Browsing by Subject "challenges"
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(2023)The aim of this thesis is to investigate the experienced primary school teachers' implementation of the key characteristics of project-based learning (PBL) in South Korea. Six key characteristics of PBL were used in this study as the theoretical framework. The characteristics are driving questions, learning goals, scientific activities, collaborative activities, using digital tools, and creating artefacts. The other focus of this study is analysing the challenges that the teachers faced when implementing PBL. The study had two research questions. The first one examined how primary school teachers in South Korea implement the key characteristics of PBL, and the second one focused on what kinds of challenges they have when applying PBL. The data were collected by semi-structured online interviews of seven primary school teachers. Their project plan documents designed and implemented by the teachers were used as additional data. The collected data were analysed with qualitative content analysis mainly in an inductive way. The main findings are that the experienced teachers in South Korea employed PBL as follows: the teachers (1) designed PBL based on the curriculum and the students' interests, (2) tried to reflect the students' opinion, (3) created a PBL environment, (4) had the students practice related skills, (5) facilitated the students' learning, (6) designed collaborative work, (7) utilised digital tools, and (8) gave an opportunity to showcase the results of the learning. The study indicated that the teachers faced challenges such as managing time, ambiguity, and diversity. The teachers also described several challenges related to student engagement, collaborative work, lack of skills, resources, school support, and teacher expertise. These results confirm earlier research in other countries. The results and suggestions of the study can provide new insights of experienced teachers’ PBL implementation to teachers, schools, and curriculum developers wishing to implement PBL in classrooms. The findings revealed the strategies of PBL implementation, the need to guarantee teacher autonomy more in the curriculum and need of training for teachers’ professional development.
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(2022)Objectives. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, a large part of teaching in higher education institutions was transferred to distance learning, which affected the lives of students in many ways. The aim of this study was to examine what kind of challenges Finnish university students experienced in their studies during the Covid-19 pandemic and distance learning in the fall of 2020. The connections of the perceived challenges to gender and to the start date of studies were also examined. This study aimed to form a deeper understanding of what kind of demands the Covid-19 pandemic caused for university students. Based on the demands, it was discussed what kind of resources students would need to support their studies and well-being. In this study the study demands-resources model was used as theoretical framework. Methods. The research data was gathered as a part of the research of the educational psychology research unit of the Faculty of Education, University of Helsinki. The sample consisted of university students (N=1264) aged 18–58, of whom 81% were women. The measures of the study were based on an open question regarding the challenges experienced by students in their studies. The data was analyzed by classifying the challenges appearing in the answers using qualitative methods. The connections of the perceived challenges to gender and to the start date of studies were also examined using cross-tabulation. The significance of the observed differences was tested with the χ² test. Results and conclusions. Thirteen different categories of challenges were identified from the data, which described different physical, social, emotional and cognitive challenges experienced by the students. The most common challenges reported by students were related to high workload, time management and organizational skills, as well as lack of social interaction and loneliness. The results showed differences in the perceived challenges according to the start date of the studies. The results also suggested gender differences, but these differences were not statistically significant. Based on the results, students would need social support which the university could provide, for example by enabling social integration, especially at the beginning of studies. In addition, students would need support for developing time management and organizational skills, as well as physical support, for example in the form of providing facilities suitable for studying.
Now showing items 1-2 of 2