
Eila Lindfors- PhD
- Professor (Full) at University of Turku
Eila Lindfors
- PhD
- Professor (Full) at University of Turku
Safety & security in education, teaching & learning innovation competence, outdoor education, STEAM technology education
About
72
Publications
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Introduction
I work as a Professor of Craft, Design and Technology education in University of Turku, Department of Teacher Education, Finland. My research and expertise focus on technology education, safe and secure learning environments, STEAM, innovation competencies, 21st century skills and curriculum development. I have coordinated and participated to several projects with European and Asian countries. Currently, I consult STEM curriculum planning, piloting and implementation in Sri Lanka since 2021.
Current institution
Publications
Publications (72)
Introducing technology education (TE) at an early age is essential in today’s digital world. It is not only important to teach students how to use technology but also to cultivate technological literacy, which is critical in increasingly technology-driven societies. Teachers play a pivotal role in enhancing the technological literacy of young learn...
Koulua koskevat turvallisuustutkimukset keskittyvät yleensä turvallisuuspoikkeamiin tai tapahtumamäärien kartoittamiseen. Toteutimme lukuvuonna 2022–2023 14 suomalaisessa perusopetuksen kouluissa intervention, jonka tavoitteena oli kehittää kouluorganisaation turvallisuuskulttuuria. Artikkelissa kuvaamme muutoksia, joita havaitsimme intervention jä...
The safety culture of a school organization based on evaluation of self-preparedness – a multi-case study in comprehensive education schools School safety is a legal right for every learner and staff. This study asks: what is the level of safety culture of comprehensive education schools from the perspective of self-preparedness and prevention meas...
The COVID-19 pandemic was an unpredictable crisis for schools. Schools transitioned their teaching from classrooms to teaching online. The holistic safety of the schools’ was under a serious threat. Various measures of crisis management aimed at upholding holistic school safety, which includes physical, social, psychological and pedagogical safety....
Design thinking is a cognitive, iterative process that involves identifying goals, understanding users, and creating solutions. It has changed from a designers’ activity to an all-around approach to the innovation process and become a pedagogical phenomenon. In this article, design thinking method is studied in an educational context among young le...
Dimensions of safetyt in learning environments and a timely snapshot - Managing safety in basic education based on safety notice reports Reporting safety deviations is a key indicator of safety culture in a community, and safety of learning environments is a constant concern in education. In this study safety is seen as a combination of physical, p...
Safety education is a combination of values and attitudes wherein safety is considered important and unnecessary risks are not accepted. The aim of safety education is to develop knowledge of proactive and reactive safety measures and procedures, combined with skills, and a will to act safely in an authentic situation. Students’ role as part of saf...
SCHOOLS ARE MADE SAFE TOGETHER!
Normative acts and documents oblige schools to ensure they are safe spaces for learning and working. Media headlines related to school safety frequently highlight bullying, violence, school threats and accidents. Studies show schools need support to develop their safety culture. The aim and task of the Success in Sc...
The Nouhätä! safety education programme has been organised in secondary schools in Finland for over 25 years. However, to date, it has not been systematically evaluated. The purpose of this quantitative survey is to provide information about good practices, benefits and limitations of the NouHätä! Programme; this has been done by answering the rese...
Background: Studies indicate that access to nature may increase
general human health and wellbeing. As a learning environment,
the outdoors can also positively influence children’s personal and
social growth, healthy development, wellbeing and learning abil-
ities. To maximise the potential offered by outdoor learning, it is
necessary to gain...
Teacher-child interaction (TCI) and children’s participation has been propounded as a factor in enhancing children’s learning in formal learning settings, especially in pre-primary education. Consequently, learning basic skills in coding and robotics at an early age is necessary for constructing a knowledge base applicable in later studies. In the...
Tähän tutkimukseen on valittu omatoimisen varautumisen arvioinnin
kolme turvallisuusjohtamisen osa-aluetta: vastuunjako,
omatoiminen valvonta ja turvallisuuspuutteisiin reagoiminen.
Tutkimusjoukkona on kymmenen suomalaista perusopetuksen
koulua.
Omatoiminen varautuminen määritellään pelastuslaissa [1].
Velvoitteen toteuttaminen edellyttää organisaa...
