire to promote the welfare on farm animals without criticising structures of the food production. The defenders of the Finnish production considered that the welfare is coming true well enough in Finland. A small group did not consider paying attention to the animals' rights and welfare at all important. Animal rights view was most common among vegans, which supports previous studies. Results can be utilized in the planning of teaching materials about farm animal welfare and rights.
  • Varvio, Ulla (2017)
    Aims. The purpose of this study was to identify the current state of mangling based on web discussions. The theoretical reference frame is formed by review on the history and present day of mangling. In theory part, mangling is presented broadly from the basis of home economics point of view: through the effects of everyday life, time use, space planning, as well as through developments of home appliances and materials. The main question of the study is to find out what is the current state of mangling based on the web discussions? The second and third question searches answers to the meanings and aims given for mangling. Methodology. The study was a qualitative research based on home economics, cultural study and virtual ethnography. The research is ethnographically partially empirically oriented research. The data consists of the internet online discussions and newsgroups that deal with mangling. The data was collected from a total of seven different Internet forums which were in websites of four different media and one organization. Total material was 253 comments. Analysis method was content analysis. Results and conclusions. There were both positive and negative meanings associated with mangling. In the whole material, there was a strong division to supporters and opponents of mangling. To summarize mangling divided opinions. The most common aims for mangling were: to reduce dusting of textiles, ironing, to make linen shiny and saving closet space. The data had more reasons for why not mangle than reasons for mangle. The most common reasons for why not mangle were: lack of time, other equipment, lack of space at home and the development of materials. It seems like mangling is individual choice. Those who wanted to mangle prioritized it in their use of time, money and living space as well it was a skill they wanted to handle. Mangling was a hobby and a source of pleasure.
  • Korhonen, Kaisa (2010)
    The starting point of this study was to find out how the historical consciousness manifest in conceptions and experiences of Chilean refugees and their descendants. The previous research of historical consciousness has shown that powerful experiences such as the revolution and being a refugee may have an effect on historical consciousness. The purpose of this study is to solve how those experiences in the past have influenced Chilean refugees and their descendant's interpretations of the present and expectations for the future. The research material was collected by interviewing four Chilean refugees that escaped to Finland in years 1973 1976 and four young adults who represent the second generation. All second generation interviewees were born in Finland and their other parent or both parents were Chilean refugees. The two groups were not in a family relation to each other. The empirical part of the research was made by qualitative methods. The research material was collected by the method of focused interview and it was analysed by the qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti 6.0. Content analysis was the main research tool. The previous theory of historical consciousness and the study questions was used to create the seven categories that manifest historical consciousness. The seven categories were biographical memory, collective memory, experiences of living between two cultures, idea of man, the essence of history and the reason for living, value conceptions and expectations of the future. Content analysis was based on those categories. Subcategories were based on the research material and were created during the analysis. The results of this study were made up of categories. The study revealed that experiences of revolution and of being a refugee has a significant role in the historical consciousness of the Chilean refugees. It became evident in their biographical memory being separated in three parts, in their values and in the belief of possibility of an individual to govern her own life. The second generation was also exposed to their parent's experiences in the past. The collective trauma in their parent's past has been part of their life indirectly and has affected the way they think of themselves, their concepts and their place in the present world. The active and regular retrospection in Finland by Chilean adults and special Gabriela Mistral club activities has played a big part in the construction of their historical consciousness.
  • Pohjonen, Emma (2019)
    The purpose of this study was to examine how adult social work’s expertise appears in the narratives of social workers. Further, the purpose was to examine how social workers narrate and perform their expertise. The context of adult social work is changing and the most noticeable change is still the transfer of supplementary benefit from municipalities to the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela). The changing context places the social workers in a challenging position. The conception of expertise has changed from individual-based knowing. The emphasis is now more on collaboration and expertise is seen to be shared and negotiated. My study was a qualitative research. I conducted seven interviews with social workers who work in adult social work. I analysed the data with narrative methods. In narrative approach story-telling is seen as a natural part of human life. The stories are an expression of the individual life but also the social context where story-telling takes place. My main interest in this study was in narrative episodes which occur in the narration of the social workers. In the narration of the social workers, expertise seemed to be challenging to explain. Expertise was impacted by structural conditions and multi-professional collaboration where adult social work’s expertise is often seen as inferior. Expertise was experienced in the context of changes and continuities. Adult social work’s expertise seems to be personal and emotion-related. Because of the diversity of the adult social work, the social workers were required to use various forms of expertise in their work.
