Browsing by Subject "lapset"

The aim of this study was to explore visual representations of the countryside made by children aged 9–10 years and living in urban and rural environments. The study investigates the children's images of the countryside: its natural and built environment, the people living there, its location in the children's opinion and the potential things to do there. In this study I also try to explain from where these images of the countryside have originated. In addition to this, the study explores the influence of the children's living area to their image of rural environments. Previous studies show that among adults the image of rural environments is usually positive. The image consists of a clean environment, peace and nature. Rural landscape is often thought to be either an agricultural or a cottage landscape. There are also idyllic images of the countryside where children are playing outside in the nature. There are no previous studies to be found on representations of rural environments concerning children from 9 to 10 years. The results of this study were based on 61 drawings and questionnaires collected from 3rd to 4th grade pupils during one lesson at their school in the spring of 2015. Out of these 61, there were 27 pupils living in rural area and 34 pupils living in urban area. This research is qualitative and executed with visual methods. The pupils were asked to draw a picture of the countryside and answer a semi-structured questionnaire. The drawings were then analysed by the visual content analysis and the questionnaires with the content analysis. Based on the results of this research, it was found that most of the representations of rural environments, regardless of the place of living of the drawer, described a summer day at the farm. Mostly there was a house, some animals, a field, the sun and a tree in the picture. The atmosphere of the countryside seemed to be considered positive because of the smiling people, the sun in the sky and the calm events drawn in the picture. The built environment of the countryside consisted of houses and animal shelters whereas the natural environment consisted of animals, trees and fields. Animals and people were understood to be the residents of the rural environments. The activities in the countryside were considered to take place outside and were related to animals or agriculture. Most of the pupils living in the city did not know or could not tell where the countryside is situated. Some of the pupils living in the rural environment did not perceive themselves living in the countryside. The images of the rural environments were mostly based on the personal experiences which 80 per cent of the pupils had and on the knowledge they have learned from the relatives. The personal experience of the countryside as a living environment was shown in detailed drawings portraying everyday actions in the pictures.

Objectives: 18 percent of Finnish children have some kind of articulation problems when starting their school path. Lack of speech therapists and unequal spread of these professionals has reduced possibility to receive speech therapy for mild problems. Instead resources are allocated for clients with severe speech and language disorders. In some municipalities parents and special education teachers are already responsible for the remediation of articulation problems. The aim of this study was to identify if Äännekoulu-website (www.aannekoulu.fi) can help to rehabilitate articulation problems and if the site will meet the needs of the parents struggling with their children' articulation problem. Methods: The study was qualitatively centred mixed method design that had also some quantitative elements. 21 children between the ages of 5 and 7 with /r/ articulation problem participated in this study. Children were tested three times. Children's spontaneous development of /r/ was controlled by having one month break after the first testing. After the second test families received the right to use Äännekoulu practice materials. Families were instructed to use the site for two months just as regular paying customers would do. Outcome of the intervention was observed during the third test. Families were also given a phone call after one and a half months of the last test to explore the possible changes in the /r/ articulation. In addition families were asked to keep a record of their home practices and answer in a survey concerning the Äännekoulu intervention period. Results and conclusions: Six families dropped out from the intervention. Five children found the right /r/ spontaneously. 12 families participated in the remediation period and one child found the missing /r/. Nine children had no changes in their articulation. From these nine children three continued their practice after the real intervention. During one month of practice two out of these three children found the /r/ completely and one learned to do long /r/-vibration. Families didn't practice a lot and they were unsatisfied with the amount of practice. According to the parents health issues within the family, burdensome family situations, lack of time, child's unwillingness to complete assignments, technical difficulties and laziness were the biggest barriers for practicing. Families considered Äännekoulu to be a good way to practice. Families were pleased about the nice games and the possibility to practise whenever and wherever since the exercises were available online. Unfortunately families trained impractically without knowing it and actually reinforced the incorrect articulation. Parents thought that the visual look of Äännekoulu should be revised and some of them also longed for more diverse games. Still the most crucial target for development in Äännekoulu is the instructions of the assignments. The model of the site hasn't been clear to the users even though families didn't consider the website to be confusing. It's clear that the the instructions have been insufficient since only one family realised how to progress accordingly. On the basis of this study it can be stated that speech therapist's guidance is significant when rehabilitating articulation problems. In the future it would be beneficial to explore, what kind of home instructions help families to execute their role in a best way possible, what is the role of a speech therapist in the future especially when considering telepractice or other technological services and can Äännekoulu fulfill the gap in the field of articulation remediation.

