0000000000007120
AUTHOR
Minna Kyttälä
showing 10 related works from this author
Prior mathematics achievement, cognitive appraisals and anxiety as predictors of Finnish students’ later mathematics performance and career orientati…
2010
The aim of this two‐year longitudinal study was to investigate the role and impact of prior mathematics performance, cognitive appraisals and mathematics‐specific, affective anxiety in determining later mathematics achievement and future career orientation among Finnish adolescents. The basic ideas of the control‐value theory, assumed to be culturally universal, and previous controversial results regarding the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement were tested in the Finnish cultural context with a longitudinal design. The key premise of the control‐value theory is that control and value appraisals are significant determinants of both activity and outcome achie…
Exploring pre-service special needs teachers’ assessment conceptions and assessment self-efficacy
2022
This survey study (N = 148) investigates the interrelationships between assessment conceptions, assessment self-efficacy, prior education, and teaching experience amongst Finnish pre-service special educational needs teachers (pre-service SENs). The results showed that assessment conceptions and assessment self-efficacy are intertwined. Assessment conceptions, prior studies, and teaching experience were clustered into three different pre-service SEN types: Assessment Positives, Assessment Cautious, and Assessment Criticals. Pre-service SENs with assessment-positive or assessment-cautious conceptions reported higher assessment self-efficacy than students with assessment-critical conceptions.…
The role of literacy skills in adolescents' mathematics word problem performance – Controlling for visuo-spatial ability and mathematics anxiety
2014
Abstract The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between eighth-grade adolescents' literacy skills and mathematics word problem performance. Moreover, visuo-spatial ability and mathematics anxiety were considered as covariates. According to the analyses of (co)variance, literacy skills were significantly associated with mathematics word problem skills among the 99 8th grade participants of the study. It is primarily for boys that reading comprehension skill predicts success in solving math word problems, while technical reading predicts both calculation skill and word problem solving skill across genders. Visuo-spatial ability was not a significant covariate in either of…
Pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices and resilience in Finland
2021
Abstract This study aims to explore Finnish pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in implementing inclusive education and their resilience. Survey data were collected from 105 pre-service teachers studying in a teacher education programme in one university in Finland. The relationships between pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices, their perceived resilience, and background variables were examined using structural equation modelling. The results confirmed a three-factor structure for self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices among the pre-service teachers. In addition, pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy was the strongest variable that related to thei…
Assessment conception patterns of Finnish pre-service special needs teachers : the contribution of prior studies and teaching experience
2021
The main aim of this study was to investigate how Finnish pre-service special needs teachers’ (N = 134) assessment conceptions, prior academic studies in special education and teaching experience together cluster into different patterns representing different student types. Their assessment conceptions formed three main factors: 1) assessment measures learning, 2) assessment supports teaching and learning, and 3) assessment as a harmful action. All three factors were emphasised differently in each pattern. Assessment conceptions, prior studies, and teaching experience were clustered together in three different patterns: Assessment Criticals, Assessment Positives, and Assessment Cautious. Th…
Diversity in Family Structure - Diversity in Communication Between Family Members?
2013
This study aims at investigating the parent-adolescent communication of Finnish families from a multi informant perspective. Thirteen- and fourteen-year-old adolescents (n = 171) and their parents were asked to complete a questionnaire examining positive and problematic communication between the two parties. Information about their family structure was collected. The results indicated an interrelationship between parental and adolescent assessments, particularly regarding negative aspects of communication. The boys assessed their communication with parents as more positive than did the girls. The results showed that the mothers still are the synchronizing hearts of communication in modern f…
Assessment conceptions of Finnish pre-service teachers
2022
The aim of this quantitative survey study (N = 287) was to investigate the assessment conceptions of three different pre-service teacher groups (classroom teachers, subject teachers and special needs teachers). Assessment conceptions were best described by the following three main factors: 1) assessment of learning, 2) assessment for teaching and learning and 3) assessment as a harmful action. These main factors were clustered into three assessment conception profiles – assessment-cautious, assessment-positive and assessment-critical. Pre-service special needs teachers showed more assessment-oriented conceptions emphasising both the assessment of learning and assessment for learning than th…
Dynamics between student vs. teacher perceptions of mathematics task-orientation and mathematics performance among adolescents
2017
This study examined the dynamics between perceptions of mathematics task-orientation and mathematics performance among Finnish adolescents over a period of two last years of secondary school. Task-orientation in math was assessed at the beginning of grade 8 and again at the end of grade 9 using both student and teacher-reports. At the same time points, students' mathematics performance was evaluated via standardized test. The cross-lagged associations of task-orientation and mathematics performance were examined taking account the possible impacts of general cognitive ability, technical reading skills, reading comprehension and gender. The results showed that a high level of mathematics per…
Working memory resources in young children with mathematical difficulties.
2009
Working memory (WM) (Baddeley, 1986, 1997) is argued to be one of the most important cognitive resources underlying mathematical competence (Geary, 2004). Research has established close links between WM deficits and mathematical difficulties. This study investigated the possible deficits in WM, language and fluid intelligence that seem to characterize 4- to 6-year-old children with poor early mathematical skills before formal mathematics education. Children with early mathematical difficulties showed poor performance in both verbal and visuospatial WM tasks as well as on language tests and a fluid intelligence test indicating a thoroughly lower cognitive base. Poor WM performance was not mo…
Pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices and resilience in Finland
2021
This study aims to explore Finnish pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in implementing inclusive education and their resilience. Survey data were collected from 105 pre-service teachers studying in a teacher education programme in one university in Finland. The relationships between pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices, their perceived resilience, and background variables were examined using structural equation modelling. The results confirmed a three-factor structure for self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices among the pre-service teachers. In addition, pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy was the strongest variable that related to their resilie…