  • Nylander, Niina (2014)
    Aims. Improved quality of life is considered to be the overarching goal of aphasia rehabilitation based on the social model. Around the world research has been done on the factors that affect the quality of life with people with aphasia. Different kinds of structured quality of life measurements have been developed that aim to enable people with aphasia to self-report quality of life. In Finland research on the subject has been scarce. The aim of this study was to explore the views of Finnish speech and language therapists (SLT) on the quality of life in aphasia rehabilitation and the prevailing clinical practices as well as to investigate how they compare internationally. Methods. For the purposes of this study a questionnaire composed by the Aphasia Committee of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) was translated into the Finnish language. 64 questionnaires were filled out. The Finnish data was analysed by using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The data collected in this survey formed Finland's part of an international survey conducted by IALP, which allowed the comparison between the Finnish and international results. The international survey contained 581 respondents from 16 countries including Finland. The Finnish and international data were compared by cross tabulation and Chi Squared -test. Results and conclusions. According to Finnish SLTs it is important to incorporate into practice with aphasia several quality of life domains, such as communication, affect, in/dependence, social activities, personal outlook and in addition to consider life satisfaction, social support and environment. Almost all of the Finnish SLTs used interviewing as their primary method for assessing the quality of life, only four used structured quality of life measures. Internationally there were mentioned many different structured quality of life assessments. This study indicates explicitly that there is a demand for structured quality of life assessments in Finland. The results can be applied in developing education, research and clinical practice.
  • Toivola, Tiina-Maija (2015)
    Educational capital has a strong significance on a person's status in the society. The possibilities for individual choices in the field of education have increased and decisions concerning education are expected at a very early stage. Educational choices are mainly seen to be a phenomenon among the middle class: the lower social classes have less cultural capital to make choices. The study approached the topic of educational choices from low-educated parents' point of view. The purpose of this study was to understand how low-educated parents describe the principles and values that affect their educational choices. The descriptions are understood as life politics. Life politics include parents' understanding of the significance of education as well as the future scenarios the parents create for their children. This study participates in the discussion of social class and education, and suggests the use of the concept of life politics in the educational research. The research data includes ten thematic interviews carried out to sixth-graders parents' in the city of Espoo. The interviews were implemented as a part of the research project Parents and School Choice (PASC). The data has been analyzed with discourse analytical tools. The results of the study can be summarized in four discourses which can be understood as parents' life politics. First discourse emphasizes the significance of attitude in life, the second one sees education as a way to professional qualification and employment, the third discourse understands education as a way to social mobility and the fourth discourse defines education as an arena for personal development. Discourses include different conceptions of the importance of education and different future scenarios the parents create for their children. The study concludes that the concept of life politics is a useful tool for studying and describing families' educational strategies and the underlying principles and values. Life politics broadens the possibilities to understand the mechanisms of educational choices among parents: it pays attention to the individual life decisions. The concept also supports the former research on social class and education.
  • Lähetkangas, Outi (2018)
    The purpose of the thesis is to interpret the range of discussion concerning consumerism and the significance of possessions, that is present in the media. The method used is interpretive structuralism, which is a form of discourse analysis. My research questions have emerged from the data and the analysing prosess has restructured and refined them during the prosess. The data consists of 26 Finnish articles and columns in which Marie Kondo’s The life-chaning magic of tidying up, other organizing books or voluntary simplifying are discussed. The articles have been published in 2014–2017. The context of the study is in the Finnish consumer society, the forming of which I will reflect in relation to the development of the western consumer society, massconsumption, throwaway society and the rapid transformation of the Finnish social structure among other things. The standard of living has been dependent on aquiring wealth and on the amount of posessions, but in a mature consumer culture the consumer can also enjoy the act of not consuming. In consumer cultures, consuming is the practice through which individuals take part in social life and bond with each other. The results of the analysis suggest that there are six discourses present in the data: The life-changing power of tidying up, Posessions as burdens, Ecology and restraining consumption, Womens status in the household, Consuming as entertainment and Historical effect ”the burden of scarcity”. A discourse includes various aspects and opinions, positive and negative, which rise from the range of discussion present in the data. These discourses are not clear-cut, they overlap and same topics might be discussed in many of them.