Objectives. The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to assess the methodological quality of intervention studies examining the effect of digital learning games on the reading skills of children with or at risk of reading difficulties. Learning games can serve as a tool to motivate and engage in learning when a child needs more time and repetition to learn. Learning games are utilized in teaching, but the results for their effectiveness vary. The target groups for special needs education are small and heterogeneous in their skills, which makes it challenging to demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions. Methods. The dissertation was carried out as a systematic literature review using PRISMA guidelines. The studies to be evaluated were retrieved from the databases ERIC (Proquest), PsycINFO (Ovid), SCOPUS (Elsevier), Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) and Web of Science. The studies selected for review (n = 13) were published between years 2011 and 2022, were peer-reviewed and English-language intervention studies. The target group was children with reading difficulties or at a risk of reading difficulties, and the intervention sought to influence reading skills through digital learning games. The evaluation was carried out based on the criteria of the EPHPP framework. Results and conclusions. The majority (8) of the intervention studies were rated as strong, three as moderate and two as weak. For the study design, all were assessed as strong for evaluation, while for selection bias and blinding, all studies were rated as only moderate. For confounders, all but one was rated as moderate. Weak ratings were given to only a few studies for data collection methods and withdrawals and dropouts. Based on the results of this study, there is the most room for improvement in the reporting of these two parts to ensure the reliability of the studies.

Value research has previously focused on adults and young people, because either the children's value world is thought to be an unfinished process or the development of a suitable measurement has been too challenging. Research on children's values has, however, attracts an increasing amount of interest. Earlier studies have shown that the value structures and preferences of children and adults resemble each other without regard to culture. This research will help to create an initial review of the values and preferences of Finnish, more specifically, Espoo primary school children. The theoretical reference framework for the research is the theory of universal values by Shalom Schwartz (1992). The study was conducted with 228 Espoo primary school students. The material was collected from two test schools with Picture Based Values Survey for Children (PBVS-C) that was modified to the Finnish context. Data collected on four different test days were analyzed using the SPSS program. Value variables and their mutual structure were studied using Spearman's correlation and multidimensional scaling (MDS). The gender and age differences of the value preferences were analyzed with MANOVA. The values of the Espoo primary schools students are in sync with previous research results, both in terms of structures and preferences, with a few exceptions. In the future, it would be appropriate to examine the values with a more comprehensive sampling.

Aims of the Study. This Study's Aim was to find out the factors that influence Well-Being in the storycrafted stories of Finnish and Palestinian Children. In the past ten years the research of Children's Well-Being has partly developed to a more childperspective direction. Children have slowly started moving from being objects to active subjects and becoming experts of their own Well-Being. This sort of expertese and respect of Childrens own visions has been the Aim also in this Study. In the present Study the focus is on both the resources and suppressors of the Well-Being as well as the similarities and differences between the stories of the Children from two Nationalities. Awareness of the factors influencing Children's Well-Being can on it's part help the Adults working with Children to pay more attention to the things that are meaningful for Children. Methods. The Research Data was given as a ready collected data from the research project Children tell about their Well-Being – Who listens? (projectnumber 1134911), that was funded by Academy of Finland. The research consortium was a collaboration between the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu. In the University of Helsinki it was led by professor Liisa Karlsson. The Finnish stories were retrieved from the Finnish Social Sciences data archive. These stories were collected between the years 1996-2001. The Palestinian data was gathered in Lebanon among the Palestinian refugees between the years 2006-2012. Altogether the datas consist of 81 stories, of which 42 are from Finns and 39 are from Palestinians.Children in both datas were 2-12 years old. In the review of the stories the wellfare theory by Erik Allardt(1976), a Finnish sociologist, was used as a guideline. The resources and suppressors of Well-Being were monitored through Allardt's dimensions of wellfare; material conditions (having), social relationships (loving) and the societal level (being). In the analysingprocess quatifying and contets specification were used. Results and conclusions. The resources of Well-Being in the stories from both datas were home, the satisfaction of basic needs, happiness, play, peer relationships, family and the possibility to influence in their own matters. In addition to these, in the stories of the Palestinians feeling secure and the possibility to influence thorough dance were also regarded as resources. In Finnish stories also autonomous adventures with peers were labelled as resources. Suppressors for Well-Being in the stories of both datas were shortcomings of material conditions, fear and shortcomings of the possibilities to influence own matters. Suppressors in the stories of Palestinians were also the lack of peer relationships, impossibility to play or to attend school, loss of close-ones and the unsaturation of basic needs. Additional suppressors in the stories of the Finns were difficulties in play and being left alone. In the stories of Palestinian Children one can find the experiences and consequences of War from the Child's point of view. In the stories of Finnish Children material conditions and possibilities of influencing own matters were better than in the Palestinian stories. Finnish stories revealed also challenges in peer relationships. As a conclusion from the stories of the Children peer relationships, play, family, satisfaction of basic needs and the possibility to influence ones own matters appear to be meaningful for the Well-Being of Children from both countries.

