Browsing by department "Opettajankoulutuslaitos"

The increasing immigration in Finland has led to a situation where pupils with immigrant background need to be considered even more than before. In Finland pupils with immigrant background usually start studying in an instruction preparing for basic education which is meant to create adequate language and study skills that are needed in the basic education classrooms. The increasing amount of pupils studying in their second language comes with the need to implement more reasearch in classrooms where communication does not happen in pupils’ first language. The ways that pupils attempted to get teacher’s attention and express their need for help in the instruction preparing for basic education were examined and analysed in this research. Also teachers’ ways to respond to pupils requests for help were examined. According to earlier studies the most conventional ways to attach teachers’ attention are addressing the teacher and raising hands. Earlier studies also demonstrate that when studied in second language teacher’s help is needed in both problems with the language and problems with solving excersises. Research data was filmed in four classrooms in different schools in the metropolitan area of Finland. The data consists of 7 hours and 37 minutes of filmed lessons in the instruction preparing for basic education. There were 21 pupils examined in total and there was a teacher as well as a special needs assistant in every classroom. The data was transcribed and analysed by using conversation analysis as a method. During the filmed lessons the researchers also took notes and the teachers also gave some important information about the pupils that were examined such as how long they have lived in Finland. According to the research results pupils in the instruction preparing for basic education strived for teacher’s attention by addressing teacher, looking at them as well as raising a hand and approaching the teacher. The pupils’ ways of expressing their need for help were divided in two categories: verbal and nonverbal expressions. Verbal expressions consisted of direct questions, ”I don’t understand/know/remember/don’t know how to –expressions, verbal word searches, teacher-centered expressions and repetitions. Nonverbal expressions consisted of bodily word searches, body language and facial expressions. The teachers’ ways to help pupils were steering pupils towards solution, giving the right answer, explaining word meanings, using other pupils’ knowledge, steering pupils’ proceeding, code-switching and rephrasing.

There has been a decline in the interest of children and the young in natural sciences. This phenomenon is worrying because it is known that interest affects learning and performing in science positively. Teaching methods have an impact on interest. This research will focus on science camps that are non-formal science education environments. The study describes the interestingness of the teaching methods used in biology science camps from a child's perspective. The study also investigates the development needs of the activities and the tutors' own development during the camps. In the summer of 2016, the BioPop class of the LUMA science education center organized six biology science camps for two age groups of children: 7–9 years old and 10–12 years old. The material of the research was collected from these science camps, while the researcher herself was a tutor of the science camps. The research material consisted of questionnaires for campers (N=99) and tutors (N=8). The campers evaluated the interestingness of the activities on the Flechen-scale from 1 to 5, and filled out open-ended questions about what they 'liked' and what they did 'not like' in the camps. In addition, the tutors evaluated the interestingness and development needs of the activities, and their own development as tutors. The material was analyzed by using simple statistical key figures. It was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U-test whether gender or previous participation in BioPop camps had any effect on the interestingness of the activities. The open-ended questions were analyzed by theory-based content analysis. The campers were very interested in the activities – lab assignments and experiments, outdoor education, plays and nature videos were the most interesting activities. The results of the research supported previous studies of the relationship between teaching methods and interest in teaching natural sciences: for children, functional, inquiry-based and interactive teaching methods were the most interesting. Child's sense of autonomy, optimal challenge and novelty of the activities seemed to be central to children's interest. There were significant differences between the camps in the interestingness of some activities: activities gained mostly higher interest rates on the second camp week than the first. One possible explanation for this is the development of the activity guidance, in which the tutors think they had advanced during the camps. Especially in the older age group, inquiry-based, pupil-centered and interactive activities were the most interesting among children. The younger age group was more interested in independent and teacher-led activities compared to the older age group. Girls were more interested in independent and teacher-led activities than boys. The results of the research can be utilized in the future when developing science camps more inquiry-based, pupil-centered and interactive learning environments of science education.

