Browsing by Subject "interventio"

Goals. The objective of this Master´s Thesis was to examine the development of learning to learn and thinking skills of 5th graders with special needs during the school year intervention. Another objective was to examine which thinking and learning to learn skills would develop and which not. The specific interest was to find out differences and similarities between the students with special educational needs and general education students. The theories used in this thesis are Piaget´s and Demetriou´s theories of cognitive development. Thinking and learning to learn skills and development of those have been current topics in studies of behavioural sciences. There have been few intervention studies in Finland too, where the de-velopment of children´s learning to learn skills have been examined during several years. In six-years intervention study showed how the future working life demands thinking and reasoning skills for problem solving, and it can be influenced already at the primary school (Vainikainen, Wüstenberg, Kupiainen, Hotulainen, & Hautamäki, 2015). In the new national core curriculum (2014) the transversal competence is essential and one of the multidisciplinary modules is thinking and learning to learn. (POPS 2014, 20.) Methods. The participants of this study consisted of the 5th graders in the municipalities of Akaa, Lappeenranta and Liperi, who responded to the evaluation study of learning to learn during the school year 2017–2018 (N=245). In this study those students who were in the lowest quarter regarding to tasks of competence were separated as own group. The compaction of data was executed with online tasks of competence and online inquiries related to attitude both in autumn and spring. The data was analysed by using the independent samples t-test. Results and conclusions. There were no significant differences between the experimental and the control group. The only variable which exceeded the significant level, was deduction. In the comparison of the lowest and the highest quartet´s results there were significant changes in the group variables of competence. Instead no significant changes between the beliefs were noticed. Compared to the earlier research, it seems one-year intervention study is too short to show the differences.

Fraction knowledge is central for daily activities, such as cooking and personal finance, but many students have difficulty with fractions. Fraction knowledge has been found to predict later mathematical performance in comprehensive school. Virtual manipulatives (VM) and concrete manipulatives (CM) are effective approaches to teaching fractions, but previous research has not been able to reach a consensus on which manipulatives are the most effective. This quasi-experimental study employed a pre- and post-test design to investigate the differential effects of VM and CM in a fraction intervention on students’ fraction skills. In addition to fraction skills, students’ arithmetical fluency was measured. Fidelity of intervention, social validity and time-efficiency of the manipulatives were also investigated. Fourth and fifth grade participants (N = 115) from Southern Finland were assigned to VM and CM intervention groups. The intervention was implemented during six 45-minute lessons over two weeks. Lesson contents were the same for both groups in spite of the manipulative. Results revealed that the CM group outperformed the VM group in fraction skills, which suggests that CM should be favored in fraction interventions. Additional implications for research and practice are discussed.

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin autismiluokan oppilaiden fyysisen väkivaltakäyttäytymiseen yhteydessä olevia oppilas- ja opetusympäristötekijöitä. Tutkimuksen kohderyhmänä oli kaikki Suomen autismiluokkien oppilaat ja vertailuryhminä oli EHA1- ja EHA2- luokan oppilaita. Tutkimusote oli kvantitatiivinen, tutkimusaineisto kerättiin kyselylomakkeilla. Tutkimuskyselyyn vastasivat luokkien opettajat. Aineiston käsittelyssä pääasialliset analyysimenetelmät olivat faktori-, varianssi- ja regressioanalyysi. Tutkimuksen pääongelmat: 1. Millaista on tutkituilla oppilailla esiintynyt fyysinen väkivaltakäyttäytyminen? 2. Millaiset oppilastekijät ovat yhteydessä fyysiseen väkivaltakäyttäytymiseen? 3. Miten luokkatoiminnot ja autismiluokan henkilökunnan toiminta ovat yhteydessä oppilaiden fyysiseen väkivaltakäyttäytymiseen? Tutkimustulokset osoittivat, että autismiluokan oppilaiden fyysinen väkivaltakäyttäytyminen oli huomattavasti vertailuryhmien (EHA1 Ja EHA2) oppilaita runsaampaa. Autismiluokan oppilaiden yleisimpiä fyysisen väkivaltakäyttäytymisen muotoja olivat toisiin kohdistuneet lyömiset, puremiset, raapimiset tukistamiset ja tönimiset. Itseen kohdistui eniten puremista ja lyömistä. Autistien akateemiset taidot olivat tutkimuksen mukaan selvästi heidän sosiaalisia taitojaan paremmat. Runsaimmin fyysistä väkivaltakäyttäytymistä raportoitiin olevan niillä autismiluokan oppilailla, joilla oli hyvät akateemiset, mutta heikot sosiaaliset taidot. Väkivaltakäyttäytymistä edeltävissä tilanteissa ja toiminnoissa korostui yleisimmin yllätys-, siirtymis- ja odottamistilanteet. Väkivaltaa edeltävät vuorovaikutustilanteet olivat pääosin henkilökunnan johtamia käskynantotilanteita. Näissä tilanteissa oppilasta ohjattiin vaatimuksilla tai kielloilla. Fyysiseen väkivaltatilanteeseen puuttumiseen käytetyistä välittömistä interventiomenetelmistä yleisin oli fyysinen ohjaaminen. Tällä ohjausmuodoilla oli heikoin oppilaan rauhoittumista edistävä vaikutus. Parhaimmat intervention vaikutukset saatiin huomiotta jättämisellä tai huomion siirtämisellä muualle. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys perustui pääosin Kauffmanin sosiaalis-kognitiiviseen väkivaltateoriaan ja Schoplerin autistien häiriökäyttäytymistä kuvaavaan malliin. Kokonaisotos autismiluokan oppilaista antoi hyvän kuvan koko Suomen autismiluokilla esiintyvästä fyysisen väkivallan ilmiöstä. Tutkimuksen käytäntöön sovellettavuus liittyy autistien opetuksen kehittämiseen, fyysisen väkivaltakäyttäytymisen ennaltaehkäisyn suunnittelutyössä ja opetushenkilökunnan väkivallan kohtaamisen tukemiseen