Objectives. The objective of this master’s thesis is to examine child’s role in Chinese family structure by reflecting through children’s stories. The motivation for the thesis originates from increasing multiculturalism in societies, which is conveyed to encounters with children from different backgrounds. International story crafting provides information about the lives of people living in different environments (Karlsson, 2014, 123, 118, 123), that is used as medium to increase understanding of role of a child in China which in general is poorly known and understood (Haw & Kankaansivu, 2015, 11). According to Alanen (2009, 12, 22–23), public debates worldwide have raised concerns about shortening of childhood or, at worst, its early end. However, in these discussions, the primary focus has been around child’s inner circle such as parents and teachers instead of the child itself. The involvement of children and their own voices have largely been underheard (Alanen, 2009, 12, 22–23) and therefore the purpose of this thesis is to get an understanding of child's position in a family through children's voices and stories. Methods. This thesis is qualitative research where which is conducted by using content analysis as the research method. The objective the content analysis was to outline main themes which are analyzed in detail in the thesis. The literature consists of 38 stories made by Chinese children which have been collected in a kindergarten in Hunan Province, China in 2010. The children ranged from 3 to 5 years of age. Eighteen stories were collected from 5-year-olds, seven stories from 4-year-olds, and eight stories from 3-year-olds. The story crafting was conducted in Chinese, and the stories were translated to Finnish in 2011–2012. In story crafting method, an adult records a story told by a child just as the child has told it (Karlsson, Lähteenmäki & Lastikka, 2019, 37). Results and conclusions. The role of mothers was highlighted in the children’s stories. Mothers acted as a cook, caretaker, and authority. Fathers were mentioned only in four stories. Studies in China have found that the role of the father in raising children is minor (Wu, An & An, 2013, 304, 310) and in the light of the literature study, it appears that fathers have been overshadowed by mothers. Siblings and grandparents played also lesser roles. Playing with parents came up as a common activity. Compared to Western childhood, childhood in China is short and it is evident that the childhood in terms of fairy tales and play often ends at the start of school (Manninen, 2016, 103–107.). Fear of abandonment came across as a general emotion in children’s stories in relation to the family. There are an estimated 200,000 “left behind children” in Hunan Province, meaning that parents have moved to cities in pursuit of a better life (Suomen lähetysseura, 2021). The importance of childhood should thefore be acknowledged as valuable period of life.

Objectives. Children's food behavior trends in Finland are threaten by snacking, especially increased sweet snack consumption, fewer family meals and alienation from the food source. Encouraging children to health-promoting eating habits is important, as childhood diet has been found to often continue into adulthood. New methods are welcome in addition to traditional Nutrition data sharing, that take into account the child characteristic way to explore food. The topic was based on the question whether the focus on food experiences can be a factor when building the children's interest in food. The aim of this study was to describe and interpret the food experiences received by children. The study focused on the interaction between children and food culture. This study was conducted in cooperation with Centre for Food Culture Ruukku in the project Tiedosta taidoksi. New methods, such as taste classes, were used to involve children in the word of food. Methodology. The research participant group was consisted of fourth grade students (n = 44). The data contained text, observation and visual materials. The methods used were observation, questionnaire, essay writing and photography. The data was collected during the period from October to December in 2011. The analysis had two stages. At the first stage, the data was examined with Experience Triangle model. The goal of the second stage was to build a deeper understanding of children's food experience. Results and conclusions. The results show that the children's food experience requires the use of senses, the child's own participation, joy and interactivity with other people. Children have a natural interest in food, as long as made possible. Children need a stimulating and supportive atmosphere, where they can learn about the world of food. When they get the child-oriented tools, they can develop their skills, which can influence their own well-being.

