Responding to Changing Student Demographics in Finland: A Study of Teachers’ Developing Cultural Competence

The aim of this dissertation was to examine the skills and knowledge that pre-service teachers and teachers have and need about working with multilingual and multicultural students from immigrant backgrounds. The specific goals were to identify pre-service teachers’ and practising teachers’ current knowledge and awareness of culturally and linguistically responsive teaching, identify a profile of their strengths and needs, and devise appropriate professional development support and ways to prepare teachers to become equitable culturally responsive practitioners. To investigate these issues, the dissertation reports on six original empirical studies within two groups of teachers: international pre-service teacher education students from over 25 different countries as well as pre-service and practising Finnish teachers. The international pre-service teacher sample consisted of (n = 38, study I; and n = 45, studies II-IV) and the pre-service and practising Finnish teachers sample encompassed (n = 89, study V; and n = 380, study VI). The data used were multi-source including both qualitative (students’ written work from the course including journals, final reflections, pre- and post-definition of key terms, as well as course evaluation and focus group transcripts) and quantitative (multi-item questionnaires with open-ended options), which enhanced the credibility of the findings resulting in the triangulation of data. Cluster analytic procedures, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and qualitative analyses mostly Constant Comparative Approach were used to understand pre-service teachers’ and practising teachers’ developing cultural understandings. The results revealed that the mainly white / mainstream teacher candidates in teacher education programmes bring limited background experiences, prior socialisation, and skills about diversity. Taking a multicultural education course where identity development was a focus, positively influenced teacher candidates’ knowledge and attitudes toward diversity. The results revealed approaches and strategies that matter most in preparing teachers for culturally responsive teaching, including but not exclusively, small group activities and discussions, critical reflection, and field immersion. This suggests that there are already some tools to address the need for the support needed to teach successfully a diversity of pupils and provide in-service training for those already practising the teaching profession. The results provide insight into aspects of teachers’ knowledge about both the linguistic and cultural needs of their students, as well as what constitutes a repertoire of approaches and strategies to assure students’ academic success. Teachers’ knowledge of diversity can be categorised into sound awareness, average awareness, and low awareness. Knowledge of diversity was important in teachers’ abilities to use students’ language and culture to enhance acquisition of academic content, work effectively with multilingual learners’ parents/guardians, learn about the cultural backgrounds of multilingual learners, link multilingual learners’ prior knowledge and experience to instruction, and modify classroom instruction for multilingual learners. These findings support the development of a competency based model and can be used to frame the studies of pre-service teachers, as well as the professional development of practising teachers in increasingly diverse contexts. The present set of studies take on new significance in the current context of increasing waves of migration to Europe in general and Finland in particular. They suggest that teacher education programmes can equip teachers with the necessary attitudes, skills, and knowledge to enable them work effectively with students from different ethnic and language backgrounds as they enter the teaching profession. The findings also help to refine the tools and approaches to measuring the competencies of teachers teaching in mainstream classrooms and candidates in preparation.

Lihasperäiselle kreatiinikinaasille spesifinen immunomääritys Duchennen lihasdystrofian seulontaa varten

Duchennen lihasdystrofia (engl. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, DMD) on lähes pelkästään pojilla ilmenevä perinnöllinen lihasrappeumatauti, joka johtaa kuolemaan noin 25 vuoden iässä. Noin yksi 3500–6000 pojasta sairastaa DMD:tä. Taudin aiheuttaa X-kromosomissa sijaitsevan dystrofiinigeenin mutaatio, jonka seurauksena toimivaa, lihaksia koossapitävää dystrofiinia ei tuotu. Kliinisissä testeissä on lupaavia hoitoja, joten DMD:n vastasyntyneiden seulonnan aloittamista harkitaan. DMD:n seulonnassa analyyttina olisi mahdollista käyttää lihasperäistä kreatiinikinaasia (engl. muscle-type creatine kinase tai creatine kinase MM isoform, CK-MM), jota päätyy vereen lihassolujen vaurioituessa. DMD:tä sairastavilla vastasyntyneillä CK-MM:n määrä veressä on moninkertainen terveisiin vastasyntyneisiin verrattuna lihasten rappeutumisesta johtuen. Perinteisesti kreatiinikinaasia on mitattu entsyymiaktiivisuusmäärityksillä, jotka mittaavat kaikkia kreatiinikinaasimuotoja eli myös sydänperäistä ja aivoperäistä kreatiinikinaasia (CK-MB ja CK-BB). Työn tarkoituksena oli kehittää kuivatuista veritäplistä tehtävä CK-MM:lle spesifinen kaksipuoleinen immunomääritys, joka olisi siirrettävissä PerkinElmerin automaattiselle GSP® Genetic Screening Processor -analysaattorille. Työ suoritettiin kolmessa vaiheessa. Ensimmäiseksi vertailtiin kaupallisesti saatavilla olevien CK-MM-vasta-aineiden affiniteetteja biosensorilla. Seuraavassa vaiheessa pystytettiin manuaalinen kaksipuoleinen immunomääritys käyttäen ensimmäisessä vaiheessa valittuja vasta-aineita ja optimoitiin immunomäärityksen parametreja. Lopuksi immunomääritys sovitettiin GSP-laitteelle. Biosensorimittausten ja manuaalisten immunomääritysten tulosten perusteella valittiin kaksi potentiaalista leimavasta-ainetta ja yksi sitojavasta-aineeksi sopiva vasta-aine. Niitä käytettäessä määritys on melko spesifinen CK-MM:lle, sillä CK-BB ei tuottanut lainkaan signaalia ja CK-MB:n ristireaktiivisuus oli noin 7 %. GSP-laitteella mitattaessa DMD:tä sairastavien (n = 10) CK-MM-pitoisuuksien mediaani (vaihteluväli) oli 7590 ng/ml (1490–13400 ng/ml) ja terveiden vastasyntyneiden (n = 8) 165 ng/ml (108–263 ng/ml). Määrityksen dynaamista mittausaluetta ei vielä selvitetty, mutta alustavien mittausten perusteella se kattaa terveiden vastasyntyneiden pitoisuudet ja sairaiden pitoisuudet ainakin 8770 ng/ml asti, mikä mahdollistaa sairaiden erottumisen. Työssä kehitetty määritys vaikuttaa siis sopivalta DMD:n seulontaan vastasyntyneiltä.

Controlling full penetration in MAG welding by the application of infrared thermography and neural network

In this study, an infrared thermography based sensor was studied with regard to usability and the accuracy of sensor data as a weld penetration signal in gas metal arc welding. The object of the study was to evaluate a specific sensor type which measures thermography from solidified weld surface. The purpose of the study was to provide expert data for developing a sensor system in adaptive metal active gas (MAG) welding. Welding experiments with considered process variables and recorded thermal profiles were saved to a database for further analysis. To perform the analysis within a reasonable amount of experiments, the process parameter variables were gradually altered by at least 10 %. Later, the effects of process variables on weld penetration and thermography itself were considered. SFS-EN ISO 5817 standard (2014) was applied for classifying the quality of the experiments. As a final step, a neural network was taught based on the experiments. The experiments show that the studied thermography sensor and the neural network can be used for controlling full penetration though they have minor limitations, which are presented in results and discussion. The results are consistent with previous studies and experiments found in the literature.