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The remote learning period that took place due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 was a novel experience for many students, teachers and guardians in Finland and globally. To be prepared for similar occasions in the future and to support all students appropriately, it is important to be aware of students' experiences. In this study, instant video blogging (IVB) was used to collect primary school students' first-hand reports of their emotions in remote learning situations. Through an experience sampling method, 23 Finnish fifth-grade students (aged 11-12 years) took part in IVB during the remote learning period 18 March 2020-13 May 2020. Students' expressions related to negative emotional experiences were more diverse than those related to positive ones. "Nice" was the most often reported positive evaluation related to studying. The most often reported negative feelings were "bored" and "irritated," and the most often reported negative aspects related to learning were "difficult tasks" or "not having learned anything." Towards the end of the research period, positive mentions about returning to school increased. The IVB method offered direct insight into how primary students experienced the remote learning period, which can support preparation for exceptional periods in the future and the development of digital learning solutions.

Metacognitive awareness consists of two components, i.e. regulation of cognition and knowledge of cognition. In earlier studies self-evaluation is aligned as a subcomponent of regulation of cognition. However, in this study we point out that self-evaluation does not actually regulate the ongoing or forthcoming process but it is a tool used to reflect both knowledge and regulation. This alignment is modelled to assess to what extend self-evaluation can be predicted by the other components of the metacognitive awareness. The model is tested empirically among vocational education students (N = 578) using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). The results of SEM concludes that the conditions and goals appointed by the learner predict the selection of contents and strategies towards self-evaluation of one's own learning. In other words, by measuring planning or conditional knowledge we could predict other components of knowledge or regulation and, especially, self-evaluation. The findings of this study extensively confirm that planning and knowledge of conditions predict success through the learning process. The results encourage teachers to support students in improving their metacognitive awareness, i.e. expect them to set goals for their own learning.

Research on student retention in higher education (HE) physics could benefit by studying emotions in the context of engagement and learning. However, popular retention theories include only a narrow selection of emotions, creating a need to look elsewhere. In this study, we borrow the lens of an affective engagement model, the framework of an optimal learning moment, which has rarely been used in HE research so far. It defines situational engagement and three categories of learning enhancing, detracting, or accelerating emotions via twelve singular situational emotions. These twelve emotions in learning and other situations form intensive longitudinal data collected from twenty students using the experience sampling method (ESM) during their first two months of studying physics in a Finnish university. A two-level hierarchical dataset consisting of ESM measures (N[subscript 1] = 440) and student records (N[subscript 2] = 20), with gender as a background factor, are analyzed in two steps: first with hierarchical linear modeling, followed by multinomial logistic regression, giving results on both levels of the hierarchy, which is quite uncommon still. The results show how situational engagement and learning situations are separately connected to situational emotions and, further, how especially the learning enhancing emotions connect to success in courses (passing, grades) and first year student retention, surpassing the effect of course success.

Young people's unemployment and social exclusion -- the so-called 'youth problem' -- is one of the main focuses in Finnish youth policies. We examine youth policies and youth support systems by applying a framework of policy analysis developed by Carol Bacchi. We ask (1) what kind of problematisations in youth policies and their implementations produce this 'youth problem' in Finland, (2) what are the assumptions behind these problematisations, and (3) what are the similarities and differences of these problematisations in youth policies and their implementations? We analyse youth policy documents and ethnographic and interview data from two youth support systems: One-stop Guidance Centres and outreach youth work. We suggest that both the policies and their implementations produce two discourses: the lack of young people's participation in economic activities, and the immaturity of young people. We also conclude that these discourses are attached to two contradictory ways of governing: neoliberal and paternalistic governing.

There is general agreement overall about the desirability and importance of youth support systems as being crucial for young people 'at risk' to help them cultivate their subjectivities about employability. In this article, we take a closer look at these support systems and especially at outreach youth work in Finland. We focus on the construction of knowledge and subjectivities of young people related to it. We argue that among the good intentions in cultivating young people's subjectivities, outreach youth work tends to operate as a practice for enhancing the construction of psycho-emotional vulnerabilities and employability of young people while translating wider societal questions of austerity, poverty and inequality into questions of individualised deficiencies.

The purpose of the present study is to explore the utility of the compressed version of the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory for Teachers (MAIT-18) among in-service teachers. Knowledge of teachers' awareness of metacognition is required to support students' self-regulation, with the aim of establishing modern learning methods and life-long learning. The participants in this study were teachers (N = 208) from different sectors of vocational education. The data has been analysed using structural equation modelling. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated good/acceptable model fit and convergence of each factor. Moreover, alpha scores of the inventory signify that the inventory is internally consistent. These findings reveal the utility of the MAIT-18 in measuring the Metacognitive Awareness of in-service teachers. Now, that the utility of the inventory has been examined among in-service teachers, comparative studies between in-service teachers and teacher trainees as well as longitudinal studies are prospective.

