Search results for "ta515"
showing 10 items of 691 documents
Teacher ability evaluation and changes in elementary student profiles of motivation and performance in mathematics
2018
Abstract The aim of this person-centered study is to identify the profiles of interest value, self-concept, and performance in the domain of mathematics among elementary school students and to examine the stability and changes in these profiles from grade 1 to grade 2. Teacher-reported evaluations of students' mathematical ability and gender were examined as predictors of changes in the student profiles. The sample consisted of 237 students (46.8% girls). The latent profile analysis identified four profiles: 1) low levels of interest value, medium levels of self-concept and performance; 2) low levels of interest value, self-concept and performance; 3) high levels of interest value, self-con…
Parental working time patterns and children's socioemotional wellbeing: Comparing working parents in Finland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands
2017
Abstract This cross-national study examined the connections between parental working time patterns (i.e., regular day work vs. nonstandard working hours) and children's socio-emotional wellbeing defined in terms of internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial behavior. We also examined how the total number of hours worked, changes in work schedules, working overtime at short notice, and having an influence over one's work schedules were linked with children's wellbeing. Data were collected by a web survey from Finnish ( n = 358), Dutch ( n = 200) and British ( n = 267) parents with children aged 3 to 12 years. The results showed, that in all three countries parents working nons…
Electrophysiological evidence for change detection in speech sound patterns by anesthetized rats
2014
Human infants are able to detect changes in grammatical rules in a speech sound stream. Here, we tested whether rats have a comparable ability by using an electrophysiological measure that has been shown to reflect higher order auditory cognition even before it becomes manifested in behavioral level. Urethane-anesthetized rats were presented with a stream of sequences consisting of three pseudowords carried out at a fast pace. Frequently presented “standard” sequences had 16 variants which all had the same structure. They were occasionally replaced by acoustically novel “deviant” sequences of two different types: structurally consistent and inconsistent sequences. Two stimulus conditions we…
Profiles of teaching practices and reading skills at the first and third grade in Finland and Estonia
2017
The Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure was used to observe 91 first-grade and 70 third-grade teachers in Estonia and Finland. Using a person-oriented approach, four profiles of teaching practices were identified in grade 1: the child-centred style, teacher-directed style, child-dominated style and a mixture of the child-centred and teacher-directed styles. An additional profile, the extreme-child-centred style, was found in grade 3. Children taught by child-centred teachers showed the highest reading skills, whereas children taught by child-dominated teachers showed the lowest skills. More Estonian than Finnish teachers applied the child-dominated style in grade 1 and the extreme…
The role of teaching practices in the development of children’s interest in reading and mathematics in kindergarten
2012
Abstract This study examined the extent to which teaching practices observed in kindergarten classrooms predict children’s interest in reading and mathematics. The pre-skills in reading and mathematics of 515 children were measured at the beginning of their kindergarten year, and their interest in reading and mathematics were assessed in the following spring. A pair of trained observers used the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM; Stipek & Byler, 2004 ) to observe the teaching practices used by 49 kindergarten teachers. The results revealed that in classrooms in which the teachers placed greater emphasis on child-centered teaching practices than on teacher-directed practic…
Accelerating early language development with multi-sensory training
2012
This paper reports the outcome of a multi-sensory intervention on infant language skills. A programme titled ‘Rhyming Game and Exercise Club’, which included kinaesthetic–tactile mother–child rhyming games performed in natural joint attention situations, was intended to accelerate Finnish six- to eight-month-old infants’ language development. The participants were 20 infants (10 training group children and 10 control children). Their cognitive skills and both receptive and expressive language skills (Bayley Scales III) were tested three times (pre-, post- and follow-up assessments). The groups differed significantly in receptive language skills at the baseline, in favour of the controls. Th…
Transition to formal schooling: Do transition practices matter for academic performance?
2011
Abstract This study examined whether the transition practices implemented in preschool–elementary school pairs contribute to children's academic development during the first year of elementary school. Participants were 398 children who moved from 36 preschools to 22 elementary schools in two Finnish towns. Children were tested in respect to their reading, writing, and math skills in the preschool spring and in the grade 1 spring. The most common practices reported by preschool teachers were discussions about the school entrants and familiarizing preschool children with the school environment and the new teacher. Multilevel latent growth modeling showed that the more the preschool teachers a…
The teacher's lap – a site of emotional well-being for the younger children in day-care groups
2014
This study focuses on a particular relationship between teachers and one- to three-year-old children: the child in the teacher's lap. When, in what situations, does this happen? Who are the children in the teacher's lap? Why are they there? How do children express emotional well-being when in the teacher's lap? Relational, sociocultural and revised attachment approaches to emotional well-being supplied the theoretical framework of the study. Data were collected by ethnographic methods and analysed qualitatively. Two day-care groups in Finland participated. For most of the day, at least one child was in a teacher's lap. The teacher's lap signified, for example, not only consolation and confi…
Work engagement in eight European countries
2011
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the level and predictors of work engagement among service sector employees in eight European countries.Design/methodology/approachThe work seeks to discover if job demands and resources, i.e. job autonomy and social support, affect work engagement in differing ways in different countries when socio‐demographical variables and work‐related factors are controlled. The study is based on a statistical analysis of survey data from Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK in 2007 (n=7,867). The data represent four economic sectors: retail trade, finance and banking, telecoms and public hospitals.FindingsThe re…
Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood: A Finnish Perspective
2012
Adapted from a presentation given at the Decade for Childhood 2012-2022 Launch during the Global Summit on Childhood, March 30, 2012, Washington, D.C. Author Note: The preparation of this paper has...