Consolidating Pre-service Physics Teachers’ Subject Matter Knowledge Using Didactical Reconstructions

In the Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, there are advanced physics courses designed for the needs of pre-service physics teachers. The starting point is that after introductory and intermediate physics courses, pre-service physics teachers know laws and definitions but the knowledge is quite fragmented and does not form coherent wholes. Graphical tools called didactical reconstructions were developed to help pre-service physics teachers to consolidate their physics knowledge. The idea behind the reconstructions is that “new” physics knowledge is always constructed based on previous knowledge (quantities, laws, theory). This means that every new concept is connected to previous concepts when it is formed; this is captured in the didactical reconstruction of processes. Then, when the knowledge is further constructed, the formed concept will be connected to other new concepts. This approach leads to the didactical reconstruction of structure: networks of quantities and laws, where the experiments and models construct the connections between quantities and laws. Here an overview and summary of the educational approach based on the didactical reconstruction is given for the first time. The results of the previously reported case studies show that the didactical reconstructions help students to connect the knowledge pieces into meaningful and more coherent wholes. These didactical reconstructions are now an integral part of our pre-service physics teacher education.     

Tocqueville on democracy and inclusive education: a more ardent and enduring love of equality than of liberty

Drawing from some of the insights on the democratic condition made by Alexis de Tocqueville, this article examines critically the reasons given for inclusive education and the motives behind its growing popularity in western industrialised countries. In particular, we consider the supposed benefits of democratisation and equality that proponents of inclusive schooling usually claim. After summarising the benefits that advocates of inclusive education have articulated, we give a brief sketch of Tocqueville’s analysis of democratic societies. His observations have demonstrated that democratisation and equality are not necessarily healthy impulses in a democratic society because they have the propensity to smother individual freedom and dissent from commonly held opinions. Accordingly, we argue that the very claims of democratisation and equality are inherently problematic and are potentially inimical to individuals’ ability to judge independently. In other words, we argue that democratisation and equality are not necessarily compatible with liberty. We conclude, then, that an educational system that does not prioritise and protect intellectual development for sake of inclusion can only exacerbate these deleterious democratic tendencies. We also assert that inclusive policies reflect the relentless pursuit of equality that democratic peoples exhibit to their own disadvantage.     

Co-Producing Children's Sociality in Parent–Teacher Conferences

The aim of this article is to describe how parents and preschool teachers talk about children's interactional skills in parent–teacher conferences in the Swedish preschool and how this can be related to socialization processes. The analyses show that children's communicative skills, such as turn-taking in conversation and co-operation, are considered as important for both parents and teachers and talked about in terms of trouble or success. Children's skills are often assessed by using chronological age as a parameter. Our analysis suggests that the talk about children's interactional skills may be interpreted in terms of deficiency discourses founded primarily on theories in developmental psychology, and that parents, and particularly the teachers, present themselves as socializing agents with regard to children.     

Educational Psychology: some thoughts on the transformation of learning in social practices and its consequences for a field of research

The relevance of psychological knowledge to education and learning has been recognized for long time. Educational psychology was thus, one of the first subdisciplines of applied psychology to emerge on the academic scene, and most scholars in the area — internationally as well as in the Nordic countries — have had a firm grounding in psychology. For a couple of decades or more during the second half of this century, educational psychology held a central position within education in most of the Nordic countries. Research within this field has been varied and vigorous. However, although psychological theories should be seen as important intellectual resources, it must be recognized that the relationship between a general discipline such as psychology and a particular area such as education is complex. Important problematics inherent in this relationship are illuminated and discussed in the contribution by Säljö on Sweden. It is argued, that recent attempts to develop a cultural psychology, explicitly recognizing the socio‐cultural nature of learning and other psychological processes, promise to pave the way for conceptions of human activities that are relevant to human concerns in general. The second article in this section, on Finland, contrasts with the first by focusing on educational research performed during the last few decades. This article describes trends in the content and methodologies of this research. The developmental orientation has been very strong in Finnish educational psychology during the whole of the post‐war period. Early research was highly influenced by a differential‐psychology approach, whereas later research has adopted social, motivational and cognitive frameworks. This article discuss the influential theoretical trends and developments.     

