Browsing by discipline "Kasvatuspsykologia"

Objectives. Group skills are being promoted more and more in job applications as well as in the national curriculum. The understanding of the nature of these skills is however a vast and complex. Furthermore, the tools for how to develop these skills are often difficult to come across. The goal of this research is to assess the reciprocity of a group and an individual in it, with the approach of theoretically oriented empirical analysis. The theoretical background of the study is based on the theoretical idea by Holland, Lachicotte, Cain and Skinner (1998), where an individual is seen acting in different kinds of figured worlds, which are shaping and affecting ones identity and conducting behavior. The ways of behaving in figured worlds are negotiated together with the group members based on the individuals own identity and other figured worlds acting in the background. An individual can be seen as a constructer of the group based on of his/her own background. However, at the same time the group can be seen as shaping and constructing the individual. Methods. The research was carried out as a qualitative research and its research material was collected by theme interviews. The subjects of the research were students at Helsinki University studying in a program that utilizes group phenomena in the pedagogy of professional identity development. The interview consisted of eight subjects whom were interviewed twice. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed with content analysis. The study analyses how the concept of figured world is shown in the research material on one hand as a negotiation of figured world between its members and on the other hand as a constructer of identity. Based on these, a model about the phenomenon was constructed. Results and discussion. Results suggest that the negotiation of figured world in group is ambiguous and affected by several factors. Explaining through culture models clarifies group’s figured world to its members and enhances group’s development. The identity of individual develops as part of group, which counteracts and develops also the group. The importance of reflection is crucial for this process, evoking the development. Based on the results a theoretical model is suggested in which reflection is seen as the combining element in the continual heuristic development of identity and group functioning.

The objective of this study was to observe the ways in which young people indicate disagreement in asynchronous online discussions. The analysis is focused at how argumentative online discussions are constructed, the ways in which the speakers indicate disagreement and the attributes and functions of those disagreements. One area of the analysis is the context in which the disagreements appear: in what part of the conversation they appear, how other speakers react to them and which types of disagreement appear side by side in one turn. The conversation analytic view of turn-taking and the constructions of turns work as a background for this study. The data for this study was collected from an online discussion forum targeted at young people, named Demi.fi, from which I chose three discussion threads on the same subject: the diversity of genders and gender equality. These threads had 344 messages altogether, and in 261 of them the speaker indicates disagreement. I approached the data through qualitative research, utilizing the method of conversation analysis. I started by locating all assessments and the disagreeing turns connected to them, and after that I categorized the types of disagreements and analyzed the more specific functions of these categories. The conclusions of this study tell that in these three argumentative discussion threads, the speakers indicated disagreement in ways that can be divided into seven categories: statements, the challenging questions and their answers in question-answer adjacency pairs, accusations, the negative emotional reactions of the speaker, irony, misunderstandings and concessions that have attributes of both agreements and disagreements. Each of these categories had their own specific attributes and functions. Statements were the most frequently used disagreements in the discussions, but direct, emotional disagreements were rather frequent as well. Disagreements were usually indicated by negatively evaluating the assessment or the persona of the other speaker, but they could also be indicated by challenging power hierarchies by – for example – turning the other speaker into a laughing-stock. Because disagreeing second turns were much more frequent than agreeing second turns, it's justified to say that in the context of an argumentative online discussion, the otherwise popular belief of agreeing being preferred turns out to be dispreferred. The conclusions give teachers an opportunity to understand the ways of disagreeing that are typical for young people. This also enables the guidance towards respectful, constructive argumentation.

The present study describes the experiences and understandings of classroom teachers related to the loneliness of pupils: what kind of difficulties do classroom teachers encounter in their work and how do they try to resolve them. The research aims to establish a deeper understanding of the work of a classroom teacher in relation with the loneliness of pupils. A fifth of the children suffers from loneliness. The official instructions guiding the actions of a teacher, e.g., National Core Curriculum for Basic Education, finds the welfare of pupils important, which indirectly tries to prevent loneliness. However, the loneliness of pupils is not discussed in the instructions and no methods for recognising and encountering loneliness are offered. Also, loneliness is not covered in the education of a classroom teacher per curriculum. The research was conducted using half-structured theme interviews on five classroom teachers of a primary school in southern Finland. The interview results were analysed with a content analysis method. The descriptions of classroom teachers highlighted both concretely experienced difficulties and general difficulties related to the nature of loneliness. The interviewed teachers described their solutions in two ways: solutions to the problems experienced by teachers and solutions aiding the welfare of teachers. Based on these results, a theoretical classification was formed, enlightening the dynamic phenomenon of loneliness in the context of the work of a classroom teacher. Comparing the results to earlier researches, teachers found the mental disorders of pupils hard: they are difficult to recognise, encounter and handle. Teachers used solutions similar to other studies: self-development, communality of the working environment and external support promoted the managing in teaching work. As a conclusion, teachers should evidently be educated and supported more related to the loneliness and mental welfare of pupils.