  • Lawson Hellu, Ernest (2015)
    Objectives. The purpose of this research is to find out if there is a connection between importance ratings in certain fields of life and perceived competence. This research also aims to investigate the connection between the aforementioned and self-esteem. The hypothesis, based on former studies, is that high importance ratings and perceived competence are connected to strong self-esteem. Methods. This survey-based study was a quantitative one. 156 participants answered the questionnaire. The material was analyzed by using PASW Statistics. Methods included correlations, t-tests, factor analysis and Analysis of Variance. These methods aimed to gather information on the relations between importance ratings, perceived competence and self-esteem. Results and conclusions. A connection between importance ratings and perceived competence was found. Statistically significant connection was found between: the importance rating of friendships and the social self-perception (r=.562, p<.001), the importance rating of hobbies and the hobby-related self-perception (r=.523, p<.001), the importance rating of behaviour and the behaviour-related self-perception (r=.205, p<.05), the importance rating of relationship with one's parents and the self-perception of the relationship with one's parents (r=.642, p<.001) and the importance rating of one's development in work and the self-perception of one's work- and study –related comfort (r=.283, p<.001). Based on these strong connections, it can be assumed that high perceived competence predicts high importance rating and low competence is connected to low importance rating. According to these results, big differences between importance ratings and perceived competence are connected to low self-esteem. A strong connection was found between the ratings of one's appearance, perceived competence and self-esteem. It can therefore be assumed that the smaller the difference between one's importance rating and perceived competence is, the better one's self-esteem is as well.
  • Klemelä, Sanni (2018)
    In this study, I examine how consumers choose wine. The research questions are as follows 1. What factors in general affect wine buying? 2. What factors influence choosing wine in the store environment? 3. What is the significance of responsibly consuming in choosing wine? The research background consists of research on wine-making, its environmental impact, as well as wine-labelling. This framework also includes the wine choosing- and consumer behaviorism theories. Previous research has shown that wine choosing is affected by price, country of origin, taste descriptions, as well as the labelling. The data consists of seven research subjects, of whom five were women and two men. The subjects were between 29-70 years of age, six subjects lived in the Helsinki metropolitan area and one in central Finland. The data were collected with the thinking aloud protocol, in which the subjects report their wine selection process by speaking aloud. All the wine selecting was done in the Alko store environment. The recorded data was transcribed, after which it was structured with content analysis to fit the research questions. The analysis highlighted the researcher's abductive reasoning, where the collected data and the theoretical framework alternated to answer the research questions. My research shows that wine consumption is social: it is consumed in everyday life, as a socializing drink, and in combination with food. The main wine selection factor is time. When there is little time the subjects either chose a familiar product, or ended up impulsively for a colorfully labelled product. With more time, the subjects spent more time on comparing products. Independent comparisons made in the selection process were aided by the Alko product information cards. They contain information about the price, flavor descriptions, as well as taste type classifications and food symbols. Alko customer service is valued and needed especially if you're looking for wines to pair with food. Sustainability and ecology did not largely influence wine selection. Except for organic wines, the subjects had incomplete knowledge in different wine growing methods and the associated labelling. In general, it can be stated that the less the consumer had knowledge of the label entries, the more frustrated they were, when there were several entries. All the subjects were, however, interested to know more of the entries. It seems that the information given by the Alko information cards and customer service, affect the customers attitude towards the different entries.