Teachers' support concerning learners' metacognitive awareness (MA) is crucial in learning. Previous research has focused mainly on students' MA. Therefore, this study describes how subject teachers and special teachers (N = 1,045) perceive how they support learners' MA in general education and in vocational education and training. The main findings were that special teachers support learners' MA systematically more than other teachers, and their perceived support for learners' MA varies between components of MA and between teacher groups. The findings confirm the need to develop MA support capabilities during pre-service and in-service teacher education, in order to help learners to acquire MA, which is a foundation for life-long-learning processes. The findings indicate how teachers currently address this challenge.

We present teacher-researcher partnership (TRP) as a way of fostering teachers' professional learning. Teachers' participation as research group members is an essential aspect of the partnership. Teachers and researchers share the same goal, which is to improve their understanding of and enhance students' engagement in science. Project-based learning (PBL) was selected as a means of enhancing student engagement. The activities of the partnership focused on the co-design and enactment of and co-reflection on PBL units. Teachers participated in the design of the data collection process and the interpretation of initial findings. As an indicator of teachers' professional learning, we examined students' engagement during different implementations of the PBL units. Student engagement was measured using a situational experience sampling questionnaire delivered via mobile phones. The students' experiences of scientific practices and engagement in actual learning situations were measured in the first and second years of the teachers' implementation of the teaching units. An analysis of the students' responses showed that the students were 20% more engaged in the second year than in the first year. We argue that TRP has the potential to enhance teachers' professional learning.

Recent research and reform efforts in science education have consistently stressed the importance of coherent science instruction, in which learning opportunities are connected and contextualized by meaningful phenomena, focus on a small set of core ideas over time, and generate a need-to-know about new ideas through a set of connected lessons. Yet, this type of instruction remains uncommon in schools. We argue that science teacher education has the potential to play a powerful role in promoting coherent science instruction in schools, but to reach this potential, science teacher education programs themselves must be coherent. Based on existing literature and our work in an international collaboration focused on effective practices in science teacher education, we identify key features of coherent science teacher education programs and present a new model that we refer to as the Science Teacher Education Programmatic Coherence (STEP-C) model. The STEP-C model illustrates how key elements of science teacher education are situated relative to each other, potentially serving as a powerful tool for program design.

This study seeks to understand how different scientific practices in high school science classrooms are associated with student situational engagement. In this study, situational engagement is conceptualized as the balance between skills, interest, and challenge when the reported experiences are all high. In this study, data on situational engagement were collected using the experience sampling method (ESM) from 142 students in southern Michigan (the United States), resulting 993 ESM responses, and 133 students in southern Finland, resulting 1,351 responses. In both countries, scientific practices related to "developing models" and "constructing explanations" were associated with higher student situational engagement than other practices. In southern Finland, "using a model" was also associated with a high level of student situational engagement. The results indicate that students may experience situational engagement more often in science classrooms that use models than those that do not employ such practices. Thus, scientific practices related to models should be used frequently in science classrooms to situationally engage students while learning science.

In this study we investigated word-problem (WP) item characteristics, individual differences in text comprehension and arithmetic skills, and their relations to mathematical WP-solving. The participants were 891 fourth-grade students from elementary schools in Finland. Analyses were conducted in two phases. In the first phase, WP characteristics concerning linguistic and numerical factors and their difficulty level were investigated. In contrast to our expectations, the results did not show a clear connection between WP difficulty level and their other characteristics regarding linguistic and numerical factors. In the second phase, text comprehension and arithmetic skills were used to classify participants into four groups: skilful in text comprehension but poor in arithmetic; poor in text comprehension but skilful in arithmetic; very poor in both skills; very skilful in both skills. The results indicated that WP-solving performance on both easy and difficult items was strongly related to text comprehension and arithmetic skills. In easy items, the students who were poor in text comprehension but skilful in arithmetic performed better than those who were skilful in text comprehension but poor in arithmetic. However, there were no differences between these two groups in WP-solving performance on difficult items, showing that more challenging WPs require both skills from students.

The article discusses the development of an educational model intended to support teachers' professional development in science education. In this research and development project, LumaLähetit, pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and teacher educators formed teams to collaboratively plan teaching and produce material for inquiry-based and integrative science instruction in primary schools. The results are based on three design cycles of the model. Thus far, ten schools, 24 in-service teachers, 30 pre-service teachers, and 560 pupils have participated. The results, which are based on the qualitative content analysis of participants' open answers to a questionnaire, indicate that the developed collaborative model for science education supported preservice teachers and in-service teachers' professional development in many ways. Several processes mediating the embodiment of the designed model were identified, especially during the second or third design cycles. Participants reflected on theory and practice. They experienced increased knowledge about inquiry and integrative approaches, collaborated in teams to some extent, and found this to be supportive during the project. Also, pre-service teachers appreciated the opportunity to teach in the schools. In general, careful goal setting, collaboration between the participants, and guidance by teacher educators during the initiation of the project were found to be crucial to the further success of the project. The results highlight a need for further research in order to better meet to the challenges of team teaching, inquiry-based instruction, and integrative teaching. The designed model was developed between the cycles and must be further developed in the future, especially in terms of supporting collaboration and clarifying theoretical concepts during the project.