In my bachelor research my topic was to find out parents conceptions of language immersion in Sipoo. Main target was to reveal how immersion was arranged and how it effected to pupils and to their families. I made clear how immersion starts in Sipoo and what kind of language immersion will be used there. I constructed my theoretical background by representing language immersion and its different models. Peltola, E. examined what kind of children grariated in immersion (1993) and Lauren, C. parents waitings from immersion. I have also researched students parents options their belief system pupils' growth environments effect when parents have chosen that their children will start school education in language immersion school. I also studied how the pupils felt when being in the language immersion kindergarten and what kind of feelings they had later at school regarding language immersion. Also I tried to solve parents and siblings attitudes of language immersion and of Swedish language. I have been using a variety of indicators, and to establish the belief systems of the factorial analysis. In my bachelor thesis reflected that parents was satisfied with school and what there will be teaching. They were also interested from school and what happens there, that contributed positively pupils' convenience and success at school. Parents appreciated the immersion in language learning method. Families interesting from Swedish TV-programs or from Swedish literature was not increased. As conclusion of my research I suggest some possible improvement points which could be tested in everyday classroom teaching where language immersion are used as pedagogical method and would it be wise to look again at the language of instruction?

In today's society it is desirable to be successful and continuously progressive. At the same time it is seen important to focus on one's well-being and seeking optimal experiences. In studying, the interaction between motivation and well-being as well as the importance of positive learning experiences is an actual entirety. Taking students conceptions of learning and knowledge into account brings in a richer perspective that has been less frequently studied. Conceptions of learning and knowledge, otherwise epistemologies, are crucial in governing student's ways of interpreting and evaluating information, as well as their view on the learning process. An important recent insight on the field of educational research is the growing idea that motivational, emotional and cognitive dimensions are not only intrinsically significant, but also in intense interaction with each other and with the learning environment. The aim of this study was to investigate what kinds of motivational factors and problems in well-being do novice students experience in their studies, and also what their epistemologies are like. The approach was person-oriented. Motivational factors were: experienced challenge and competence, thinking strategies and attributions, and study engagement. Problems in well-being were measured through emotional dimension (stress, exhaustion) on the one hand, and through motivational dimension (lack of interest, task avoidance) on the other. Epistemologies measured in this study were: collaborative knowledge building, reflective learning, metacognition, certainty of knowledge and practical value. The data (n=785) were collected in spring and autumn 2012 by using a questionnaire developed by RYM Indoor Environment project. The participants were first and second year students from Aalto university of Technology and four departments in University of Helsinki: Department of Teacher education, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Theology, and Faculty of Law. K-means cluster analysis was used for clustering students into homogenous groups that presented their experienced motivational factors. To see whether the groups differed in terms of problems in well-being or epistemologies, Oneway analysis of variance was conducted. Also potential differences in certain background variables were investigated by using crosstabs (gender, study discipline) and Kruskal-Wallis test (age). Three studying profiles were identified: 1) pessimistic, 2) bored, 3) engaged. Pessimistic students reported the lowest study engagement, optimism and competence and the highest task avoidance and problems in well-being. They valued certain knowledge the most. Bored students experienced the lowest challenge, quite low study engagement and moderate optimism, competence and lack of interest. They reported the lowest practical value of knowledge. Engaged students had the highest study engagement, optimism and competence, lowest task avoidance and the least problems in well-being. They valued collaborative knowledge building, reflective learning and metacognition the most. There were not found gender differences between the studying profiles. Instead, it turned out that pessimistic students were the youngest. When comparing different study disciplines, the results indicated that in the Department of Teacher education, as well as in the Faculties of Law and Theology, the largest section of participants was identified as engaged students. Among participants from Aalto university and the Department of Chemistry, the largest section was identified as pessimistic students. This study demonstrates the idea of the dynamic interplay between motivational, emotional and cognitive dimensions in studying. In conclusion, students personal motivational factors, well-being and epistemologies form unique entireties. It can be deduced on the basis of earlier research, that these entireties are of utmost importance regarding studying and can be either worthwhile or detrimental to it. In the future, more proof is needed about the concrete relations and potential effects on study success, for example, as supporting successful studying and graduating on schedule are topical politico-educational subjects in Finland. Also little is known about the relations between well-being and epistemologies. The results of this study could be utilized in developing and designing higher education.

