Development of learning to learn skills in primary school     

Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen 《International Journal of Lifelong Education》2015,34(4):376-392

In Finland, schools’ effectiveness in fostering the development of transversal skills is evaluated through large-scale learning to learn (LTL) assessments. This article presents how LTL skills—general cognitive competences and learning-related motivational beliefs—develop during primary school and how they predict pupils’ CPS skills at the end of sixth grade. The six-year follow-up of 608 pupils shows that cognitive competences demonstrated in the beginning of the first grade in a learning preparedness test predict both later cognitive LTL competences and CPS, but their development is not fully determined by earlier individual differences in learning preparedness in the first grade. Motivational beliefs begin to be related to cognitive LTL performance gradually from age 10 on, and they may have a slightly stronger effect on CPS than on cognitive LTL performance. It is concluded that the development of CPS is partly depending on pupils’ initial learning preparedness and the development of their LTL skills.  相似文献   

How do engineering attitudes vary by gender and motivation? Attractiveness of outreach science exhibitions in four countries     

Hannu Salmi  Helena Thuneberg  Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen 《European Journal of Engineering Education》2016,41(6):638-659

ABSTRACT

Outreach activities, like mobile science exhibitions, give opportunities to hands-on experiences in an attractive learning environment. We analysed attitudes, motivation and learning during a science exhibition visit, their relations to gender and future educational plans in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Belgium (N?=?1210 sixth-graders). Pupils' performance in a knowledge test improved after the visit. Autonomous motivation and attitudes towards science predicted situation motivation awakened in the science exhibition. Interestingly, the scientist attitude and the societal attitude were clearly separate dimensions. The third dimension was manifested in the engineering attitude typical for boys, who were keener on working with appliances, designing computer games and animations. Scientist and societal attitudes correlated positively and engineering attitude correlated negatively with the future educational plans of choosing the academic track in secondary education. The societal perspective on science was connected to above average achievement. In the follow-up test, these attitudes showed to be quite stable.  相似文献   

Conceptual change in adopting the nationwide special education strategy in Finland     

H. Thuneberg  J. Hautamäki  R. Ahtiainen  M. Lintuvuori  M.-P. Vainikainen  T. Hilasvuori 《Journal of Educational Change》2014,15(1):37-56

Educational reform is rarely considered from the point of view of conceptual change. Typically, reform starts at the policy document level by introducing criteria intended to lead to the adoption of new practices. This study offers a case study of how legal national educational reforms can be localized. The case in focus is the recent legislative change in Finland dealing with special education. The special education strategy (SPES) white paper was launched in 2007 and the related changes in the Basic Education Act were passed in 2010. In 2008–2009 the State invited local municipalities to participate in advance preparations for the reforms. More than half participated by preparing several SPES-related documents over time that allowed us to analyze the main trends concerning the different concepts used, and how they were implemented. The results are interpreted in terms of contrasts between semantics, politics and actual changes.  相似文献   

Changes in Children’s Agency Beliefs and Control Expectancy in Classes With and Without a Special Emphasis in Finland from Grade Four to Grade Six     

Satu Koivuhovi  Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen  Mira Kalalahti  Markku Niemivirta 《Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research》2019,63(3):427-442

This study examined changes in pupils’ agency beliefs and control expectancy from grade four to grade six, and whether they were associated with studying in a class with a special emphasis on a subject as compared to studying in a class without emphasis. After controlling for the effects of mother’s education, prior school achievement, and gender, we found that the average pattern of change varied for different action-control beliefs, and that class membership did not moderate these changes. Mother’s education, pupils’ prior school achievement, and gender all predicted class membership, but their effects on action-control beliefs varied depending on the type of belief. Implications for educational policy will be discussed.  相似文献   

Parents’ assessments of their children’s abilities     

Hannu Räty  Leila Snellman  Aki Vainikainen 《European Journal of Psychology of Education - EJPE》1999,14(3):423-437

Conducted in the framework of the theory of social representations, the study was designed to examine the dimensions in terms of which parents assess their children’s abilities, the ways in which social positions — here, the parents’ education and gender and the child’s gender — organize these assessments, and the ways in which the assessments relate to the estimated school success of the child. The subjects were a nationwide sample of parents (N=938), who were asked to estimate their children’s school success and to assess these children’s abilities. A factor analysis showed the ability assessments to be multidimensional. The parents assessed girls’ cognitive and social abilities to be better than boys’. Academically educated parents drew a more categorical distinction than other parents between cognitive and other abilities, which suggests that they endorse a differential conception of intelligence. A clear congruity of content was observed between the estimations of school success and the assessments of abilities, indicating that different school subjects are associated with different abilities.  相似文献