Browsing by Subject "Barn"

Aims. Previous studies have shown that few Finnish children and adolescent fulfil the physical activity (PA) recommendations. Previous studies have also shown that the PA gained during the school day is more important for children and adolescents that are the most inactive. This group gain the majority of their physical activity during their time in school. According to socioecological models, physical and socio-psychological factors affect children’s and adolescents’ physical activity. This study aims to describe the Finnish Swedish speaking children’s and adolescents’ recess time, focusing on where they spend their recess, how physically active they are during recess, what conditions there are for PA during the recess, and whether the children and adolescents have participated in planning the schools activities. Methods. The sample consisted of 1119 Swedish speaking Finns in the grades 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 in Finland. The material was collected in the schools during spring 2018 through electronic questionnaires. Most of the participants were 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders. Frequencies and cross-tabs were used in analyses to describe the participants. To explore whether there was statistically significant differences between the grades and gender regarding the respondent’s answers in the questionnaires, khi2-test and t-test were used. Results and conclusions. Younger children spent their recess time outside more often than the adolescents. PA during recess decreased as the age increased. Moreover, the younger children found the support from schools for PA during recess to be better than the elderly ones. Children on the 3rd grade were the most active in planning the recess activities, while adolescents in the 7th and 9th grade were the least active. Conclusions: The results in this study are in line with previous studies. Keeping in mind that the recommendations for daily PA is less fulfilled, it is important that schools encourages and supports children and adolescents to be physical active during the school day. Future studies should explore whether there is an association between schools’ support for PA and children’s and adolescents’ PA, and further between participating in planning the school physical activities and children’s and adolescents’ PA.

The aim of this study is to get an insight in which roles occur in children’s free play. How are these roles displayed, and how does children negotiate these roles? This study process how children interact in situations of free play. The main concepts that are discussed in the theoretical part are roles, role negotiation, play, and roleplay. The concepts are explained more profoundly in the theoretical part, which also establishes the theoretical basis of this study. This study is completed as a qualitative study with both case study and observational study as methods. As data collecting method I have been using video observation. The material for my study was collected in a Swedish speaking preschool in southern Finland. The video observations were made during two mornings in this preschool. The aim was to capture free play amongst children. Five preschoolers in total participated in the study. The results of this study indicates that role negotiations as a phenomenon is something that is not that commonly occurring in children’s free play. All of the children participated in choosing roles, but they mostly just announced which role they wanted themselves, without any further negotiation. The roles that occurred in these plays were quite ordinary and mostly permanent. No one chose a role that automatically would have indicated strong leadership, which means that all of the children were somewhat equal in status. The children also had thoughts about what characteristics their own role should have and how the other role characters should act. This could be explained as how the roles were displayed. In my study I found two main categories in how children expressed their own roles and their expectations of the other role characters. These main categories were verbally, and through action.

The aim of this study is to assess the view of kindergarten teachers on children’s need for physical activity, how they perceive the connection between children’s physical activity and ability to concentrate, as well as the experience they have of this connection. In the theoretical part of the work, I discuss current views on children’s motor development, children’s need for physical activity, children’s cognitive development, and how the regulatory documents deal with physical activity. The qualitative study was carried out by interviewing three kindergarten teachers at three different kindergartens in Helsinki. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and then analysed. The results indicate that kindergarten teachers perceive a connection between children’s physical activity and ability to concentrate, in agreement with prevailing theories. They realize the importance of physical activity for children’s health and development, and fulfil the official requirements for physical activity. They realize as well the importance of emphasizing the importance of physical activity for health to children as well as to parents and other personnel at kindergartens. With the reservation that only three kindergarten teachers were interviewed, the results of this study indicate that kindergarten teachers at kindergartens realize the importance of physical activity for the development of children, and that great emphasis is placed on satisfying children’s need for activity.