Browsing by Subject "positiivinen psykologia ja pedagogiikka"

Objectives. The first objective of this study was to find out how the fifth and sixth graders, who participated in an intervention of positive pedagogy with an emphasis on character strengths, describe themselves being at their very best. The second objective of the study was to discover the potential changes in their understanding on the matter, during the intervention. Methods. The intervention took place in spring 2015 with 93 students involved. The empirical material of this study consists of the before- and after-essays on the matter of "Me at my very best" of 54 students among the original participants. The material has been analyzed in the spirit of the grounded theory -method, where applicable and with the help of the computer program ATLAS.ti. Results and conclusions. The students found a gratifying amount of reasons in their selves and their lives to be happy or proud about. The bulk of the student's descriptions of being at their very best involved a sense of achievement in hobbies or schoolwork, especially in competitive sports. Also, helping others and bringing joy to them was regarded very rewarding. In the essays that were written after the intervention, character strengths and other immaterial experiences were more appreciated than material things. The strongest changes occurred among the students, whose self-image or status in their family/schoolclass, according their essays, used to be somewhat weak or unstable. The students, who already before the intervention had a strong, positive self-image and/or did competitive sports, expressed little change in their essays or none at all.