Browsing by Author "Pääkkönen, Iira"

This thesis studies ninth-graders' opinions about what happens to a person when they die and compares them with the opinions of sixth-graders on the subject. The thesis also studies what the ninth-graders' answers indicate about their level of religious development in the light of previous studies. After this, the thesis examines the development in religious views between sixth and ninth grades. The data consists of students' writings about what happens after death. The study involved four groups of ninth-graders studying Evangelical Lutheran religion, two in Helsinki and two in Espoo. Total number of research subjects was 51. In addition the study utilizes author's previously collected data which consists of writings from 78 sixth-graders. The classification and analysis of the data have been carried out with the means of data-based content analysis. Ninth-graders' responses contained three main opinions about what occurs after death: 1) Belief in Heaven, and in some cases in Hell 2) Belief in reincarnation 3) The belief that all life ends with death. The same themes were also visible in sixth-graders' data. Whereas the sixth graders' responses were a lot more concrete, the ninth-graders' responses emphasized the ethical reflection, for example, on how to get to Heaven. The ninth-graders used more Christian terms than the sixth-graders. The salvation and grace concepts of the Evangelical Lutheran church were however not present in any of the students' answers. Ninth-graders' religious thinking is noticeably more developed than that of the sixth-graders'. Especially the decrease of concreteness is highlighted. Also, a more scientific approach can be seen which demonstrates the development that has happened.