Objectives. In sports, there is a pressure for change in coaches behaviour and coaching styles. The discussion regarding the methods and procedures used in coaching is active. From a coaching philosophical perspective, coach orientation has changed to player orientation. Teaching methods used in coaching should be updated to reflect modern learning concepts in which the player has the role of an active agent. In conclusion, the need to develop the skills of coaches has increased. In addition to mastering coaching styles, the coach is required to have the ability to utilize social and emotional skills. This study examines and analyzes how football coaches utilize and use social and emotional skills as well as teaching styles. In addition, connections between socialemotional skills and teaching styles are sought. Methods. The approach of this study was qualitative. The material was collected through individual interviews. There were total of six interviews (n = 6). The coaches interviewed had extensive and long coaching experience. The analysis of material was done as a theory-based content analysis, because the aim was to look at the material from the perspective of theory. Results and conclusions. Based on this research, the notion that coaching is moving towards a teaching style in which the player´s role as a active learner and a builder of knowledge is taken into account was confirmed. It can be concluded from the material that coaches use a autonomy supportive teaching style to take into account the needs of the players. However, coaches feel that there are situations where it is justified to use controlling teaching style instead of autonomyt supportive style. The best approach can be therefore considered to be a combination of an autonomy supportive and controlling style. Based on this research, coaches utilize social and emotional skills in a variety of coaching work. It can be concluded from the material that coaches value social and emotional skills and perceive them as a significant aspect of coaching. Based on the material, coaches place particular emphasis on those areas of social and emotional skills that are related to working with others. From this it can be concluded that in the future more attention should be paid to the development of coache´s self-awareness and self-management.

In the future the school will be working more and more together with the formal learning environments in the informal environments. Taking a socio-cultural perspective on learning it is characterized as a process that happens in interaction through collaborative participation. The earlier studies have illustrated that an initiative-response-evaluation -cycle (IRE-cycle) is reproduced in formal classroom interaction. This way of organizing interaction supports a teacher-led conversation culture in the classroom. Even though the school strives for expanding outside the formal environment the ways that the interaction is organized in an informal environment during school time have been studied very little. The purpose of this study was to find out how the interaction is like in an informal learning environment during the school time. The study was aimed to find out how the interaction was organized on a school birding trip and how was it like. The study was qualitative and data-driven. The data of the study consisted of a two-hour and 59-minutes video data that was collected as a part of the Learning Bridges research project in 2008-2010. The data was filmed on a school birding trip in Viikki and the participants were 18 fourth graders, their teacher and a birdwatcher. The analysis started of an urge to find out why the atmosphere on the birding trip was so free. The data was analyzed using the progressive refinement of hypotheses as an analysis method which implies that the research questions were formed watching the data over and over again. During this process significant episodes were selected in the data and they were analyzed more carefully. In the data there were only a few situations in which the interaction was organized as a teacher-led and by the IRE-cycle. The interaction was organized this way only in those situations where the teacher for example was checking out the knowledge of the students of something and the use was then well-grounded. Instead on the birding trip the interaction was organized often around the observations in the shared observation process. I called it crowding when an observation gathered the people together suddenly in the middle of the ongoing interaction and fading when people were little by little moving away from a shared situation to make something else. It were the teacher and the birdwatcher who usually brought the observations to the shared attention but they also encouraged the students to share their observations with others by giving them responsibility and choice of how they participated. The conclusion can be drawn that working in an informal environment can create new interactional structures in the formal learning and that they can enable different ways of learning. The informal learning environments should be brought as a natural part of the curriculum and the everyday life at school to support the idea that learning takes place everywhere.

