Search results for "Kasvatustieteet - Educational sciences"
showing 10 items of 27 documents
The Patras blended strategy model for deep and meaningful learning in quality life-long distance education
2019
Life‑long learning is currently being embraced as a central process that could disrupt traditional educational paths. Apparently, the (ideal) type of learning often promoted is deep and meaningful learning, though it is not always required to be so. Deep learning goes beyond superficial knowledge assimilation of unlinked facts; it aims at developing deep disciplinary understanding, transformative knowledge, personal meaning, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, creativity and metacognitive skills. Meaningful learning occurs when learning is active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative. Technology enhanced teaching and learning methods should prove their potential to t…
Epistemic governance in local policy debates : The case of entitlement to early childhood education and care in Finland
2019
In Finland, children below school age have enjoyed the right to attend subsidised full-time early childhood education and care (ECEC). However, the attendance rate in Finland is low in comparison to other Nordic countries. Furthermore, the entitlement was restricted to 20 h per week in 2016 unless the child’s parents work or study full-time or unless it is believed that the child will benefit from full-time ECEC. The debates concerning restrictions in ECEC entitlement in three municipal councils serve as the data for this study. By using the framework of epistemic governance, we identify three differing constructions of the ECEC’s societal functions in the municipal policy debates. The simi…
Kindergarten space and autonomy in construction - Explorations during team ethnography in a Finnish kindergarten
2018
Abstract Children’s autonomy is a cultural ideal in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC). In this article we examine autonomy in spatial terms. The theoretical background is developed by applying spatial sociology. Our starting point is that space is relationally produced, thus, we understand space as continuously negotiated, reconstructed and reorganized phenomena. In this article, we investigate the production of space by different actors in ECEC and seek to show how autonomy is also continuously produced and re-produced in the negotiation of space. For this investigation we use data collected as part of a team ethnographic project in a Finnish kindergarten. The project inclu…
Investigating elementary school students’ text-based argumentation with multiple online information resources
2020
In this study, we explored how elementary school students used multiple information resources in responding to a text-based argumentation task asking them to research a set of online texts in order to state and justify their stance on a controversial health-related issue. Results showed that most students took a stance that was consistent with the majority of the information resources that they read, that they mainly drew on more reliable resources in their written task products, and that they justified their stance by providing one or more supporting reasons. Students relied much more on copying and paraphrasing content from the online resources than on integrating information within and a…
Speechlessness, anxiety, and confusion in a teacher education student group
2017
The aim of the study was to explore the tensions, as experienced by student teachers, in a teacher education program that is based on psychodynamic theory. Previous research shows that students have had orientation problems in innovative university studies because it involves students having to take steps toward their discomfort zone. It was therefore considered important to study the mismatch or match of the training model and student experiences. The data were gathered through student interviews. The data analysis utilized a case study methodology and proceeded from thematic network analysis toward a deeper interpretation of the data. The analysis shows students struggle to understand the…
The Role of Curriculum Theory in Contemporary Higher Education Research and Practice
2017
In the light of recent debates on the possible issues in curriculum studies, formulated particularly in the field of sociology of education, this chapter discusses the role and the importance of curriculum theories in higher education. Focusing on the historical and the conceptual roots of curriculum theory approaches, the argument is that the dispute and the separation between normative and critical roles of curriculum theories are important to overcome in today’s competency-based and outcome-focused context of higher education. Basil Bernstein’s ideas on the vital role of knowledge are discussed in relation to the origins of the so-called crisis in curriculum theories. It is suggested tha…
Identifying Problematic Study Progression and “At-Risk” Students in Higher Education in Finland
2018
Finland offers a specific example of a country with a broad enrolment in higher education, where the educational starting age is relatively high and where studies may last considerably longer than in most other European countries. This study attempted to identify at-risk students in Finnish universities with the greatest probability of non-completion of studies. This probability is by far the highest in the fields of information technology and information sciences and, in specific cases, in the fields of mathematics and science and economics and management. The situation of at-risk students is best described in terms of the scant use of time for present studies, uncertainty regarding their …
‘It Goes Around the World’ : Children’s Understanding of the Internet
2019
The Internet has become an important literacy environment, even for children. Therefore, building the foundations for their critical engagement with online information should start when they first enter school. One way to start is to help children build an understanding about the complexities of the Internet environment. The present study aimed at increasing our knowledge about children’s understanding of the Internet as a technical and social environment. It also explored how children perceive the trustworthiness of online information. The participants included 30 children aged 7–9 years. The children were interviewed and the data was analysed using content analysis. We share the results f…
Healthy Learning Mind - a school-based mindfulness and relaxation program: a study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial
2016
Abstract Background Mindfulness has shown positive effects on mental health, mental capacity and well-being among adult population. Among children and adolescents, previous research on the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions on health and well-being has shown promising results, but studies with methodologically sound designs have been called for. Few intervention studies in this population have compared the effectiveness of mindfulness programs to alternative intervention programs with adequate sample sizes. Methods/design Our primary aim is to explore the effectiveness of a school-based mindfulness intervention program compared to a standard relaxation program among a non-clinical c…
Citing as a sourcing practice: students’ citing self-selected online sources in their essays (Las citas como práctica del uso de las fuentes: las cit…
2020
This study examined upper secondary school students’ citations of self-selected online sources in their essays. Students (n = 140) conducted online inquiry about either effects of social media on people’s quality of life (SM) or allowance of genetic manipulation of organisms (GMO). Students, working either individually or in pairs, explored online sources with the help of a graphic organizer, after which they composed their essays. To capture the quality of citations identified in the essays, they were evaluated in terms of accuracy and richness of source features. Further, regression analysis was used to examine the effect of topic, grade level and work mode on the number and quality of ci…