Browsing by Author "Wennervirta, Tessa"

The relationship of school planning and pedagogical visions together with the changing societal meanings of craft set new planning objectives for crafts' facilities and class rooms in schools. The research assignment of this case study is to describe the learning environment of crafts in basic education at present. Also, based on the collected data and the theoretical background, the aim is to help understand what influences positive experiences of learning environments for crafts from both the teacher and pupil point of view. This case study is founded on the theory of five dimensions of the learning environment; physical, technological, didactic, local and social. The data for this qualitative multi-method research was collected in several ways; by observation of the authentic learning environments, by the focused teacher interviews and by contextual interviews conducted on pupils, which all together form a profound picture of the phenomenon. The process of observation included videoing the sample groups, four school craft groups from the Metropolitan region. The research proceeded in stages from hypothetical pre-analysis to more detailed and systematic content analysis. The results revealed differences and great complexity in school craft learning environments, but proved that no specific type of environment is superior to the other. The physical facilities create a base for functional craft teaching, but the other three dimensions of the learning environment, social, didactic and technological, are the ones that support the learning of craft in more versatile levels. The new visions of the national core curriculum (POPS 2014) in craft education as a multi-material subject set challenges to class room planning – placing the two craft facilities in near proximity in school buildings create more possibilities for crucial teacher coalition in the future.