Search results for "ta516"
showing 10 items of 614 documents
Analyzing measurement invariance of the students’ engagement instrument brief version:the cases of Denmark, Finland, and Portugal
2017
The promotion of students’ engagement with school is an internationally acknowledged challenge in education. There is a need to examine the structure of the concept of student engagement and to discover the best practices for fostering it across societies. That is why the cross-cultural invariance testing of students’ engagement measures is highly needed. This study aimed, first, to find the reduced set of theoretically valid items to represent students’ affective and cognitive engagement forming the Brief-SEI (brief version of the Student Engagement Instrument; SEI). The second aim was to test the measurement invariance of the Brief-SEI across three countries (Denmark, Finland, and Portug…
Factorial Validity and Reliability of the Curricular Goals in Physical Education Questionnaire
2015
This study aimed to examine the validity and reliability of an instrument designed to measure student perceptions of curricular goals in physical education, the Curricular Goals in Physical Education Questionnaire. Participants were 879 Finnish students from grades 7 to 9 (412 girls, 467 boys; mean age 13.81). An exploratory factor analysis was performed on Sample 1 (n = 287), revealing a four-factor solution and suggesting that factor structure be cross-validated with confirmatory factor analysis in Sample 2 (n = 592). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated an acceptable fit and supported the four-factor model. Tests for gender invariance supported configural, metric, and scalar invaria…
Students in higher education with reading and writing difficulties
2015
The aim of this study is to explore adult students’ descriptions and understandings of their reading and writing difficulties, and to describe the ways they are copying with them. In higher level studies, information is typically gained by reading and giving evidence of knowledge acquisition in writing. When students have difficulties with these essential academic skills, studying and lifelong learning can be hard work as well as time-consuming. General understanding of dyslexia and reading difficulties at the higher education level has improved, although considerable ambiguity remains about what these mean in practice. This is a qualitative, interview-based study that seeks to improve our …
Educational intervention planning for children in foster care in Finland : A case study
2018
Children in foster care may face difficulties during their school years. When it comes to academic achievement, there is reported low school performance and lower grades. However, school may be strong protective factor in difficulties if supports are individual. School-based interventions represent a possibility for supporting children whose home life may make them vulnerable. This discussion paper presents Finnish initiative, which is based on Skolfam® model used in several Nordic countries. peerReviewed
In Search of Dialogicity: A Comparison of Curricular Documents and Classroom Interactions from Finland and Hong Kong
2017
The prevailing consensus is that science teaching should be more student-centered and guide learners towards more phenomenon-based and authentic problem-solving activities. This approach is reflected in educational policies and recently reformed curricula. However, there is limited research on how these frameworks actually manifest in curricula and how to facilitate student-centered pedagogy. In this study, we examine the student-centered features of the curricula of two countries: Finland and Hong Kong. Student-centeredness in the classroom can be assessed using the principles of dialogicity. Dialogic principles underpin student-centeredness, particularly in teacher-orchestrated whole-clas…
Enriching gender in physics education research: A binary past and a complex future
2016
[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics.] In this article, we draw on previous reports from physics, science education, and women’s studies to propose a more nuanced treatment of gender in physics education research (PER). A growing body of PER examines gender differences in participation, performance, and attitudes toward physics. We have three critiques of this work: (i) it does not question whether the achievements of men are the most appropriate standard, (ii) individual experiences and student identities are undervalued, and (iii) the binary model of gender is not questioned. Driven by these critiques, we propose a conception of gender that is more up to date…
Instruction-based clinical eye-tracking study on the visual interpretation of divergence : how do students look at vector field plots?
2018
Relating mathematical concepts to graphical representations is a challenging task for students. In this paper, we introduce two visual strategies to qualitatively interpret the divergence of graphical vector field representations. One strategy is based on the graphical interpretation of partial derivatives, while the other is based on the flux concept. We test the effectiveness of both strategies in an instruction-based eye-tracking study with N = 41 physics majors. We found that students’ performance improved when both strategies were introduced (74% correct) instead of only one strategy (64% correct), and students performed best when they were free to choose between the two strategies (88…
The Role of Reading Disability Risk and Environmental Protective Factors in Students' Reading Fluency in Grade 4
2013
This study examined the role of reading disability (RD) risk and environmental protective factors in reading fluency in grade 4. The sample consisted of 538 Finnish-speaking students. Kindergarten measures included the students' risk for RD based on poor achievement in phonological awareness and letter knowledge as well as information on the three control variables: nonverbal ability, level of parental education, and gender. Measures in grades 1–3 included environmental protective factors: classmate reports of peer acceptance; teacher reports of positive affect for the student; and mother, father, and teacher reports of partnership between the home and the school. The students were also tes…
A mixed-methods approach to developing an understanding of teachers’ attitudes and their enactment of inclusive education
2017
This research sought to develop an understanding of teachers’ attitudes, sense of self-efficacy and approach to enacting inclusive education in their classrooms in two diverse countries. A mixed-methods research design guided the data collection and analysis. This article focuses on how quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used sequentially and how the findings were finally merged to provide more comprehensive insight into different aspects of teachers’ sometimes contradictory attitudes and approaches to implementing inclusive education. The meta-inferences presented here indicate that merging measurements and meanings can shed light on how teachers’ attitudes and self-effi…
The Many Faces of Special Education Within RTI Frameworks in the United States and Finland
2015
Response to intervention (RTI) can be considered an everyday practice in many parts of the United States, whereas, in Finland, only recently has a new framework for support in learning taken shape. Choosing Finland as the comparative partner for this policy paper is justified as its educational system has been widely referenced on the basis of good Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. The results of the present comparative article showed first, that the U.S. RTI was primarily intended for diagnosing and preventing learning disabilities whereas the Finnish RTI is mainly an administrative structure for support. Second, the U.S. RTI includes clear definitions regardin…