  • Kosunen, Mari (2022)
    Objectives. The purpose of this study is to elucidate and describe the Finnish natural dyeing tradition. The research is interested in who natural dyers are, and how they dye. The study is also searching knowledge on what color sources dyers use, as well as how they have learned the skill and whether they share their knowledge with others. In addition, the study examines the significance of natural dyeing for dyers. It is important to study the topic because there is no previous research data on the tradition of natural dyeing in Finland. The theoretical background of the research focuses on natural colorants, natural dyeing, and the tradition of natural dyeing in Finland, and the concept of tradition. Methods. This is craft science research where folkloristics is adapted. The study material of which consists of a survey and thematic interviews. To the survey 35 responded 35 Finnish dyers and of them 26 was interviewed. The participants were Finnish natural dyers. The interview material was analyzed by using content analysis. Results and conclusions. The study found that typically, Finnish natural dyers are women over the age of 51 and they dye once a month or more often. The most widely used dyeing technique is boiling dyeing. The most commonly used mordants are alum and tartar. The most popular dyed materials are wool, cotton, silk and linen. Interviewees mentioned 37 different favorite color sources. Natural dyes are made for personal use, as a gift and for sale. Most of the respondents use dyed material for their own crafts, but they are also used for textile art and as material samples for teaching. The most common way for Finnish natural dyers to obtain color sources is to collect them from the nature. Information about natural dyeing is sought in books, journal articles and the Internet, but learning by experiment is also a common way to gain knowledge about nature dyeing. Communality and knowledge sharing are essential parts of the natural dyeing tradition. Also, Internet and smartphones include important sharing tools. Based on this research material it can be concluded that the transfer and sharing of dyeing information is an essential part of the natural dyeing tradition in Finland.
  • Sandås, Annika (2023)
    Aim. Previous research shows that social media use has increased among young people. There are many benefits to social media but also serious risks such as cyberbullying, which can have crucial consequences. The benefits of social media include contacting friends and family, gaining information and entertainment. It is important that children create good relationships with their classmates and that the students have a great class spirit, as it increases well-being at school and prevents bullying. Research shows that around 40 percent of students have witnessed bullying online and ten percent have been exposed. The teacher has an important role in creating a good class spirit, which has been proven to reduce bullying and that the teacher can be a safe support for victims. It is also important that the teacher teaches the student net etiquette. Since social media has increased in use over the past ten years there is a need for new research. The aim of the master´s thesis is to analyse how students in year 6 communicate with each other on social media and how social media affects students’ friendships and class spirit. Methods. The data for this qualitative research was collected through interviews with 21 students. The students were in year six in a Swedish-language school in southern Finland. The interviews were semi-structured and were done on site in school. The audio from the interviews was taped and transcribed. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis and the Atlas.ti program was used in the coding stage. Results and conclusions. The results show that all the students use social media in some form, but not all have permission from their parents to use more than one platform. Although no student confirmed that they are being excluded, some expressed that they sometimes feel outside of the community. The students said that no bullying had occurred in the past year. My conclusion is that the school has succeeded in building a strong class spirit and strong friendships. Even though cyberbullying cannot be completely monitored, the school has succeeded in preventing it. Based on the results, the school’s preventive work against bullying and how they create a good classroom spirit could be modeled in other schools, as it seems to work.
  • Halonen, Enni (2021)
    The challenge of teaching mathematics is to make the student’s mathematical thinking heard and visible. To find out how students mathematical thinking can be supported I familiarized concept of mathematical languaging. Mathematical languaging allows student to express their thinking through the language, orally and in writing. Theoretical background of this study is Joutsenlahti’s and Rättyä’s model of four languages of mathematics, which allows students to express their mathematical thinking. The purpose of this study is to find out which mathematics languages teachers emphasize in their teaching and how teachers guide students to languaging in mathematics lessons. In addition, I also explore which mathematic languages the textbooks tend to use, and how the textbooks support the teacher’s role in guiding students languaging mathematics. The material of my study was based on video material: Oppimaan oppimisen avaimet, which was filmed in fall 2012. It included eight sixth grade math lessons. The videos featured a total of seven teachers, one of whom taught a lesson to two different classes. Mathematics textbooks, which were used in the lessons, from four different book series were also used as research material. The data were analyzed using quantification and sosiosemiotics analysis. The videos showed that the lessons were quite teacher-regulated. Teachers asked questions that students answered briefly and accurately. Teachers guided students to use mainly natural language and symbolic language, and to switch between these languages. The textbooks guided to interpret the text in natural language as well as in symbolic language and to produce only symbolic language. Teachers and textbooks also guided to use pictorial language mainly in connection with the contents of geometry. The content of the subject of mathematics influences the language used by the student to express mathematical thinking. Teachers guided oral languaging in the classroom, while textbooks supported written languaging.
