Oppimisen edistäminen kielellisissä erityisvaikeuksissa visuaalisten tukikeinojen avulla:empiirinen tutkimus kolmen dysfaattisen lapsen oppimisesta

Tiivistelmä. Tutkimuksen kohderyhmänä ovat lapset, joilla ilmenee kielellistä erityisvaikeutta. Lapsilla esiintyy sanojen löytämisen ja nimeämisen ongelmaa, puhe- ja sanaäänteiden ääntämisen vaikeutta ja kieliopillisten rakenteiden ymmärtämisen ja tuottamisen problematiikkaa. Tutkimukseen osallistui kolme lasta eräästä erityiskoulusta. Oppilaille oli järjestetty yksilöllistä tukea pienopetusryhmässä. He kävivät alkuopetuksen kolmatta luokkaa ja olivat iältään 7–9-vuotiaita. Tutkimuksen empiirisessä osassa haetaan vastausta siihen, millaisella oppimisen tasolla oppilaan oppiminen on ilman visuaalisia tukikeinoja ja niiden kanssa. Aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa pääpainona on ollut visuaalisten tukikeinojen vaikutus kieleen ja sen käyttöön sekä kielellisen ilmaisun tukemiseen. Tässä tutkimuksessa etsitään vastausta myös siihen, kuinka oppimista kartoittava kysymyssarja toimii opettajan arviointityökaluna tarkasteltaessa lapsen oppimisen tasoa. Tutkimuksessa käytettävät tarinat ja kysymyssarjat ovat Karvosen ja Rikkolan kirjasta Lukuleikkitaikoja (2006). Kirjan käyttö luo tutkijalle mahdollisuuden arvioida teoksessa käytetyn Bloomin (1956) taksonomialuokitukseen pohjautuvia kysymyssarjoja oppimisen ja tiedon omaksumisen tasojen arvioinnissa. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan sitä tukevatko visuaaliset tukikeinot oppimista tarinan ymmärtämisen, muistamisen, soveltamisen, analysoimisen, arvioimisen ja uuden luomisen tasoilla. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin yksilöllisissä opetustuokioissa. Aineiston keruu koostui kahden tarinan lukemiskerrasta. Lukuleikkitaikoja-kirjan 15 tarinan sarjasta oppilaille luettiin kaksi ensimmäistä. Ensimmäisellä kerralla tutkija ainoastaan luki tarinan. Toisella kerralla lukemisen yhteydessä tutkija käytti visuaalisina apukeinoina kuvia ja havainnollistavia esineitä. Tarinoiden lukemisen jälkeen oppilaille esitettiin kirjassa kyseisen tarinan yhteydessä oleva strukturoitu kysymyssarja. Tutkimustulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että oppimistilanteissa on suotavaa visualisoida puhutusta tekstistä avainkäsitteitä lapsille, joilla on kielen kehityksen erityisvaikeutta. Visuaaliset tukikeinot näyttävät pääsääntöisesti herättävän kiinnostusta ja mielenkiintoa tehden oppimistilanteesta mielekkään. Yhdellä oppilaista tukikeinot edistävät kiinnostusta voimakkaasti tarinaan, mikä näkyy kyseenalaistamisena, testaamisena, kritisoimisena, reflektoimisena, keksimisenä ja luomisena. Hän selvästi kokee, että visuaaliset tukikeinot inspiroivat tarinaan ja virittävät sen kysymyksiin. Visuaaliset symbolit näyttävät tämän tutkimuksen valossa tuovan hieman tukea kielelliseen ilmaisuun ja auttavan lasta ilmaisemaan ajatuksiaan ja konkreettista sisältöä laaja-alaisemmin. Kuvallisen tukemisen avulla itse teksti saa rinnalleen uuden ulottuvuuden ja lapsi alkaa prosessoida kuultua puhetta kielellisesti rikkaammin. Toisaalta yhdellä oppilaista, jolla ilmenee aistiyliherkkyyttä, tämä näyttäytyy kielteisesti sulkeutumisena. Kaksi tutkimukseen osallistuneista oppilaista yltää korkeammalle oppimisen tasolle, kun visuaalisia tukikeinoja käytetään. Luetun tarinan tukeminen visuaalisilla tukikeinoilla auttaa tekstin sisällön avautumisessa ja Bloomin oppimisen tasojen arvioinnissa yhtä oppilasta selvästi ja yhtä oppilasta vähän. Vaikka tutkimuksen kohdejoukko on pieni eivätkä tutkimustulokset näin ollen ole yleistettävissä, tutkimus sisältää kiinnostavaa ja hyödynnettävää tietoa oppimisen arvioinnista ja opetuksen elävöittämisestä visuaalisin keinoin.The use of visual aids to enhance learning of individuals with specific language impairment : an empirical study of three children. Abstract. The subjects of this study are children with specific language impairment. These children have difficulties finding and naming words, phonological difficulties with pronouncing speech sounds as well as problems with understanding and producing grammatical structures. Three children who attend a special school and are placed in small groups receiving individual attention participated in this study. They were in the third grade of study and between the ages of seven and nine. The empirical section of the study strives to indicate the level of learning that takes place with and without the use of visual learning aids. Previous studies have focused on the effects of supportive visual aids on language and language use as well as on supporting the ability for linguistic expression. This study also strives to answer how a series of questions that is specifically designed to map out learning can function as an evaluative tool for teachers in measuring the level of learning. Stories from the book Lukuleikkitaikoja (2006) by Karvonen and Rikkola are used in this study. The level of learning is evaluated by using a series of questions drawn out by Karvonen and Rikkola that makes use of Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy. Using this book as part of the study also gives the researcher the opportunity to evaluate the usefulness of the series of questions that is based on Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy in analyzing the level of learning and comprehension that has taken place. This study evaluates whether a link exists between visual learning aids and the comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation and synthesis of the story. The research material was gathered during times of one-on-one instruction. Gathering the research material consisted of reading out loud the two first stories from the book Lukuleikkitaikoja. During the first reading the student acted as a passive listener. During the second reading, visual learning aids and illustrative objects were used. After both readings the students were presented with a series of questions that was related to the story. The research material is analyzed using the triangulation method. Based on the results of this study, visualizing the key concepts from the spoken content can be recommended in learning situations with the children having specific language impairment. Visual learning aids seem mainly to raise some interest and make the learning situation more enjoyable. In the case of one of the students, using visual learning aids strongly encouraged interest towards the story which can be seen in the form of questioning, testing, criticizing, reflecting, inventing and creating. This student clearly experienced the visual learning aids as inspiring in preparation towards the story and questions. In the light of this study, visual symbols seem to support linguistic expression and help a child express his/her ideas and content of the story in a more well-rounded fashion. With the aid of a picture, the text gets a new dimension and the child begins to process the spoken language linguistically in a richer way. On the other hand, one of the students who has sensory sensitivity reacted negatively. Two of the children reach a higher learning level when visual learning aids are used. Using visual aids incorporated as part of the reading helps students in comprehending the story. According to Bloom’s learning level, one student improves in a significant way and the other student improves slightly. Although the target group of this study is small and the results cannot be generalized, the study contains interesting and useful information on the assessment of learning and the revitalization of teaching with visual methods

