Browsing by Subject "motivaatio"

Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine the motivation of 7th to 9th graders in secular ethics and the factors related to that. The study also examined the connections between the factors behind motivation and connections related to pupils background information. Pupils' interest in different contents of secular ethics was also explored. Method. This study was a quantitative survey, but it also included a qualitative section. The motivation scale of the questionnaire is based on Pintrich's (1988) MSLQ ((Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) and Ruohotie's (1993) APLQ (Abilities for Professional Learning Questionnaire). The data was collected in April 2015. 75 pupils from four schools in Helsinki answered the questionnaire. The quantitative data was analyzed by using PASW Statistics 18. The answers from qualitative section were analyzed by using content analysis. Results and conclusions. The study showed that pupils were motivated by and interested in secular ethics. Secular ethics was also regarded as an important and useful subject. Several correlating factors affected to pupils' motivation. The intrinsic orientation correlated with many motivation factors. One of the crucial findings was the strong correlation between intrinsic orientation and the way teachers interacted with the pupils. There were no differences between boys and girls in their motivation factors except (in relation to) teaching material and methods. Good grades were connected between expectations of success and beliefs of intrinsic succeeding. The study also revealed that pupils were motivated by several contents of the secular ethics but moral and ethics were the most important. The results of this study can be utilized in the teaching of secular ethics in increasing pupils' motivation.

Previous studies have shown, that disabled children exercise less than their coevals. There are also less opportunities for them to participate in various hobbies. Previous studies have also shown, that the motivation of the disabled children to exercise may be reduced by for example negative attitudes towards them, by too difficult tasks or by inadequate guidance. Purpose of this study is to find out how boys with special needs feel about their hobby, which is track and field. This study will also show what kind of motivational aspects can be found in their answers about exercises. This study is a qualitative case study following the guidelines of both phenomenological and hermeneutic research traditions. The research was made in 2011-2012 in a group intended for children with special needs. The group was established by a sports club in the metropolitan area and the researcher worked as a coach in this group. The research group consisted of four boys who were from 8 to 10 years old at the time. The research material was collected by observing and interviewing. The interviews were processed with data-driven content analysis. The focus of this study is not to generalize but to narrate the experiences of these four boys. The results show strong commitment to the hobby. The four boys remembered well all the exercises they had made and they talked about them in a very positive way. The key motivational aspects were individual guidance, constant stimulation and safe atmosphere. Competitiveness was seen as a motivational aspect in some of the answers. The small size of the group made it possible to notice the special needs of each boy. The results were similar to those of the previous studies.

Finnish elementary students’ mathematics performance is well above average in international comparison, but research shows that it is declining. Also, students’ motivation is not as strong as could be expected according to their performance. We used the person-centred approach to investigate Finnish third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students’ mathematics motivation profiles. In addition, we explored differences between the motivation profiles regarding students’ mathematics identity, performance, and their parents’ mathematics-related attitudes Participants were 304 Southern Finnish third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students from five separate schools and their parents/guardians (N=241). The surveys were conducted during spring of 2021 in the pilot stage of an international research project focusing on students’ mathematical motivation. Analysis was conducted with Mplus. Motivation profiles were derived by a latent profile analysis (LPA), additional analysis used bch and r3step methods and crosstabulation (spss). Analysis revealed three distinct types of math-related motivation profiles: highly motivated, non motivated and indifferent. Further investigation of the profiles showed that students’ higher mathematics identity is represented strongly in highly motivated group, as are students’ mathematics performance scores. Parents’ self-reported perceived low mathematics competence is highly represented in those students belonging to the non motivated profile. The article: ” Examining motivation profile differences across students' mathematics identity, performance, and parents’ attitudes” is planned to be published in the LUMAT-journal.

PISA-studies (Linnakylä, 2004; Sulkunen et al, 2010) and evaluations of education (ia. Harjunen & Rautopuro, 2015) show that young boys read little and they have poor reading skills. But there are still opposite results: Merisuo-Storm and Soininen (2014) say that students in elementary school largely see reading as a positive hobby. The aim of this Master's Thesis was to study and analyze the characteristics of the reading hobby of third grade boys. The aim was achieved by studying the time boys use to read, their favourite books and their attitudes towards reading. This study was performed as a qualitative case study in four schools around the Helsinki metropolitan area. 33 third grade boys filled out a questionnaire after which ten of them were chosen to be interviewed. The data from the questionnaires was categorized and adapted as graphs and the data from the interviews was analyzed by data based content analysis. The attitudes of third grade boys towards reading were positive. Nearly all boys who participated in this study read non-school texts daily. Most of them read less than 30 minutes a day. The boys liked funny and exciting literature the most. They read more books than magazines or electronic literature. The reading hobby of their parents and family members didn't automatically impact how the boys read. All of the ten interviewed boys thought that reading is important. Most of them based that on the importance of reading skill as an instrumental value. Third grade boys had very varied reading skills. Some of them still read picture books while others read long fantasy novels. This puts schools in a challenging position as readers of every level need to be offered meaningful reading experiences during literary education. According to this study, negative regard towards reading seems to affiliate with older students. The role of schools is remarkable when talking about maintaining and encouraging the reading motivation of children so it could carry on to adulthood.

