Making with Micro:bit : Teachers and Students Learning 21st Century Competences through the Innovation Process

Innokas Network works with schools and other stakeholders to develop 21st Century Competences in education. In this work we present a maker pilot study in which Innokas Network introduced Finnish teachers to the Innovation Process and the Micro:bit programmable device for supporting students’ 21st Century Competences. We show preliminary results of the study and discuss the relevance of maker projects and the Innovation Process for learning 21st Century Competences in the Finnish educational context. 100 participating Finnish teachers received in-service training in Micro:bit technology and learned to apply the technology within the Innovation Process. After the training, the teachers used the technology in class projects. They reported on their projects using blog narratives and research questionnaires. In addition, 850 participating students answered a questionnaire on their experiences. The results of an initial analysis point to a positive view of the maker-related Innovation Process and Micro:bit technology as a way for both teachers and students to learn 21st Century Competences.Peer reviewe

Health in Southern Finland : Bioarchaeological analysis of 555 skeletons excavated from nine cemeteries (11th -19th century AD)

This work deals with the paleopathology of 555 skeletons from nine cemeteries in southern Finland dating from the 11th to the beginning of the 19th century. This is the first large-scale osteological investigation of Finnish human remains, since skeletal material in Finland is not usually preserved well. A greater number of younger individuals were identified from coastal sites than from inland sites, which may be due to real health differences, or to fertility differences between coastal towns and inland sites, or simply to taphonomy. Previous bioarchaeological studies have shown that early towns were unhealthy environments, which may also be a factor. Dental diseases were found to be more common in females, and trauma in males, as in previous bioarchaeological studies. Dental diseases, joint diseases, and trauma are age-progressive diseases, and cribra orbitalia and metabolic diseases were found more often in subadult individuals, as expected. No association between stature and any of the health-related parameters could be observed. Dental diseases are more common in more modern populations than in more ancient ones, as expected. These questions should, however, be studied further with the help of paleodietary/paleogenetic analyses. Most of the pathological lesions that were statistically significantly associated with each other were expected to be so, but some unexpected relationships also appeared. For example, skeletal trauma and entheseal changes were statistically significantly found more often in individuals with more dental calculus, whereas periapical lesions were statistically significantly associated with vertebral osteoarthritis. These unexpected co-ocurrences should be studied further, not only in bioarchaeology, but also in modern medicine, to discover whether these are just rare coincidences or whether these pathologies really do/did co-occur for some reason.Suomalaisten sairaudet - Tautihistorian tutkimus Suomalaisten arkeologisten ihmisluulöytöjen avulla Kati Salon väitöstutkimus paljastaa menneiden ihmisten tautihistoriasta Suomessa rautakauden lopulta 1800-luvun alkuun. Väitöskirjassa on tarkasteltu tautien levinneisyyttä tutkimalla 555 vainajan jäännökset yhdeksästä paikasta Etelä-Suomesta. Hautaukset ajoittuvat 1000-luvulta 1800-luvun alkuun eli ajalta ennen nykyaikaisen lääketieteen kehittymistä. Tämä on ensimmäinen laaja-alainen ihmisluututkimus Suomesta. Tutkimuksen tuloksena voidaan sanoa, että rannikkokaupungeista löytyi nuorempina kuolleita vainajia kuin sisämaassa. Tämä saattaa johtua joko kaupunkilaisten huonommasta terveydestä, kaupunkien runsaammasta syntyvyydestä tai luurankojen erilaisesta säilymisestä alueiden välillä. Tämä vahvisti käsitystä yleiseurooppalaisesta varhaisten kaupunkien heikoista terveysoloista myös Suomessa. Samoin aineistosta on nähtävissä että hammassairaudet ovat lisääntyneet ajan myötä Suomessa, samoin kuin muualla Euroopassa. Terveydessä havaittiin eroja sukupuolten välillä, sillä hammassairaudet olivat yleisempiä naisilla, kun taas luunmurtumat miehillä. Naisten hammasairauden yleisyys saattaa selittyä useilla raskauksilla ja imetyksellä. Miehillä on taas enemmän vammoja sekä muinaisissa että nykyisissä väestöissä. Kuten oletettiinkin, hammassairaudet, nivelsairaudet ja vammat lisääntyivät kuoliniän myötä ja puutostauteja löytyi enemmän lapsina kuolleilta. Huomattava on kuitenkin, että pituudella ei havaittu mitään yhteyttä terveyteen. Mielenkiintoisimmat tulokset tulivat kuitenkin vähemmän arkeologiassa huomiota saaneesta kysymyksestä: Mitkä luustossa olevat sairauksien merkit usein esiintyvät yhdessä samoilla vainajilla? Useimmat näistä yhteyksistä olivat oletettuja tuloksia, mutta tämän tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan osoittaa, että tulehduspesäkkeet leukaluussa esiintyvät samoilla henkilöillä joilla oli nivelrikko selkärangassa. Toinen esimerkki yllättävästä löydöstä oli, että vammat esiintyivät samoilla henkilöillä, joilla oli runsaasti hammaskiveä. Näitä löydöksiä kannattaa tutkia eteenpäin sekä arkeologiassa että lääketieteessä, jotta tiedettäisiin onko kyse vain harvinaislaatuisesta sattumasta vai onko näiden tautien välillä syy-seuraus yhteys, joka voisi selittyä myös nykyään sairauksia aiheuttavalla tekijällä. Lisätietoja: p. 044-5823065 tai [email protected], väitös 22.6.2016 klo 12 Helsingin yliopiston pienessä juhalasaliss

