The Role of Instructional Activities for Collaboration in Simulation-Based Games

Tiina Lamsa (Ph.D.) has a Ph.D. of education and she is a qualified early childhood education and care (ECEC) teacher. She has been focusing on the questions of arts based research, visual and digital methodologies in childhood studies and cultural research, pedagogy and curriculum development, sustainable learning and educational leadership in the past several years. She is currently working as a university teacher at the Open University of the University of Jyvaskyla. Since the year 2006, she has been involved in several research projects that produced and developed electronic diary methods for use in research focusing on family life and children’s wellbeing. Her ongoing post-doctoral res…

Childhood reproduced: images of childhood represented in children's daily lives in home and day-care settings

ABSTRACTThis study explores images of childhood by analysing children's pictorial representations and accompanying captions. The focus is on how children together with adults represent childhood in the home and daycare settings in a oneweek diary study. The key analytical tool was framing, which is used to highlight what kinds of images are (re)produced and narrated. The frames that emerged were (1) portrayal of the child via cultural products and societal relations, (2) portrayal of the child via individuality, relationships and attachment, (3) the child as a symbol of capabilities, and (4) the child as a learner. While illustrating how childhood was intertwined with consumption, cultural …

The child diary as a research tool

The aim of this article is to introduce the use of the child diary as a method in daily diary research. By describing the research process and detailing its structure, a child diary, a structured booklet in which children's parents and day-care personnel (N = 54 children) reported their observations, was evaluated. The participants reported the use of the diary to be an interesting but time-consuming experience. The main ethical challenges were related to power positions, confidentiality, consequences and motivation. With respect to adults’ observations of children's emotions, the results indicated that the child diary is valuable in providing information about individual differences and da…

Capturing daily family dynamics via text messages: development of the mobile diary

In this paper we introduce a new tool, the mobile phone, for use in diary research. We demonstrate, with reference to two family studies conducted in Finland, how daily family dynamics can be captured by using the mobile diary. In both studies family members sent text messages (SMSs) in answer to structured diary questions three times a day over a one-week period. The participants kept also paper-and-pencil diaries. Two mobile diary items measuring mood (stressfulness and feelings of competence) both at home and at work are reported here as examples. For both items we found statistically significant daily and weekly variation as well as individual fluctuation. The data gathered by the mobil…

Päivähoidosta varhaiskasvatukseen : pedagogisen toiminnan edellytykset suomalaisessa päivähoidossa ja varhaiskasvatuksessa

Suomessa päivähoidon ja varhaiskasvatuksen vaikuttavuuden yhtenä mittarina on ollut koulussa tai työelämässä menestyminen. Päivähoidolle ja varhaiskasvatukselle asetetut tavoitteet ovat aina tavalla tai toisella liittyneet yhteiskunnan taloudellispoliittisiin olosuhteisiin, josta käsin ne ovat ohjanneet myös toiminnan sisältöjä ja laatua. Laadunarvioinnin lähtökohtana ovat olleet palvelujärjestelmän mahdollisuudet vastata työelämän ja perheen tarpeisiin. Lasten kokonaisvaltaiseen oppimiseen ja hyvinvointiin tähtäävän pedagogiikan arviointi on sen sijaan jäänyt vähemmälle huomiolle. Tässä katsauksessa keskitytään tarkastelemaan päivähoidossa ja varhaiskasvatuksessa tapahtuneiden rakenteellis…

Kokopäiväpedagogiikka ja sen kehittäminen varhaiskasvatuksessa

Kokopäiväpedagogiikka on noussut keskeiseksi toimintatavaksi suomalaisissa päiväkodeissa. Se on myös useissa paikallisissa varhaiskasvatussuunnitelmissa toiminnan lähtökohtana, vaikka käsitteen tieteellinen määrittely on kesken ja käytännön tulkinnat vaihtelevat. Ehkä juuri näiden syiden vuoksi aihe herättää paljon keskustelua ja kiinnostusta. Kokopäiväpedagogiikka onkin vielä toistaiseksi ennen kaikkea varhaiskasvatuksen arkisanastoa. Se voi kuitenkin tutkimuksen avulla kehittyä tieteelliseksi käsitteeksi tai – kehityksen suunnasta riippuen – keskittyä pikemminkin varhaiskasvatuksen pedagogista työtä ohjaavaksi käsitteeksi. Erityinen huomio kokopäiväpedagogiikkaa koskevissa keskusteluissa …

Näkyvä lapsuus : lapsuuskuva havainnointipäiväkirjassa ja television mainoskuvissa

This research addresses images of childhood in the context of media and children´s everyday lives. Images of childhood reproduced by young children themselves and by their parents and day-care personnel, and in television advertising were investigated. Representations are studied as social, cultural and historical entities that are formed in the course of everyday life. The question is asked, what kind of childhood is (re)produced in children's everyday lives and in the media context, and how are the representations created using visual and textual materials connected with the cultural imagery of childhood? To collect child observations and descriptions of daily lives as provided by adults …

Part-time teachers’ concepts of assessment, assessment practices and experiences of participation at the open university

Children’s Emotions in Educational Settings: Teacher Perceptions from Australia, China, Finland, Japan and Spain

The transition to formal education is a critical transition in children’s lives that has importance for socio-emotional and behavioral functioning. In the transition process, teachers are key players who work intensively with children and their families. This article focuses on teachers’ perceptions of children´s socio-emotional behavior during the transition from preschool to primary school. We collected qualitative teacher interviews from 112 teachers from five different countries—Australia, China, Finland, Japan and Spain. The research questions were: (1) How do teachers in the five countries perceive children’s abilities in expressing and regulating emotions. (2) How are children’s emot…