Search results for "ta516"

Early Signs of Mathematics Anxiety?

2012

Abstract Mathematics anxiety refers to individual's negative affect when engaging in numerical and mathematical tasks. Researchers have recently connected high math anxiety to lower performance on math tasks, developmental dyscalculia, and lower self-efficacy towards math learning. Math anxiety scales have been made and validated mainly for secondary school and high school students. In our paper we are looking for early signs of math anxiety using a Pictorial Test (37 pictures) which we have developed for 6 to 8 year old children. Children were asked to concentrate on one picture at a time and to write down spontaneously their emotional and mathematical ideas. Most powerful sources of sadne…

University Applicants’ Critical Thinking Skills: The Case of the Finnish Educational Sciences

2016

This study investigates the quality of the critical thinking skills of applicants (n = 77) seeking entry to the faculty of educational sciences in a Finnish university and how these skills are associated with the applicant’s age, previous higher education experience, and matriculation and entrance examination scores. The data consist of the applicants’ responses to problem-solving tasks and their matriculation and entrance examination scores. Critical thinking skills were measured with comparison and argumentation tasks. The results indicate that comparison of the texts and analysis of the arguments they contained were more difficult tasks than putting forward arguments both for and against…

E-Exam Questions and Meaningful Learning

2016

Traditionally exams are seen as one of the important learning situations and as possibilities to verify the learning processes in universities. In academic contexts exams are used actively, and they still play an important role. From a pedagogical point of view, exams are also criticized – do exams promote high-quality learning? Current learning theories highlight the active role of the individual learner and skills for future working life. At the same time the changes in the operating environment are huge and the pace of development is high, which also challenges academic practices. Digital revolution forces and allows for learning in different contexts. Different web-based solutions are d…

Developmental dynamics between children’s externalizing problems, task-avoidant behavior, and academic performance in early school years: A 4-year fo…

2015

This longitudinal study investigated the associations among children’s externalizing problems, task-avoidant behavior, and academic performance in early school years. The participants were 586 children (43% girls, 57% boys). Data pertaining to externalizing problems (teacher ratings) and task-avoidant behaviors (mother and teacher ratings) were gathered, and the children were tested yearly on their academic performance in Grades 1–4. The results were similar for both genders. The analyses supported a mediation model: high externalizing problems in Grades 1 and 2 were linked with low academic performance in Grades 3 and 4 through increases in task-avoidant behavior in Grades 2 and 3. The res…

Student teachers' indirect complaining in learning groups

2011

This article focuses on indirect complaining in teacher education. The phenomenon of complaining in educational situations has not been examined as a process before. In this study complaining was examined in naturally occurring learning group sessions, which were videotaped and analysed through Conversation Analysis (CA). The purpose of this study is to describe the beginning of complaints and find ways to handle situations including complaining. The data comprise 26 pedagogically focused discussions that included indirect complaining. These were categorized into four classes: discussions which produced accounts, advice‐giving discussions, discussions expressing different viewpoints, and di…

Documentation in Childhood

2015

Administration, Scoring, and Reporting Scores

2013

This chapter covers administration, scoring, and reporting scores from language tests and examinations. Procedures typically used in major language examinations and small-scale classroom testing and assessment are both covered. It is argued that the administration, scoring, and reporting procedures are highly dependent on the purpose and stakes of the assessment. Selected national and international guidelines of good practice are reviewed to see what they have to say about these phases of the assessment process, and examples are given on how, for example, high stakes certification and achievement tests differ from teacher-based formative and diagnostic tests. The review considers how the sk…

Student-Teachers’ And School-Based Teacher Educators’ Beliefs About Teaching Practices And Instructional Goals

2015

Beliefs about teaching are integrated into teaching practices and instructional goals that impact teachers’ professional development. The aim of the research was to identify the beliefs that student-teachers and school-based teacher educators have about the development of pupils’ cognitive and social competences. First-year student-teachers and school-based teacher educators completed a questionnaire. The results revealed that the teachers’ beliefs vary according to their teaching experience. The student teachers preferred practices that were aimed at mechanical acquisition. The teacher educators’ choices of teaching practices were aimed at developing the pupils’ learning competences and th…

Career practitioners' conceptions of competency for social media in career services

2014

This article reports findings from a phenomenographic investigation into career practitioners' understanding of competency for social media in career services. Sixteen Danish and Finnish practitioners with experience using social media in career services were interviewed in focus groups. Competency for social media in career services was conceived as (i) an ability to use social media for delivering information, (ii) an ability to use social media for delivering career services, (iii) an ability to utilise social media for collaborative career exploration and (iv) an ability to utilise social media for co-careering. The findings can be used to develop pre-service and in-service training of …

Accelerating decoding-related skills in poor readers learning a foreign language: a computer-based intervention

2013

The results of Fast ForWord® training on English decoding-related skills were examined. Finnish fifth-grade students were identified as having reading fluency problems and poor skills in English as a foreign language learned at school and were randomly assigned to either a training group (TRG) or a control group. The TRG (n = 13) received 50 min of daily computer program-based training for a period of approximately 10 weeks. Students in the first control group (n = 11) received the school’s regular instructional programme. A second control group was composed of 14 average readers. The students’ English skills were examined in pre-test, post-test and follow-up measurements. The TRG students …