Browsing by Subject "eriyttäminen"

In both national and international studies, a significant increase in skill differences between students has been noticed in the mathematics skills of Finnish primary school children. A way to respond to the needs of all learners is to differentiate the teaching, which means taking the student’s skills into account when teaching. Mathematics is one of the most important subjects in the Finnish school system, but studies have shown that the mathematical skills of the teachers can be weak. Because of that, it is important that the learning materials used support the teachers in differentiating and all of the students are offered tasks suitable for their skill level. The aim of this study was therefore to describe differentiation in the mathematics learning materials for the third grade of primary school and to find out what kind of support they offer for differentiation. This research was conducted as a qualitative content analysis and content classification and comparison was used to analyse the materials. Six series of mathematics learning materials currently used in Finnish primary schools from four different publishers were selected as research material. All learning materials and digital licenses from each series were requested, and the final research material consisted of all the third grade learning material used in autumn. The material was first divided according to the two research questions into materials for the student and the teacher. After this, the classification of the material continued and the results of the classifications were compared to each other. It was noticed from the research material that differentiation in mathematics is mainly the teacher’s responsibility and the students have few opportunities to choose tasks that suit their skill level. The solutions for downward differentiation were more systematic, because almost all of the series contained a separate work book with easier tasks, that can be used alongside the normal work book. The solutions to make the tasks easier were fairly uniform. The solutions for upward differentiation had more variation, but the most common type was problem-solving tasks. The teacher’s guides, which serve as the teacher’s support, mainly focused on specific tips to differentiate lessons and the included various handouts and additional tasks that the teacher can give out to students. In addition, assessment was supported with different skill level tests and materials to find out the skill levels of the students in the beginning of the third grade.

The purpose of this study is to review the experiences of four elementary school teachers about physical education classes. How do they perceive and act in a situation, where there is a physically disabled student in the group? The interviewees were chosen specifically, and they all have experience in teaching disabled students. The research questions were divided into four themes. The themes are: Inclusion in physical education, differentiation in physical education, and their pros and cons from the teacher's perspective. The study is a qualitative case study. The data consisted of four interviews with elementary school teachers who teach physical education. The analysis of the collected data was done through content analysis and phenomenographic analysis. In all interviews, the importance of including the disabled student into the activities was emphasized. Also the value of maintaining differences and careful differentiation were highlight-ed. The teachers emphasized that inclusion should not be done only because it sounds good. The inclusion in physical education should always be relevant from the student's perspective. The study focuses on opinions and experiences of the interviewees. The objective was not to reach generalizable results, but to give a thorough description of a phenomenon.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the views of primary school teachers on school´s readiness to accommodate all diverse learners. The subject topic captivated my interest due to the emphasis placed by the interviewed primary school teachers in my bachelor's thesis on the readiness of the school, even though the actual research focused on children´s school readiness. Additionally, since the 2000s, discussion in Finland regarding school readiness have shifted towards the organization of education rather than solely focusing on children's readiness for school. Several research also support this shift. Readiness of the school has been extensively investigated as part of inclusive education. On the other hand, in the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (2014), the word inclusion is mentioned only once. The aim of this study was to determinate the requisite preparedness of educational institutions to accommodate the diverse needs of incoming students, and to clarify the strategies of implementation of inclusion. In my qualitative research, six primary school teachers who work in elementary education participated. Thematic interviews were used as data collection method, as they allowed clarifying questions to be asked from the participants. The interviews were recorded, videotaped and transcribed for further analysis. The chosen method for analysis in my research was theory-guided content analysis, supported by thematic categorization. The data was then categorized into seven themes, which will be referred to as "upper-level categories" in the following study. These upper-level categories consist of resources, competent teacher, leadership, collaboration with preschool teachers, inclusivity, resources, and differentiation. My research findings strongly imply that primary school teachers considered resources to be the most important factor in the readiness of the school and the implementation of inclusion. However, primary school teachers described school resources as inadequate to meet the needs of all incoming students. Primary school teachers discussion about the most important readiness factors for accommodating all incoming students were centered around resources, teachers' professional skills, leadership, and collaboration with preschool teachers. Primary school teachers instead reported focusing on the implementation of inclusion through various inclusion-related actions, available resources, and diverse differentiation. Generally, five out of six primary school teachers had a positive attitude towards inclusion and the readiness of the school to accommodate all diverse learners. This study provides valuable information especially for primary school teachers, but also for principals interested in inclusion and implementing inclusive education.