Objectives. The aim of this study is to describe, analyze and interpret teachers' perceptions of co-teaching and how to support positive education, the reasons for their co-teaching, what positive teaching means to them in regard to using positive education in their teaching, and the positive presentation of positive co-education. Methods. A total of 8 primary school teachers participated in this study in the fall of 2017. The teachers were interviewed by semi-structured theme interviewing and the research material was analyzed in accordance with qualitative content-based content analysis. Results and Conclusions. The study highlighted three main themes, which are the charm of co-teaching, the importance of positive education, and to describe positive education from the perspective of co-education. The teaching methods used in co-teaching were the well-being of the teacher, the collegial models in everyday life, and the learning situations and characteristics of everyday life. Positive education was seen to be very significant, especially as a classroom teacher, for the development of work prosperity and self-education, as well as for the students' perceptions and learning. The conditions for co-operation in positive education were manifested through a specific culture of operation and interaction. The benefits of joint teaching in positive education increased with collegial support, use of time as well as planning and assessment and lastly through the social and emotional integration of the students and the interaction between the student and the teacher.

Aims. The aim of this thesis is to cover Marilyn Monroe's relationship with food as it appears in literature written about her. The study covers the years from 1942 to 1962, when Marilyn was between ages 16 and 36. As an adult, she was responsible for her own food intake. The emphasis of this study is on the following: what kind of food Marilyn ate, how different stages of her life affected her relationship with food, whether the food she ate was made by her or someone else, how interested she was in food, and what kind of food she liked. The historical context is also an important part of this study. Methods. The research material consists of literature written about Marilyn Monroe. This literature was the analyzed using content analysis. The research material was then divided into categories, which are different times of Marilyn's life. Considering the sources was a very important part when gathering material. Results and conclusions. As a result, Marilyn's relationship with food varied during her lifetime. During her first marriage she had to learn to cook for the first time in her life, and thus she sometimes made mistakes. Food was also gathered by hunting and fishing. As a young starlet in Hollywood Marilyn didn't have a lot of money for food, so she ate very little and very inexpensively. As her career progressed she was able to enjoy food more. Marilyn's second husband was from an Italian-American family, and Marilyn learned to cook Italian food and broil steaks. After moving to New York Marilyn often ate at her friends' homes. When she got married for the third time she really wanted to be a good housewife. During this period her cooking improved considerably. She also learned to cook Jewish dishes. After the marriage ended Marilyn was facing the hardest time of her life, until she moved to Los Angeles and bought her own house. She was planning to invite friends over for food and good times, and also said that she enjoyed champagne and good food.

In this study we investigate the concepts of courage according to Finnish students of different ages, how the conceptualization of courage develops in different age-groups, how the thin boundary between courage and foolhardiness appears in the students' interpretations, and how one can learn courage. The emphasis is on students' own life-world phenomena experiences and interpretations. Our unique data consists of applied storycrafting interviews with 6 to 7-year-old preschoolers and school essays written by students in age groups of 11 to 12, 15 to 16 and 16 to 18-years. The data has been collected in southern Finland. The study is a qualitative study with a narrative approach and phenomenography. Applying both data-driven and theory-driven content analysis, we have classified our findings from different age-groups into four main categories: (a) the role of fear in courage, (b) the concepts of courage as physical, psychological, social and moral courage, (c) the development of conceptualization of courage through age and (d) the thin boundary between courage and foolhardiness. The emphasis is on describing and interpreting students' concepts and conceptualization of courage and relate our findings on the umbrella conceptualization of courage by Rate et al. (2007). We also view students' interpretations on how courage feels like and what emotions are related to it, wether they think that courage can be cultivated and what it is that students think enables one to learn courage. Social context and relationships of students in different ages emerge as important factors on their reflection of courage.