Translation graduates need organisational skills to be able to cooperate in translation service production workflows. This paper explores the development of translation students' workflow conceptions in a simulated translation company learning environment. Using the standard ISO 17100 as a frame of reference for a content analysis of student essays, two research questions are answered: 1) How does working in a simulated translation company learning environment affect translation students' workflow conceptions? 2) What kind of workflow conception profiles emerge in a simulated translation company learning environment? A quantitative comparison of essays written before and after a one-year-long translation company simulation course showed a progression from rudimentary conceptions with few workflow task mentions towards more detailed conceptions that are closer to the translation industry model. Further quantitative analysis of the changes in individual task mention values revealed clusters of workflow tasks associated with the duties of two different task roles, the translation specialist and the project manager. The results showed a tendency for some students to stay with the conception associated with the translation specialist role and for some students to develop a workflow conception associated with the project manager role.

Fieldwork is an important part of biology as well as science and biology education. However, teachers perceive several reasons for the limited use of fieldwork in schools. Further, outdoor education is often organised as a single fieldtrip guided by outdoor educators, and little research has been done on fieldwork as a regular part of formal biology education. This case study explores three secondary-school biology teachers who untypically use outdoor education as a major part of their ecology courses for 8th grade students (median age 14). Berger and Luckmann's theory of the process of institutionalization as a theoretical background is used to interpret the pedagogical and organizational choices of the case study teachers. Analysis of the interviews of the selected three teachers revealed pedagogical and organizational means through which outdoor teaching is institutionalized into a regular activity in biology lessons. The teachers considered regularity, assessment practices and the school curriculum as major tools to legitimate outdoor learning as a formal schoolwork and foster successful learning. However, they also emphasised students' freedom during outdoor activities. The findings are discussed in terms of how the teachers succeeded in combining the institutional order of formal schooling with students' freedom in nature.

A curriculum is a master plan that regulates teaching and learning. This paper compares Finnish and Thai primary school level science curricula to the PISA 2006 Scientific Literacy Framework. Curriculum comparison was made following the procedure of deductive content analysis. In the analysis, there were four main categories adopted from PISA framework: (1) knowledge of science (content knowledge), (2) knowledge about science, (3) competences, and (4) contexts. The analysis revealed that the Thai curriculum was more similar to the PISA framework than was the Finnish curriculum. The Thai curriculum emphasizes the scientific process and the Finnish curriculum the concepts and contexts in which these concepts meet, rather than the process. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

In the present paper, we report on the idea of exchanging educational innovations across European countries aiming to shed light on the following question: how feasible and useful is it to transfer an innovation across different national educational settings? The innovation, in this case, Inquiry-Based Teaching Learning Sequences, is recognized as a crucial component of renewal science teaching in European countries. Two local working groups from two different Universities, in Finland and Greece, were created consisting of researchers and experienced primary teachers. The transfer from Greece to Finland was rather challenging because of the differences between the two educational contexts. The initial, as well as the revised Teaching Learning Sequence, were implemented for 11-12-year-old students including the content to be taught, that is Floating-Sinking phenomena and density, and the learning environment aspects such as learning Control of Variables Strategy. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was implemented in order to formulate concrete recommendations on "feasible" and "useful aspect." The "feasible aspect" adduces answers to the query of "how" this transfer worked in practice. Concerning this aspect, the recognition of what is innovative for each national partner was recognized as a crucial factor for the design and revision of both Teaching Learning Sequences. The "useful aspect" illuminates students' improvement in the achievement of conceptual as well as procedural knowledge. The results revealed that the psychological paths that bring about this success are ecumenical and independent of the history of the educational group.

How to make learning more interesting is a basic challenge for school education. In this Finnish study, the international ROSE questionnaire was used to survey, during spring of 2003, the relationship between interest in biology and out-of-school experiences for 3626 ninth-grade pupils. Interest and experience factors were extracted by using the explorative factor analysis. Out-of-school, nature-related experiences, including watching nature programs on television, reading on nature from books or magazines, or having out-of-doors, nature-related hobbies were the most important factors correlating with interest in various contexts of human biology/health education like health and illness, personal appearance and fitness, human body in extreme conditions and in general biology like zoology, applied biology and genetics, and evolution. Out-of-school experiences in science and technology-related activities, such as using science kits and constructing models, had surprisingly the highest correlation with an interest in basic processes in biology, such as conceptually more abstract phenomena in ecology or cell biology. Design and technology-related experiences, such as using large tools, or experiences in using computers and mobile phones, were the least important factors to correlate with the studied interest contexts. More boys than girls were interested in basic processes of biology, while more girls than boys found human context interesting. When planning biology lessons and field work, it is important to connect pupils' out-of-school, nature-related hobbies and experiences to biology education, because they may represent longer-lasting personal interests. (Most of this paper is a summary of Uitto, Juuti, Lavonen, & Meisalo, 2006.)

