Lithics after Stone Age in East Africa : Wadh Lang'o case study

Tutkielmassa käsitellään kiviesineiden käytön jatkumista kivikauden jälkeen Itä-Afrikassa. Rautakauden alku Itä- ja Etelä-Afrikassa liitetään perinteisesti bantuheimojen migraatioon näille alueille. Tämä vallitseva teoria otettiin tässä tutkimuksessa lähtökohdaksi. Afrikasta tunnetaan runsaasti sekä etnografisia että arkeologisia esimerkkejä kiviteknologian säilymisestä paikoin 1900-luvun loppupuolelle. Nämä liittyvät usein perimätiedon perusteella "kivikautisten" metsästäjä-keräilijöiden ja rautakautisten maanviljelijä- ja karjanhoitajayhteisöjen rinnakkaiseloon. Tutkimuskysymystä lähestytään sekä julkaistun että primääriaineiston kautta. Alussa esitellään kirjallisuudesta löytyviä esimerkkejä myöhäisestä kiviesineiden käytöstä, minkä jälkeen käydään tarkemmin läpi Malawin alueelta julkaistu aiheeseen liitettävissä oleva arkeologinen aineisto. Tätä käytetään vertailuaineistona tutkimuksen pääasiallista tapaustutkimusta käsiteltäessä. Pääasiallisena tapaustutkimuksena toimii Viktoria-järven läheisyydessä sijaitsevan Wadh Lang'o:n asuinpaikan kiviesineistön analyysi. Wadh Lang'o:sta tunnetaan pitkä kulttuurisekvenssi, joka kattaa alueen myöhäiskivikautiset ja rautakautiset kulttuurivaiheet. Stratigrafisen aineiston perusteella kiviesineet ovat säilyneet asuinpaikalla käytössä ainakin keskisen rautakauden alkuun. Varhaisimmassa vaiheessa asuinpaikkaa on asuttanut Oltome-kulttuuriin kuuluva väestö. Suurimmat muutokset materiaalisessa kulttuurissa analyysin kattamana aikana ovat aiheutuneet seuraavan kulttuurivaiheen, Elmenteitan-kulttuurin, myötä. Kiviesineistön perusteella Elmenteitan-keramiikan ilmaantuminen asuinpaikalle on liitettävissä idästäpäin Itä-Afrikan hautavajoaman suunnalta tapahtuneeseen migraatioon. Jatkuvuuden puolesta puhuvat esimerkiksi tehdyt kiviraaka-aine valinnat. Vaikuttaa, että edeltänyt Oltome-keraaminen väestö on säilyttänyt vaikutuksensa asuinpaikalla vielä tänäkin aikana. Varhaisrautakautisen Urewe-keramiikan ilmestymiseen asuinpaikalle ei näyttäisi olevan liitettävissä mitään suurisuuntaista migraatiota, toisin kuin vallalla oleva teoria bantumigraatiosta antaisi olettaa. Mahdollisesti uusi keramiikka on omaksuttu spesialistien, esimerkiksi seppien, muuton myötä tai vaeltavien kauppiaiden vaikutuksesta. Kiviesineistö osoittaa jatkuvuutta esimerkiksi mikroliittien morfologisten piirteiden ja käytettyjen raaka-aineiden perusteella. Mahdollisesti Elmenteitan-kulttuurin karjanhoitoa harjoittanut väestö on kyennyt estämään bantusiirtolaisten muuton alueelleen. Rauta ei vaikuta olleen asuinpaikalla missään vaiheessa erityisen yleistä, eikä paikalta tunneta merkkejä raudanvalmistuksesta. Tutkielman lopussa esitellään kaksi vaihtoehtoista mallia, joiden pohjalta myöhäinen kiviesineiden käyttö voisi selittyä. Niistä ensimmäinen perustuu konventinaaliseen käsitykseen, jossa rautakauden alku nähdään bantumigraation seurauksena. Toinen malli perustuu varhaisrautakautisten kulttuuripiirteiden leviämiseen diffuusion avulla. Wadh Lang'o:n tapaustutkimus näyttäisi puhuvan diffuusion puolesta, mutta toisilla alueilla, esimerkiksi Malawissa, migraatio vaikuttaa olevan todennäköisin selitysmalli. Avainsanat: arkeologia, kiviteknologia, Itä-Afrikka, Oltome, Elmenteitan, Urewe, bantumigraatio, myöhäiskivikausi, rautakausi

Toimijaroolit ja roolien välinen dynamiikka Vihreän liiton periaateohjelmassa 2006