Previous studies have shown that social-emotional skills can be taught in schools. The purpose of this study was to plan and conduct an intervention that can successfully develop students' social-emotional competence. The goals of the intervention were to answer to the students' individual needs and influence the social problems of the class as well as shape the social field of the classroom. The intervention was executed in the context of a research practicum. The research question that guided the study is; what kind of development in students' social-emotional skills and sociometric status can be found due to the implemented intervention, and how does the teacher of the class assess the intervention. This study was carried out by using a mixed methods approach. The focus group that took part in the intervention consisted of the students of one classroom (N = 24) and their teacher who also oversaw the research practicum. The quantitative data of the study was collected by using a multisource assessment of social competence scale. The data of self and teacher ratings was then analysed by using a paired samples t-test. The qualitative data of the study consisted of the interviews of both the teacher and the students. The acquired material was analysed by using content analysis and factual analysis. The students also took a sociometric test before and after the intervention. The results of the analysed quantitative data showed no statistically significant improvement on the student's self ratings of social competence. The teacher's assessments showed significant development on only one dimension of the scale. This was explained by the size of the sample and the students' developed understanding of social-emotional competence. However, the sociometric results showed substantial development in the status of peer rejected students and showed that no child was systematically excluded from the peer group after the intervention. The interviews also attested that both the students and their teacher found the intervention to have greatly improved the situation of the class. The teacher also found the contents and overall execution of the intervention practical and solidarity improving. The results were consistent with the findings of previous studies.

Background and aims. The most common and persistent symptom of aphasia is word retrieval deficit, anomia. There is evidence of selective verb retrieval problems amongst non-fluent aphasic speakers. Training verbs in sentence context increases verb naming accuracy in naming tests and enhances verb usage and the use of well-formed syntactic structures in connected speech. Especially intensive interventions in which training takes place in communicative contexts may be beneficial. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a sentence-level verb intervention affects verb naming and the structures and vocabulary of the connected speech of Finnish non-fluent aphasic speakers. Methods. Two speakers with chronic Broca's aphasia participated in this study. Markku, a 35-year-old man, and Annikki, a 72-year-old woman, had both become aphasic due to a single stroke in the left hemisphere. The intervention programme lasted 6–7 weeks and consisted of 15 training sessions of 90 minutes (a total of 22,5 hours). In six different speech production tasks the participants were trained to place obligatory and optional sentence elements around a verb. The target was to promote verb usage in narratives. The effects of the intervention were evaluated by examining verb naming accuracy and speed in a naming test, by calculating the mean length of utterances and the proportion of empty speech in connected speech, and analysing the syntax and the vocabulary of narratives. Results. Markku's aphasia quotient (WAB) increased by 20 points after the intervention as his speech became more fluent and informative. There were no changes in Annikki's aphasia quotient. The intervention had no effect on verb naming in a verb naming test. Both participants produced longer narratives after the intervention, but at the same time the proportion of empty speech increased in Annikki's speech. The mean lengths of utterances didn't change after the intervention. The proportion of utterances including a finite verb increased slightly in Markku's narratives. Simultaneously, the proportion of clauses with an incomplete verb phrase or no verb phrase decreased slightly. The intervention had no effect on syntactic structures in Annikki's case. The number of different verbs increased in both participants' picture description narratives, although the change was much smaller in Annikki's case. There was some evidence in Markku's case that the intervention had a small effect on the vocabulary of personal narratives and descriptions of event sequences. Discussion. The results of this study provide preliminary support for the usefulness of sentence-level verb interventions in aphasia rehabilitation in Finland. The results indicate that this intervention can have a positive effect on the number of different verbs and the number of finite verbs used in non-fluent narratives. However, the response to the intervention seems to be highly individual. The next step would be to examine the efficacy of the intervention method in a larger scale study. The intervention could be modified by increasing the intensity of training and increasing the amount of training without picture support. The intervention method is applicable in the clinical world. In addition, an aphasic speaker and their significant other can train at home using the intervention tasks, so that possible intervention results could be better maintained after the intervention is withdrawn.