Purpose The purpose of my study is to examine school discourse in the draft of new Finnish national curriculum in 2014 and to analyse to what extent the theory of Wishful Rationalism reconstructed by Hannu Simola applies to it. According to Simola (1995) one explanation to the continuous need for school reform might be the new principles in school discourse which have emerged during the development of basic comprehensive school since 1970s. Simola calls this new way of speaking wishful rationalism. The main point of the theory is that the official school discourse has decontextualized which leads to the failing educational reforms. My study tests the theory of Simola in a new context. Method The method of my study was a qualitative theory-based analyse of the contents. The precise objects of my study were chapters 1-12 of the draft. Based on the theory of Simola, I created six categories which functioned as a frame for my analysis. These categories consisted of three truths of school discourse which Simola had created and of their counter-truths. With these counter-truths I could better test the theory of Wishful Rationalism. To these categories I collected thought-units from the draft using principles of inductive analyse of the contents. Results Based on my analysis I could say that the theory of Wishful Rationalism was still alive in the draft of new curriculum. Truths of school discourse and some dominant models and paradigms of schooling could still be detected from the draft and they were keeping this old discourse alive. Especially the truths of school as rational and of decontextualized learning were strongly alive. Also the truth of individual-centered school was stronger alive than its counter-truth although the truth of group-centered school was also strongly alive again especially in the form of education for the society. From the models and paradigms keeping the discourse alive the most important was the model of Tyler Rationale. Central meaning of my study is to bring these subconscious elements keeping the discourse alive more visible now that the school reform is taking place again.

The purpose of this study was to carry out a two phase design study. The aim of the first phase was to create learning material for the division of decimal numbers and after that gather evaluation information of the material. In the second phase the objective was to use the evaluation information to modify the learning material so it can be better adapted to school lessons. The main objective in developing the learning material was to highlight student oriented methods and the use of concrete tools and assignments related to the context. In the first phase of the study the learning material was created using a theory-based research method. In the second phase two teachers were interviewed and asked to evaluate the learning material. Partly transcribed interviews were analyzed by using the guidelines of qualitative research content analysis. The results of this study show that teachers considered the learning material to be useful. Teachers interview estimated that student oriented methods are well suited for the learning material. There still were parts that needed to be improved. Development process can be continued by letting students to test the learning material and simultaneously collecting data of the effectiveness of the learning material.

Previous studies have confirmed that educational practices have not changed with the digitalization of society. The use of ICT in teaching is mainly low and there is an ongoing public debate regarding the Finnish students well-being. This study tried to find out is there a hypothesized gap between the technology-mediated practices of adolescents and school. The aim of this study was to investigate how and how much ICT is used for learning and what kind of technological attitudes and school well-being experiences students have. It was also examined how the use of technology, attitudes and well-being are interrelated and which factors of these phenomena can explain academic achievement, schoolwork engagement, school value, happiness and school burnout. Finally it was investigated what kind of profiles of ICT use and attitudes could be found among the participants. The study was part of the Mind the Gap -project. The data was collected by questionnaire in the 2013. The participants (n = 735) were sixth graders from Helsinki. The use of digital technology, technology attitudes and school well-being were examined by mean values and gender differences by t-test. Correlational analysis and stepwise regression analysis were carried out to find out the factors that were related to academic achievement, schoolwork engagement, school value, happiness and school burnout. Students were grouped into profiles that represented their technological attitudes and use of ICT using SPSS two-step cluster analysis. One-way ANOVA and cross-tabulations were used to examine group and gender differences. The results indicated that the technology is not used on a regular basis to support learning, even though the students felt quite high ICT enthusiasm (the use of technology was seen as a positive contribution to the schoolwork engagement). Information-orientated use was reported most common. Mechanical technology use (eg. writing) was the next most common, producing technology use (eg. projects, multimedia) came in the third. Communicative technology use (online discussion about schoolwork) was the least common. The majority of the sixth graders felt relatively high schoolwork engagement, happiness and school value. Further, students reacted positively towards the teacher's activity and the conditions of the school. ICT enthusiasm was associated with lower experience of school value, schoolwork engagement as well as negative experiences of teacher's activities. Technology-related problem-solving predicted schoolwork engagement positively. Information-orientated use, and fear of failure using technology were repeatedly negative predictors for school well-being and positive predictors for school burnout. Four different groups (actives, slackers, passives, enthusiastics) showed clear differences in the use of technology, attitudes, school well-being and the associations between these phenomena. To conclude, teacher's role and how the technology is used in schools appears essential. It's important to understand students' predispositions towards using digital technologies and support adolescents' natural ways of utilizing ICT. Students need guidance to understand the possibilities of digital technologies as collaborative and creative learning tools. This, however, does not happen by chance. Therefore, I argue, that there is a need in basic education to build new support systems for national, municipal, school and grade levels to minimize the gap between the technology-mediated practices of adolescents and school.

