Browsing by study line "Biologian aineenopettaja"
Now showing items 21-25 of 25
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(2023)It has been observed that children’s interest towards natural sciences decreases as they grow up and start middle school. The decrease of interest towards natural sciences and studying them has led to a situation, where science and technology students’ relative share of higher education students has been falling in some of the OECD countries. Formal education needs support to carry out fascinating science education for children and to maintain their interest towards natural sciences. One of the opportunities to fascinate children towards sciences are science centers and their activities either combined with formal education or organized in an informal form like science camps. The aim of this research is to survey the biological knowledge, the interest towards biology and the ability to apply the biological knowledge of science campers (mainly 5th and 6th graders) and to study the connections between them. At the same time, the effect of age and gender of the science campers is studied. To survey the biological knowledge of the campers, multiple-choice test was used and the fascination with biology was investigated with Likert scale variables. The ability to apply the biological knowledge was investigated with drawings that were produced during a biology-themed science camp program. The data was analyzed using quantitative methods. The results indicated that the science campers were relatively fascinated with biology and that they master biological knowledge quite well but the ability to apply the knowledge was varying. There were no differences between different ages nor genders but there are many factors such as the economic status of campers’ families that might have affected on the results. There was found a statistically significant connection between biological knowledge and fascination with biology, which is not surprising, but it speaks in favor of the importance of supporting fascination in terms of learning.
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(2024)Tutkimuksellinen opetus ja tutkimuksellisuus oppilaiden suorittamissa tehtävissä ovat tärkeä osa biologian opetusta. Tutkimuksellisuus voi sisältää kokonaisen tutkimuksen, tai vain osia siitä. Tutkimuksellisten työtapojen hallinta on osa opetussuunnitelman mukaista oppimisen arviointia peruskoulussa ja lukiossa. Lukion opetussuunnitelman ihmisen biologian kurssin sisällöissä mainitaan myös pienimuotoisen tutkimuksen toteuttaminen osana oppimisen tavoitteita sekä arviointikehystä. Tutkimuksellinen lähestymistapa tukee ja korostaa oppilaan itseohjautuvuutta ja aktiivista, oma-aloitteista oppimisprosessia ja sen kautta opetusta voidaan myös eriyttää erilaisten oppijoiden tarpeita tukevalla tavalla. Tutkimuksellisten tehtävien ja työtapojen on todettu lisäävän motivaatiota ja parantavan oppimistuloksia. Ihmisen biologian oppimateriaaleissa tutkimuksellisia tehtäviä on todettu olevan lukumääräisesti vähemmän, kuin muissa biologian aihepiireissä. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelluissa oppimateriaaleissa tutkimuksellisia tehtäviä on vähän suhteessa tehtävien kokonaismäärään, osassa materiaaleista ei välttämättä ollenkaan. Tutkimuksellisuuden taso ja eri tasojen edustus vaihtelee jonkin verran oppikirjojen välillä. Tutkimuksellisten tehtävien osuus eri aihekokonaisuuksissa vaihtelee niin aihekokonaisuuksien, kuin myös oppikirjojen välillä, mutta samat aihepiirit jäävät toistuvasti ilman tutkimuksellisia tehtäviä, kun taas muutama aihepiiri erottuu joka oppikirjassa tutkimuksellisten tehtävien runsaammalla lukumäärällä. Osa tehtävistä sisältää tutkimuksellisia piirteitä olematta kuitenkaan varsinaisesti tutkimuksellisia tehtäviä.
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(2021)Study-related burnout is a growing problem among university students. Study-related burnout is defined by exhaustion related to studying, a cynical attitude towards studying and feelings of inadequacy. Burnout can be caused by an overtaxing workload and by a lack of personal, social, or material resources. Stress is a natural part of life, but chronic stress can lead to illness and burnout. Students experience stress in their studies and interventions aiming to reduce stress and prevent burnout are therefore necessary. Psychological flexibility increases wellbeing and prevents burnout and is also related to enhanced learning. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is focused on improving psychological flexibility. Good study skills can also prevent burnout. The aim of this study was to examine university students’ experiences of an online ACT-based intervention that aims to increase psychological flexibility and enhance wellbeing and learning. The aim was also to compare the experiences of two groups of students based on their change in study-related burnout during the course. The participants wrote reflective diaries that were qualitatively analyzed using inductive category development and categories that describe students’ experiences of the intervention were formed. The result of this study shows that students had benefited from the course and described effects on both wellbeing and learning. Students in both study groups experienced effects on wellbeing and learning. The importance of peer-support during studying was discussed, which highlights the need for support from peers who experience similar difficulties and concerns. There were also mentions of negative experiences which the students gave as explanations to why a part of the course had not been effective in enhancing their wellbeing and learning. These categories were more often discussed by students whose risk for burnout had increased during the course. Several categories under the themes of positive experiences of effects on wellbeing and learning were more often discussed by students whose risk for burnout had decreased during the course. The result of this study shows that the ACT-based intervention can be regarded as effective in improving wellbeing and studying, and experiences of the intervention were in general positive. Integration of similar interventions in study programs would be beneficial.