Pro gradu -tutkielmassani tarkastelen toimijarooleja poliittisen puolueen periaateohjelmassa. Aineistonani on Vihreän liiton vuonna 2006 voimaan tullut periaateohjelma. Periaateohjelma on puolueen yhteisen keskustelun tuloksena syntyvä, kantaaottava ja voimakkaan ideologinen teksti, johon valikoidaan mukaan puolueen tärkeäksi katsomat asiat. Ohjelma on tekstinä preskriptiivinen ja sisältää runsaasti toimintavaatimuksia ja -ohjeita, mikä korostaa toimijuuden keskeisyyttä tutkimuskohteena juuri tässä tekstilajissa. Tekstilajikysymykset ja periaateohjelman kirjoituksen konventiot vaikuttavat myös aineistossani leimalliseen aktiivisesti toimivan subjektin häivyttämisen. Pyrin erittelemään ja analysoimaan Vihreän liiton ohjelmaa tapausesimerkkinä siitä, miten toimijaroolien kautta rakennetaan ohjelmatekstin maailmaa ja toimijoiden suhteita siinä. Välineenä analyysissani käytän A.J. Greimasin kehittelemää aktanttimallia (katso Greimas 1979). Semanttinen malli jäsentää tekstin maailman toimijoita rooleihin niiden suorittamien funktioiden perusteella. Keskeisimmät tarkasteltavat roolit ovat aktiivisen toimijan kategoria, statiivisen vaikuttajan kategoria ja toiminnan kohteiden kategoriat. Aineistonani olevan tekstin tunnusomaisen polarisaation tähden jaan kunkin näistä kategorioista edelleen puolueen kannan mukaiseen eli hyväksi esitettyyn ja kannan vastaiseen eli pahaksi esitettyyn. Analyysin tuloksena muodostuu käsitys periaateohjelman prototyyppisille toimijarooleille annetuista ominaisuuksista. Tärkeimpiä erottelevia ominaisuuksia ovat statiivisuus/dynaamisuus, agentiivisuus/sen puute sekä abstraktisuus/konkreettisuus. Statiivisuuden ja abstraktiuden totean koko tekstille leimallisiksi piirteiksi, erityisesti periaateohjelman pahalle. Tyypillinen paha on epäinhimillinen voima kuten ilmastonmuutos tai globalisaatio. Puolueen kannan puolella olevissa rooleissa ominaisuuksien hajonta on suurempaa. Puolueviitteiset toimijat sekä puoluetulkintainen me-pronomini ovat lähinnä kielen prototyyppistä agentiivista toimijaa. Ne ovat subjektiasemissa kommunikaatiotoiminnalle ja evidentiaalisuuden lähteenä asenteita ilmaistessa. Kommunikaatio itsessään hahmottuu keskeisenä toimintana ohjelmassa. Ihmisviitteisyys on lähinnä uhrin tai hyötyjän roolien piirre. Erityisen mielenkiintoinen seikka on kansalainen-sanaan ja sen lähimerkityksisiin vastineisiin kohdistuva ristiriita ohjelman metatekstin kansan aktiivista toimintaa ihannoivassa kielenkäytössä ja samanaikaisessa kansalaisten kielentämisessä tekstissä toiminnan kohteiksi. Ihmiset ovat periaateohjelmassa uhreja tai hyötyjiä, kun taas toimintavelvoitteet kohdennetaan tyypillisesti valtioille ja yhteiskunnan rakenteille. Poimin myös tarkasteltavaksi sellaisia kielen keinoja ja ilmiöitä kuin modaalisuus, kausaatiot, vaihtoehtoisten maailmojen käyttö ja nominalisaatio, sikäli kuin ne valottavat tarkasteltavana olevia toimijarooleja. Modaalisuus ja kausaatiot ovat tekstin merkityssuhteiden ilmiöitä. Kausaatio on ohjelmassa merkittävän vähäkäyttöinen, kun taas runsaslukuiset nesessiivirakenteet edustuvat ilman niille odotuksenmukaisia argumentteja. Modaalisuuden lähde ja kohde jätetään usein kielentämättä. Molemmat edellä mainitut seikat korostavat nykyhetkeä ja tulevaa toimintaa tekstin keskiössä. Toiminnan suorittajaa häivytetään tekstistä eri keinoin. Näin on erityisesti, kun puhutaan sävyltään negatiivisesta toiminnasta tai dynaamisesta toiminnasta. Dynaamista toimintaa kuvaavat verbit sijoittuvat tyypillisesti infinitiivisiin lausekkeihin, jotka on upotettu argumenttirakenteeseen tai sijoitettu ehtolauseella tai tulevaisuudesta puhuttaessa mahdollisiin maailmoihin. Näin toiminta ei reaalistu rakenteessa tässä ja nyt, vaan potentiaalisena toimintana tulevaisuudessa. Samalla syntyy myös potentiaalisen sankarin rooli, joka tässä ja nyt olevasta sankarista poiketen on ohjelmassa yleinen. Tätä roolia tarjotaan niin puolueen potentiaalisille tukijoille kuin pahoille voimillekin, kunhan ne määritellään uudelleen puolueen aatteille alisteisena sijoittamalla niiden yhteyteen puolueen diskurssin kiinteästi liittyviä attribuutteja kuten vihreä tai ekologinen.

