Browsing by Subject "pedagoginen ajattelu"

The purpose of this study was to describe and get a deep understanding of pedagogical change process. The phases of pedagogical change process and the nature and the role of teacher's pedagogical thinking in it were mapped. The change process as a whole was also modeled. The previous research of teaching change process has had been scarce on an individual teacher level, but on a school level it has been investigated abundantly. The theoretical background of this study consists of theories of teacher's pedagogical thinking and action and how their thinking and action change and develop. Teacher change has been researched from the point of view of both school change and professional development. The basic principle in the theoretical frame is that change in teacher's thinking leads to change in action. Three men teachers and a woman teacher who have put change into practice took part in this study. The data consisted of two parts: teachers' essays of their change process and interviews that were based on the essays. The data was analysed by content analysis. The categorizations of both parts of the data were made separately but they were interpreted together. In this way a deep understanding of pedagogical change process could be reached. The results of this study were descriptions of the phases of pedagogical change process and the nature and the role of teacher's pedagogical thinking in it. In addition a model of pedagogical change process was presented. Pedagogical change process started up because of disorder in teacher's pedagogical thinking and action. The disorder leads to an absolute necessity to change the activities. Change activities stabilize throughout intuitive experiments and reflection-on-action. The change in a teacher's thinking is a prerequisite for the start of the process but also, a teacher's thinking develops as a result of the process. Thus, the whole process results in a real, deep level change in instruction and in the teacher's thinking. That is why pedagogical change processes are visible, significant and they have wide and extensive effects. The study gives out information of controlling the change processes. Consequently, the results of this study encourage teachers to confront change and put their new ideas into practice.

The aim of this study is research teachers’ pedagogical thinking in oral health education. The study was interested in what contents classroom teachers consider important in relation to oral health, and what kind of teaching methods and materials they use when teaching these to their students. In addition, the challenges and opportunities for creative class teachers in oral health education were examined. The theoretical frame of reference for the study was Kansanen’s (1993b) Model of Pedagogical Thinking and the Herbartian Didactical Triangle. Teachers’ pedagogical thinking was approached from the arguments they shared. In this case study, eight classroom teachers were interviewed, seven of whom were currently teaching in primary school. In the interview situations, the I love mouth video of the Finnish Dental Association was used as a stimulus. The data were analyzed by inductive as well as deductive content analysis, also utilizing the quantification of the data. Class teachers considered it important to teach students content related to dental care, nutrition, intoxicants, and oral health and well-being. The most popular teaching materials in oral health education were textbooks, model teeth, and videos. Oral health was taught in everyday situations as well as through concreteness and functionality, group work and teaching discussions. Oral health care visits were considered desirable and their lack was regretted. As challenges in oral health education, classroom teachers saw a small role for oral health in curriculum content. In addition, there was a lack of teaching materials and one's own knowledge was not perceived as very strong. Directing students to a healthier life was seen as an opportunity. As in previous studies, the pedagogical thinking in this study also focused on the action level. Teachers justified the teaching of oral health based on, for example, their own experiences and everyday observations. The main emphasis in the explanatory memorandum was on the didactic relationship, therefore teachers’ relationship to the student' s learning. Additionally, the pedagogical relationship was almost as evident. Instead, the teachers’ relationship to content remained in the smallest role. Regarding the pedagogical thinking of teachers in the teaching of oral health, it can be stated that teachers should have more theoretical competence in the teaching of oral health.