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(2024)The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Primary and Lower Secondary Education mandates equal treatment of all students and emphasizes the importance of increasing visibility for the appreciation of sex, gender, and sexual diversity. Despite the growing discourse on the mental health of Finnish adolescents, less attention has been paid to gender and sexual minorities, who face more bullying, loneliness, and school exhaustion than their peers, resulting in even poorer mental health. This has largely been explained by the prejudices and heteronormativity that remain widely prevalent, even within schools. Science subjects have been criticized for enforcing these heteronormative narratives through their practices. However, studies suggest that science subjects, especially biology, have the potential to challenge these narratives and foster a more inclusive and safer space for sex, gender, and sexual minorities. In this study, I aim to explore the experiences of lower secondary school students regarding the teaching of sex, gender, and sexual diversity in biology classes. Despite that the educational material used in science subjects has been fairly well studied, there is a gap in previous research regarding the actual experiences of students about these issues, and there are no studies done on this in Finland. Employing a mixed methods approach, this study integrated both semi-structured interviews, an online questionnaire, and observation of lessons. The results indicate that the perceived coverage of sex, gender, and sexual diversity is minimal or brief. Student engagement during lessons where these topics could be discussed was also shown to be minimal, and students raised several wishes for improving the teaching of these topics in biology. These findings highlight the unused potential that remains in the teaching of biology and present students’ wishes for change in the ways diversity issues could be covered in biology to create more inclusive science classrooms.
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(2023)Education for sustainability has come to be seen as an important part of achieving the sustainability goals, also in universities. However, the challenge for sustainability education is that sustainability is an ever-changing and highly complex concept. One theoretical approach for studying the learning of such complex concepts and phenomena is the conceptual change research tradition. The theory of conceptual change stems from the constructivist approach to learning, according to which learning takes place by modifying and completing existing knowledge structures. Sometimes these prior knowledge structures of the learner conflict with scientific knowledge, and in order to reach a new understanding, the learner has to change and reorganize their existing conceptions. With a new conception comes a whole new way of understanding a phenomenon, as related concepts take on new meanings. The process described above is called conceptual change. This thesis studied what kind of conceptions university students had about sustainability before the University of Helsinki's Sustainability Course (SUST-001, 3 cr) in autumn 2021, and how these conceptions had changed after the course. In addition, we investigated whether there were differences between students in human and natural science-oriented disciplines in the above-mentioned aspects. Conceptions were investigated using a baseline and endline measurement design. The study sample was students enrolled in a sustainability course at the University of Helsinki (N = 109). The data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on the results, the students' perceptions were quite narrow at the beginning of the course, although the responses showed that most students came to the course with some prior knowledge of sustainability. In addition, three narrow conceptions similar to misconceptions of the conceptual change were identified from the initial survey: ecology-limited, anthropocentric and weak sustainability conceptions. In the final measurement, students' perceptions of sustainability improved and, in particular, students' understanding of the different dimensions of sustainability, the interlinkages between them and the complex nature of sustainability in general increased. About half of the narrow conceptions also changed, although the anthropocentric conception was slightly more persistent. In the cross-disciplinary analysis, attention was drawn to the tendency of students in natural science-oriented disciplines to change their narrow view in comparison to students in human science-oriented disciplines. Based on the results, the Sustainability course can be seen as successful in teaching many of the key contents of the concept of sustainability. There were also indications of conceptual change. However, there is a need to further develop the course and to integrate sustainability more broadly into the different educational programs. Furthermore, it is very important to continue to study the success of this integration and of sustainability education also in the future.
Now showing items 21-25 of 25