Romanianunkarilaisuuden ja udmurttilaisuuden representaatio sanomalehtiteksteissä : Lähestymistapoja kielen ja identiteetin suhteen tarkasteluun sosiolingvististä taustaa vasten

Tutkielman tavoitteena on testata ja arvioida tekstianalyysin menetelmien toimivuutta vähemmistökielen puhujien identiteetin tutkimisessa sekä selvittää udmurttien ja Transilvanian unkarilaisten vähemmistöidentiteetin erikois-piirteitä. Työssäni tarkastelen etnonyymien magyar 'unkarilainen' ja udmurt 'udmurtti' esiintymistä lehtiteksteissä. Aineistoni koostuu Romanian unkarilaisvähemmistön sekä udmurttivähemmistön omakielisissä sanomalehdissä alkuvuodesta 2007 ilmestyneistä lehtiteksteistä. Unkarilaisesta Szabadság-lehdestä valitsin tarkasteluun 79 tekstiä, udmurtinkielisestä Udmurt duńńe -lehdestä 64. Tarkastelen etnonyymien magyar ja udmurt esiintymistiheyttä sekä sitä, millaisia pääsanoja ne määrittävät. Näiden tulosten avulla päättelen, kuinka keskeinen rooli näissä lehdissä on vähemmistön itseidentifioinnilla, ja pyrin selvittämään, esiintyykö lehdissä selviä vähemmistöidentiteetin rakennusstrategioita. Tilastollisen ja pääsana-analyysin täydennyksenä käytän kriittistä lähilukua: miten unkarilaiset ja udmurtit esitetään, millaisiksi heidät kuvataan ja miten esitetään heidän suhteensa valtaväestöön? Analyysi osoittaa, että Udmurt duńńe -lehdessä etnonyymi udmurt esiintyy 42 prosentissa teksteistä. Unkarilaisessa lehdessä sana magyar esiintyy vain 19 prosentissa teksteistä. Valtaosa udmurt-sanan esiintymistä on tapauksia, joissa se määrittää pääsanaa 'kieli'. Udmurtin kielen kehityksestä kirjoitetaan Udmurt duńńessa paljon ja uutisointi on sävyltään hyvin positiivista. Lehti antaa myönteisen mielikuvan udmurtin kielen nykytilasta ja tulevaisuudesta sekä eri kielten ja kansallisuuksien suhteista. Samanlaista ilmiötä ei ole havaittavissa Szabadságissa. Unkarin kieli mainitaan harvoin, ja näissä harvoissa tapauksissa aiheena ovat kieleen liittyvät ongelmat, esimerkiksi omakielisen opetuksen vaikeudet. Kansallisuuksien suhteita kuvataan enimmäkseen neutraalisti. Udmurt duńńesta puuttuu kielellisiä oikeuksia koskeva kritiikki lähes kokonaan. Eroja voidaan selittää sosiolingvistisen taustatiedon avulla. Asenteissa heijastuu vähemmistöjen erilainen historia. Udmurtin kieltä ei ole koskaan käytetty laaja-alaisesti modernissa yhteiskunnassa, kun taas unkarin kieli oli Transilvaniassa valtakieli aina ensimmäiseen maailmansotaan saakka. Unkarilaiset kokivat dramaattisen siirtymän vähemmistöasemaan, mutta oletettavasti muisto kielen vanhasta asemasta, tietoisuus sen täydestä käyttökelpoisuudesta yhteiskunnassa saa nykyisen vähemmistön edustajat valvomaan oikeuksiaan. Asiaan vaikuttanee myös Unkarin valtion läheisyys. Rajan takana on malli siitä, kuinka unkarin kieltä voidaan käyttää kaikilla elämänalueilla. Udmurteilla ei vastaavaa mallia ole, ja udmurtin kieli on jäänyt kotikielen asemaan. Oletettavasti Udmurt duńńen asennekampanja pyrkii nostamaan udmurtin kielen hupenevaa arvostusta. Romanian unkarilaisten keskuudessa unkarin kielen arvostus on ollut vankkaa, minkä vuoksi kieltä ei ole tarpeen pitää jatkuvasti esillä. Itsenäinen emämaa ja yli kymmenmiljoonainen puhujamäärä vakuuttavat osaltaan unkarin puhujat kielensä elinkelpoisuudesta. Voidaan todeta, että tekstien perusteella udmurttius usein pelkistyy udmurtin kielen taitoon ja käyttöön, kun taas unkarilaisuus ilmenee useilla eri elämänalueilla. Käyttämäni tilastollinen analyysi antaa karkean kuvan aiheen keskeisyydestä teksteissä, mutta todella luotettavan ja yleistettävän tiedon hankkimiseksi olisi käytettävä laajempaa korpusta. Myös useiden eri lehtien vertailu olisi hedelmällistä. Tarkimpia tuloksia antaa lähiluenta. Sen ongelmana on analysoitavan aineiston rajallisuus. Eräs ratkaisu ongelmaan on valitsemani pääsana-analyysi, mutta on huomattava, että myös sen tuloksien tulkitsemisessa lähiluenta on useimmiten tarpeen. Sosiolingvistinen taustatieto on välttämätöntä, jotta analyysin tuloksen saadaan sijoitettua oikeaan kontekstiin ja selitettyä.

