University students' situational reaction tendencies: Reflections on general study orientations,learning strategies,and study success

The purpose of the study was to bridge the gap between situational and more general measures in investigating university students' studying. More precisely, the aim was to establish a connection between students' situational reaction tendencies and their general study orientations. Furthermore, situational reaction tendencies were related to the applied learning strategies and actual study success. The participants in the study were 578 second year students in a multi-disciplinary Finnish university. A questionnaire was used including the Inventory of General Study Orientations (IGSO) and measures concerning situational reaction tendencies, learning strategies, self-efficacy and self-evaluated expertise. Archive data from the university's student register were utilized to objectively examine study success. The following four groups of students with differing situational reaction tendencies were distinguished: performance-oriented students, task-oriented students, socially oriented students and avoiders. It was found that the groups differed from each other regarding general study orientations, applied learning strategies and study success.     

Assessing students’ experiences of teaching–learning environments and approaches to learning: Validation of a questionnaire in different countries and varying contexts

The study examined the use of the modified Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ) in the Finnish context by focusing on its factor structures and comparing them with those for British data. A total of 2,509 Finnish and 2,710 British students completed the questionnaire. The comparison of the factor structures were conducted using exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) and a transformation analysis. Although the differences between the factor structures prevented a combined analysis, the structures were highly similar in the two contexts. The ETLQ appears to be a sufficiently robust and reliable instrument for use across countries and, in addition, at either the level of the degree subject or the single course module.     

Socio-emotional orientations and teacher change

In this article we consider how elementary education students’ views of mathematics changed during their mathematics methods course. We focus on four female students: two started the course with mainly positive views of mathematics and a task orientation, two with negative views of the subject and an ego-defensive orientation. The biggest change observed was that the trainees’ views of teaching and learning mathematics became more positive. Moreover, what had been an ego-defensive orientation changed towards a social-dependence orientation. The crucial facilitators of change seemed to be (1) handling of and reflection on one’s experiences of learning and teaching mathematics, (2) exploring content with concrete materials, and (3) collaboration with a partner or working as a tutor of mathematics.

What are Finnish Teacher Educators’ Conceptions about the Teaching of Problem Solving in Mathematics?

The aim of this study was to determine Finnish teacher educators’ conceptions about problem solving, the teaching of problem solving and the prerequisites they feel its teaching requires. Teacher educators’ conceptions were collected with two questionnaires within a two‐part seminar on problem solving which was held in 1986 and 1987. Analysis of the resulting percentage tables yielded some information about the teacher educators’ conceptions about the teaching of problem solving. The highest level of consensus was obtained for statements that reflect an open‐minded approach to teaching. The consensus was lowest for the statement which stated that mathematical formalism should be stressed.     

On study habits on an introductory course on programming

Computer aided assessment systems enable the collection of exact time and date information on students’ activity on a course. These activity patterns reflect students’ study habits and these study habits further predict students’ likelihood to pass or fail a course. By identifying such patterns, those who design the courses can enforce positive study habits and to prevent or minimize habits that lead to poor student performance. Hypothetically, by identifying and adjusting the short-term patterns, the teachers might be able to do the same during the course. This publication examines students’ short-term study habits on an introductory level programming course and presents multiple statistically significant connections between students’ assignment submission patterns and their respective final grades. Students who receive the highest grade start and finish their work early, do not work on weekends, and do not work at night, whereas those who fail the course do not show similar behavior but exhibit significant enrichment among those who work large amounts during the night. Course’s mandatory tutorial sessions that act both as assignment release events and as collaborative assignment solving sessions strongly increase assignment submission counts regardless of the students’ final grades and ensure an early start to solving the assignments, possibly preventing those who would otherwise fail the course from starting their work near deadlines.     

Teachers’ Professional Development: what are the key change factors for mathematics teachers?

Our purpose is to answer the question: what have been the key factors causing a discontinuity in teachers’ professional development? We gathered data from experienced German teachers (N = 13) during the spring of 1994, with a brief questionnaire and interview. During the interviews, a total of 49 statements about change were mentioned. We could compress these statements into 15 change factors. New findings, that is, change factors which were not earlier reported in the literature, were as follows: experiences and observations with teachers’ own children, teachers’ experiences with other forms of schooling, and changes in society.     

“Do I need research skills in working life?”: University students’ motivation and difficulties in quantitative methods courses

This study explored university students’ views of whether they will need research skills in their future work in relation to their approaches to learning, situational orientations on a learning situation of quantitative methods, and difficulties experienced in quantitative research courses. Education and psychology students in both Finland (N = 46) and the USA (N = 122), who thought that they would need research skills in their future work, differed significantly from the students who were not sure whether they would need these skills. The students, who considered research skills important for their future work, were more task-oriented, used a deeper approach to learning and experienced fewer difficulties in the learning of research skills than other students. This finding implies that experiences in learning, learning approaches and situational orientations are related to expectations about future work. For instruction, this means that if we were somehow able to change students’ experiences and orientations towards research into a more positive direction, students might be better prepared for their future work.