Browsing by Subject "observation"
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(2016)Aim. Several study claim that the childhood eating habits have effect until adultery. Increasing the knowledge of nutrition information in Finland has not provided wanted results. To address this problem new methods to implement food education is under development. Recent study evaluating food education method called "taste lessons" (org. "clases du gout") has showed results that show positive effects on children eating habits. The method focuses mainly on inquiry learning and sensory education. During fall 2015 Ruukku ry. implemented a tour called "Makumestarikiertue" that offered knowledge about nutrition in positive fashion by using taste lessons. The basis of this study was to obtain information from Makumestarikiertue. One central aspect of the tour was a track called "aistirata". (transl. sensory track) This track included various food oriented tasks. The study focused on reviewing children and their parent's experiences, interaction created during various tasks, reception of the event and practical functionality of the track itself. Methods. Target audience of the study was event participants (n=1574, in which k=367 were observed). Study material was obtained by observing group k. The material consisted of observational material and notes created during the events. Overall material was acquired from six different events that took place between August and November. Method used for content analysis was qualitative. Grounded method approach was also used during the analysis. Results and conclusions. The results of the study show that the event described in the thesis is capable of inspire participants to express and interpret their experience of senses and create positive experiences with food. The participants were interested of laying thought to their experience towards food and express and describe their reactions. However, this requires that the participants are guided and encouraged enough during the event as the track can otherwise be passed without much reasoning. In addition, the participants require information and tools to connect "aistirata" tasks to their personal behavior towards nutrition. Connection helps the participants to utilize newly acquired information at their own surroundings after the event has taken place.
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(2011)Children's involvement is a key quality factor in Early Years Education. As a process variable it concentrates on children's actions and experiences. The involved children are operating in their zone of proximal development. The aim of this study was to find out how the children involved themselves in the Finnish day care centres. The problems of the study were: (1) how the children are involved in different situations between the hours 8.00 and 12.00, (2) how do the skills of children whose involvement level is high differ from the skills of children whose involvement level is low and (3) how do the learning environments of the children whose involvement level is high differ from the learning environments of the children whose involvement level is low? The research method was observation and children's involvement levels were assessed using LIS-YC Scale. In addition, the kindergarten teachers evaluated the children's skills and the team workers did the evaluations of the educational settings. The data used in this study was a part of the 'Orientaation lähteillä' research. The 802 children, who took part in the study, were from 48 different groups of eight different municipalities in Central Uusimaa. There were 18358 observations of children's involvement and the quantitative data was analyzed using correlation, cross tabulation and t-test. Children's involvement was an average at a moderate level. The involvement levels were the highest during playing time and adult guided tasks and lowest during eating and basic care situations. The level of involvement was higher if the children were adaptable, proactive, self-motivated and good players. The involvement lever was lower if the children needed some special care. The children's involvement is supported if the educators had at least once a week a meeting and if children's confidence and identity construction was frequently considered in educational discussions. Furthermore, the appreciation of the ethical issues and positive atmosphere appeared to confirm the involvement. The children's involvement is decreased if the educators had been perpetually short of time or resources or there has been lack of joy and humour in the group.
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(2015)Targets. The purpose of this Master's Thesis is to clarify how the tasks of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators are shared during the first half of the day when their work is focused on a group of children. In this study, it was examined how the activities of the ECEC educators at daycare are related to the activities of the children in, among other things, basic care situations, eating and different play situations. The theoretic basis of the study consists of documents guiding the ECEC education, the child's growth and development, the ECEC pedagogy and the communication skills of the educators. The adults, who are close to the child, must create a safe environment which supports the child's growth and development, and where the child can grow and develop, play and learn with confidence. In the theory section, the child's involvement and small group activities at the daycare were examined, too. Methods. The research material is based on the observation material of daycare collected from the municipalities, which were involved in the Orientation Project (Reunamo, 2014). The material was collected in spring 2010 in Uusimaa and Hämeenlinna. The total of 892 children, aged 1–7 year, from 65 different day care, ECEC or family care groups participated in this study. The observations were systematically made in spring 2010, and they were made by the kindergarten teachers who participated in the study. This study focuses on the ECEC educator, who is closest to the child during the observation period. By observing the activity of the educators we learn about their behaviour in different situations. This study represents a quantitative study of the activities of ECEC educators of daycare. Results and conclusions. This study showed that the educators are the closest to the children of age 1-3 years. As the children grow, the time of interaction with one or more children reduces. The study found that the educators very seldom play an interactive role in the children's games. 36.5% of the educators leave the children to play by themselves or other children inside. The children received most of the attention of the adults in different teaching situations. Indoors, the play activities directed by the educators represented 2% of the daily activities. The main part of the play was directed and selected by the children by themselves, the part of the guided outdoors play was 3%.
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