Earlier studies have shown that in Finland immigrant children have on average poorer numeracy skills than native Finnish children. More and more children with immigrant background enter schools so effective means to support their numeracy skills are highly needed. The study explores if immigrant children's early numeracy skills can be supported with an intensive early numeracy intervention programme. A total of ten six-year-old immigrant children participated in the study in a preschool in the metropolitan area. Half of the children had intense training in early numeracy skills during the day in preschool twice a week for about eight weeks. The other half of the children formed a control group who participated in preschool activities as usual. The children's early numeracy skills were measured with Early Numeracy Test (Van Luit, Van de Rijt & Aunio, 2006) as pretest, immediate posttest and delayed posttest. There was also a logbook that was filled during and immediately after the training sessions so that assessment of fidelity would be possible. The participants' background information and level of Finnish skills were asked from the preschool teachers. These pieces of information were used as control variable. The children in the intervention group improved their early numeracy skills during the intervention more than the children in the control group. Especially the effect was seen in understanding mathematical relations. The intervention group performed statistically significantly better in the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest than the control group. In counting skills the results weren't significant. In the Early Numeracy Test (Van Luit, Van de Rijt & Aunio, 2006) as a whole, the intervention group performed significantly better in the immediate posttest, but the gap was not statistically significant in the delayed posttest. This study shows that by supporting immigrant children's early numeracy skills with an evidence-based intervention programme, their skills in understanding mathematical relations improve significantly and permanently. The immigrant children can also get their numeracy skills to the same level with the native Finnish children and so the intervention programme for one can prevent them from dropping out of the school system later.

Objectives. The first objective of this study was to find out how the fifth and sixth graders, who participated in an intervention of positive pedagogy with an emphasis on character strengths, describe themselves being at their very best. The second objective of the study was to discover the potential changes in their understanding on the matter, during the intervention. Methods. The intervention took place in spring 2015 with 93 students involved. The empirical material of this study consists of the before- and after-essays on the matter of "Me at my very best" of 54 students among the original participants. The material has been analyzed in the spirit of the grounded theory -method, where applicable and with the help of the computer program ATLAS.ti. Results and conclusions. The students found a gratifying amount of reasons in their selves and their lives to be happy or proud about. The bulk of the student's descriptions of being at their very best involved a sense of achievement in hobbies or schoolwork, especially in competitive sports. Also, helping others and bringing joy to them was regarded very rewarding. In the essays that were written after the intervention, character strengths and other immaterial experiences were more appreciated than material things. The strongest changes occurred among the students, whose self-image or status in their family/schoolclass, according their essays, used to be somewhat weak or unstable. The students, who already before the intervention had a strong, positive self-image and/or did competitive sports, expressed little change in their essays or none at all.