Aims. All students, regardless of their capacity, should be offered impartial learning opportunities. Usually, it is well attended that each student will achieve learning goals. The gifted students are often unrecognized and ignored in school in everyday life. We must learn to recognize gifted students to provide them teaching that corresponds to their abilities. The reliable identification of giftedness is challenging. The mathematically gifted student brings both challenges and opportunities for teaching. There is a variety of differentiation methods to be used in teaching mathematics depending on pupils' needs and on the resources of the schools. The purpose of this study was to find out how the class teachers define mathematically gifted students, to find out the differentiation ways of teaching mathematics and to find out the class teachers' experiences of differentiation in mathematics. Methods. The study was a qualitative case study. The survey was conducted by interviewing the three class teachers, who had been selected for the research because of their interest of differentiation in mathematics. The direction based content analysis was used for the analysis of the research material. Results and conclusions. The teachers recognized the features of mathematical giftedness in their pupils. However, it was challenging for them to identify whether the students are really gifted or only a very successful at school work. The teachers used many ways to differentiate teaching of mathematics. Especially functional teaching was used as a mean to differentiate teaching. The teachers' experiences of differentiation in mathematics were very positive. The results of the study can be used by class teachers when they plan their differentiation in mathematics.

The aim of this study was to examine inclusive teaching and its effects on the learning of mathematically gifted students. When talking about inclusion, a lot of emphasis is placed on students who need support, and gifted students are easily ignored. According to the Finnish Constitution (731/1999), 16§, everyone must be guaranteed an equal opportunity to receive education according to their abilities and special needs. The coverage of the topic largely focuses on the workload of inclusion and the work burnout of teachers. Previous studies have shown that teachers approach inclusion from many points of view, but without sufficient resources, its implementation can even harm students' learning. I also base my research on different talent theories. The aim of the study is to find out teachers' experiences of implementing inclusion and the differentiation it requires. The goal is to understand how teachers apply inclusive teaching in practice and how they consider the needs of gifted students in inclusive mathematics teaching. I collected the research material by interviewing six Finnish classroom teachers and one mathematics subject teacher. The interviews were carried out using a semi-structured method. I used a qualitative phenomenographic research sample to analyze the data, on the basis of which I formed the description categories used in the results section. The research results showed that all the interviewed teachers agreed that there is an important ideology behind inclusive teaching, but that it is difficult to implement in practice due to the lack of resources. The planning and implementation of inclusive teaching requires a lot from teachers, because the materials and teaching methods should be thought out individually for each student. The use of a special teacher and small group teaching were seen as a solution, especially in inclusive mathematics teaching. According to the results, the characteristics of mathematically gifted students were speed in doing tasks, and especially verbal mathematical problems did not present challenges to the students. Differentiation was carried out with the help of different games, puzzles, additional handouts, paired tasks and verbal math tasks. Based on the results, the implementation of inclusion at the desired level does not work to the advantage of every student with the current resources.

The purpose of this study was to examine mathematically gifted students in a teacher's point of view. The students examined were on a second grade. Research questions were: 1. How does the teacher's define gifted students? 2. How should the mathematically gifted second graders education be differentiated? 3. What do the teachers think about the differentiation methods used? The differentiation methods that were used were strategy games and problem-solving tasks. The theory is about giftedness and especially mathematical giftedness. Three giftedness theories that help to describe the diversity of giftedness are introduced. The second theory chapter is about differentiation. The study is a qualitative research. There were four teachers participating. Each one got two differentiation methods to try. After the trial period the teachers were interviewed about the methods and giftedness. They were also interviewed about the differentiation methods that they may have used before the research. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed with content analyses. The answers were categorized based on the interview themes. The teachers defined that gifted student is someone who has specific skills in some areas. They also said that gifted student is fast and has the ability and desire to solve problems and find more information. Based on the information received from the research, teaching of mathematically gifted students should be differentiated by giving the appropriate level of activities. Methods tested during the trial period were found useful, but not in a context of differentiation. The teachers thought that the methods were helpful and all of the teacher told that they will use them again later.

The purpose of this study was to examine how students' in faculty of behavioural sciences understand and determine concept of giftedness, gifted student and teaching methods of gifted students. Research questions were (1) How do you understand and determine the concept of giftedness? (2) How do you recognize a gifted student? (3) How should the teaching of gifted students be differentiated and with what kind of methods? The first section of theory defined giftedness and what is giftedness and also teachers being determiners of giftedness. The second section of theory defined differentiation teaching in gifted students' point of view. The third section defined boundaries for teaching in elementary school. This study was a qualitative research completed with quantitative figures. The research material was gathered from students in faculty of behavioural sciences with a questionnaire. Materials were analyzed with theory-based content analyses. Similarities and differences was found between the research material and the research theory. As was assumed the was no inclusive concept of giftedness to be found based on this study. Also, the recognition of gifted student was found to be difficult and more or less the gifted seemed to be a student who was performing academically well. Problem solving, differentiation in lessons and extra assignments seemed to be the best methods of teaching to gifted students. The least effective was acceleration and quantitative augmentation of assignments.