Pharmacy Mentors' Views of Practical Training

Practical knowledge and skills are necessary components of expertise. Practical training in higher education has been shown to foster students' learning and understanding of theoretical backgrounds. The attitude and skill of mentors play a central role in enhancing the quality of students' practical learning. The aims of this study were to explore mentors' experiences of the practice period and mentoring process, and to develop practical performances to improve the practice period that s included in theoretical pharmaceutical studies in Finland. A total of 48 pharmacy mentors were interviewed during the practice period of the pharmacy curriculum. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that the mentors considered the practice period an essential part of pharmacy studies, which fostered student learning and benefited the community pharmacy. Mentoring activities, mentoring processes and assessment of students varied in the pharmacies. The results showed that it is necessary to pay more attention to the aims and the content of the practice period. More cooperation is needed between the University and pharmacies. There is also a clear need to pay attention to reflective action in order to foster the quality of practical learning.     

Generative Role of Experiments in Physics and in Teaching Physics: A Suggestion for Epistemological Reconstruction

In physics teaching experimentality is an integral component in giving the starting point of knowledge formation and conceptualization. However, epistemology of experiments is not often addressed directly in the educational and pedagogical literature. This warrants an attempt to produce an acceptable reconstruction of the epistemological role of experiments in physics by drawing insight from history and philosophy of physics. Towards that end, the experiments’ role in the 19th-century physics is discussed. We propose here a reconstruction, which is based on the idea that in epistemology of experiments the inductive-like generative justification of knowledge is central. A generative view makes it possible to retain those aspects of experiments which make them purposeful for learning and can give a starting point for students’ own construction of knowledge. The reconstruction also helps to conceive the experiments with their correct historical role and helps to bring back the generative use of experiments in teaching, which, after all, has never vanished from the practice of physics.     

Towards a framework for creative online collaboration: A research on challenges and context

The OnCreate project was initiated by ten universities with expertise in collaborative work in online-based learning environments and explores the specific challenges of implementing university courses in creative disciplines in such an environment. The first research phase comprises a literature search on creativity and its contextual factors in online collaboration in an educational setting. From this research a first set of possible key challenges and contextual key factors has been selected and applied to categorize the results of interviews and surveys on current good practice in creative online collaboration among experienced online teachers from the partner universities. From the key findings we formulate hypotheses to guide future research towards a framework for creative online collaboration. At the same time, the results can serve as inspiration for the educational practice. Notable observations of the good practice research among the partner universities are that they realise innovative collaboration concepts usually on mashed-up environments of state-of-the-art web services rather than on the omnipresent learning management systems (such as Moodle or Blackboard). Also, they show a paradigm shift from teaching to coaching and promotion of an open peer-review culture among the students.     

Inclusion of pupils with ADHD symptoms in mainstream classes with PBS

Inclusion is never only a practical issue of placement. School-wide systemic change, together with well-functioning, multi-tiered support, can promote the inclusion of all pupils. This paper draws on research conducted in two mainstream primary schools in Finland. The primary focus was to gain insight into practical solutions to facilitate the inclusion of pupils with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in mainstream teaching. Using an experimental, multiple-baseline, single-case design, we examined the effects of Check-in Check-out (CICO) support on changes in the behaviour of two pupils who displayed ADHD-type behaviours. The key features of CICO are brief morning and afternoon meetings with an adult, the use of a daily report card, regular positive feedback during the day, and parental involvement. This study examined if behavioural gains made during the implementation of CICO support can be maintained. Visual data analysis revealed differences in two CICO-ending strategies on maintenance in pupils with ADHD symptoms. The results suggest that consistent universal positive behaviour support systems together with additional behavioural support can facilitate the successful inclusion of pupils observed by teachers to have even severe disruptive behaviours in a mainstream learning environment.     

