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.     

Check in–check out intervention for supporting pupils’ behaviour: effectiveness and feasibility in Finnish schools

Check In–Check Out (CICO) is a support programme for students with externalising problem behaviours. This study implemented in Finland is one of the first reports on the application of CICO in the European context. An experimental, multiple-baseline, single-case design is used to examine the effects of the CICO intervention on the problem behaviour and appropriate behaviour of three general education primary school pupils. The similarity of the observation data and the information provided in daily report card (DRC) are investigated to gauge the validity of the DRC assessments. The fidelity and social validity of the intervention are also analysed. CICO reduced problem behaviour in all pupils. The results suggest that DRCs are valid tools for estimating behaviour in applied settings. CICO was implemented with high fidelity, and it had excellent acceptability among school personnel. This study adds to the existing literature by implying that effective behaviour support for pupils with disruptive behaviours can be applied easily in general education settings and in diverse international contexts.     

The Learning Potential of Boundary Crossing in the Context of Product Introduction

The aim is to explore challenges related to the integration between product development and production in product introduction and, given these challenges, to analyse the learning potential of boundary crossing in the context of product introduction. The paper draws on evidence from a Swedish manufacturing company. The theoretical framework is based on a boundary-crossing perspective, which in turn is framed by a workplace learning perspective. Data were collected through interviews with 19 employees from the product development department and 21 employees from the production plant, and 8 focus-group interviews. Within the company, there were many challenges related to product introduction, but the findings also show these challenges can provide learning opportunities by enabling the boundaries to be crossed between the product development department and the production plant. Several forms of intrapersonal or interpersonal boundary crossing were identified. Individuals acted as brokers, and prototypes, pre-series, DfA analysis and a crossfunctional team served as boundary objects and encounters. Nothing in our study indicates that the boundary crossing identified on the intrapersonal and interpersonal levels created learning potentials on the organisational level in the company. The conclusion is that it is necessary to consider the learning potential made available by boundary crossing in order to support learning, and thereby improve the integration between product development and production in product introduction. By seeing and using prototypes and pre-series production as learning opportunities you can create a better preparedness and provide collective access to knowledge required for successful product introduction.     

‘What makes her succeed?’ Children's interpretations of their peers' successes in learning situations

Previous research has shown that observing peers' success in learning is important for the development of children's belief in themselves as learners. However, in research, these observations are seldom made in actual classroom learning activities. This study investigated how children explain factors that lead to their peers' successes in classroom learning activities. Seventeen elementary school children from first, second and third grade participated in a ‘detective course’ in which they needed to capture moments of success using a mobile camera device. The pictures were used for photo-elicitation interviews (n?=?28) in order to find out children's views on the reasons for their peers' successes in learning situations. Pictorial data (n?=?361) were coded with data-driven categories to see what kind of situations children considered successful. The results show that the reasons given for peers' successes dealt with situation-specific information, such as mastery and quality of performance. Findings indicate that children explain peers' successes through the actions that their peers made during the situations, rather than by comparison between the abilities of their classmates. The results provide information for practitioners and teachers on how to promote children to use the example of their peers to recognise and explain successful learning situations in the classroom.     

Professional identity among student teachers of physical education: the role of physicality

In this study, we investigate the role of physicality in the professional identities of physical education (PE) student teachers. Twenty PE student teachers participated in semi-structured interviews during their final teaching practice. Data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis and typologies. The results showed substantial diversity in the student teachers’ conceptions of physicality and the ways these conceptions were embedded in their developing professional identities. The results also brought to light criticism directed at traditional notions of the body and physicality in PE and PE teacher education (PETE). We suggest that conceptions of the body and physicality represent a central element of PE teachers’ professional identity. The results also indicate a relationship between conceptions of physicality and pedagogies implemented in the future. Time and place for student teachers to discuss body-related matters should be provided in PETE.     

The impact of early metalinguistic competencies and memory capacity on reading and spelling in elementary school: Results of the Munich Longitudinal Study on the Genesis of Individual Competencies (LOGIC)

This paper reports on a longitudinal study dealing with the development of literacy in young children. A total of 163 children were first tested during their last year in kindergarten using a variety of tasks that tapped phonological processing, memory capacity, early literacy, and intelligence. Children’s word decoding, reading comprehension, and spelling skills were assessed in elementary school several years later. As a main result, all of the predictor domains had a significant impact on the acquisition of literacy in elementary school, although the contribution of each domain differed as a function of the criterion measure. An attempt to identify children-at-risk using a kindergarten screening test provided encouraging results. Nonetheless, it was shown that whereas group predictions of reading and spelling performance can be quite accurate, the individual prognosis of school problems is far from perfect.     

Engagement in learning: a comparison between Asian and European international university students

Drawing on research on both engagement in learning and approaches to learning, we examine the associations between international students’ approaches to learning, factors in the teaching/learning environment and self-assessed academic outcomes. A total of 307 students responded to our survey. Their experience of the purposefulness of their course assignments and the relevance of their studies was related to students having a deep approach to learning and being organised in their studies. Moreover, students applying a deep approach to learning and being organised in studying seemed to perceive their study success more positively. Furthermore, the better students’ perception of how well their courses were organised and aligned with other studies, the lower their stress level was. The Asian students in our study exhibited a slightly more surface approach to learning, and were more organised in their studies than the European students, but the differences were very small.