Expert Identity in Development of Core-Task-Oriented Working Practices for Mastering Demanding Situations

The point of departure in this dissertation was the practical safety problem of unanticipated, unfamiliar events and unexpected changes in the environment, the demanding situations which the operators should take care of in the complex socio-technical systems. The aim of this thesis was to increase the understanding of demanding situations and of the resources for coping with these situations by presenting a new construct, a conceptual model called Expert Identity (ExId) as a way to open up new solutions to the problem of demanding situations and by testing the model in empirical studies on operator work. The premises of the Core-Task Analysis (CTA) framework were adopted as a starting point: core-task oriented working practices promote the system efficiency (incl. safety, productivity and well-being targets) and that should be supported. The negative effects of stress were summarised and the possible countermeasures related to the operators' personal resources such as experience, expertise, sense of control, conceptions of work and self etc. were considered. ExId was proposed as a way to bring emotional-energetic depth into the work analysis and to supplement CTA-based practical methods to discover development challenges and to contribute to the development of complex socio-technical systems. The potential of ExId to promote understanding of operator work was demonstrated in the context of the six empirical studies on operator work. Each of these studies had its own practical objectives within the corresponding quite broad focuses of the studies. The concluding research questions were: 1) Are the assumptions made in ExId on the basis of the different theories and previous studies supported by the empirical findings? 2) Does the ExId construct promote understanding of the operator work in empirical studies? 3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the ExId construct? The layers and the assumptions of the development of expert identity appeared to gain evidence. The new conceptual model worked as a part of an analysis of different kinds of data, as a part of different methods used for different purposes, in different work contexts. The results showed that the operators had problems in taking care of the core task resulting from the discrepancy between the demands and resources (either personal or external). The changes of work, the difficulties in reaching the real content of work in the organisation and the limits of the practical means of support had complicated the problem and limited the possibilities of the development actions within the case organisations. Personal resources seemed to be sensitive to the changes, adaptation is taking place, but not deeply or quickly enough. Furthermore, the results showed several characteristics of the studied contexts that complicated the operators' possibilities to grow into or with the demands and to develop practices, expertise and expert identity matching the core task. They were: discontinuation of the work demands, discrepancy between conceptions of work held in the other parts of organisation, visions and the reality faced by the operators, emphasis on the individual efforts and situational solutions. The potential of ExId to open up new paths to solving the problem of the demanding situations and its ability to enable studies on practices in the field was considered in the discussion. The results were interpreted as promising enough to encourage the conduction of further studies on ExId. This dissertation proposes especially contribution to supporting the workers in recognising the changing demands and their possibilities for growing with them when aiming to support human performance in complex socio-technical systems, both in designing the systems and solving the existing problems.

Vuorovaikutus ääniterapiassa : Keskustelunanalyyttinen tutkimus harjoittelun rakenteesta, terapeutin antamasta palautteesta ja oppimisesta

This conversation analytical study analyses the interactional practices adopted by speech therapists and their clients during their training in voice therapy. This study also describes how learning takes place during the therapy process. In contrast to traditional voice therapy studies, change is examined here by using qualitative research methodology, namely conversation analysis. This study describes the structures of interaction in voice therapy, shows how the shortcomings in the client s performance are evaluated and corrected and finally, how the voice training sequence and the participation changes during therapy. The database consists of 51 videotaped voice therapy sessions from six clients with voice disorders. The analytic focus is on the practices in one voice training exercise of the trilled /r/. All the sequences of this exercise (in total 36) and all adjacency pairs within (N = 627) were transcribed and analysed in detail. This study shows that voice training consists of successive model imitation adjacency pairs. This adjacency pair works as a resource in voice training. Furthermore, the use of this particular adjacency pair is an institutional practice in all therapies in this study. The structure of interaction in voice training sequences resembles the practices found in aphasia therapy and in speech therapy of children, as well as the practices of educational and counselling interaction and physiotherapy. More than half of the adjacency pairs were expanded to three (or more) part structures as client s responses were typically followed by therapist s feedback. With their feedback turns, therapists: 1) maintain training practice, 2) evaluate the problem of client s performance, 3) deliver information, 4) activate the client to observe the performance and 5) assist her in correcting the performance. This study describes the four different ways that therapists help their clients to improve the performance after encountering a problem. The longitudinal data shows that learning in therapy is manifested in the changing participation. As clients learn to identify their voice features, they can participate in evaluating or correcting their performances by themselves. This study describes the recurrent professional practices of voice therapists and shows how the institutional commitments of voice therapy are managed in and through talk and interaction. The study also provides detailed description of the management of help in voice training. By describing the interaction in training sequences, this study expands the conception of voice rehabilitation and how it can be researched. The results demonstrate that the learning process and therapy outcomes can be assessed by analysing interaction in therapy. Moreover, this analysis lays the foundation for a novel understanding of the practices in speech therapy and for the development of speech therapy theory. By revealing the activities of interaction, it also makes it possible to discuss them explicitly with speech therapy students. Key words: voice therapy, conversation analysis, institutional interaction, learning, change in participation, feedback, evaluation, error correction, self-repair