This study uses Carol Dweck’s (2000, 2006) theory of mindsets and Barry Zimmerman’s (2000) theory of self-regulated learning as theoretical frameworks. The aim of this study is to find connections between these theories focusing on “I can learn!” -teaching period that implements growth mindset pedagogy. According to previous studies self-regulated learning is complicated and slowly evolving phenomenon, but very important in learning. The growth mindset, for the “I can learn!” teaching period, can also be seen as important in learning. “I can learn!” -teaching period for third grade was the focus of this study. The data consisted of videos that summarised the six classes in “I can learn!” -teaching period and their transcriptions. The data was collected as a part of Kirsi Tirri’s Copernicus research. The data was analysed as deductive content analysis using computer program, ATLAS.ti. The focus of the analysis was how growth mindset pedagogy and self-regulated learning were implemented in different moments during the teaching period. The second aspect of the analysis was the occurrence of the theories throughout the period. According to the results of this study, growth mindset pedagogy and self-regulated learning are implemented mainly based on the content during “I can learn!” -teaching period. The results also indicate a connection between the two theories, although only learning strategy related aspects of the theories were strongly implemented in teaching moments. However, because of the limited results, they can only be considered as indicative, which raises the need for further research on the topic. However, teaching based on the "I can learn!" videos can be seen as a useful tool for familiarizing oneself with using growth mindset pedagogy in teaching and for improving the self-regulation of students’ learning. Also, based on the results, the videos of the teaching period could be used, for example, in the training of teacher students or as tools for teachers.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to find out how Mind UpTM -curriculum effects to the children's development in the early childhood education. This study is the part of the Pieni Oppiva Mieli – research project in the University of Helsinki. Program executes Mind UpTM curriculum, which develops children's relaxing, concentration and emotional regulation in the Finnish early childhood education. The focus in this study was to find out how Pieni Oppiva Mieli –intervention (POM) effects to emotional control, social confidence and prosocial skills in the peer relations. According to former studies prosocial behaviour among each other is children's congenetial feature. The peer relations are formed in a quite early phase in the toddlerhood and the lack of social skills might lead to a risk of social rejection. Exercises where children relax and adjust their behaviour together in the peer group effects to the stress regulation, social emotional skills and school achievements in the school age. Methods: The study was conducted in autumn 2015. There were 463 children from three to seven years of age from 30 kindergarten groups taking part in the study in the Helsinki capital area. Children were divided into intervention groups (N=387) and to control groups (N=76). In the interventions groups the execution of the Mind UpTM curriculum was a daily routine for 30 weeks. Core in the curriculum were POM -exercises (brain brakes) three times per day where children were learning relaxation, concentration and recognition of their body sensations. The study data was gathered from KTA scale, which is based on the international Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale -method of evaluation of the strengths. The data was analyzed with repeated measures variance analysis and with non-parametric Kruskall-Wallis test (SPSS version 23). Results and conclusions: The result of the study indicates that Pieni Oppiva Mieli –intervention has positive effects to the children's emotion regulation skills. Non-parametric analysis noted effects of intervention also in social confidence and prosocial development. Review of the background variable in the whole data demonstrates that teachers estimated more strengths to girls than the boys in the emotion control and behavioural skills. Children with special needs have fewer strengths in all parts of the evaluation than other peers. It is important in the early childhood education to support children's emotional regulation and prosocial development and via that way prevent negative group phenomenon like bullying and social exclusion in the peer group.

The aim of this study is to describe the connections between Monilukutaitoa opitaan ilolla (MOI) -development project’s Storybook-material and children’s storytelling skills – a pilot study of such topic in the field. The research questions are: how the use of the Storybook -material I connected to children's storytelling based on story grammar model and what kind of stories children create within the sociocultural concept of story. This study is guided by the theoretical framework of developmental psychology, development of language and as well as a sociocultural view of the story. Methods. This study was carried out in a pre-school group in a city of southern Finland. A total of nine children participated in the study. The study has utilized the design of the intervention study and examines the differences between the experimental and control groups. Five children participated in the intervention carried out with the help of the Storybook -material and four children formed the control group. The data collection method was video recording of children’s free storytelling. A total of 16 stories were told by the children. Five children in the experimental group participated in the Storybook project between storytelling skills surveys. All the material was analyzed with discourse analysis and the structure of the story was analyzed with story grammar model and with Story grammar rating scale (Gardill & Jitendra, 1999). Results and conclusions. The main result of this study is that the connection between the use of the Storybook-material and children’s storytelling cannot be confirmed. The study concludes that children with deficiency in narrative skills benefit the most from the story telling exercices. The same result has occured in many previous studies. Research also shows that children occasionally refrain from displaying their narrative skills in storytelling situations and there is variation in the narrative. The children who participated in this study produced stories according to the story grammar model and the storytelling culture can be seen in children’s stories. The stories were entities with a beginning, ending, sequence of events and characters.