Interest in physics and chemistry topics and out-of-school experiences of Finnish secondary school students (n = 3626, median age 15) were surveyed using the international ROSE questionnaire. Based on explorative factor analysis the scores of six out-of-school experience factors (indicating how often students had done something outside of school) and eight topic factors (indicating how interested students were in learning about something) were studied. The students had a lot of out-of-school experiences in simple measuring and observing and in ICT use, but they had few science and technology related hobbies and activities or experiences of camping. Several gender differences were found. "Observing natural phenomena and collecting objects" was the most important factor correlating with the topic factors. Factors measuring experiences of ICT use and the use of mechanical tools had the lowest correlations with the topic factors. Based on the results, the implications for science education will be discussed.

This study focuses on how Finnish pre-service teachers' instructional self-efficacy contributes to their belief in their ability to provide learning opportunities and positive classroom outcomes. Data were gathered from 153 pre-service teachers and analysed using structural equation modelling. We found that experiences with problem behaviour negatively contributed to pre-service teachers' instructional self-efficacy. We also found two factors that contributed positively to pre-service teachers' instructional self-efficacy: supervisor's feedback and perceived practical examples in general pedagogy courses.

Background: There is a lack of students enrolling in upper secondary school physics courses. In addition, many students discontinue the physics track, causing a lack of applicants for university-level science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes. The aim of this research was to determine if it is possible to find a connection between academic emotions in situ and physics track retention at the end of the first year of upper secondary school using phone-delivered experience sampling method. We applied experience sampling delivered by phone to one group of students in one school. The sample comprised 36 first-year upper secondary school students (median age 16) who enrolled in the last physics course of the first year. Students' academic emotions during science learning situations were measured using phones three times during each of four physics lessons. Results: The logistic regression analysis showed that lack of stress predicted retention in the physics track. Conclusions: Via questionnaires delivered by phone, it is possible to capture students' academic emotions in situ, information on which may help teachers to support students emotionally during their physics studies. In addition, reflecting their situational academic emotions, students could perhaps make better-informed decisions concerning their studies in STEM subjects.

The duration of on-campus academic engagements is an uncertain and highly debated indicator of study input. Researchers adopt this indicator with the expectation that student teachers must invest an amount of time and effort in their courses that more or less equals a normal workweek. In the present empirical study, we examine factors influencing the duration of student teachers' on-campus academic engagements in Norway and Finland using survey data (n = 567). While the teaching profession is highly respected in Finland, and universities make selections for teacher education programs, the profession has a relatively low status in Norway. To meet the objectives of this study, we conducted an OLS regression analysis and found that students' self-discipline and perceived study requirements are the most important predictors of the duration of their on-campus academic engagements. In addition, the motivation to achieve a goal is also significant, while no significant effect was found for intrinsic motivation. Finally, the study shows no significant differences between the coefficients for the Norwegian and Finnish variable.

This study explores how often students are engaged in their science classes and their affective states during these times, using an innovative methodology that records these experiences "in situ". Sampling a subset of high schools in the U.S. and Finland, we collected over 7,000 momentary responses from 344 students over the course of a week. We examine engagement within and between students in different environments identifying common social and emotional factors they may be experiencing in their science classes, suggesting the challenges that the U.S. and Finland may encounter when implementing their new science standards (i.e., "Next Generation of Science Standards" and "Finnish National Core Curriculum"). We operationalize engagement as situational when students experience high levels of challenge, skill, and interest, which we term as optimal learning moments. Specifically we analyze: (i) the components of optimal learning; (ii) the relationship of optimal learning with other subjective measures; (iii) how optimal learning moments in science classes compare to other academic classes; and (iv) the extent that optimal learning moments predict an individual's perception of importance to self and future in science classes. Using several multivariate models, results show that when students are challenged in their classes and are appropriately skilled they are more likely to feel confident, successful, and happy during specific science classes as well as in other academic classes. When students experience more times of optimal learning in their science classes they are more likely to report that they perceive science as important to them and their futures. Females, however, report being more stressed in their science classes than males.