Previous studies indicate that positive learning experiences are related to academic achievement as well as to well-being. On the other hand, emotional and motivational problems in studying may pose a risk for both academic achievement and well-being. Thus, emotions and motivation have an increasing role in explaining university students learning and studying. The relations between emotions, motivation, study success and well-being have been less frequently studied. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of academic emotions, motivational factors and problems in studying students experienced five days before an exam of an activating lecture course, and the relations among these factors as well as their relation to self-study time and study success. Furthermore, the effect of all these factors on well-being, flow experience and academic achievement was examined. The term academic emotion was defined as emotion experienced in academic settings and related to studying. In the present study the theoretical background to motivational factors was based on thinking strategies and attributions, flow experience and task value. Problems in studying were measured in terms of exhaustion, anxiety, stress, lack of interest, lack of self-regulation and procrastination. The data were collected in December 2009 in an activating educational psychology lecture course by using a questionnaire. The participants (n=107) were class and kindergarten teacher students from the University of Helsinki. Most of them were first year students. The course grades were also gathered. Correlations and stepwise regression analysis were carried out to find out the factors that were related to or explained study success. The clusters that presented students' problems in studying as well as thinking strategies and attributions, were found through hierarchical cluster analysis. K-means cluster analysis was used to form the final groups. One-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis test and crosstabs were conducted to see whether the students in different clusters varied in terms of study success, academic emotions, task value, flow, and background variables. The results indicated that academic emotions measured five days before the exam explained about 30 % of the variance of the course grade; exhaustion and interest positively, and anxiety negatively. In addition, interest as well as the self-study time best explained study success on the course. The participants were classified into three clusters according to their problems in studying as well as their thinking strategies and attributions: 1) ill-being, 2) carefree, and 3) committed and optimistic students. Ill-being students reported most negative emotions, achieved the worst grades, experienced anxiety rather than flow and were also the youngest. Carefree students, on the other hand, expressed the least negative emotions and spent the least time on self-studying, and like committed students, experienced flow. In addition, committed students reported positive emotions the most often and achieved the best grades on the course. In the future, more in-depth understanding how and why especially young first year students experience their studying hard is needed, because early state of the studies is shown to predict later study success.

According to studies, physical exercise has a strong connection with learning and condition of human brain, and it has been linked with academic performance. Most of the studying in university is done while sitting down and very little active teaching methods are being used. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study what type of students take part in a course that requires indoor cycling. The purpose of this master’s thesis is also to study the experiences of students practicing studying methods with physical activity in the course of neuroscience. This study examines the effects of indoor cycling on alertness, motivation and learning of the students and also the suitability of the method on individuals. The study was carried out as a qualitative case study and the research material was collected during autumn 2018. The research sample included six students from Open University of Helsinki. The study did not include the relevance of age and prior exercise background, albeit the information was asked in a background information form filled by the participants in the beginning of the course. The background information form was filled by 17 participants. Six participants were interviewed using semi-structured interviews and the research material was analyzed using a content analysis. The research results show that students with different ages participated in the course. The participants’ backgrounds regarding exercise were also diverse. The study also demonstrates teaching methods requiring physical activity increases the alertness, motivation and learning of almost all the students. The method is principally perceived as well suited and conducive to learning. Part of the participants felt the course content was so interesting that the method most likely had a positive effect on alertness and motivation.

Abstract Objectives. Sourdough is a traditional dough raiser grown over time from flour and water. In addition to the lifting property, the sourdough gives the dough its taste and texture and increases its shelf life. Sourdough baking has grown in popularity in recent years, and the number of members of Facebook’s Hapanjuurileipurit group has doubled in the past year. This work investigates why sourdough baking is now so popular. The study finds out what motivates bakers to choose sourdough baking as well whether demographic (age, gender, level of education) factors have an impact on sourdough baking hobbies. Methods. The data collection method used was a questionnaire that included both structured and open-ended questions. The survey was distributed with an electronic questionnaire to the Hapanjuurileipurit Facebook group. The group had 20 700 members in October 2020. There were 1 120 responses to the survey. The data were analyzed by looking at frequencies and their distributions. The motives of the hobby were also examined by analyzing two open questions using qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. The main motive for sourdough baking is the bread itself, which is a tasty and in itself pleasant experience. Another motive is the health effects that were mentioned extensively, e.g., intestinal and stomach upsets, as well as various allergy symptoms from wheat and yeast. Improvement in health had occurred in many after the transition to sourdough bread. The therapeutic effect of baking was also often mentioned. The third motive was doing it by hand and almost as important a motive was learning and maintaining a traditional skill, a hobby that produces joy and a good result, and the process of sourdough baking itself, which is interesting. The results of the study show that the bread itself and its good taste rise in as the main reason. Second is the health effect and third is the holistic nature of sourdough baking as a versatile activity that affects the well-being of the whole enthusiast's economy nutritionally as well as therapeutically for the enthusiast himself, creating feelings of well-being

