Kaisu Mälkki

• PhD
• Docent at University of Helsinki

Transformative learning may be seen to equip learners with mindsets or meaning perspectives that support solving problems that are complex or even deemed impossible-those that are challenges in today's society. However, a key theory of adult learning, Jack Mezirow's theory of transformative learning emphasises rationality, which limits its sphere o...

Open access: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-2287-8. The study-skill guide Pocket Tutor helps to build a launch pad of study skills that will catapult you into the universe of academic thinking. The universe of thinking is born of the ability to give up prevalent thought patterns and self-evidences. To let go of these, one needs criticality and...

This chapter argues that the problematic nature of reflection in the teacher education field stems from associating reflection with the consideration of concrete teaching practices only. Our purpose is to revitalize teacher reflection by developing an understanding of reflection focused on meaning structures rather than on teaching practices. We i...

In this study, we examine a real-life case from a Finnish early primary school classroom and elaborate how the teacher and student(s) together create space for heterogeneous ways of being in the classroom that support their social and emotional competences and well-being. Our study offers conceptual tools and knowledge to support teachers in harnes...

OPEN ACCESS: https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/119788 Study skills guide The Pocket Tutor helps you to build your learning skills into a launch pad taking your academic thinking into space of thinking. The space of thinking arises from the ability to dispense with prevailing patterns of thought and self-evidentity. Leaving them requires the criti...

The rapidly changing environment requires an ability for critical reflection. In this chapter, I suggest that our abilities to engage in transformative learning and critical reflection on our taken-for-granted assumptions may be significantly strengthened by gently yet critically harnessing ‘edge-emotions’ as our guiding friends in the processes of...

The connection between cognition and emotion, and between mind and body, has been well documented by neuroscience. The adult education practitioners of critical reflection and transformative learning processes have understood this more holistic understanding of human nature both empirically and intuitively. However, the key theory of the field, Jac...

p>In this paper we look into the conditions in which dialogue could be utilized to facilitate transformative learning and reflection. We explore the notion of a safe and accepting learning environment from the relational and phenomenological viewpoint, and analyze what it actually means and how it may be developed. We understand facilitating condit...

”Kun yliopistot säästävät irtisanomalla opettajansa, on tiedusteltava, mitä ne tekevät jäljelle jääneellä henkilökunnalla.” Professori Sara Heinämaan HS Vieraskynässä (7.11.2015) esittämä vaatimus herättelee suomalaisia miettimään hyvää elämää - asioiden ja tekemisen merkityksellisyyttä - aikoina, jolloin leikkaukset ja muut toimenpiteet esitetään...

The role of motivation and emotions in learning has been extensively studied in recent years; however, research on the role of the physical environment still remains scarce. This study examined the role of the physical environment in the learning process from the perspective of basic psychological needs. Although self-determination theory stresses...

Abstract: This paper attempts to draw out and elucidate some aspects that were originally implied, but not explicated, within transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1991). Specifically, we reflexively question how the theory was itself conditioned by the time in which it was developed. Secondly, we will suggest that our current time—a time that h...

The purpose of this article is to reflect theoretically, with examples from the empirical data, on the relations between Mezirow’s (e.g.1991; 2009) theory of transformative learning and physical space. We explicate how the process of transformative learning of an individual is affected by the physical space, and how the transformation of space affe...

Although the notion of transformative learning points to a desirable destination for educational endeavors, the difficulty in the journey is often neglected. Our intention is to map the experiential micro-processes involved in transformative learning such that the phenomenon is illuminated from a first-person rather than third-person point of view....

Higher education has long been seen as the heart of knowledge and epistemological development. However, recent advances in the sphere of research on learning raise a challenge to consider also the project of higher education from broader and more integrative perspective, so that the ontological self of the student can be ‘brought into view and enga...

Higher education has long been seen as the heart of knowledge and epistemological development. However, recent advances in the sphere of research on learning challenge higher education to take a broader and more integrative perspective, so that the ontological self of the student can be “brought into view and engaged with” (Barnett 2007, 9).

This study elaborates on how a disorienting dilemma, a life-event crisis, may trigger reflection. The study comprised an analysis of interviews with involuntarily childless women, who were in the process of negotiating emotionally chaotic experiences. The implications for Jack Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning are explored. Compared with...

Within higher education, reflection has been seen as a prerequisite to quality teaching and developing as a teacher. However, little empirical research exists concerning the link between teacher reflection and action, which defines the extent to which the teacher’s reflection-based views are channelled to the benefit of the students. This article f...

Reflection is promoted in different adult education settings, while the results remain superficial. Furthermore, the previous theories describe the ideals, but do not offer understanding of the challenges of reflection encountered in practice. As a response, the article presents a theorization considering the prerequisites and challenges to reflect...

For the past decades reflection has been the buzzword of adult and higher education. Reflection is facilitated in many practices and there is abundant research on the issue. Despite the popularity of the concept, the reasons why bringing about reflection in educational practices is difficult remain unclear. The prevailing theories inform of the pro...

Millä tavalla kasvatustieteessä käytettyjä filosofisia lähestymistapoja, teorioita ja tutkimusmenetelmiä voidaan arvioida? Mikä ylipäätään on teorian rooli tutkimuksessa? Tutkimusmatkalla-kirjassa etsitään vastauksia näihin kysymyksiin. Lisäksi siinä esiteltyjen tutkimusten välityksellä lukija pääsee aitiopaikalta seuraamaan, miten ja miksi tutkij...

ABSTRACT: Under de senaste åren har begreppet friktion vunnit mycket popularitet bland både forskare och utövare av militärt tänkande och krigsteorier. Den rådande diskussionen har till exempel fokuserat sig på dess aktuella relevans. Clausewitz’s skrifter om friktion har använts för att beskriva slagfältets natur som oväntat, icke-definierbart och...

The prevailing theoretical discussion on reflection within adult and higher education focuses on the cognitive and rational dimensions of reflection, at the expense of the emotional and social dimensions. Consequently, the theories deal with the ideals, but leave issues pertaining to the understanding of the prerequisites, challenges, and obstacles...