The present study is part of Handling Mind: Embodiment, Design and Creativity research project. This study has two main goals: 1) to shed light on the participants' opinions of an experiment they participated and 2) to map their problem solving strategies used in different clay forming task. As the latest previous research has suggested in addition to the cognitive aspects, problem solving in design and crafts has embodied side too, that is, for example, related to the interaction with materials and tools. Both sides of problem solving are discussed in the present study. Thirty participants from various fields of design participated drawing and clay forming experiment and were interviewed afterwards using stimulated recall method. In the experiment the participants performed three types of tasks: copying, design and free improvisation. Fifteen of the interviews were transcript and analyzed using content analysis. The results show that the experiment situation was a positive or at least neutral situation to fourteen out of fifteen participants. In the copying and design tasks problem solving was related to finding a quick and suitable technique to perform the task, whereas in the free improvisation tasks techniques were more experimental and clay material was a source of inspiration to many of the participants. There are some things to consider from the participants point of view, when planning new experiments, such as the timing, repetition of the same tasks and the total length of the experiment. In clay forming tasks, problem solving is strongly connected to the material, which shows the importance of the embodied side of problem solving. Setting or redefining goals and choosing working strategies are examples of the cognitive side of problem solving.

The purpose of the research was to study how Finnish lower-stage schools participating in the international network of UNESCO schools, also called the Associated Schools Project (ASP), prepare their students for the future at the level of their school-based curriculums. In the research, the future trends were discussed, and the importance of their consideration in educational practice was explained from a global viewpoint: Based on the examination of today's problematic world state, and development trends characterized by globalization, the challenges and demands set for schooling and education in the future were discussed. Understanding the significance of an individual's action and responsibility was considered to be the central resource for building a more just and sustainable future. The study was grounded on a theoretical model developed by the researcher, which combined the models of Dalin & Rust (1996) and UNESCO (Delors et al. 1996) about future-oriented learning. The model consists of four basic elements of curriculum; "Nature", "Culture", "Myself", and "Others", and four dimension of learning; "Learning to know", "Learning to do", "Learning to live together" and "Learning to be". The model represents the holistic aspect of educational theory, and its aim is to maintain a balance between its different components. The research material composed of ten lower-stage UNESCO schools' school-based curriculums. They were analyzed using the theoretical model by the methology of content analysis. The research results were notably consistent between the different schools. They showed cultural learning and learning concerned with "myself" to be clearly more emphasized than learning referring to nature and other people. In addition, they reflected the central position of subjects, knowledge and skills, thus leaving the development of the pupils' personalities, and particularly learning concerned with living with other people, in a marginal role. The question about whether the schools prepare for the future interms of their curriculums, was discussed in the light of the results. The research offered a way and a model to approach the relationship between education and the future, and to evaluate schools' future-orientation. Based on the results, the schools are suggested to lay more stress on learning concerned with nature and other people, and focus more on developing the mental capasities of their pupils and competencies they need for living with other people. Above all, what the present societies require of schools is education which produces balanced and broadly aware human beings who have the mental strength to face the challenges of the future and abilities to direct it along the lines they desire.