The framework for this study comes from Carol Dweck's (2000, 2006) findings of two different mindsets: growth mindset and fixed mindset. A person with a growth mindset believes human qualities are malleable and a person with a fixed mindset believes skills and intelligence are set. Although there have been lots of studies about mindsets, most of them are quantitative. The aim of this study is to examine how mindsets are presented in teacher's pedagogical thinking and which mindsets actualize in teaching practices in a first grade classroom. This qualitative case study examined a first grade teacher's, Anne's, mindsets in Helsinki University Viikki Normal School. The teacher was selected based on a mindset survey. The data of this study included a preliminary interview, observation, and videotaping and stimulated recall interviews. The analysis was done using a deductive content analysis. The results suggest that Anne's mindset related to learning in her pedagogical thinking was towards a growth mindset but had features of a fixed mindset. In her pedagogical thinking, a growth mindset appeared as seeing contextual factors as main predictors in students learning and recognizing and supporting students as individuals. A fixed mindset appeared in Anne's pedagogical thinking as seeing students' temperament as one predictor in students' learning. Anne's teaching practices emphasized a growth mindset, but had also features of a fixed and a neutral mindset. A growth mindset became apparent in mastery-oriented atmosphere, fostering learning goals and praising processes. A fixed mindset was present in teaching by avoiding failures and highlighting success. A neutral mindset was identified as non-verbal praising in Anne's teaching practices. As the results propose, Anne's mindset varied between situations. This implicates the need of more precise studies of mindsets and their actualization in authentic environments. Only qualitative research will provide the opportunity to deeply understand how mindsets vary between situations and what is the impact on teaching, studying and learning in the classroom.

Aims. This research is based on the sociocultural background, which sees learning as an interactive process with the community. Learning affects both the community and the individual, who is building his identity through learning and interaction. Previous studies indicate, that sense of belonging increases commitment and agency. In this research I followed pupils for few days in Poikkilaakso elementary school, where the pupils were teaching each other. The event was called 'I Teach' -day. In this research I am pointing out the skills that this kind of event develops in pupils and what are the effects to the pedagogical community. The students were involved planning the event and their own teaching as well as the realization of the lesson. The pupils also gave feedback of the 'I Teach' –day. Methods. The data was collected using simulated recall –method, which was extended by theme interview. There were 13 interviewees, of which four were adults and teachers and nine were pupils aged 9 to 12. The interviews were transcripted and systematically analysed. When all the data was collated I made the analysis and brought some theoretical interpretation to the analysis. Results and conclusions. The event was encouraging pupils to become active agents, who take responsibility for their own learning and others by planning, creating, giving feedback and developing teaching. The frames of the event, which were given pupils by the teachers, gave the possibility to develop skills in agency. The creative culture was prerequisite for developing of pedagogical agency. Pedagogical agent takes responsibility of learning with others, and strives for development of the community of learning.

Previous studies have shown that outdoor activities are important for the child and outdoor environment is in many ways an ideal early childhood education environment. However the appreciation of outdoor playing has gone through inflation in small children's education. The emphasis on safety risks has made playgrounds plain and educators cautious. Children spend the free time more and more inside at the expense of the outdoor activities. It has been speculated that the children's healthy growth and development are at risk as a result of these social changes. Against this background, it is important to consider outdoor activities carried out in institutional early childhood education from the point of view of pedagogy. Day care staff is responsible for the well-being of children, the promotion of development and learning. Studies have given an indication that pedagogical knowledge is not used outside as it could be. The purpose of this study is to analyze the meanings of children's outdoor life and outdoor environment given by the kindergarten teachers, as well as the role of an adult during outdoor supervision. The goal is to survey good practices in promoting outdoor pedagogy. The research method used was theme interview with video tapings. The research environment was municipal day-care center. Outdoor activities was taped on video in the yard of the day-care center. Four kindergarten teachers was interviewed using semi-structured interview frame and video clips. Interview data was analyzed according to the principles of content analysis. Outdoor activities were seen as a vital part of the day and outdoor environment was seen as a good pedagogical environment. However it was felt that in reality the pedagogical skills is not often used outdoors. Safety and control was seen as specific tasks for adults related to outdoor activities. However, this important role was seen also as a limitation for the pedagogical usage of outdoor environment and children's freedom. Outdoor Environment provides a good ground for play, sports, exploration and interaction between children as well as between adult and child. Children's learning is holistic and adults should have similar roles outdoors than inside. Teaching and educational staff commitment to their work and a shared vision of the work community can promote outdoor pedagogy and change courtyard control culture.