Understanding Early Childhood Science Education: Comparative Analysis of Australian and Finnish Curricula     

Havu-Nuutinen  Sari  Kewalramani  Sarika  Veresov  Nikolai  Pöntinen  Susanna  Kontkanen  Sini 《Research in Science Education》2022,52(4):1093-1108

Research in Science Education - This research is a comparative study of Finnish and Australian science curricula in early childhood education (EC). The study aims to figure out the constructivist...  相似文献   

Pre-service teachers’ experiences of ICT in daily life and in educational contexts and their proto-technological pedagogical knowledge     

Sini Kontkanen  Patrick Dillon  Teemu Valtonen  Sami Renkola  Mikko Vesisenaho  Pertti Väisänen 《Education and Information Technologies》2016,21(4):919-943

Many pre-service teachers are members of the net generation and are expected to be familiar with different ICTs, yet several studies have indicated that they are not necessarily able to use them for teaching and learning. The notion of teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) is central to this concern. In this study we use the responses of 146 pre-service teachers to open-ended questions about the experiences and knowledge of ICT and pedagogy they brought with them when they entered university teacher training. The data were analysed qualitatively with content analysis based on an integrative framework generated from a number of theoretical perspectives. Derived categories and subcategories were used to construct a framework for ‘proto-TPK’ as a basis for establishing a starting point for the coordinated development of TPK with students in their university training and early careers.  相似文献   

Collaborative processes in species identification using an internet-based taxonomic resource     

Jani Kontkanen  Sirpa Kärkkäinen  Patrick Dillon  Anu Hartikainen-Ahia  Mauri Åhlberg 《International Journal of Science Education》2016,38(1):96-115

Visual databases are increasingly important resources through which individuals and groups can undertake species identification. This paper reports research on the collaborative processes undertaken by pre-service teacher students when working in small groups to identify birds using an Internet-based taxonomic resource. The student groups are conceptualised as ‘knowledge-building communities’ working in a ‘joint problem space’ comprising the collective knowledge of the participants interacting with the taxonomic database. Collaborative group work and associated dialogue were recorded with digital video. The recordings were analysed for the categories of dialogue and the categories of knowledge used by the students as they interacted with the taxonomic database and how they drew on their previous experiences of identifying birds. The outcomes are discussed in the context of the interplay of individual and social processes and the interplay between abstraction and lived experience in the joint problem space.  相似文献   

Students’ experiences of learning with iPads in upper secondary school – a base for proto-TPACK     

Sini Kontkanen  Patrick Dillon  Teemu Valtonen  Lasse Eronen  Hannu Koskela  Pertti Väisänen 《Education and Information Technologies》2017,22(4):1299-1326

This research focuses on Finnish students’ (n?=?84) experiences of using personal iPads in their studies through 3 years of upper secondary schooling. It is based on results from one of the first schools in Finland where all the new students were provided with iPads at the start of their studies. Data consists of: (i) 127 short stories written by students about how they would advise a new teacher and a new student to use iPads in teaching and learning, and (ii) four group discussions on the same topics. Qualitative thematic analysis of the data was guided by the TPACK framework. Results suggest that: (i) teachers’ pedagogical approaches changed little in response to the new devices and remained largely teacher-centred, and (ii) students do not have the confidence to radically change learning styles to take advantage of the affordances of the devices. The value that iPads add to teaching and learning is difficult to quantify because of the complex and often conflicting factors involved. Overall, the findings imply that teachers’ TPACK is generally resistant to change and students’ proto-TPACK is insufficiently developed to initiate change. An approach that systematically develops both students’ and teachers’ TPACK is advocated.  相似文献   

Upper secondary and vocational level teachers at social software     

Teemu Valtonen  Sini Kontkanen  Patrick Dillon  Jari Kukkonen  Pertti Väisänen 《Education and Information Technologies》2014,19(4):763-779

This study focuses on upper secondary and vocational level teachers as users of social software i.e. what software they use during their leisure and work and for what purposes they use software in teaching. The study is theorised within a technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, the emphasis is especially on technological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge. Four hundred thirty seven teachers were surveyed using an online questionnaire with Likert scaled statements and open-ended questions. Results suggest that the number of different types of social software actively used for teaching is small and that the potential of social software as a tool for supporting collaborative learning has not yet been realised. Discussion of the results is framed in the context of teachers’ developing technological pedagogical content knowledge.  相似文献