Browsing by Subject "kouluoppiminen"

The purpose of the study was to depict, analyse and interpret how children recognise different learning contexts. Are children capable of defining the learning to have occurred in certain situations or environments? The so-called everyday environments are a part of human reality. The formal learning and theoretical knowledge usually have a lack of connection between one's individual perception of the world, as well as their own environment. The societal frame and everyday environments challenge learning, and one's personal situation in life acts a context for all learning. By means of participation, one's individual comprehension increases, and he or she is able to gradually achieve the full participation, in which he or she manages the required skills of an environment. Since learning always occurs within an environment, a context-based learning is a significant part of the learning process. In addition to context-based learning, I wanted to find out what the purpose of everyday experiences is in children's learning, and whether children are able to form a connection between the learnt matters in school and everyday-life. The viewpoint of the study was qualitative. The data was collected from two different classes in 6th grade in elementary school (N=40). A three-type of data was utilised in the present study: a series of images with open-ended questions, a questionnaire and essays. The data was analysed via content analysis, as well as content differentiation. The data was adjusted into upper and subcategories, the help of which answers to research questions was searched. On the basis of the present study, children were able to recognise different contexts well. Recognition seemed to be particularly easy for specific, as well as less frequently occurring matters. The meaning of informal learning and personal experiences were emphasised in the study, in spite of the fact that children had not been able to classify all of their experiences into a specific learning context. When the research questions are considered, I personally found the connection between the learnt matters in school and everyday-life the most significant. That is to say, on the basis of my study, children have trouble with simultaneously understanding the occurrence of similar phenomena, as well as processing them in school and everyday-life. The learning in a school-context seems to be somewhat loose related to children's personal everyday experiences. On the basis of my study, one should pay attention to the connection between formal and informal learning more thoroughly.