Background: In developed countries, it is challenging for teachers to select pedagogical practices that encourage students to enrol in science and technology courses in upper secondary school. Purpose: Aiming to understand the enrolment dynamics, this study analyses sample-based data from Finland's National Assessment in Science to determine whether pedagogical approaches influence student intention to enrol in upper secondary school physics courses. Sample: This study examined a clustered sample of 2949 Finnish students in the final year of comprehensive school (15-16 years old). Methods: Through explorative factor analysis, we extracted several variables that were expected to influence student intention to enrol in physics courses. We applied partial correlation to determine the underlying interdependencies of the variables. Results: The analysis revealed that the main predictor of enrolment in upper secondary school physics courses is whether students feel that physics is important. Although statistically significant, partial correlations between variables were rather small. However, the analysis of partial correlations revealed that pedagogical practices influence inquiry and attitudinal factors. Pedagogical practices that emphasise science experimentation and the social construction of knowledge had the strongest influence. Conclusions: The research implies that to increase student enrolment in physics courses, the way students interpret the subject's importance needs to be addressed, which can be done by the pedagogical practices of discussion, teacher demonstrations, and practical work.

The aim of this study was to design a novel and holistic way to teach chemical bonding at the middle school level according to research on the teaching and learning of bonding. A further aim was to investigate high achieving middle school students' conceptual structures concerning chemical bonding by using a systemic perspective. Students in one metropolitan area middle school were introduced to this newly designed model and their conceptual structures were studied by a clinical interview (n = 8) at the time when the students were concluding their studies at the middle school. The interview data were analysed by employing a systemic perspective on conceptual structures. Elements of conceptual structures such as concepts, simple models (mnemonic devices), explaining schemas, attributes and hypothesis constructs were identified and coded. Connections between the knowledge elements were also identified. An understanding of these connections helps to illuminate which components are necessary to build an adequate conceptual structure. The study revealed that applying principles relating to Coulombic interaction to understand chemical bonding requires the simultaneous appreciation of several factors: First, electron shells have to be understood in terms of energy levels. Second, the distance between the outer electrons and the nucleus has to be understood on the basis of electron shell construction. On the other hand, the effective nuclear charge also needs to be taken into account. The study introduces two new points of view to chemistry education research (CER): (1) a teaching model of chemical bonding that emphasises electric interaction as the background of most bonding types was developed in the study. This responds to the identified need in CER to test alternative teaching models that avoid the octet framework. (2) In the field of chemistry education research, a systemic approach has not previously been widely used for the examination of conceptual structures. In addition, the systemic perception of the network structure, which consists of these constructions, helps to explain in more detail the relationship between the separate concepts and the constructions and their significance as a whole.

This article discusses pupils' readiness for self-regulation in Exploratory Production in Technology Education. In the forethought phase of Exploratory Production, pupils envision and regulate their technological production activities. Next, in the performance phase, the envisioned goals are tried and implemented through ideating, planning and manufacturing. Finally, in the self-regulation phase, the goals are tested with new products in their usage targets. The theoretical framework of self-regulated learning and empirical categorization of the data are based on Zimmerman's model ("Self-Regulated Learning from Teaching to Self-Reflective Practice." The Guilford Press, New York, pp 1-19, 1998, "Handbook of Self-Regulation of Learning and Performance." Routledge, London, pp 49-64, 2011). The focus of this article is on the forethought phase. The empirical analysis in this article is based on national evaluation data of Finnish compulsory education. The first national evaluation of learning outcomes in Technology Education (taught within the subject Craft) was implemented by the Finnish National Board of Education in spring 2010. The evaluation was carried out as two questionnaires for ninth graders with general (n = 4,792) and advanced (n = 1,548) questions, and a production exercise (n = 661). In this article, the data is analyzed further based on learners' comprehensions, leisure-time activities and classroom techniques. The article is part of a larger research project that aims to improve the national evaluation data. The results on pupils' readiness for self-regulation in the forethought phase of Exploratory Production are encouraging. Pupils' have positive comprehensions of the Craft & Technology (C & T) subject and they find learning useful for their current life and for the future. Learning tasks and producing tasks in the C & T subject could be even more related to pupils' own technological and functional experiences. More effort should be given to support pupils' readiness to regulate goals for their own technological production activities.

Pupils' interest has been one of the major concerns in science education research because it can be seen as a gateway to more personalised forms of interest and motivation. However, methods to investigate situational interest in science teaching and learning are not broadly examined. This study compares the pupils' observed situational interest and their expressed situational interest. One class of Finnish fourth-graders (N?=?22, age 9-10 years) participated in a heat transfer lesson. The lesson encompassed an interactive demonstration with a thermal camera, teacher-led discussions and the conduct and presentation of a collaborative inquiry task. Pupils expressed their interest levels (scale: 1?=?very boring, 5?=?very interesting) by using an electronic response system called a "clicker". The measurement took place 15 times during the lesson, with 1 measurement being just a rehearsal. The lesson was video recorded, and visible aspects of interest at the measurement time points were analysed. Reported and observational data were compared. In most cases, the observations did not yield data compatible with the pupils' own evaluations, indicating that most pupils' expressed interest is not easily interpreted through observation of their facial expressions and behaviour. In general, the interest of the group as a whole seems to diminish during the lesson. We argue that in order to maintain and increase pupils' interest, their evaluations should be taken into account in lesson planning. Video-based research might also be further enriched and validated by employing the participants' own expressions. The clicker is a suitable means of collecting primary pupils' experiences concerning their interest levels.