Laatutyöhön sitoutumisen edellytykset ammattikorkeakoulussa

The goal of this research was to establish the necessary conditions under which individuals are prepared to commit themselves to quality assurance work in the organisation of a Polytechnic. The conditions were studied using four main concepts: awareness of quality, commitment to the organisation, leadership and work welfare. First, individuals were asked to describe these four concepts. Then, relationships between the concepts were analysed in order to establish the conditions for the commitment of an individual towards quality assurance work (QA). The study group comprised the entire personnel of Helsinki Polytechnic, of which 341 (44.5%) individuals participated. Mixed methods were used as the methodological base. A questionnaire and interviews were used as the research methods. The data from the interviews were used for the validation of the results, as well as for completing the analysis. The results of these interviews and analyses were integrated using the concurrent nested design method. In addition, the questionnaire was used to separately analyse the impressions and meanings of the awareness of quality and leadership, because, according to the pre-understanding, impressions of phenomena expressed in terms of reality have an influence on the commitment to QA. In addition to statistical figures, principal component analysis was used as a description method. For comparisons between groups, one way variance analysis and effect size analysis were used. For explaining the analysis methods, forward regression analysis and structural modelling were applied. As a result of the research it was found that 51% of the conditions necessary for a commitment to QA were explained by an individual’s experience/belief that QA was a method of development, that QA was possible to participate in and that the meaning of quality included both product and process qualities. If analysed separately, other main concepts (commitment to the organisation, leadership and work welfare) played only a small part in explaining an individual’s commitment. In the context of this research, a structural path model of the main concepts was built. In the model, the concepts were interconnected by paths created as a result of a literature search covering the main concepts, as well as a result of an analysis of the empirical material of this thesis work. The path model explained 46% of the necessary conditions under which individuals are prepared to commit themselves to QA. The most important path for achieving a commitment stemmed from product and system quality emanating from the new goals of the Polytechnic, moved through the individual’s experience that QA is a method of the total development of quality and ended in a commitment to QA. The second most important path stemmed from the individual’s experience of belonging to a supportive work community, moved through the supportive value of the job and through affective commitment to the organisation and ended in a commitment to QA. The third path stemmed from an individual’s experiences in participating in QA, moved through collective system quality and through these to the supportive value of the job to affective commitment to the organisation and ended in a commitment to QA. The final path in the path model stemmed from leadership by empowerment, moved through collective system quality, the supportive value of the job and an affective commitment to the organisation, and again, ended in a commitment to QA. As a result of the research, it was found that the individual’s functional department was an important factor in explaining the differences between groups. Therefore, it was found that understanding the processing of part cultures in the organisation is important when developing QA. Likewise, learning-teaching paradigms proved to be a differentiating factor. Individuals thinking according to the humanistic-constructivistic paradigm showed more commitment to QA than technological-rational thinkers. Also, it was proved that the QA training program did not increase commitment, as the path model demonstrated that those who participated in training showed 34% commitment, whereas those who did not showed 55% commitment. As a summary of the results it can be said that the necessary conditions under which individuals are prepared to commit themselves to QA cannot be treated in a reductionistic way. Instead, the conditions must be treated as one totality, with all the main concepts interacting simultaneously. Also, the theoretical framework of quality must include its dynamic aspect, which means the development of the work of the individual and learning through auditing. In addition, this dynamism includes the reflection of the paradigm of the functions of the individual as well as that of all parts of the organisation. It is important to understand and manage the various ways of thinking and the cultural differences produced by the fragmentation of the organisation. Finally, it seems possible that the path model can be generalised for use in any organisation development project where the personnel should be committed.

Assessing university students' prior knowledge

The aim of this dissertation was to explore how different types of prior knowledge influence student achievement and how different assessment methods influence the observed effect of prior knowledge. The project started by creating a model of prior knowledge which was tested in various science disciplines. Study I explored the contribution of different components of prior knowledge on student achievement in two different mathematics courses. The results showed that the procedural knowledge components which require higher-order cognitive skills predicted the final grades best and were also highly related to previous study success. The same pattern regarding the influence of prior knowledge was also seen in Study III which was a longitudinal study of the accumulation of prior knowledge in the context of pharmacy. The study analysed how prior knowledge from previous courses was related to student achievement in the target course. The results implied that students who possessed higher-level prior knowledge, that is, procedural knowledge, from previous courses also obtained higher grades in the more advanced target course. Study IV explored the impact of different types of prior knowledge on students’ readiness to drop out from the course, on the pace of completing the course and on the final grade. The study was conducted in the context of chemistry. The results revealed again that students who performed well in the procedural prior-knowledge tasks were also likely to complete the course in pre-scheduled time and get higher final grades. On the other hand, students whose performance was weak in the procedural prior-knowledge tasks were more likely to drop out or take a longer time to complete the course. Study II explored the issue of prior knowledge from another perspective. Study II aimed to analyse the interrelations between academic self-beliefs, prior knowledge and student achievement in the context of mathematics. The results revealed that prior knowledge was more predictive of student achievement than were other variables included in the study. Self-beliefs were also strongly related to student achievement, but the predictive power of prior knowledge overruled the influence of self-beliefs when they were included in the same model. There was also a strong correlation between academic self-beliefs and prior-knowledge performance. The results of all the four studies were consistent with each other indicating that the model of prior knowledge may be used as a potential tool for prior knowledge assessment. It is useful to make a distinction between different types of prior knowledge in assessment since the type of prior knowledge students possess appears to make a difference. The results implied that there indeed is variation between students’ prior knowledge and academic self-beliefs which influences student achievement. This should be taken into account in instruction.