In contemporary educational literature, risk is often associated with creativity and risk-taking, rather than the risks associated with health and safety. Teaching and learning in Technology Education (TE) is carried out in materially and technologically rich learning environments that include various workshops, spaces, and laboratories. TE learnin...
education to be part of the young learners’ education in the Finnish education system. Programming and Robotics (PR) also stand out from National Core Curriculum for Basic Education in Craft, Design and Technology Education. Consequently, learning basic skills of PR at the early age are necessary for creating curiosity on PR and constructing knowle...
This study examines achievement goal orientations and teacher-child interaction in a preschooler's craft, design and technology learning process. The aim is to provide information for developing guidance in preschoolers’ craft education. The research questions are: 1.) What are the elements describing the achievement goal orientations of the presch...
Peruskoulun käsityö on monimateriaalinen oppiaine, jonka sisältöjä ja toimintaa tukevat sekä teknisen työn että tekstiilityön työtavat. Perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteiden mukaan käsityön tehtävänä on ohjata oppilaita kokonaisen käsityöprosessin hallintaan. Kokonaista käsityöprosessia ja monimateriaalisuutta toteuttava käsityö on kuitenki...
Perusopetuksen käsityön oppiaine on uudistunut opetussuunnitelmallisesti ja käsityön oppimis- ja työympäristöjen tilaratkaisut vaativat uudenlaista pohdintaa. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan käsityötä opettavien opettajien (N = 11) näkemyksiä heidän omiin kokemuksiinsa perustuen. Näkemyksiä taustoitetaan käsityön suunnittelu- ja valmistusprosessi...
Vuoden 2019 lopulla Kiinan Wuhanissa alkoi levitä aiemmin tuntematon koronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Virus levisi alkuvuodesta 2020 nopeasti maailmanlaajuiseksi pandemiaksi. Terveysturvallisuuden edistämiseksi ja viruksen leviämisen estämiseksi valtiot ryhtyivät aktiivisiin suojaustoimenpiteisiin. Kaikki kansalaiset, myös lapset ja nuoret perheineen oliva...
Design thinking (DT) has gained attention over the last few decades in a wide range of contexts beyond the traditional preoccupations of designers. It has changed from the activity of designers to an all-round approach to the innovation process. DT is seen as a human-centred and systematised approach to problem identification and problem solving. I...
The teaching and learning of craft, design and technology (CDT) subject is carried out in materially and technologically rich learning and working environments. The importance and role of safety culture in experiential learning in CDT education is essential for all members of an educational organization to endorse. The safety culture of workshops s...
The COVID-19 pandemic provided us with a living laboratory to study emergency remote teaching (ERT) when its emergence forced teaching to migrate from face-to-face to online in Finland, as in many parts of the world. This paper examines student teachers’ perceptions of the usability of online teaching from their experiential learning viewpoint. The...
In daily practice, skills enable the professional competencies that are required for successful work. The qualitative anticipation of professional competencies gives information about the knowledge and skills that will be required for the future. Anticipation is challenging in the technical field, since it is easy to consider technological and engi...
Problem-solving is a key element in design and engineering processes for finding answers to challenges and open problems. The use of spatial visualization skills is part of problem-solving in terms of transforming ideas into 2D or 3D form and transferring this thinking into practice in a practical hands-on process. Spatial visualization seems to pl...
Considering the safety culture is one of the key elements in teaching technology. However, different occupational safety risks, as well as disturbance and violence situations, are encountered in the safety culture of schools. A reporting culture that is a natural part of the staff's activities in high security areas has not yet emerged in schools....
Outdoor learning environments can be beneficial in enhancing children's engagement and motivation in different activities. Outdoor learning environments have the potential to enable transforming and meaningful experiences with imagination and play as well as to evoke ideas for craft, design, and technology education. This study aims to describe out...
Learning goal orientation profiles are used to describe an individual’s general attitudes and expectations of their performance. Students with strong goal orientation focus on the task itself, rather than on how their performance will affect themselves or their surroundings. This study aims to understand factors linked to students’ goal orientation...
Cardiovascular diseases are a leading death cause in the world. Cardiac arrest is one of the most usual, and very quickly fatal, especially in out-of-hospital environments. Defibrillation, aside with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is an effective means to restart blood circulation and heart operation, even though even these forms of treatment can h...
Design education and the design process have been focuses for research in recent studies in developing innovative solutions to problems and challenges worldwide as well as in educational contexts where there is a need to develop pedagogical design and innovation processes in educational settings. The current Finnish Core curriculum for basic educat...