Silenced Truths: Relational and Emotional Dimensions of a Beginning Teacher's Identity as Part of the Micropolitical Context of School

This article focuses on teacher identity. Based on two small stories told in a peer group by a beginning teacher, we ask: How does a beginning teacher tell about her identity as part of the micropolitical context of school? Theoretically and methodologically, the research is committed to a narrative approach in understanding teacher identity. The material consists of small stories based on videotaped peer group discussions of 11 Finnish teachers. The results of the research illustrate the micropolitical context at the heart of how a beginning teacher's identity is constructed through diverse emotionally significant relationships. Narrative ways of working, such as group discussions, can offer teachers an opportunity to recognize different dimensions of their identity.     

“A bad head for maths”? Constructions of Educability and Mathematics in Adult Students' Narrative Life Histories

The article focuses on the social differences of educability constructed in Finnish general upper secondary school adult graduates' narratives on mathematics. Social class, gender, and age intertwine in the narratives that express the adult students' worries about their ability and competence to study and learn mathematics. Social differences of educability are transformed into individual conceptions of ability in an intrusive way that has consequences far beyond the ability to learn mathematics. This concerns such issues as whether one's ability and competence as a student and learner suffice to complete studies at GUSSA1 ¹The general upper secondary school for adults—GUSSA for short in this text—is an institute that provides formal general education for adults of all ages. For students the schooling is free of charge, except for subject studies, and entrance is not limited by strict age requirements as the age limit of 18 can be lowered under special circumstances. GUSSA students can either aim at the general upper secondary school certificate and/or passing the matriculation examination, that is the school leaving exam of Finnish upper secondary school, or take courses in individual subjects. Today there are approximately 50 institutes specializing in general upper secondary education for adults in over 40 municipalities in Finland. In 2008 over 10,000 GUSSA students were pursuing general upper secondary qualifications and about 6% of the matriculation examinations were taken and passed by GUSSA students (Statistics of Finland, 2008 Statistics of Finland. 2008. Perusasteen jälkeisen tutkintotavoitteisen koulutuksen opiskelijat ja tutkinnot koulutusmaakunnan, koulutuslajin ja opintoalan (opetushallinnon luokitus) mukaan [Students and qualifications of postcompulsory formal education based on school location, type of education and branch of education (National Board of Education classification). Retrieved June 19, 2010, from http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=260_opiskt_tau_102_fi&;path=../database/StatFin/kou/opiskt/&;lang=3&;multilang=fi  [Google Scholar]). Besides this, there is an increasing number of students taking individual courses in some subjects. For more information see The Finnish National Board of Education (2008 Finnish National Board of Education (2008). General upper secondary education. Retrieved February 5, 2008, from http://www.oph.fi/english/education/general_upper_secondary_education  [Google Scholar]). and pass the matriculation examination, as well as one's chances of succeeding in further studies and working life. The study confirms that mathematics continues to be constructed as a masculine prototype of intelligence. Being “good” at mathematics, moreover, implies having intelligence and innate natural talent.     

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

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 saw an acceleration in decoding-related skills. The educational implications of the results are discussed.     

A Competency Model for Process Dynamics and Control and Its Use for Test Construction at University Level

This study examined students’ competencies in engineering education at the university level. First, we developed a competency model in one specific field of engineering: process dynamics and control. Then, the theoretical model was used as a frame to construct test items to measure students’ competencies comprehensively. In the empirical application, the reliability of the test was examined. The results confirmed the applicability of the theory-based test. Also, associations between students’ competencies and individual characteristics were explored. Students who showed higher competencies could be identified based on their individual characteristics, such as participation in self-assessments. Finally, we demonstrated how to apply the standards of theory-based testing to everyday routines at the university and also highlighted some challenging issues to be considered when implementing theory-based testing in practice. This approach could be valuable: Tests based on theoretically sound models allow for appropriate measurement of students’ competencies in higher education.