Background: Applying structural models is important to chemistry education at the upper secondary level, but it is considered one of the most difficult topics to learn. Purpose: This study analyses to what extent in designed lessons students learned to apply structural models in explaining the properties and behaviours of various materials. Sample: An experimental group is 27 Finnish upper secondary school students and control group included 18 students from the same school. Design and methods: In quasi-experimental setting, students were guided through predict, observe, explain activities in four practical work situations. It was intended that the structural models would encourage students to learn how to identify and apply appropriate models when predicting and explaining situations. The lessons, organised over a one-week period, began with a teacher's demonstration and continued with student experiments in which they described the properties and behaviours of six household products representing three different materials. Results: Most students in the experimental group learned to apply the models correctly, as demonstrated by post-test scores that were significantly higher than pre-test scores. The control group showed no significant difference between pre-and post-test scores. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the intervention where students engage in predict, observe, explain activities while several materials and models are confronted at the same time, had a positive effect on learning outcomes.

This study aimed to design a teaching sequence for science education that enabled lower secondary school students to enhance their motivation towards science. Further, it looked to examine the way the designed teaching sequence affected students with different motivational profiles. Industry site visits, with embodied theory-based motivational features were included as part of the designed teaching sequence. The sequence was implemented in Finland and Greece with 54 participants, 27 from each country. Quantitative data was collected using the Evaluation of Science Inquiry Activities Questionnaire, based on the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory but did not map the expected outcomes. Interviews, however, showed that students with different motivational profiles found aspects within the module that met their psychological needs as explained by Self-Determination Theory. The results offer a perspective to adolescents' psychological needs along with some insights into how students mediate the way they value an activity in the context of science education.

In inquiry-based science education, there have been gradual shifts in research interests: the nature of scientific method, the debates on the effects of inquiry learning, and, recently, inquiry teaching. However, many in-service programs for inquiry teaching have reported inconsistent results due to the static view of classroom inquiries and due to the partial perspective between individual and collaborative reflections. Thus, by means of a theoretical progress model of collaborative reflection, this qualitative research aims to investigate reflections of four participant teachers before and during a half-year in-service teacher program. The model captures the following four interactions for each individual teacher and among the teacher cohort: belief to practice, practice to belief, stimulation, and reinforcement. The audio-video data and their quantification allowed identification of the teachers' consistent prior beliefs and practices as a multiplicity of inquiry teaching and their interwoven progress during the program. The findings are further discussed in terms of the "implicit development" and the "richer repertoire."

Textbooks are a major tool in the teaching and learning process. This paper presents the results of an analysis of the Finnish and Thai 6th grade science textbooks: electric circuit lesson. Textual and pictorial information from the textbooks were analyzed under four main categories: 1) introduction of the concepts, 2) type of knowledge, 3) representations, and 4) contexts. The analysis revealed that the Thai textbook emphasized procedural knowledge, while conceptual knowledge was emphasized mostly in Finnish textbook. Physics concepts are introduced typically through describing the relation between the new and earlier introduced concepts. Both textbooks employed rather traditional contexts, such as technical applications, technology in society, and the ideal context. (Contains 8 tables and 1 figure.)

This paper explores the relationship between students' interests in environmental issues, attitudes to environmental responsibility and biocentric values in school science education. The factors were investigated within the framework of three moderators: gender, school and residential area of the school. The survey was carried out using the international ROSE questionnaire with ninth-grade students (N = 3626) from 68 schools. Likert-type items were categorised with explorative factor analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance was used to study the importance of the moderators. There were significant correlations between the attitude and value factors. Interest and attitude were also significantly correlated, but the correlation between interest and value was negligible. Girls' attitude was significantly more positive and their biocentric value stronger than those of the boys, while in terms of interest, the gender difference was small. The effect of residential area was negligible, but there were significant differences between schools in all the factors studied. A school's own environmental projects and participation in programmes linked to environmental education or education for sustainable development was suggested to enhance students' interest in environmental issues. The role of interests, attitudes and values in teaching environmental issues are important fields for future research in science, environmental and sustainability education. (Contains 3 figures, 3 tables, and 4 notes.)

