Browsing by Subject "pystyvyysuskomukset"

Goals. The most integral component of the theoretical background for this study is the concept of self-efficacy, which was first introduced by Albert Bandura in Social learning theory (1977). Self-efficacy is understood in this study in a holistic way to consist of the context-specific competence-beliefs one has concerning his or her capabilities. Self-efficacy beliefs have been found to have a wide spread influence on motivation, achievement, goal setting, persistence in achievements and choice of tasks. In addition to the concept of self-efficacy, this thesis will review the concept of self-concept and competence-beliefs on a more general level as well. The main aim of this study was to find out what the general level of academic self-efficacy of sixth graders in Helsinki is. Another question of interest was whether subject-specific self-efficacy in any certain subject correlates more strongly with a broader sense of school-related self-efficacy than self-efficacy in other subjects. The goal was also to examine how student's self-efficacy beliefs vary between genders and between different classes. This study aims to produce information concerning the current level of students' self-efficacy. Methods. The data were collected in March and April of 2015 and in April and May of 2016 from 11 different sixth grades (N 204) in Helsinki. The method for collecting the data was an electronic survey that was filled out by the students while the researcher was present. Aver-ages from the data were examined to find out the general level of self-efficacy, a Mann and Whitney's U-test was conducted for finding out the differences between genders, a Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted in order to find out whether there was variety between the different classes, and correlations were looked for between the subject-specific and a more general sense of school-related self-efficacy. Results and conclusions. The results of the study were quite positive and showed that the level of sixth grader's school-related and subject-specific self-efficacy is fairly high. Self-efficacy in math, Finnish and biology and geography correlated with the general school-related self-efficacy slightly more strongly than self-efficacy in the other subjects. The differences in self-efficacy between classes and genders were fairly small and statistically significant in only a few subjects.

Approaches to learning is one of the most important learning theory. Previous studies have shown that there are three different approaches to learning: surface, deep and organized. The aim to this study was to find out what kind of approaches to learning students' in faculty of law use and is there connection between approaches to learning, study success and collecting credit units. Also my goal was to explore students' self-efficacy beliefs and their connection to approaches to learning, study success and credit units. Hypothesis was that both deep and organized approach to learning are positively connected to self-efficacy beliefs and study success. The data was collected using Learn questionnaire which is a research instrument used for developing quality at the University of Helsinki. Data was collected from students' in Faculty of Law who were finishing their bachelor's degrees. Section measuring approaches to learning was based on ALSI questionnaire (Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory) and section measuring self-efficacy beliefs was based on MSLQ questionnaire (Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire). The data was collected by an online questionnaire in the spring of 2015 and there were 108 participants in the study. The data was analyzed using correlation coefficient and regression analysis. The results show that law students have very strong self-efficacy beliefs and they benefit deep and organized approach to learning in their studies. Negative connection was found between self-efficacy beliefs and surface approach as well as positive connection was found between self-efficacy beliefs and deep and organized approach to learning. Approaches to learning were not connected to either study success or collecting credit units but self-efficacy beliefs were connected to both. In future would be interesting to study further how self-efficacy beliefs develop during studies and what factors make them stronger.

The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to increase the understanding of the dimensions of academic self-efficacy and their development among those students who have attended to the university introductory courses. The web-based orientation courses are the latest forms of co-operation between high schools and universities in Finland. There is little research to date on the impact of the courses and the components of academic self-efficacy. Methods: This study consists of two parts. In the first part of it, a structural analysis of the Ac-ademic Self-Efficacy Scale (Ashraf & Gafoor, 2006) was performed for the measurement of academic self-efficacy. It examined the domains of the students' academic self-efficacy, and the relationship between the background factors (gender, age, parental education, and aca-demic success). In the second part of the study, the development of academic self-efficacy was examined in the dimensions formed in the structural analysis. The data was collected us-ing an online questionnaire twice during the courses. All students participated on it voluntarily. An exploratory factor analysis of the data from a survey conducted at the beginning of the course was used in the first part of study. The data was collected from the introductory cours-es (artificial intelligence, chemistry and medicine) organized by two universities (N = 195). The second part of the study examined the development of academic self-efficacy using the data of the students before and after two courses (chemistry and medicine). It was performed by a t-test of a pairwise sample on factor point variables (N = 43). The entire study was con-ducted during the COVID-19 pandemic during the school year 2020–2021 before the entry in-to force of the new High School Act (2019) and the new curricula framework. Results and Conclusions: With this measure, the academic self-ability of the students in the introductory courses formed a three-factor model: perceived cognitive ability, perceived ability to provide support, and perceived self-regulated learning skills. The model was compared with the structural results of other academic self-efficacy measures and research literature, and theoretical support was found for it. The study found indications of a positive effect of complet-ing the courses on academic self-efficacy. The goal of the introductory courses for students to become acquainted with the field and one’s own abilities would seem to have strengthened. The study presents an iterated version of the academic self-efficacy measure used and sug-gestions for the development of it and areas for further research. The results of the study can be applied in teaching, for example in the development of introductory courses and research in terms of academic self-efficacy.