The goal of the “new paradigm” in childhood studies and specifically child perspective research is to bring the child into the center of producing information regarding their lives. Various methods based on oral storytelling are considered appropriate for presenting such things that children consider meaningful. Using visual methods aims at increasing children's possibilities in self-expression within the means of the research. From these premises I designed a child perspective narrative study, meant to chart the fourth grader's experience of the school forest. However, new and more acute research problems arose from the data produced in the study: How has the research setting limited, or on the other hand, made possible what is being told? What is expected from the listener for the stories to be heard? 22 4th graders participated in the study in the spring of 2016, and were presented with the question: "What would you like to share with the researcher about the school forest?". To begin with their stories the pupils first photographed the school forest. Photo-elicitated narrative interviews were then conducted with each participant. The material was interpreted by means of narrative analysis, making use of the small stories approach. Reaching the “narrative space” within the research was challenging for the participants. The dominant form of expression was “showing” instead of narrating, or giving narrow descriptions of what is there in the forest: trees, stones, sticks. The narrative quality of the interviews was largely fragile. This resulted in the children's own school forest experience remaining rather distant. Reflexive thinking of the context of the narration, such as the research setting and being in school, brought out several factors prohibiting the narrative space from opening up, such as insufficient informing and the overriding of an explicit consent from the child. So called counter stories within the data were two stories, in which the children's subjective school forest experiences were celebrated. The narrative space was made possible by an inclusive interview interaction. The results of the study can be applied in the planning of ethically solid child oriented research, in which the child's own consent is given the weight it deserves and the challenges of conducting a research in school are consciously met. This is how the potential of children’s free narrating is more likely to flourish.

Previous studies indicate that positive learning experiences are related to academic achievement as well as to well-being. On the other hand, emotional and motivational problems in studying may pose a risk for both academic achievement and well-being. Thus, emotions and motivation have an increasing role in explaining university students learning and studying. The relations between emotions, motivation, study success and well-being have been less frequently studied. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of academic emotions, motivational factors and problems in studying students experienced five days before an exam of an activating lecture course, and the relations among these factors as well as their relation to self-study time and study success. Furthermore, the effect of all these factors on well-being, flow experience and academic achievement was examined. The term academic emotion was defined as emotion experienced in academic settings and related to studying. In the present study the theoretical background to motivational factors was based on thinking strategies and attributions, flow experience and task value. Problems in studying were measured in terms of exhaustion, anxiety, stress, lack of interest, lack of self-regulation and procrastination. The data were collected in December 2009 in an activating educational psychology lecture course by using a questionnaire. The participants (n=107) were class and kindergarten teacher students from the University of Helsinki. Most of them were first year students. The course grades were also gathered. Correlations and stepwise regression analysis were carried out to find out the factors that were related to or explained study success. The clusters that presented students' problems in studying as well as thinking strategies and attributions, were found through hierarchical cluster analysis. K-means cluster analysis was used to form the final groups. One-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis test and crosstabs were conducted to see whether the students in different clusters varied in terms of study success, academic emotions, task value, flow, and background variables. The results indicated that academic emotions measured five days before the exam explained about 30 % of the variance of the course grade; exhaustion and interest positively, and anxiety negatively. In addition, interest as well as the self-study time best explained study success on the course. The participants were classified into three clusters according to their problems in studying as well as their thinking strategies and attributions: 1) ill-being, 2) carefree, and 3) committed and optimistic students. Ill-being students reported most negative emotions, achieved the worst grades, experienced anxiety rather than flow and were also the youngest. Carefree students, on the other hand, expressed the least negative emotions and spent the least time on self-studying, and like committed students, experienced flow. In addition, committed students reported positive emotions the most often and achieved the best grades on the course. In the future, more in-depth understanding how and why especially young first year students experience their studying hard is needed, because early state of the studies is shown to predict later study success.

For years there has been concern for children who are reading less in their spare time and whose reading skills are worsening. Earlier research has proven that reading groups can have positive effects for classroom climate, reading motivation and pupils to become a lifelong readers. Social interaction and pupils’ own choices support children’s reading motivation. The most common definition for reading group is that small group of students reads a book, plan timetable for their reading and discuss about the book together. In this study the aim was to find out how pupils define reading group, what they think about it and how reading group can support pupils’ reading motivation. Study gives the voice for pupils and provides valuable information about reading groups that have not been studied a lot before in Finland. This thesis is part of Lukuklaani research project which is funded by Suomen kulttuurirahasto and Kopiosto. Participants of this study included 37 pupils from fifth and sixth grade. They participated Lukuklaani’s ’Narrit’ reading group for three weeks in 2019. Data of this study was collected with online survey in the beginning and in the end of the reading group. The survey provided data about pupils’ reading habits and thoughts about different parts of reading group. Also 12 students were interviewed in groups of four. Data analysis method was qualitative content analysis. Earlier research supported results while they were analysed. The pupils in this study had positive thoughts about reading group and reading already in the beginning of the study. Students liked working with the group and choosing books by themselves. Group and book choices supported reading in the reading group. Pupils wanted to have reading group also the next time when they read a book at school because in reading group pupils got to discuss with others. They also thought that it was a nice learning method. This study shows that reading group can motivate pupils to read if the book choices are succesful and working in the group goes without problems.