Can noncomplementarity of agency lead to successful problem solving? A case study on students’ interpersonal behaviors in mathematical problem-solving collaboration

In student collaboration, purposeful peer interaction crucial for success on the task. Such collaboration requires adequate and purposeful student agency. Theoretically, the between-individual complementarity of agency be-haviors enhances purposeful interaction. However, the level of agency of group members can disrupt the collaborative interactions. We conducted a case study of collaborative mathematical problem solving, where one student's behaviors of noncomplementary agency characterized the group interaction. We examined the video recording of the group by continuous quantitative coding of students' agency behaviors and segmented the interaction process into four phases. We analyzed qualitatively these phases based on the verbal transcript. We found that the target student's agency grew in relation to the other students despite her lack of mathematical competence. The findings provide us with a new perspective to understand the role of the situational individual agency in collaborative learning that underlines the tolerance of noncomplementarity of agency in student collaboration.Peer reviewe

Safe Space, Dangerous Territory: Young People’s Views on Preventing Radicalization through Education—Perspectives for Pre-Service Teacher Education

Initiatives for preventing radicalization and violent extremism through education (PVE-E) have become a feature of global educational policy and educational institutions across all phases, from early childhood to universities, also in Finland. If schools may be regarded as safe spaces here for identity and worldview construction and experiences of belonging, the specific subject matter of PVE-E is also dangerous territory. Not least because of PVE-E’s focus on radicalization, but above all because of perceptions of schools being used as an adjunct of governmental counter-terrorism policy. We argue that understanding young people’s views on issues related to radicalization and violent extremism is critical in order to develop ethical, sustainable, contextualized, and pedagogical approaches to prevent hostilities and foster peaceful co-existence. After providing some critical framing of the Finnish educational context in a broader international setting, we thus examine young people’s views (n = 3617) in relation to the safe spaces through online survey data gathered as a part of our larger 4-year research project Growing up radical? The role of educational institutions in guiding young people’s worldview construction. Specifically focused on Finland but with potentially wider international implications, more understanding about the topic of PVE-E is needed to inform teacher education and training, to which our empirical data makes some innovative contribution

Safe Space, Dangerous Territory: Young People’s Views on Preventing Radicalization through Education—Perspectives for Pre-Service Teacher Education

Initiatives for preventing radicalization and violent extremism through education (PVE-E) have become a feature of global educational policy and educational institutions across all phases, from early childhood to universities, also in Finland. If schools may be regarded as safe spaces here for identity and worldview construction and experiences of belonging, the specific subject matter of PVE-E is also dangerous territory. Not least because of PVE-E’s focus on radicalization, but above all because of perceptions of schools being used as an adjunct of governmental counter-terrorism policy. We argue that understanding young people’s views on issues related to radicalization and violent extremism is critical in order to develop ethical, sustainable, contextualized, and pedagogical approaches to prevent hostilities and foster peaceful co-existence. After providing some critical framing of the Finnish educational context in a broader international setting, we thus examine young people’s views (n = 3617) in relation to the safe spaces through online survey data gathered as a part of our larger 4-year research project Growing up radical? The role of educational institutions in guiding young people’s worldview construction. Specifically focused on Finland but with potentially wider international implications, more understanding about the topic of PVE-E is needed to inform teacher education and training, to which our empirical data makes some innovative contribution

Opettajien käsitykset monikielisyydestä : heijastumia koulun kielipolitiikasta

This article examines teachers’ views (N = 2,864) on school multilingualism. The results have been analyzed using statistical methods and the conceptual frameworks of Spolsky’s language policy and Ruíz’s language orientations. The respondents were divided into three groups: positive (18%), deliberating (34%) and cautious (48%). The teachers’ language orientations were analyzed using three sum variables: teacher’s use of multiple languages, student’s use of multiple languages, and schools’ language attitudes. Classroom teachers were more positive about multilingualism than subject teachers and there were more teachers with cautious attitudes in schools where the number of foreign-language pupils was less than 5%. Additionally, the attitudes to multilingualism were more permissive in Swedish-speaking than in Finnish-speaking schools. Overall, the analysis of teachers’ views suggested that language policies vary. Finally, the individual respondents’ views did not fully correspond to any of Ruíz’s formulated language orientations.Peer reviewe

A Teacher–Researcher Partnership for Professional Learning : Co-Designing Project-Based Learning Units to Increase Student Engagement in Science Classes

We present teacher-researcher partnership (TRP) as a way of fostering teachers' professional learning. Teachers' participation as research group members is an essential aspect of the partnership. Teachers and researchers share the same goal, which is to improve their understanding of and enhance students' engagement in science. Project-based learning (PBL) was selected as a means of enhancing student engagement. The activities of the partnership focused on the co-design and enactment of and co-reflection on PBL units. Teachers participated in the design of the data collection process and the interpretation of initial findings. As an indicator of teachers' professional learning, we examined students' engagement during different implementations of the PBL units. Student engagement was measured using a situational experience sampling questionnaire delivered via mobile phones. The students' experiences of scientific practices and engagement in actual learning situations were measured in the first and second years of the teachers' implementation of the teaching units. An analysis of the students' responses showed that the students were 20% more engaged in the second year than in the first year. We argue that TRP has the potential to enhance teachers' professional learning.Peer reviewe

Exploring collaboration during mathematics problem solving in the classroom with multiple mobile eye tracking

Conference on Embodied Design in Interaction, October 30-31, 2017, Utrecht University, UtrechtNon peer reviewe

Oppimaan oppiminen Vantaan peruskouluissa 2018-2021

publishedVersio

Oppimaan oppiminen Vantaan peruskouluissa 2018–2021

publishedVersio

The Relation Between Teacher-Student Eye Contact and Teachers' Interpersonal Behavior During Group Work : a Multiple-Person Gaze-Tracking Case Study in Secondary Mathematics Education

Reciprocal eye contact is a significant part of human interaction, but its role in classroom interaction has remained unexplored, mostly due to methodological issues. A novel approach in educational science, multiple-person mobile gaze-tracking, allows us to gather data on these momentary processes of nonverbal interaction. The current mixed-method case study investigates the role of teacher-student eye contact in interpersonal classroom interaction using this methodological approach from three mathematics lessons. We combined gaze-tracking data with classroom videos, which we analyzed with continuous coding of teachers’ interpersonal behavior. Our results show that teacher communion and agency affect the frequency and durations of teachers and students’ gazes at each other. Students tend to gaze their teachers more during high teacher communion and low agency, but qualitative and quantitative differences between the teachers and their classes emerged as well. To conclude, the formation of eye contacts is situational and affected by momentary interpersonal changes as well as the qualities of teacher-student interactions.Peer reviewe

Teacher-student eye contacts during whole-class instructions and small-group scaffolding : A case study with multiple mobile gaze trackers

Recent gaze tracking research have illustrated patterns of teachers’ visual attention in the classroom. However, the reciprocity of teacher-student interaction needs to be explored using multiple mobile gaze tracking. This descriptive case study is our first step to chart the role of dyadic eye contacts in the teacher-student interaction during collaborative mathematical problem solving. Our results indicate that, during mathematical problem solving, teacher gaze at student faces and student gaze at teacher face vary between whole-class instruction and small-group scaffolding moments. As a conclusion, we suggest that forming dyadic eye contact requires optimal interactional, personal, and environmental states, and this method can offer us fruitful information on the micro-level processes of teacher-student interaction.Peer reviewe