Eila Lindfors

University of Turku | UTU · Department of Teacher Education

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...