Browsing by Subject "mediasuhde"

In a mediated society, the importance of media education is emphasised, and it is important that media education and news are processed with children and young people in schools. News aimed at children offer teachers a good way to discuss about current affairs with children, as well as provide media education. This study examines how news and current topics are handled in primary schools and utilized as part of teaching. The study also examines the importance of news aimed at children for teachers and pupils. The subject of the study is Helsingin Sanomat’s Children's News, a news media aimed at children in Helsingin Sanomat. Children's news is commonly utilized in schools, but there is no information on how Children’s news is used in schools. In addition, research on the educational use of news and news for children is largely focused on international research, so the aim of this study is also to produce research information on the topic specifically in the Finnish context. This study is a qualitative case study that examined Children's news in educational use and also teachers' and pupils’ experiences on educational use of and more generally on Children's news. The data of this study consisted of semi-structured themed interviews with primary school teachers and of a teaching experiment which was conducted on the basis of the interviews. The data in the experiment was collected from primary school pupils using a questionnaire and semi-structured themed interviews. The data was collected in two phases in 2021 and 2022. The method of analysis for both data sets was qualitative content analysis. Based on this study, Children's news was utilized in teaching weekly and specifically as part of the actual teaching. The Children's news broadcast, which most of the pupils also mentioned that they liked, was exploited the most in the teaching. Children's news was used most frequently in Finnish language and literature lessons, but also, for example, as part of the work on transversal competence skills such as learning skills. Educational situations with Children’s news were not usually very planned and the planning appeared particularly as checking the news topics beforehand as well as by the acquisition of any additional information. The main methods of teaching with Children's News were discussions and written methods of working. Interviews with teachers also highlighted the importance of handling news in teaching, as well as the importance of news aimed specifically to children. Pupils also felt that following the news was a positive thing and being informed about world events was important. The results show that Children's News offers opportunities for a wide range of uses in primary school education, including media education, integrative instruction and as part of the work on transversal competence skills. I hope that this study will provide examples and perspectives on educational use of news and media education and encourages to use of the news as part of teaching.