Browsing by Subject "interventiotutkimus"

Over the last decade computers have become widespread in primary schools and typing has become a common task in school life alongside handwriting. Handwriting and typing differ in many ways, although similarities can also be found. Previous studies have indicated that in studying languages, handwriting has benefits in memorisation over typing. This study was conducted to explore if there was a similar effect between writing methods in memorisation in environmental studies. The study was carried out as an experimental intervention study, in which participants practiced memorising Finnish plant and animal species. 42 third-grade students from three classes from a primary school in Helsinki participated in the study. Within each class the participants were randomly assigned into two groups, 22 of them writing by hand and 20 of them typing on a laptop. All participants performed all the exercises and memorisation tests according to the assigned writing method. First, a baseline test was performed to determine how many of the 30 species the participants already knew. After the baseline test, the participants practiced four times 15 minutes. In the practice sessions they wrote on a form the Finnish names of each species five times under the photos of the species. During the practice, the participants were instructed to check the names of the species from a reference sheet. The number of completed tasks was recorded as a variable measuring the amount of practice. After the practice sessions, memorisation was measured with a test on the same species without the reference sheet. The data was analysed with two covariance analyses: a pre-registered repeated measures covariance analysis and an exploratory covariance analysis, both using the amount of practicing as a covariate. When the amount of training had been controlled, neither of the covariance analyses showed statistically significant effect between the writing methods on memorisation. Instead, the amount of practice and previous knowledge had a statistical significance on memorisation. This study provided new information on the impact of writing methods on memorisation in the context of environmental studies. The results showed that the writing method had no effect on memorisation when studying environmental studies. Based on the limitations of this study, no strong recommendations can be made on the advantages or benefits of either writing method in environmental studies. Further research is needed to provide a stronger scientific basis for the possible use of digital devices in schools.

Objectives. Challenging behavior or behavioral challenges among students are commonplace in schools. Various behavioral challenges, which manifest in many different ways including violent behavior, adversely affect the classroom atmosphere and learning. Because challenging behavior is prevalent in primary schools, solutions need to be found. This master's thesis examines how the quality of intervention studies influencing the behavior challenges of primary school-aged children. Specifically, I focus on intervention studies aimed at positively impacting students' behavior through the actions of classroom adults. Methods. This research was conducted as a systematic literature review. The search material was from the Helsinki University Library's advanced search function, logged in with Helsinki University credentials. Six interventions out of eighteen were evaluated that met the criteria. The method used for quality assessment was the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP), originally developed for use in healthcare, which guides the examination of research in various domains. The EPHPP method is suitable for assessing the quality of intervention studies conducted in special education. Results and conclusions. As a main result, is concluded that the reporting quality of intervention studies varies. Selection bias, study design, data collection methods and withdrawals and drop-outs were reported as strong or moderate in all intervention studies evaluated using the EPHPP method. In intervention studies, there was variation in the confounders from weak to strong. Additionally, the observation was made that the blinding of intervention studies varied in quality from weak to moderate. As a result of the analysis, two out of six intervention studies were rated overall as strong, and three intervention studies were rated as moderate. One study was rated overall as weak because EPHPP was not the best method for evaluating this intervention.

Aims. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Nele and Noa in Rainforest intervention on executive functions (EF) of children with intensive special education needs in the school context. The field of research of executive functions is wide and there is no generally accepted definition of executive functions. Previous studies indicate that executive functions play an important role in children's learning and academic performance processes. It is also possible to influence the skills of executive functions with different kinds of interventions. According to previous research, Nele and Noa in Rainforest intervention has demonstrated positive effects on generally supported children's executive functions, but its effectiveness has not been studied on children with intensive special education needs. Children with intensive special education needs have been found to have various challenges in EFs. Interventions aiming to improve EF skills are therefore being called for. Methods. The study involved a total of 57 pupils, aged 5-13years, with intensive special education needs from seven different classes of extended compulsory education. The children were split in two groups. The experimental group (n = 31) performed individual tasks and played the pair and small group games of Nele and Noa in Rainforest intervention while the control group (n = 26) attended school normally and participated in the intervention only after the research data was collected. Intervention continued for six weeks and the experimental group participated in the intervention exercises three times a week. Children's executive function skills were assessed using ATTEX, Attention and executive function rating inventory. Analyses were done with non-parametric analyses, like Mann-Witney U-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results and conclusions. There was a slight positive development of executive function skills in the experimental group in all areas of ATTEX during the intervention, but the results were statistically significant only in the skills of motor hyperactivity and EF – evaluation. The effect sizes of the intervention were medium-sized on total score, shifting of attention and EF -evaluation. The results suggest that it is possible to develope EFs on children with intensive special education needs with the intervention. However, based on this study, it is not possible to draw general conclusions on the effectiveness of the intervention for the EF skills and it calls for future research to investigate the effectiveness of intervention, for example, with a variety of indicators.