Objectives This study aimed to examine the motivation of 8th and 9th graders' towards school and sport in a sports oriented class. It also developed a scale that is reliable when used among Finnish young athletes based on SAMSAQ-scale (Gaston-Gayles, 2005). Previous studies have shown that even Finnish young top athletes don't move enough to succeed at the international level. Started in 1990s, the sports oriented classes try to support young athletes to combine studies and sports because the age of 14–15 is crucial for the future plans. This study examined is the current system an optimal solution to support both studies and active sports. It also examined the structure of motivation, how motivated young students are in the different parts of motivation and how the different backgrounds are related to students' motivation. Methods The study was a quantitative one. Material was collected in November-December 2011 from the 8th and 9th graders in sports oriented classes. 221 young students from Helsinki answered to the questionnaire which included the Motivation scale and some background questions. The answers were analyzed by using PASW Statistics 18. Analysis methods used included correlations, Factor Analysis, t-tests and Analysis of Variance. Results and conclusions The scale used in this study didn't work the way presumed and some of the variables had to be removed. The fourth factor, which didn't exist in the original scale, was created. The motivation scale needs to be developed and researched more. Students in sports oriented classes were highly motivated towards sports, towards studies the motivation was little lower. Motivation towards athletic career and competition was clearly lower. Gender, the amount of training and competition were related to part of the students' motivation. Studying in sports oriented class seems to support especially athletes of team sports. Combining the practicing of one sport, other exercises and studies is a complex question. All of the sports oriented classes are doing important job finding an optimal solutions for that.

Objectives. The aim of this Master's thesis was to investigate whether there is a connection between dyslexia and reading motivation in young people aged 12-16. Previous studies have found that improving reading skills is associated with increased reading motivation, and difficulties in reading have been found to cause avoidance of reading. Dyslexia and learning difficulties have been found to be related to self-esteem and self-efficacy. Methods. The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. The study material consisted of 8 articles, which were found in 4 different databases. These databases were: SCOPUS (Elsevier), Eric, Helka and Education database. The search terms used were: “(dyslex* OR “reading difficul*” OR "reading disorder*" OR "reading disabilit*") AND motivat* AND (“junior high school*” OR “middle school*” OR “upper comprehensive school*” OR "upper level comprehensive school*" OR "lower secondary school*" OR "lower secondary education*")”. Results and conclusions. In the articles used in the study, a connection was found between dyslexia and reading motivation. According to the research, dyslexia reduces leisure reading and increases the likelihood of experiencing more negative emotions during reading tasks. During the intervention study, the motivation of students with dyslexia decreased, while those without dyslexia did not show the same result. The studies also found a positive correlation between improved reading skills and improved reading motivation. In one study, results were obtained where a reading intervention could improve different aspects of reading skills as well as reading motivation in children with dyslexia. These studies provide evidence that dyslexia has a negative impact on reading motivation and that improved reading skills increase reading motivation.

Objective of the study. Assessment is a central part of academic teacher education studies and supporting the development of professional agency a key objective of assessment in tertiary education. Therefore, understanding students’ experiences of being assessed and the development of professional agency in assessment situations is important. Teachers’ professional agency is an integrative concept consisting of three dimensions: motivation, self-efficacy and classroom strategies. Previous studies have shown that the teaching practice periods and social interaction situations during teacher education are important in the development of student teachers’ professional agency. Furthermore, previous studies have suggested that assessment practices are related to students’ motivation, self-efficacy and learning. Previous studies have not explored students’ assessment experiences in relation to the development of their professional agency. The purpose of the present study is to find out what kind of assessment situations student teachers identify as important, and how these assessment situations are related to the development of teachers’ professional agency. Methods. The data consisted of eight individual interviews, collected from student teachers who were at the final phase of their studies. The Critical Incident method was applied when carrying out the interviews. The participants were asked to recall assessment situations during their teacher education studies which they found important for their professional development. The interview data were analyzed using the abductive content analysis approach. Results and conclusions. The results suggested that assessment situations were related to the development of student teachers’ professional agency. The clearest relation was found between assessment situations and students’ self-efficacy. The students considered formative, timely, dialogical and well-founded assessment as the most beneficial in supporting the development of their professional agency. Assessment as its best can enhance students’ experiences of being on the right track, capability for teacher profession and having the sufficient skills for teacher’s work in the future. Poorly executed assessment can impede the development of professional agency. Based on the results the use of dialogical feedback practices and interactive peer assessment practices can be particularly beneficial in supporting the development of students’ motivation, self-efficacy and classroom strategies. It is important to consider the development of students’ professional agency in developing the assessment practices of the academic teacher education.