Developmental origins of psychological vulnerability factors for mental disorders

Premature birth and associated small body size are known to affect health over the life course. Moreover, compelling evidence suggests that birth size throughout its whole range of variation is inversely associated with risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in subsequent life. To explain these findings, the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) model has been introduced. Within this framework, restricted physical growth is, to a large extent, considered either a product of harmful environmental influences, such as suboptimal nutrition and alterations in the foetal hormonal milieu, or an adaptive reaction to the environment. Whether inverse associations exist between body size at birth and psychological vulnerability factors for mental disorders is poorly known. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to study in three large prospective cohorts whether prenatal and postnatal physical growth, across the whole range of variation, is associated with subsequent temperament/personality traits and psychological symptoms that are considered vulnerability factors for mental disorders. Weight and length at birth in full term infants showed quadratic associations with the temperamental trait of harm avoidance (Study I). The highest scores were characteristic of the smallest individuals, followed by the heaviest/longest. Linear associations between birth size and psychological outcomes were found such that lower weight and thinness at birth predicted more pronounced trait anxiety in late adulthood (Study II); lower birth weight, placental size, and head circumference at 12 months predicted a more pronounced positive schitzotypal trait in women (Study III); and thinness and smaller head circumference at birth associated with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children who were born at term (Study IV). These associations occured across the whole variation in birth size and after adjusting for several confounders. With respect to growth after birth, individuals with high trait anxiety scores in late adulthood were lighter in weight and thinner in infancy, and gained weight more rapidly between 7 and 11 years of age, but weighed less and were shorter in late adulthood in relation to weight and height measured at 11 years of age (Study II). These results suggest that a suboptimal prenatal environment reflected in smaller birth size may affect a variety of psychological vulnerability factors for mental disorders, such as the temperamental trait of harm avoidance, trait anxiety, schizotypal traits, and symptoms of ADHD. The smaller the birth size across the whole range of variation, the more pronounced were these psychological vulnerability factors. Moreover, some of these outcomes, such as trait anxiety, were also predicted by patterns of growth after birth. The findings are concordant with the DOHaD model, and emphasise the importance of prenatal factors in the aetiology of not only mental disorders but also their psychological vulnerability factors.

Evaluation of driving ability of the disabled persons in the context of the psychological activity theory

In the future the number of the disabled drivers requiring a special evaluation of their driving ability will increase due to the ageing population, as well as the progress of adaptive technology. This places pressure on the development of the driving evaluation system. Despite quite intensive research there is still no consensus concerning what is the factual situation in a driver evaluation (methodology), which measures should be included in an evaluation (methods), and how an evaluation has to be carried out (practise). In order to find answers to these questions we carried out empirical studies, and simultaneously elaborated upon a conceptual model for driving and a driving evaluation. The findings of empirical studies can be condensed into the following points: 1) A driving ability defined by the on-road driving test is associated with different laboratory measures depending on the study groups. Faults in the laboratory tests predicted faults in the on-road driving test in the novice group, whereas slowness in the laboratory predicted driving faults in the experienced drivers group. 2) The Parkinson study clearly showed that even an experienced clinician cannot reliably accomplish an evaluation of a disabled person’s driving ability without collaboration with other specialists. 3) The main finding of the stroke study was that the use of a multidisciplinary team as a source of information harmonises the specialists’ evaluations. 4) The patient studies demonstrated that the disabled persons themselves, as well as their spouses, are as a rule not reliable evaluators. 5) From the safety point of view, perceptible operations with the control devices are not crucial, but correct mental actions which the driver carries out with the help of the control devices are of greatest importance. 6) Personality factors including higher-order needs and motives, attitudes and a degree of self-awareness, particularly a sense of illness, are decisive when evaluating a disabled person’s driving ability. Personality is also the main source of resources concerning compensations for lower-order physical deficiencies and restrictions. From work with the conceptual model we drew the following methodological conclusions: First, the driver has to be considered as a holistic subject of the activity, as a multilevel hierarchically organised system of an organism, a temperament, an individuality, and a personality where the personality is the leading subsystem from the standpoint of safety. Second, driving as a human form of a sociopractical activity, is also a hierarchically organised dynamic system. Third, in an evaluation of driving ability it is a question of matching these two hierarchically organised structures: a subject of an activity and a proper activity. Fourth, an evaluation has to be person centred but not disease-, function- or method centred. On the basis of our study a multidisciplinary team (practitioner, driving school teacher, psychologist, occupational therapist) is recommended for use in demanding driver evaluations. Primary in a driver’s evaluations is a coherent conceptual model while concrete methods of evaluations may vary. However, the on-road test must always be performed if possible.