Previous research shows that emotions experienced in learning affect the learning results. In addition, there is lots of evidence about the interconnections between approaches to learning and study success. However, no research has been conducted in Finland about how the emotions experienced in learning might relate to different approaches to learning students adopt and to their learning results. Academic emotions refer to the emotions experienced in context of learning, studying, performing and success. In this study, emotions were defined according to Pekrun's et al. (2002) control-value theory of academic emotions. The objective of the thesis was to explore university students' academic emotions and approaches to learning, their interrelations and effects on study success in a lecture course arranged by Aalto University School of Engineering. The factors affecting good and on the other hand poor performance in the course were explored. Examining the study success in this course was important, as some students had repeatedly found the course extremely challenging and the proportion of poorly performing students had often been significant. Some students participated in the course two or more times in order to pass it. It was investigated if the participants had different experiences and approaches to learning according to the number of times participated in the course. Based on the literature, the concepts of emotions and self-efficacy beliefs were separated and their relationship was explored. The academic emotions questionnaire was compiled and the items were translated using recent international questionnaires. The research data was gathered during February and March 2013 using an electronic questionnaire. The sample consisted of 239 students corresponding to 75 % of all the course participants. In addition, students' points in homework papers, midpoint exam marks and final course results were included in the data. Factor analysis was used to form scales measuring academic emotions and approaches to learning. Differences in emotions, self-efficacy beliefs, approaches to learning and study success according to the number of times participated in the course were analyzed using Kruskall-Wallis test. Correlations, regression analysis, cluster analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and cross tabulation were used to examine the interconnections of emotions, self-efficacy beliefs and approaches to learning and their effects on the study success in the course. Positive emotions correlated positively with self-efficacy beliefs, deep approach to learning, organized studying and study success. As for negative emotions, they correlated positively with surface approach to learning and negatively with self-efficacy, organized studying and study success. Self-efficacy beliefs predicted positively and anxiety and hopelessness predicted negatively students' midpoint exam marks. Similarly, self-efficacy beliefs predicted positively whereas experienced boredom predicted negatively the final course results. Three different groups of students were formed: 1) positive and dedicated, 2) ashamed of not working hard and not dedicated, and 3) anxious and surface oriented. The group of positive and dedicated students had succeeded better in the course and were 40 % more likely to pass the course than the other two groups. Students who participated the course two or more times in order to pass it, had felt more negative emotions and weaker self-efficacy and they had applied more surface and non-organized approaches to learning and studying during the course than those participating for the first time. The results indicate that students' study success could be contributed by supporting positive self-efficacy beliefs and organized approach to studying and by avoiding study environments that might create anxiety or encourage surface approach to learning.

Aim of the study. The aim of the study was to explore students' self-efficacy beliefs relation between approaches to learning, stress and workload in professional disciplines. The aim was selected because there are findings that students' in these disciplines perceive lot of stress and workload. Earlier findings reveal that there is a relation between self-efficacy beliefs, approaches to learning and stress. There is also evidence that approaches to learning and workload has relations. But there is not much research about these topics together and not remotely studies in the 2010s. I also studied what kind of relation there is between approaches to learning, stress and workload, and examined how self-efficacy beliefs and approaches to learning together explain changes in stress and workload. Methods. The participants of the study were (N) 197 medicine and veterinary medicine faculties' students' at the University of Helsinki. The data was collected by using University's electrical information system. The questionnaire, which was used, is part of the research project at the University of Helsinki, where I got the data for my study. I used both explorative and confirmatory factor analysis to construct the scales in my study. To be able to answer my research questions, I examine correlations and used variance and regression analyses. Results and Conclusions. Results indicated that the stronger self-efficacy beliefs are the easier student's choose deep or organized approaches to learning. On the other hand the weaker self-efficacy beliefs are the easier student's choose surface approach to learning. Results also showed that stress and workload decrease student's self-efficacy beliefs, and stress and workload were also related to surface approach to learning. The more student perceive stress the easier it is to choose surface approach to learning. According to the results of this study, surface approach explained the changes in perceived stress. In turn self-efficacy beliefs, surface and organized approaches to learning explained the changes in perceived workload. I also discover that informants in this study have quite strong self-efficacy beliefs. Because self-efficacy beliefs have remarkable impact to success in academic studies, it would be important to explore in the future that how common phenomenon this is in professional disciplines.