Teacher questioning has a central role in guiding pupils to learn to make scientific observations and inferences. We asked 110 primary student teachers to write down what kind of questions they would ask their pupils about a demonstration. Almost half of the student teachers posed questions that were either inappropriate or presupposed that the pupils would know the answer. For example, they directly asked for an explanation of the phenomenon instead of asking what inferences the pupils could make on the basis of their observations. There was a lack of questions that would draw the pupils' attention to the variables that may cause the phenomenon to happen. Only about 15% of the student teachers formed questions such as "What is happening?" or "How is it happening?". All in all, primary student teachers seem to need extra practice in forming questions based on scientific observation. (Contains 2 figures.)

Students find science relevant to society, but they do not find school science interesting. This survey study analyzes Finnish grade 9 students' actual experiences with science teaching methods and their preferences for how they would like to study science. The survey data were collected from 3,626 grade 9 students (1,772 girls and 1,832 boys) across randomly sampled secondary schools. Students were asked to evaluate how often a particular teaching method is used in science (chemistry and physics) teaching and how often they would like to see the teaching method used. Data were analyzed using nonparametric tests. Boys seemed to be more satisfied with current and traditional science teaching methods like direct teaching, solving basic problems, reading textbooks, and conducting practical work, while girls desired more discussion. Students who are interested in school science or think that school science is relevant in everyday life would like more creative activities such as brainstorming and project work. Results indicated that understanding the connection between student interest and teaching method preferences, especially interpreting interested students' desire for creative activities, are important aspects for future research.

This paper analyses the use of various communication channels in science teachers' professional development project aiming to develop versatile uses for ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in science teaching. A teacher network was created specifically for this project, and the researchers facilitated three forms of communication concentrating on the topic of ICT in science teaching. The three forms of communication were face-to-face interaction, mediated interaction, and mediated quasi-interaction. Based on case study data and participating teachers' self evaluation, during the course of the project, the use of ICT in science teaching increased. As predicted, face-to-face communication appeared to be felt more effective than mediated interaction or mediated quasi-interaction. However, informal discussions in small groups turned out to be more important than expected. The results suggest that the design of future professional-development projects should make room for more informal communication. (Contains 6 tables.)

This article describes a professional development project aiming to develop practical approaches for the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into science education. Altogether, 13 two-day face-to-face seminars and numerous computer network conferences were held during a three-year period. The goals for the project were based on the general goals of the Finnish national framework curriculum and ICT strategy. Self-evaluation data showed that participating teachers had used ICT extensively and integrated it into their science education programmes during the project. The ICT competence of the participating teachers increased substantially. Based on the results of the project, it can be suggested that professional development projects for science teachers in the use of ICT should emphasise the following: (i) empowerment (co-planning of the project and its activities, and dissemination, allocation of resources, and authentic evaluation); (ii) communication (ensuring a flow of ideas and creativity, allowing communication and reflection in small groups and in optimal locations); and (iii) context (integration of ICT into teaching methods and cumulative development of competencies in the teachers who use it). (Contains 3 tables.)

Interest in biology and the out-of-school experiences of Finnish secondary school pupils (n = 3626, median age 15) were surveyed in the spring of 2003 using the international ROSE questionnaire. Likert-scaled items were categorised with an explorative factor analysis. The scores of eight interest-context factors and seven out-of-school experience factors were studied. More boys than girls were interested in basic processes in biology, whilst more girls than boys found human biology and health education interesting. Out-of-school nature experiences were the most important factor correlating with interest in biology. Out-of-school experiences in science and technology-related activities, such as using science kits and constructing models, had the highest correlation with an interest in basic processes in biology, such as ecology, cell biology and genetics. Out-of-school experiences of caring for farm animals correlated with an interest in applied biology, such as agriculture. Experiences linked to design and technology, or information technology, were the least important factors to correlate with any studied interest contexts. Thus to enhance pupils' interest in learning more about biology and the living environment in general, it is important to put more emphasis on pupils' out-of-school nature experience and their engagement in informal learning in contextual outdoor environments. (Contains 6 tables.)

Lullabies are often divided into songs describing death or funeral of child and songs which threaten child with violence if he/she does not sleep. Survey of lullabies from 26 countries and various ethnic groups revealed that threat songs were more common than lullabies with death themes. Latter were frequent in Finno-Ugris and Slavic cultures, not in most others. (Author/NB)

Food security has received much attention since sudden shocks like Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Resilience to sudden changes and disruptions is called for to maintain food availability in societies. In this study, potential disruptions and changes in the Finnish food system's operating environment were evaluated. We focused on two future challenges: 1) what key disruptions will confront the food system until 2030; and 2) how will the Finnish food system change based on the experts' views, and what measures will develop resilience up to 2030? We used the Delphi technique for data gathering. According to the results, the most significant shock at all three levels, national, EU, and global, was the disruptions caused by climate change (the increase in extreme climate and weather phenomena). An increase in the efficient recycling of nutrients was seen as most desirable, and an increase in the costs associated with recovery from disturbances and shocks was seen as most likely. Reducing inputs' dependence on imports was seen as a key measure for developing resilience. Two constructed scenarios were presented, which highlight the determinants and uncertainties in the development of resilience in Finland. • The disruptions caused by climate change were considered the most significant. • Reducing inputs' dependence on imports was seen as a key measure for developing resilience. • The preferred future will include a significant increase in the recycling of nutrients and farms' energy self-sufficiency. • The most probable future indicated an increase in the cost associated with recovery from disturbances and shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is a crucial element of Finnish cultural identity and important to Finnish culture. Violence, death, and suicide are often repeated themes in Finnish folklore. The Kalevala provides insight into past attitudes toward death. Traditions passed through generations have influenced people's attitudes toward suicide. (Author/NB)

