Browsing by Subject "erityisoppilaat"

The aim of this thesis was to find out what kind of experience teachers acquired in an inven- tion project in a special needs school. The thesis also examines the foundations of the ped- agogy of inventing. In this study, the invention project was examined through three central categories: teachers’ views on pedagogy of inventing, teachers’ views on actions of the pu- pils during the invention project and teachers’ experiences in organizing the invention pro- ject. The aim was to give a broad general view about organizing an invention project in a special needs school. The material for this thesis was collected with semi-structured interviews of the teachers in the special needs school. The qualitative analysis was done by thematic arranging and it was data driven. ATLAS.TI was used in the arranging of the data. The data was organized in upper and subcategories around unified themes. During the thematic arrangement 50 subcategories were found and they were organized into 13 different upper categories. The teachers saw the pedagogy of inventing as an approach that utilizes cognitive skills, creativeness, innovativeness and self-support of the pupils as well as different methods across different subjects in an open-ended problem space. The major upper category in the actions of the pupils during the invention project was cognitive skills. Teachers felt that the project developed the pupil’s skills in reflecting and planning their work. The project also improved their social skills and the teachers were surprised how well the collaboration worked between the older and the younger students. The students were strongly committed to the project and got many experiences of success. In the central category of teachers’ experiences in organizing the invention project, the teachers brought up communication and interaction problems with their colleagues. Some of the teachers didn’t get to participate to the planning of the project and felt isolated during the project. The teachers came up with many ways to improve the project’s organizing for the next time. The teachers also felt that it is possible to do invention projects with special needs pupils, but they still need same kind of support that they normally get in their learning.