The aim of this study was to investigate children's well-being by using the principles of child perspective research (Karlsson and Karimäki 2012). The purpose was to hear children's voice and listen to children's perspectives about their well-being in schoolyard. This study is part of the project "Children tell of their well-being - who listens?" TelLis, project number 1134911). The project is led by Liisa Karlsson. In the project the aim is to gain a new understanding of children's lived and experienced well-being by listening to children's narratives of well-being. I analysed 38 photographs and 38 stories that children had told by using the Storycrafting Method. The study was qualitative. Based on the results, it was found that following factors influence on children's well-being in schoolyard: possibility to act and play, cosy environment, friends, possibilities to influence, feeling of safety. The results show that following factors prevent children's well-being in schoolyard: restrictioning of play and action, untidy and unsuitable environment, problems in peer relationships, the lack of possibilities to influence, insecurity and dangerousness.

Abstract The theoretical framework for this study comes from Carol Dweck’s (2000, 2006) theory of mindsets. Mindsets impact on core beliefs that individuals hold about the malleability of qualities of the human condition. A person with a growth mindset believes that abilities can be developed. A person a with fixed mindset believes that people have a certain amount of abilities, such as talent and intelligence. Mindsets have an impact on learning results, persistence and goals. Mindset also affects on how person reacts to challenges. Whilst theory of mindsets is internationally known and well researched, there has been less research regarding young children’s mindsets. The aim of this study is to examine what are the school subjects third grade pupils like and which factors influence that. In addition, study aims to examine what factors in learning motivates third grade pupils and how mindsets are presented in pupil’s answers. This study examined third grade students from two primary schools in Helsinki. The data of this study was collected as a part of Kirsi Tirri’s Copernicus research project’s intervention which utilized growth mindset pedagogy. The data of this study was gathered before intervention. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis was performed using inductive and deductive content analysis. Statistical methods were used to examine how two factors, gender and school, impact on pupils answers. The results of this study showed that mathematics was clearly the most popular subject, which differs from the previous study. Results suggest that subject-specific motivation was most often affected by a factor inherent in the nature of the subject, such as calculation. Factors behind learning motivation highlighted learning environment, especially it’s social dimensions. Mindsets were one of the factors that affected subject-specific motivation and learning motivation. Most pupils reflected a fixed mindset. Mindsets were presented in many ways. Pupils answers highlighted attitudes towards challenge. The results also implicate that mindset can differ in different subjects.

The framework for this study comes from Carol Dweck’s (2000, 2006) theory of mindsets. Dweck has categorized mindsets between two categories: the growth mindset and the fixed mindset. A person with a fixed mindset believes these qualities are stable whereas a person with a growth mindset believes human qualities such as intelligence, skills and personality are malleable. There have been a lot of studies about mindsets, but most of the research examines the mindsets of adolescents and adults. Instead, there has been less research regarding children’s mindset and effect on them through education. This is a case study from the third grade of primary school. The data of this study was collected as a part of the Copernicus research project led by Kirsi Tirri, based on the growth mindset pedagogy. The data consisted of learning diaries completed by the third grade pupils during the teaching period called “I can learn!”. The aim of this study was to find out what things pupils mention as challenging, what kind of mistakes and failures remain in pupils’ minds. In addition, pupils were asked to describe what strategies they use when facing a challenging learning situation and how “I can learn!” -teaching period influenced earlier strategies described. The analysis was done using an inductive content analysis. The results of this study showed that challenges and mistakes mentioned by the pupils were mainly related to exercise and school subjects. In light of the results, it can be concluded that the teaching period was able to influence pupils’ thinking and attitudes towards challenges and failures. The strategies mentioned by the pupils for challenging situations increased and positive, self-talk began to appear in pupils’ responses at the end of the teaching period. We can identify increase in pupils’ growth mindset thinking as a result of I can learn! -teaching period.