Search results for "301"
showing 10 items of 14241 documents
Institutional Learning in North–South Partnerships: Critical Self-Reflection on Collaboration Between Finnish and Tanzanian Academics
2020
Knowledge production and its possibilities and pitfalls in North-South research partnerships have gained increasing attention. The previous literature has identified certain pervasive challenges, and suggested a variety of ways to change partnerships, ranging from improvement of current collaboration activities to fundamental transformation of the hegemonic Eurocentric criteria for knowledge. Against this backdrop, we ask what kinds of learning can take place in research partnerships. We draw from two sources – an institutional approach and a classical categorization of learning proposed by Gregory Bateson – to develop a heuristic for analyzing institutional learning in North-South research…
Verbal counting skill predicts later math performance and difficulties in middle school
2019
This study examined the role of verbal counting skill as an early predictor of math performance and difficulties (at or below −1.5 standard deviation in basic math skills) in middle school. The role of fourth-grade level arithmetical skills (i.e., calculation fluency, multi-digit arithmetic i.e. procedural calculation, and word problem solving) as mediators was also investigated. The participants included 207 children in central Finland who were studied from kindergarten to the seventh grade. Path modeling showed that verbal counting in kindergarten is a strong predictor for basic math performance in seventh grade, explaining even 52% of the variance in these skills after controlling for th…
Mathematics and Art Connections Expressed in Artworks by South African Students
2022
In this chapter, we examine a collection of drawings, and paintings from South African students between the ages of 10 to 17, that provide fresh and original perceptions to some already known topics, but also several unexpected connections between mathematics and art. These works reference classic math-art connections such as: golden ratio, spirals, infinity, and geometric figures; they also contain several personal reflections, unique discoveries and references to ethnomathematical connections within the African cultural heritage. To introduce their pieces and themselves, students shared their own interpretations of their artworks. These commentaries make possible the identification of cog…
Investigating former pupils’ experiences and perceptions of CLIL in Finland: a retrospective analysis
2019
The educational approach known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), in which content is taught partly through a foreign language, has gained great popularity in Europe in the past few decades. In Finland, CLIL has been in use since 1991 and, despite some fluctuations in its popularity, has gained a relatively stable place in the Finnish education system. CLIL has been extensively studied, but previous CLIL research has mostly focused on pupils currently enrolled in CLIL. This study takes a novel perspective by investigating CLIL retrospectively, through the eyes of former pupils. The data used are in-depth interviews with 24 former pupils who attended a CLIL class in Finland …
Individual Creativity and Career Choices of Pre-teens in the Context of a Math-Art Learning Event
2021
A sample of 392 students (aged 12-13 years, M± SD: 12. 52% girls) completed a learning module integrating informal hands-on mathematics and arts activity (extending STEM to STEAM). Within a 140 minute workshop period participants worked with commercially available ‘4Dframe’ Math and STEAM learning toolkits to design and create original, personal and individual geometrical structures. Two science pedagogues acted as tutors supervising the process and intervened only when needed. A pre-/post-test design monitored individual creativity, relative autonomy, and career choice preference. Path analysis elaborated the role of creativity (measured with two subscales: act and flow), and it showed tha…
Meaningful learning in teacher education
2018
This study explores meaningful learning in the context of teacher education. The study showed the importance of course design in generating meaningful learning. Opportunities to gain strong experience are crucial to meaningful learning. Meaningful learning provides space for both positive and uncomfortable emotions. peerReviewed
Pre-service subject teachers’ personal teacher characterisations after the pedagogical studies
2020
This study explored how five pre-service subject teachers characterised themselves as teachers after completing their year-long pedagogical studies in a Finnish university. Our narrative analysis of the interview data showed that the students shared a social representation of a past teacher characterised by wide power and emotional distance between pupils and the teacher. The students differentiated themselves from this kind of teacher character, and rather positioned themselves as interactive and caring educators identifying with their own ideal teachers as well as meaningful learning experiences in the pedagogical studies. Consequently, the study showed that engaging pre-service subject t…
The effects of socio-scientific issue based inquiry learning on pupils’ representations of landscape
2016
AbstractResearch has demonstrated that socio-scientific issues based inquiry learning has significant advantages for learning outcomes and students’ motivation. Further, a successful understanding of landscapes in environmental and geographical education can be achieved by combining informal learning environments with school education. Therefore this case study focuses on how socio-scientific issues based inquiry learning carried out in school and in a Nature Park, influences primary school pupils’ (n = 36) representations of landscapes. The pupils were asked to draw and write about landscape both before and after intervention. The data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to inves…
Critical Exploration of Flexible Delivery
2020
This work-in-progress research article presents an introductory qualitative study on students' perceptions of a flexibly delivered, modular computer science course. Many contemporary approaches to education rely in various ways on flexible delivery of course content. This is often done to capitalize on modern technology and the web, and to put the student ‘in the center.' However, it is becoming manifest that these approaches may challenge both the students and the equity between them, making it important to understand the effects of flexible delivery in terms of the students. In the voice of our students, flexible delivery was seen as a largely positive approach, reducing stress, promoting…
Searching for Global Employability : Can Students Capitalize on Enabling Learning Environments?
2019
Literature on global employability signifies “enabling” learning environments where students encounter ill-formed and open-ended problems and are required to adapt and be creative. Varying forms of “projects,” co-located and distributed, have populated computing curricula for decades and are generally deemed an answer to this call. We performed a qualitative study to describe how project course students are able to capitalize on the promise of enabling learning environments. This critical perspective was motivated by the circumstance of the present-day education systems being heavily regulated for the precipitated production of human capital. The students involved in our study described edu…