The role of letters and syllables in typical and dysfluent reading in a transparent orthography

The role of letters and syllables in typical and dysfluent second grade reading in Finnish, a transparent orthography, was assessed by lexical decision and naming tasks. Typical readers did not show reliable word length effects in lexical decision, suggesting establishment of parallel letter processing. However, there were small effects of word syllable structure in both tasks suggesting the presence of some sublexical processing also. Dysfluent readers showed large word length effects in both tasks indicating decoding at the letter-phoneme level. When lexical access was required in a lexical decision task, dyslexics additionally chunked the letters into syllables. Response duration measure revealed that dysfluent readers even sounded out the words in phoneme-by-phoneme fashion, depending on the task difficulty. This letter-by-letter decoding is enabled by the transparent orthography and promoted by Finnish reading education.     

Exploring early adolescents’ evaluation of academic and commercial online resources related to health

This study assessed the ability of 426 students (ages 12–13) to critically evaluate two types of online locations on health issues: an academic resource and a commercial resource. The results indicated limited evaluation abilities, especially for the commercial resource, and only a small, partial association with prior stance and offline reading ability. Only about half (51.4%) of the students questioned the credibility of the commercial online resource and only about 19% of the students showed an ability to fully recognize commercial bias. Wide variation existed in students’ ability to evaluate online information, as approximately one-fourth of the students performed poorly when evaluating the overall credibility of both online resources and one-fourth performed well. Logistic regression models showed that offline reading skills accounted for only 8.8% of the variance for the academic online resource and 15.1% of that for the commercial resource. No association appeared between evaluation and background knowledge, although an association with prior stance was observed for each online resource. The results are discussed in light of previous research and the need to pay greater attention to the critical evaluation of online resources during classroom instruction.     

Students at risk: Students' general study orientations and abandoning/prolonging the course of studies

The purpose of the study was twofold. Firstly, we aimed at distinguishing groups of students with differing general orientations to university studies. Secondly, our goal was to establish a connection between orientations and students' intentions to discontinue their studies as well as their actual absences. The participants of the study were all the first year students of a multi-disciplinary Finnish university. A questionnaire was used including the Inventory of General Study Orientations (IGSO) and questions about students' motives for entrance and intentions to discontinue their studies. Archive data from the university's student register were also utilised to examine study orientations' connections with actual absences and study success.Students were divided into three study orientation groups: study-oriented students, work-life oriented students, and non-committed students. Students' intentions to discontinue their studies were related according to their study orientation. It was found that students who intended to change their major subject or to abandon their studies altogether belonged most often to the group of non-committed students. The same was true concerning students' actual absences during the first two years of studying. Regarding the study success as measured by study credits and grades, work-life oriented students obtained the best result.     

Students' Pedagogical Thinking and the use of ICTs in Teaching

This article discusses students' pedagogical thinking in situations where the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has a (well-defined) pedagogical role and rationale. By analysing students' pedagogical thinking in this setting, it is also possible to better understand their motivations and self-regulation. Pedagogical thinking as viewed from the student's angle is a new area of educational research. Our research method is a combination of the Stimulated Recall interview and the semi-structured theme interview. In addition, some background data were gathered by questionnaire to discern students' different uses of ICTs and their contexts. The findings suggest how the educational use of ICTs is considered to be meaningful and motivating by both genders and among all the interviewed age groups, in spite of the fact that an acute and vocal critique seems to develop among older students. The differences reside in students' reasoning regarding decision making in task operations between genders, which was one of the background variables—girls actively include identity and opinion, while boys emphasize the quality of performance as motives for decisions.     

Young children's number sense in Finland,Hong Kong and Singapore

This study examines young children's number sense in subjects from Finland (n=254), Hong Kong (n=246), and Singapore (n=130). Chinese, English and Finnish versions of the Early Numeracy Test (ENT; Van Luit et al., 1994) were used. Two highly correlated aspects of number sense were measured, one reflecting children's abilities to organize and compare quantities (i.e. relational skills), and the other pertaining to their ability to operate with number-word sequence (i.e. counting skills). The results showed significant age-related gain on the relational and counting scales. No gender or language differences were found. The children in Hong Kong and Singapore outperformed those in Finland in relational and counting tasks starting at the age of four years. The children in Singapore also had better relational and counting skills than those in Hong Kong. Differences in teaching were assumed to explain the findings.     

Farmers’ Perceptions of Necessary Management Skills in Finland

Abstract

The main aim of this pre-study was to provide a preliminary overview of Finnish farmers’ motivation and capacity prerequisites for adopting and improving their management skills. Motivation was studied by asking farmers what farm management tasks and skills they consider important. Capacity was evaluated by asking farmers to rank management tasks and skills according to their perceived difficulty. Data (n=130) were collected by means of a questionnaire that was sent to a selected group of insured of the Finnish Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution. The most challenging management tasks and topics, that is, those to which most farmers gave high ratings in terms of both importance and difficulty, consisted of applying for subsidies and getting information on them, of the investment decision process, and of maintaining safety, health, and the ability and motivation to work. These are the main areas that should receive more attention in full-time education curriculums and extension initiatives.     

Placing the Internet in information source horizons. A study of information seeking by Internet users in the context of self-development

The ways in which people perceive the relative value of the Internet when seeking information for self-development purposes were investigated. The concept of information source horizon was introduced, and it is a construct that enables one to put various information sources and channels in an order of preference to meet the requirements of information seeking. The horizon is based on one's conceptions of the characteristics of information sources, particularly their accessibility and quality. The study draws on interviews with eighteen Internet users who positioned various information sources in three zones of relevance. In their information source horizons, human sources such as friends and colleagues were preferred, followed by print media such as newspapers and books: networked sources were ranked third among six source types. Networked sources were favored for easy accessibility and opportunities to save time. The issue of “facilitating everyday life” was emphasized in this context. Also currency, broad repertoire of networked information, and the potential of the Internet to complement other services were valued highly. Critical stands on the Internet were mainly affected by the negative experiences of encountering low quality material.     

Can we be intelligent about intelligence?: Why education needs the concept of plastic general ability

The notion of general cognitive ability (or ‘intelligence’) is explored and why the time might now be ripe for educators to re-consider the power offered by a general intellectual capacity which is itself amenable to educational influence. We review existing knowledge concerning general intelligence, including the cohabitation of general and special abilities, cognitive modules, development, and evidence for plasticity of the general processor. We examine why this knowledge is generally absent from educational practice and present a number of models that attempt to synthesise the main aspects of current psychological theories. We explore how the models might be used in educational applications and look at examples of effective cognitive stimulation considering both practicalities and theoretical notions of what in our cognitive models is affected by stimulation. We discuss finally the possible political, cultural and social barriers to the inclusion of general ability as central to educational aims.     

Aspects and Prospects of Measuring Studying and Learning in Higher Education

The development of two dominant research traditions is described: students' approaches to learning (SAL) and information processing (IP). The development of the third tradition, self-regulated learning (SRL) is added. SAL is based on European research, whereas IP and SRL are more typical background ideas for North-American research. The most central conceptual frameworks behind these traditions are analyzed. These frameworks form the foundations for the most common inventories used in higher education to measure university students' learning and studying. A larger multilayered perspective is then outlined with three levels of context: general, course-specific, and situational. The other contributions to this Special issue are discussed in relation to this larger picture.