This article, the first author being professor Eila Lindfors is about describing and comparing safety culture in five Finnish university campuses. This research was carried out to get a holistic picture about the safety situation in the context of universities.
Safety and security is a multi-faced phenomenon that is an essential part of students' and staff's well-being at school, which is well documented as the main issue in a good learning environment. However, very little is known about incidents that happen at schools, but a catalogue of these incidents could serve as a learning tool for proactive mana...
The Finnish version first and the English one below.
Tämä tutkimus kohdentuu käsityönopettajien kokemuksiin yhteisopetuksesta ja siihen, millaisia haasteita he ovat kohdanneet toteuttaessaan yhteisopetusta. Tutkimusaineisto on kerätty kymmenessä perusopetuksen koulussa, joista osallistui
yhteensä 22 käsityötä opettavaa opettajaa yhteisopetusta kosk...
This paper investigates the learning outcomes of comprehensive school pupils in the context of safety based on a quantitative research design. We considered learning and safety competence here as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes. We collected the data using two questionnaires, TUKO I (n=375) and TUKO II (n=272). Teachers and the thi...
Finland has its own version of a "makerspace": craft class. Originally, there was one craft class for boys and one for girls. Later, there were classes for different materials, especially for wood and textiles, which are deep-rooted concepts in the Finnish crafts mindset. To reclaim craft class for pupils, or "makers", we must determine teachers' a...
Purpose
Collaboration between universities and industry is increasingly perceived as a vehicle to enhance innovation. Educational institutions are encouraged to build partnerships and multidisciplinary projects based around real-world open problems. Projects need to benefit student learning, not only the organisations looking for innovations. The c...
Artikkelissa tutkitaan vuosien 2004 ja 2014 Perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman
perusteiden mukaisesti opetusta saaneiden kuudes- ja yhdeksäsluokkalaisten
oppilaiden (N=508) käsityksiä itsearvioinnin merkityksistä ja toteutumisesta käsityöoppiaineessa.
Itsearvioinnin tehtävänä on kehittää oppilaan oppimista. Itsearviointi on oleellinen
osa kokonaista...
The Finnish abstract first and the Engliah one below
Pelastustoimen ja koulun turvallisuuskasvatuksen sisältöjä, menetelmiä ja tavoitteita ohjataan eri suunnista. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin millaisia turvallisuuskasvatukseen liittyviä tavoitteita on esitetty POPS 2014:ssa ja muissa perusopetuksen turvallisuuskasvatusta koskevissa normiohjaus...
FInnish first - English below!
Artikkelissa kuvataan turvallisuusopetuksen vaikuttavuutta ja turvallisuusaiheeseen
liittyviä oppimisympäristöjä perusopetuksessa. Opettajien ja ulkopuolisten
turvallisuusasiantuntijoiden käsityksistä ja kokemuksista koottiin laadullinen
aineisto. Oppilaiden turvallisuusosaamisesta kerättiin määrällinen kyselyaineisto...
In the study the research task was to consider what kind of social support immigrant pupils (N=7) meet at school as they are integrated to ordinary Finnish classes during craft, design and technology education lessons. Social support is considered through emotional, instrumental and informative support. The data consists of 7 interviews and observa...
Safety is the main issue in a good learning environment. However, several changes challenge schools. The latest research explicate that all teachers are not committed to promote safety systemically as they do not have competence or procedures to promote safety at work. Very little is known about incidents and near-misses that happen at schools to b...
For fire prevention activities, the aim is to decrease the number of emergencies and fire casualties. In order to analyse, whether the undertaken fire prevention activities have the assumed effect in pursuing their aim, an impact assessment is needed. The aim of the project is to develop a comprehensive performance measurement system (PMS) to asses...
The Basic Education Act of Finland states that ‘A pupil participating in education shall be entitled to a safe learning environment.’ Yet the information about school-based injuries is not routinely collected. The Green-Cross application was co-designed with the end-users and the aim was to design a digitalized tool for surveillance of school injur...
Craft is a compulsory learning-by-doing subject for pupils in grades one to seven. The activities are based on craft expression, design and technology (CDT). This research is part of national endeavours to develop innovative CDT as a basic education subject. This paper briefly explores two studies in which technical work and textile work teachers t...
Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan käsityön aineenopettaja opiskelijoiden (N=30) portfolioita (N=11) koskien oppilaille toteutettuja teknologiakasvatuksen työpajoja. Tutkimuskysymys on: Mitä mahdollisuuksia ja haasteita käsityön aineenopettajaopiskelijat näkevät teknologiakasvatuksen toteuttamisessa perusopetuksessa. Aineistolähtöisen sisällönanalyysin kei...
While Finnish schools have generally been considered a safe work environment, various safety issues have been recognized over the recent years. In the EduSafe research and development project carried out by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and the University of Turku, the safety of schools was assessed and improved from the point of vie...
This has influenced how teaching is organised and implemented. More generally, there is also an ever-increasing need for basic education to take into account the demands for lifelong learning, innovation, and the knowledge and skills to solve the problems of the future. Questions concerning the cooperation between teachers and the nature of holisti...
This study investigates holistic craft processes in craft education with an instrument for data-collection and self-assessment. Teaching in a study context is based on co-teaching and a design process, highlighted by the Finnish Basic Education Core Curriculum 2014. The school architecture and web-based learning environment is combined. Division fo...
Learning for innovation is a central element in European policymaking in developing higher education. Students often learn in project settings together with work organizations developing new solutions, products and services. These authentic creative, social and collaborative settings offer an attractive learning environment. The aim of this study w...
Background
During the past few years the incidents of extreme violence and the increase of unintentional injuries and accidents have created situations where new safety procedures are needed. Safe learning environment should be a safe working environment for teachers. According to the target programs and visions, safety and wellbeing can be seen as...
The goal of this article is to clarify the concept of innovation and by presenting a research on the basic education outcome assessment data from an innovation learning perspective, answer to a question: Do students learn innovation in comprehensive education? The empirical information in this research is based on data collected in the national ass...
Arts and crafts subjects are deemed responsible for the development of creativity in education. The purpose of this research is to consider creativity and innovation in basic education in the frame of design learning in arts and crafts subjects in the Nordic countries. The design learning analysis is presented on the basis of curriculum texts and i...
Last research in learning showed that collaboration has an important role, leading to a deeper understanding of knowledge among learners. But collaborative learning is not an easy task to be implemented and it must be supported for avoiding the achieving of an only superficial level. In this respect, various instructional ideas and computer applica...
This article focuses on presenting the possibilities of Bayesian modelling (Finite Mixture Modelling) in the semantic analysis of statistically modelled data. The probability of a hypothesis in relation to the data available is an important question in inductive reasoning. Bayesian modelling allows the researcher to use many models at a time and pr...
Nordisk ministerråd (NMR) gjennomførte i 2009–2010 en nordisk studie om
kreativitet, innovasjon og entreprenørskap i utdanningen. Studien har som
hovedformål å kartlegge status for hvordan kreativitet, innovasjon og entreprenørskap
er integrert i styringsdokumenter og i opplæringen på alle nivå,
fra barnehage til voksenopplæring, i de nordiske land...
It is very common to believe that the use of ICT promotes high level learning. Today it is agreed that using ICT can enhance learning if pedagogical points of view are considered in applying technological solutions. Technologies offer interesting opportunities but they do not guarantee high level learning. In this article I consider the idea of usi...
Students should learn digital competencies at school as a part of comprehensive education to be able to join the information society. How much students use information and communication technology (ICT) in their studies depends on the teachers' confidence to use it. Teachers are the key persons who either bring ICT to teaching or leave it out. If t...
Collaborative learning is one of the current approaches when discussing qualitative learning. Learning research has indicated that collaboration can lead to deeper understanding of new knowledge among learners. However, collaborative learning is not easy and it needs to be supported. Otherwise collaborative learning may fail, e.g., to stay on a sup...
The aim of this paper is to present the evaluation of the FISTE-project (Future in-service teacher training across Europe) in the frame of Comenius 2.1 program funded by European Commission as a sample case. The partners of the project are universities from Finland, Romania, Latvia, Iceland and an in-service teacher training center from Spain. The...
Learning scientists have discovered that deep learning is more likely to occur in complex social and technological environments (7) - one example of this is computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) situations. This was the main guideline when partners of Socrates Comenius 2.1-project FISTE (A Future Way for In-Service Teacher Training Acros...
Today there are lots of projects on the European level and many goals to be reached by them. One reason for organizing the projects is the collaboration and common understanding which the partners are supposed to create during the project. This article presents partner experiences gained in a FISTE-project, A Future In-service teacher training acro...