Exploring Problem Decomposition in Conceptual Design

Design embraces several disciplines dedicated to the production of artifacts and services. These disciplines are quite independent and only recently has psychological interest focused on them. Nowadays, the psychological theories of design, also called design cognition literature, describe the design process from the information processing viewpoint. These models co-exist with the normative standards of how designs should be crafted. In many places there are concrete discrepancies between these two in a way that resembles the differences between the actual and ideal decision-making. This study aimed to explore the possible difference related to problem decomposition. Decomposition is a standard component of human problem-solving models and is also included in the normative models of design. The idea of decomposition is to focus on a single aspect of the problem at a time. Despite its significance, the nature of decomposition in conceptual design is poorly understood and has only been preliminary investigated. This study addressed the status of decomposition in conceptual design of products using protocol analysis. Previous empirical investigations have argued that there are implicit and explicit decomposition, but have not provided a theoretical basis for these two. Therefore, the current research began by reviewing the problem solving and design literature and then composing a cognitive model of the solution search of conceptual design. The result is a synthetic view which describes recognition and decomposition as the basic schemata for conceptual design. A psychological experiment was conducted to explore decomposition. In the test, sixteen (N=16) senior students of mechanical engineering created concepts for two alternative tasks. The concurrent think-aloud method and protocol analysis were used to study decomposition. The results showed that despite the emphasis on decomposition in the formal education, only few designers (N=3) used decomposition explicitly and spontaneously in the presented tasks, although the designers in general applied a top-down control strategy. Instead, inferring from the use of structured strategies, the designers always relied on implicit decomposition. These results confirm the initial observations found in the literature, but they also suggest that decomposition should be investigated further. In the future, the benefits and possibilities of explicit decomposition should be considered along with the cognitive mechanisms behind decomposition. After that, the current results could be reinterpreted.

Luova mieli : lähikuvassa muusikoiden luomisprosessit

This work studied the creative process of musicians. The subject was chosen partly due to the attention given to creativity in social discussion. The approach was material-based, because during the work it became clear that the theoretical models describing the creative process in general did not provide adequate tools for the examination of musical creation. In this study, the creative process was defined as a process, which generated a work found by the musician novel to him or her. There were two principal research questions: 1) How does the creative process of musicians progress? 2) What makes a process creative? The main emphasis was on the first question, because the study aimed at modeling the creative process of musicians. The material for this study was collected by interviewing five professional musicians, each qualified by an expert of music to be creative. The interviews were thematically linked with each musician’s recently implemented creative process. The work generated in the process was used as a stimulant in the interview. The main themes of the interview dealt with the musician’s concrete action, cognitive functioning and affective experience during the process. Secondary themes included his or her goals as well as the factors that enhanced or inhibited the process. A material-based analysis was made of the interviews. The conceptualization and modelling of the creative process was founded on a phenomenological-hermeneutic interpretation. In addition to the primary interviews, also supplementary interviews were made in order to ensure that the description of the musician was understood correctly. Further supplementary interviews were made when the material was analyzed and results were deduced. This aimed at increasing the reliability of interpretations and conclusions. The study resulted in a four-level model representing the progress of a creative process. The levels were defined by means of the conception of state. The levels used in defining the process were 1) the state determining the potential of the process, 2) the state delimiting the process, 3) the state orienting the process, and 4) the state determined by the process. The progress of the process was described as changes taking place in the state. It was discovered that the factors having an effect on the creativity of the process were the dynamism of the process, the musician’s work in relation to his or her inner standard and the impulses that caused variation in the musician’s thinking. The interview method used in this study proved to be a very suitable tool in an examination of a creative process. Thus it may well be applicable in other research contexts associated with creative processes. The outcome of this study, the model of the progress of a creative process, should also provide a feasible basis for the examination of different kinds of creative processes. It enables a comprehensive examination of a creative process, simultaneously justifying the dynamic nature of the process.

Minimalistinen yhdyssanateoria ja käsitteiden yhdistely

The thesis aims to link the biolinguistic research program and the results of studies in comceptual combination from cognitive psychology. The thesis derives a theory of syntactic structure of noun and adjectival compounds from the Empty Lexicon Hypothesis. Two compound-forming operations are described: root-compounding and word-compounding. The aptness of theory is tested with finnish and greek compounds. From the syntactic theory semantic requirements for conceptual system are derived, especially requirements for handling morphosyntactic features. These requirements are compared to three formidable theories of conceptual combination: relation theory CARIN, Dual-Process theory and C3-theory. The claims of explanatory power of relational distributions of modifier in CARIN-theory ared discarded, as the method for sampling and building relational distributions is not reliable and the algorithmic instantiation of theory does not compute what it claims to compute. From relational theory there still remains results supporting existence of 'easy' relations for certain concepts. Dual-Process theory is found to provide results that cannot in theory be affected by linguistic system, but the basic idea of property compounds is kept. C3-theory is found to be not computationally realistic, but the basic results of diagnosticity and local properties (domains) of conceptual system are solid. The three conceptual combination models are rethought as a problem of finding the shortest route between the two concepts. The new basis for modeling is suggested to be bare conceptual landscape with morphosyntactiic or semantic features working as guidance and structural features of landscape basically unknown, but such as they react to features from linguistic system. Minimalistic principles to conceptual modeling are suggested.