Agentic perspective on fostering work-related learning

Despite the increased recognition of the role that professional agency plays in work-related learning, little is known about what supports it. Based on current theoretical notions, the first purpose of this paper is to show that professional agency is closely intertwined with work-related learning. The second purpose is to introduce some main principles that promote professional agency and describe three work-related training settings that are aimed at fostering learning by taking into account agentic perspectives. These complementary settings include an identity coaching programme, a leadership coaching programme, and a work conference. Based on the qualitative meta-synthesis, the paper further provides an empirical overview of professional agency and learning in these settings. The paper contributes to the understanding of the potential of professional agency at the heart of work-related learning. To foster learning, it is necessary to create social events for the enactment and activation of agency so that social and individual resources (e.g. experiences) are utilised. Overall, the paper emphasises that individuals and communities are active crafters of their professional identities and practices, and it provides viewpoints to support their agency in work and training settings.     

Maze patrolling by rats with and without food reward

The effects of food reward on rats’ behavior in radial and Dashiell tunnel mazes were examined in two experiments. In the first, with animals at ad-lib body weights, food reward reduced speed of movement at the food locations, but did not affect the patterns of movement in either maze. Exploratory efficiency in the Dashiell maze was unaffected by food reward, and spontaneous patrolling of the radial maze by the nonrewarded animals was comparable to the behavior, reported by others, of rats running for food reward on elevated eight-arm mazes. In the second experiment, with subjects maintained at 80% of ad-lib body weights, there was some evidence for “winstay” learning: food-rewarded rats in the Dashiell maze were relatively more active near the food locations than were the nonrewarded animals, and more rewarded than nonrewarded rats revisited all food locations in the radial maze. Nonetheless, exploratory efficiency in the Dashiell maze was unaffected by food reward, as was patrolling efficiency in the radial maze, which was again comparable to that of rats on elevated mazes. The similarity in behavior of rewarded and nonrewarded animals in these mazes implies that the major determinant of their behavior, whether or not food reward is provided, is a spontaneous tendency to avoid places recently visited.     

About,for, in or through entrepreneurship in engineering education

Engineering competences form a potential basis for entrepreneurship. There are pressures to find new approaches to entrepreneurship education (EE) in engineering education, as the traditional analytical logic of engineering does not match the modern view of entrepreneurship. Since the previous models do not give tangible enough tools on how to organise EE in practice, this article aims to develop a new framework for EE at the university level. We approach this aim by analysing existing scientific literature complemented by long-term practical observations, enabling a fruitful interplay between theory and practice. The developed framework recommends aspects in EE to be emphasised during each year of the study process. Action-based learning methods are highlighted in the beginning of studies to support students’ personal growth. Explicit business knowledge is to be gradually increased only when professional, field-specific knowledge has been adequately accumulated.     

Conceptions of Quality in Four Different Disciplines

The paper is based on a book(written by the author and his colleague MarkkuLehikoinen) dealing with definitions of qualityand views on the applicability of differentmethods of quality assessment to four differentdisciplinary fields: physics, biology,sociology and history. The paper focuses onconceptions and definitions of quality voicedby scholars representing the differentdisciplines. The study involved semi-structuredin depth interviews with 33 experiencedscholars. The disciplines under study werechosen to represent diverse disciplinarycultures, with the aim of finding out about thepotential impact of (social and cognitive)cultural characteristics of the disciplines onconceptions of quality. The findings show bothcommon views across disciplinary fields anddisciplinary differences.     

Young primary students making sense of text and illustrations about how refuse can become soil

Explanatory pictures and models are frequently used in teaching and learning situations. However, it seems to be simply assumed that they are always beneficial. In this article results from an investigation with 16 Swedish pupils aged 7–9 year are presented based on an analysis that has examined how well this assumption holds up. Concepts from multi-modal theory have been used to investigate how young learners deal with illustrations and text from an early reader booklet about composting domestic refuse. The analysis suggests that expectations that illustrations facilitate the meaning-making of young pupils may be exaggerated. Although the booklet claimed to provide interactive support between image and text most of the examples show pupils ignoring pictures or misinterpreting vital information about composting in both the verbal and non-verbal material. The illustrations did not compensate for the most crucial deficiencies in the written text.