Claims elderly suicides are more frequent, and more likely to be multifactorial, including loneliness, isolation, depression, somatic illnesses, having suffered numerous losses, and injuries to the self-esteem (concerns regarding emptiness, uselessness, and body image). Aggressive impulses previously neutralized by work and social life now break through. Maintains elderly suicide represents an attempt to free oneself from inner conflicts. (Author/KS)

Highlights • Data from even- and uneven-aged spruce stands used to assess response to cuttings. • A stand basal area growth model predicted cutting responses without bias. • Growth rate of uneven-aged stands was 20% lower than in even-aged stands. • Growth response to cuttings was notably quicker in even-aged spruce stands. Abstract This study evaluated the basal area growth of Norway spruce stands subjected to different management strategies; specifically, even-aged (EA) stands treated with thinning from below and uneven-aged (UEA) stands treated with selective cutting. Analysis was based on extensive empirical data obtained from permanent long-term experiments established in 23 even-aged and 26 uneven-aged Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stands in Southern and Central Finland. The specific goals were to determine whether there are differences in: (a) the relationship between the stocking level and the stand basal area growth, (b) the stand basal area growth rates at a given stocking level, and (c) the stand basal area growth responses to cuttings between EA and UEA stands. A model-based approach was adopted in the analysis. Modelling was used to describe general trends and patterns in the data, emphasising the effects of overall stand density, cutting intensity, and management strategy on post-treatment stand growth. A model for a stand basal-area growth was fitted as a mixed linear model to the pooled data from EA and UEA stands. Model simulations were conducted to elucidate how the treatment of stands affects the predicted stand basal area growth. The analysis revealed a clear general effect of stocking level on stand basal area growth for all data. Growth increased with increasing stocking density. There was a significant difference in the stand basal area growth of EA stands and UEA stands. The growth of UEA stands was ca. 20% smaller than that of EA stands. There were also major differences in the timing and magnitude of the growth response to cutting between EA and UEA stands. Post treatment growth was noticeably slower in UEA stands than in EA stands, especially during the first 10 years after cutting. The results clearly show that the growth response of the trees remaining in EA stands is faster and greater than that in UEA stands, enhancing the stand basal area growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of the study was to model the regeneration establishment, and the survival and development of established seedlings in uneven-aged, Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) forest stands in southern Finland. Models were based on a 5-year monitoring period of permanent sample plots established in forest stands managed by selective harvests. Separate models were obtained for spruce, birch (Betula pendula Roth and Betula pubescens Ehrh.) and aspen (Populus tremula L.), all of which were well represented in the data. Since the stand structure of uneven-aged forests is irregular, spatial variation in competition factors and species composition were considered in the modelling. Due to the spatially hierarchical correlation structures of the data, a mixed modelling technique was applied in the estimation of the model parameters. Establishment models were developed for the number and initial height of established seedlings that had attained the set threshold height limit of 10cm during a 5-year period and thereafter survived until the end of the period. Prediction models were also developed for the survival, height increment and diameter at breast height of juvenile trees that were at least 10cm tall at the beginning of the 5-year period. The latter model is needed only when juvenile tree models are replaced with models for advanced trees. Simulations conducted for demonstration and validation purposes revealed that the regeneration establishment and juvenile growth models can be applied to construct a simulation system for the optimisation of uneven-aged spruce stands in southern Finland. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper argues that the traditional value chain and industry cluster analysis approaches appear to be obsolete for assessing the competitive edge of a firm in the new global information economy. The author proposes the use of a resource-based view (RBV) to identify core competencies and capabilities of a firm. The proposed approach is utilized to analyze the core competencies and capabilities of a Finland-based firm' that trades with Russia and to illustrate the role of information technology. The approach stops short of offering prescriptions to develop new competencies; but the conclusions suggest (i) that a framework be developed to provide insights into organizational development, and (ii) that the role of IT in building new competencies be given more attention by researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the meeting of the Finnish Section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), held on November 21, 2011, wherein the section reported of their attendance at AudioVisual 2011.

The article reports the meeting of the Finnish Section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in Kirkkonummi, Finland on March 31, 2011 which discussed the operation of the Neumann AM31 lathe.