A forest typology for monitoring sustainable forest management: The case of European Forest Types

Sustainable forest management (SFM) is presently widely accepted as the overriding objective for forest policy and practice. Regional processes are in progress all over the world to develop and implement criteria and indicators of SFM. In continental Europe, a set of 35 Pan-European indicators has been endorsed under the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) to measure progress towards SFM in the 44 countries of the region. The formulation of seven indicators (forest area, growing stock, age structure/diameter distribution, deadwood, tree species composition, damaging agents, naturalness) requires national data to be reported by forest types. Within the vast European forest area the values taken by these indicators show a considerable range of variation, due to variable natural conditions and anthropogenic influences. Given this variability, it is very difficult to grasp the meaning of these indicators when taken out of their ecological background. The paper discusses the concepts behind, and the requirements of, a classification more soundly ecologically framed and suitable for MCPFE reporting than the three (un-informative) classes adopted so far: broadleaved forest, coniferous forest, mixed broadleaved and coniferous forest. We propose a European Forest Types scheme structured into a reasonably higher number of classes, that would improve the specificity of the indicators reported under the MCPFE process and its understanding.L'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore www.tandf.co.uk/journals

Differences in stress tolerance and brood size between a non-indigenous and an indigenous gammarid in the northern Baltic Sea

Differences in stress tolerance and reproductive traits may drive the competitive hierarchy between nonindigenous and indigenous species and turn the former ones into successful invaders. In the northern Baltic Sea, the non-indigenous Gammarus tigrinus is a recent invader of littoral ecosystems and now occupies comparable ecological niches as the indigenous G. zaddachi. In laboratory experiments on specimens collected between June and August 2009 around Tva¨rminne in southern Finland (59°500N/23°150E), the tolerances towards heat stress and hypoxia were determined for the two species using lethal time, LT50, as response variable. The brood size of the two species was also studied and some observations were made on maturation of juveniles. Gammarus tigrinus was more resistant to hypoxia and survived at higher temperatures than G. zaddachi. Brood size was also greater in G. tigrinus than in G. zaddachi and G. tigrinus matured at a smaller size and earlier than G. zaddachi. Hence, there are clear competitive advantages for the non-indigenous G. tigrinus compared to the indigenous G. zaddachi, and these may be further strengthened through ongoing environmental changes related to increased eutrophication and a warming climate in the Baltic Sea region

The use of airborne laser scanning to develop a pixel-based stratification for a verified carbon offset project

Background The voluntary carbon market is a new and growing market that is increasingly important to consider in managing forestland. Monitoring, reporting, and verifying carbon stocks and fluxes at a project level is the single largest direct cost of a forest carbon offset project. There are now many methods for estimating forest stocks with high accuracy that use both Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and high-resolution optical remote sensing data. However, many of these methods are not appropriate for use under existing carbon offset standards and most have not been field tested. Results This paper presents a pixel-based forest stratification method that uses both ALS and optical remote sensing data to optimally partition the variability across an ~10,000 ha forest ownership in Mendocino County, CA, USA. This new stratification approach improved the accuracy of the forest inventory, reduced the cost of field-based inventory, and provides a powerful tool for future management planning. This approach also details a method of determining the optimum pixel size to best partition a forest. Conclusions The use of ALS and optical remote sensing data can help reduce the cost of field inventory and can help to locate areas that need the most intensive inventory effort. This pixel-based stratification method may provide a cost-effective approach to reducing inventory costs over larger areas when the remote sensing data acquisition costs can be kept low on a per acre basis