Almost Gone: Human Skeletal Material from Finnish Stone Age Earth Graves

Peer reviewe

A Pre-Roman Burial Site in Puijonsarvennenä, Kuopio, Eastern Finland: Preliminary Results and Interpretations

In 2019, a metal detector hobbyist found an iron spearhead, a knife, and some burnt bones from an ambiguous stone structure situated on the scenic cape of Puijonsarvennenä in Kuopio. Archaeological excavation and sub- sequent analyses of the find material confirmed that the site was a single cremation burial, which was radiocarbon dated to 410–355 calBC, in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The find material included several fragments of bone artefacts and a small amount of asbestos-tempered ceramics. The burial and its finds seem to indicate that the deceased person engaged in hunting and possibly fur trading, setting Puijonsarvennenä into a continuum with similar burial sites known from interior and northern Finland from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age. Currently, Puijonsarvennenä is the only Iron Age burial site to have been excavated in the North Savo province.Peer reviewe

Graves, landmarks, or sacrificial monuments? The human osteology and paleopathology of the Bronze Age burial cairns in Finland

During the Bronze Age (ca. 1800-500 BC), cremation became the dominant burial practice in Finland. These Bronze Age (BA) cremations have been excavated from burial cairns in Finland for more than 150 years. This work provides new information on human osteology from this previously understudied area in northeastern Europe. The results cover the earliest period in Finnish prehistory for which large-scale human osteological assemblages are available. In this article, we present a comprehensive human osteological study on the curated bone collections of the National Museum of Finland and other provincial museums, and provide new radiocarbon datings of the cairns. The results show that the cairns were most often used for single burials, without accompanying animals or artefacts. Double and multiple burials became more common in the Iron Age. Porotic hyperostosis was a common finding. Signs of osteoarthritis are more common in the central Satakunta region, where Iron Age burial practices first emerged already during the Late Bronze Age. These observed changes can be connected to changes in subsistence strategies that also enabled permanent settlements.Peer reviewe

Framework for Technological Competence in Invention Projects

This chapter examines invention pedagogy from the perspective of technological competence that students appropriate through participating in invention processes. We present the theoretical background and propose a framework for technological competencies in invention projects with five, overlapping dimensions: (1) crafting, (2) designing, (3) engineering, (4) programming, and (5) reflecting, documenting, and sharing. Each dimension is elaborated through its central concepts, aims, examples of the technological tools and pedagogical practices associated with their use. We also discuss the dimensions, as a part of invention project planning, and the relevance of the framework for the future work of teachers and researchers. We argue that the conceptualization and operationalization of technology competence supports both teachers and students in reaching a broad and in-depth understanding of the surrounding socio-technological environment. Further, we claim that technological competence supports students in learning to create solutions and innovations that build a better future for them and for others.Peer reviewe

Employee control over scheduling of shifts and objectively measured working hour characteristics : a cross-sectional analysis of linked register and survey data

We aimed to study the association of perceived control over scheduling of shifts with objectively measured working hour characteristics in shift workers. The participants were 5128 hospital employees (91% women, 85% nursing personnel, average age 43 years) in period-based work (114:45h/3 weeks) from the 2015 Finnish Public Sector study. Survey responses to a measure of control over scheduling of shifts were linked to payroll data on working hour characteristics during the 91 days preceding the survey. We used multinomial logistic regression to assess differences in dichotomized proportion of working hour characteristics (being full-time worker, number of work shifts, long work weeks (>40h and >48h/week), long work shifts (>12-h), evening and night shifts, quick returns (4 consecutive work shifts, and variability of shift length with cut points at 10% or 25% between employees with high, intermediate, or low control over scheduling of shifts. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, education, full-/part-time work (where applicable), duration of shift work experience, perceived work ability, children 25%) of weekend work was lower among employees with low control over scheduling of shifts compared to high control (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.61-0.93). High proportion (>25%) of having >4 consecutive work shifts was associated with lower control over scheduling of shifts (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.13-1.62). Variability of shift length was lower among employees with intermediate and low control over scheduling of shifts compared to those with high control (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.66-0.93; OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.51-0.75, respectively). No association was observed between the level of control over scheduling of shifts and high proportion of long work weeks (>25% of >40h weeks and >10% of >48h weeks), long work shifts (>25%), quick returns (>25%), single days off (>25%), and evening or night shifts (>10%) in the whole sample. In subgroup analyses, women with low control over scheduling shifts had lower odds ratio (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.37-0.91) and men had higher odds ratio (OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.26-6.98) for large proportion of >12-h shifts. In conclusion, the employees with high control over scheduling of shifts had slightly more often unsocial working hour characteristics than those with intermediate or low control over scheduling of shifts. The findings, however, suggest that good work time control in shift work can be possible without compromising shift ergonomics.Peer reviewe