  • Lähdepuro, Anna Emilia (2014)
    Objectives: Anxiety symptoms are among the most common psychiatric problems in late adulthood, and they have a wide negative impact on an individual's physical and psychological health. Stressful life experiences may increase anxiety symptoms throughout life, even in late adulthood. The purpose of this master's thesis was to study the association between stressful life experiences, such as self-reported trauma, low socioeconomic status in childhood and adulthood and early separation from parents, and self-reported anxiety symptoms in late adulthood. Moreover, the aim was to examine if cumulative stressful life experiences are associated with a greater amount of anxiety symptoms in later life. Methods: This study comprised 1872 participants of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study born in Helsinki in 1934-1944. The participants completed the BAI anxiety questionnaire in 2007-2009. In addition to this, 1266 of the participants completed the TEC questionnaire in 2001-2004, inquiring about traumatic events throughout life. Information about the participants' socioeconomic status in childhood and adulthood and childhood separation from parents due to war was based on data from national registers. The association between the different stressful life experiences and anxiety symptoms in late adulthood was examined using linear regression analysis. Moreover, the number of traumatic experiences, the age in which trauma and separation were experienced, and cumulative stressful life experiences as risk factors for anxiety symptoms were examined using one-way ANOVA and t-tests. Participants' age, sex, parity and mother's age were used as covariates. Results and conclusions: As expected, higher amount of self-reported traumatic experiences were associated with higher levels of anxiety symptoms in late adulthood. This association was also found for physical and emotional trauma separately. Moreover, lower socioeconomic status in childhood and adulthood were associated with a higher amount of anxiety symptoms. However, no significant association between childhood separation and later anxiety symptoms was found. Stressful life experiences both in childhood and in adulthood were associated with later anxiety symptoms. Cumulativeness of different stressful life experiences was associated with self-reported anxiety symptoms: the higher amount of stressful life experiences an individual had experienced during life course, the higher was the amount of anxiety symptoms. In conclusion, our results suggest that stressful life experiences throughout life course may increase anxiety symptoms in late adulthood.
  • Jantunen, Noora (2015)
    Objectives: Optimism is usually defined as a stable outcome expectancy. Optimism is known to be positively connected to well-being and health but there are few studies to examine the development of optimism. Traumatic experiences are known to have various negative effects on well-being and mental health. There are also studies that show an association between traumas and personality development and change. Because optimism and pessimism are thought to be concepts similar to personality traits, it is justifiable to study if traumas are also related to optimism and/or pessimism. There are no studies to investigate this earlier. The aim of this study is to examine whether lifetime trauma experiences are associated with optimism-pessimism in early adulthood and whether different traumas or the age of trauma experience have differential effects. Methods: This study is part of the Arvo Ylppö Longitudinal Study (AYLS). All newborns born between 1985 and 1986 in the county of Uusimaa, Finland, who needed hospital care during ten days after birth were invited to participate. Also controls not admitted to the hospital wards were recruited. The current 25-year-old follow-up study consisted of 902 participants who completed a self-report questionnaire for optimism (LOT-R) and a retrospective self-report for traumatic experiences (TEC). The associations between lifetime traumas and optimism-pessimism in early adulthood were analyzed statistically using linear regression and analysis of variance and t tests when examining different groups for the amount of traumas and for different age groups. Results and conclusions: Reporting of any traumatic experience was associated to lower optimism and higher pessimism. The more traumatic experiences one had the lower was optimism and the higher was pessimism. By contrast, the age of traumatic experiences was not statistically significantly associated with the trait of optimism-pessimism. These results remained after controlling demographic variables. However, after controlling neuroticism, only the connection between emotional traumas and optimism-pessimism remained statistically significant. Because optimism and pessimism are known to have an impact on well-being and coping in future adversities, the association between traumas and optimism-pessimism can be considered noteworthy. The results of this study give ground for discussion about whether optimism interventions could be targeted to people who have experienced traumatic events to reduce the negative effects of trauma.