Recommendations for the management of subsistence fisheries in South Africa

This paper summarizes recommendations for the management of previously marginalized and neglected subsistence fisheries in South Africa. The recommendations stem from the activities and analyses of a task group appointed by Government and mandated to provide advice about management of the new fishing sector. The following focus areas were identified for attention: planning for implementation; definitions of subsistence fishers and other sectors; assessment and categorization of resources; determination of types of fishing activities; zonation; management systems; training; communication mechanisms; application and allocation procedures; compliance processes; research and monitoring; development of institutional capacity. Subsistence fishers were defined as poor people who personally harvest marine resources as a source of food or to sell them to meet basic needs of food security; they operate on or near to the shore or in estuaries, live in close proximity to the resource, consume or sell the resources locally, use low-technology gear (often as part of a long-standing community-based or cultural practice), and the resources they harvest generate only sufficient returns to meet basic needs of food security. A second group of informal fishers was identified that fishes for profit but cannot be equated to large industrial fisheries, and a new sector was proposed to accommodate these artisanal “small-scale commercial” fishers. Resources were classified for use by these different sectors based on accessibility, fishing methods, cash value and sustainability. In all, 12 different categories of subsistence and small-scale commercial fisheries were identified, and a preliminary list of resource species suitable for different fishing sectors is presented. A multi-tiered institutional management structure is recommended, with the national agency (MCM) controlling issues of national concern, and supporting and coordinating the activities of provincial and local structures. The management agents required for effective implementation were identified and include a dedicated national Subsistence Fisheries Management Unit, provincial management agencies that have the capacity to be delegated authority, Regional Fieldworkers, an independent Advisory Group for Subsistence Fisheries Management, local comanagement structures, and community monitors responsible for observing and recording fishing activities and catches. Co-management, involving both authorities and users in joint management, is advocated in preference to previous top-down approaches, because of its potential to improve communication and compliance.Keywords: coastal zonation, fisheries management, fisheries rights, subsistence fisheriesAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2002, 24: 503–52

Mökkeilyn hiilijalanjälki Suomessa : Hiilijalanjäljen koko, osatekijät ja niihin vaikuttaminen vapaa-ajan asumisessa

Tutkimuksessa arvioitiin ensimmäistä kertaa Suomen mökkeilyn hiilijalanjälki. Lisäksi laadittiin laskuri, jolla käyttäjä voi arvioida oman mökkeilyn hiilijalanjälkeä. Kyselytutkimuksella selvitettiin myös vuosien 2021–2023 energia- ja taloustilanteen vaikutuksia mökkeilyyn. Mökkeilyn hiilijalanjälkilaskentaan sisältyvät mökkien energiankulutus, mökkimatkat, mökiltä käsin tehtävät asiointimatkat, veneily sekä tavaroiden ja palveluiden kulutus. Laskelmaan eivät sisälly rakentamisvaihe, maankäyttösektorin päästöt, ruoka ja päivittäistavarat tai ulkomailla sijaitsevat mökit. Laskennan aineistoina käytettiin polttoaineiden kulutustietoja ja tilastotietoja pääasiassa vuodelta 2021, vuoden 2023 alussa käytössä olleita päästökertoimia ja aiemmissa tutkimuksissa kerättyjä tietoja. Tulosten mukaan mökkeilyn hiilijalanjälki Suomessa on noin 1,2 miljoonaa hiilidioksidiekvivalenttitonnia (Mt CO2-ekv.). Yhden mökin hiilijalanjälki on keskimäärin 2 313 kg CO2-ekv. Suurin osa päästöistä (noin 58 %) aiheutuu mökkeilyyn liittyvästä liikkumisesta. Energiankulutuksen (sähkö ja lämpö) osuus on 19 %, tavaroiden ja palveluiden kulutuksen 18 % ja veneilyn osuus 5 %. Mökkeilyn osuus yhden mökkeilevän suomalaisen keskimääräisestä hiilijalanjäljestä on 7,5 %. Päästöjen taso vaihtelee merkittävästi mökin koon, sijainnin ja varustelutason mukaan. Näihin tekijöihin ja kulutustottumuksiin vaikuttamalla hiilijalanjälkeä voidaan pienentää