Suomalaisten jääkiekkovalmentajien johtamiskäyttäytyminen

Tutkimuksen kohteena olivat jääkiekon valmentajakoulutukseen vuosina 1998 ja 1999 osallistuneet 30 valmentajaa. Valmentajien johtamistoimintaa arvioi yhteensä 245 pelaajaa ja lisäksi valmentajat arvioivat itse omaa johtamistoimintaansa. Menetelmänä käytettiin 360 asteen CPE (Change, Production, Employee)-johtamisarviota. Kuuden faktorin malli nousi tulkinnallisesti tarkoituksenmukaisimmaksi. Faktorit nimettiin seuraavasti: visiointi ja muutos, kontrolli, pelaajien positiivinen huomiointi, reiluus jaoikeudenmukaisuus, kehitys ja toimeenpano ja valmentava yksilöllinen ohjaus. Faktoreiden sisäinen konsistenssi vaihteli välillä .70 ja .80. Pelaajat arvioivat valmennuspäälliköt merkitsevästi valmentajia korkeammalla visiointi ja muutosfaktorilla, pelaajien positiivisessa huomioinnissa sekä kehitys ja toimeenpanofaktorilla. Korkeammin koulutetut arvioitiin myös korkeammallavisiointi ja muutosfaktorilla kuin vähemmän koulutusta saaneet. Jatkotarkastelua varten aineisto klusteroitiin ja klustereiden määräksi valittiin 5. Korkean profiilin valmentajat olivat itsearvioinneissaan varovaisempia, kun taas matalamman profiilin valmentajat olivat taipuvaisia itsensä yliarviointiin. Tulokset näyttäisivät tukevan käsitystä siitä, että johtaminen valmentamisessa on laadullisesti erilaista kuinjohtaminen työelämässä ja että valmentajan johtamistoiminnan arvioimiseen ei voida suoraan soveltaa työelämän tarpeisiin kehitettyjä mittareita. Valmennuskulttuurissa on vähitellen nostamassa päätään muutossuuntautunut ja ihmiskeskeisempi valmennuskulttuuri, jossa pelaajat nähdään enemmän kehityskykyisinä yksilöinä kuin kasvottomana pelaaja-materiaalina. Urheilu ei voi elää tyhjiössä, vaan ulkopuolisen maailman odotukset ja muutospaineet muuttavat väistämättä myös valmennuskulttuuria muun maailman kehityksen tahdissa.

Opetussuunnitelman mallin jäsennys : sisältö ja pedagogiikka kokonaisuuden rakentajina

Structuring of the Curriculum Design: Content and Pedagogy Constructing the Whole The object of this qualitative study is to structure curriculum design by drawing from the characteristics of subject content and pedagogy. The aim is to first outline the forms of content and pedagogy within the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education. By analysing these forms I then aim to construct a general view of the curriculum’s structure and its developmental potential as it relates to both current and future pedagogical and intellectual interests. The written curriculum is examined as part of the educational guidance system, which means that it is an administrative and juridical document that governs teacher action and has a pedagogical and intellectual character. Didactical schools, curriculum ideologies and curriculum-determinants are all discussed as means of approaching the curriculum model. Curriculum content itself is defined by the different forms and conceptions of knowledge. The representation of curriculum content can be defined to be either specific or integrated. Curriculum pedagogy is in turn defined on the basis of the prevailing conception of learning and teaching. The pedagogy within the curriculum can be open or closed depending on the extent of pedagogical freedom allowed. An examination of the pedagogical dimension also covers the subject of the interfaces between formal education and informal learning, which must be taken into consideration when developing school pedagogy and therefore also in the curriculum. The data of the study consists of two curriculum documents: The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education issued in 1994 and the present National core curriculum for basic education issued in 2004. The primary method used in the study is theory-based content analysis. On the one hand the aim of the analysis is to determine if the structure, i.e., model, of the curricula is built from unconnected, self-contained elements, or whether the separate parts make a coherent whole. On the other hand, the aim is also to examine the pedagogical features the two curricula contain. The basis of the study is not the systematic comparison of the curriculum documents, yet an analysis of two very distinct documents must also be based on an examination of their inherent differences. The results of the study show that the content in the analysed documents is not integrated. The boundaries between divisions are clearly defined and the curricula are subject-oriented and based on theoretical propositional knowledge. The pedagogy is mainly closed and based on strong guidance of content, structured student evaluation and measurable learning experiences. However, curriculum documents do have representations of integrated content: the themes covered early on in the core curriculum guidelines of 1994 permeate systematically the different divisions of the curriculum. The core curriculum guidelines of 2004 in turn reveal skills which create connections between subjects. The guidelines’ utilise out-of-school environments and accommodate learner experiences, and focus on flexible studying and emphasize individual learner needs. These characteristics reveal an open form of pedagogy. In light of these results, it is possible to reach an understanding of the content and pedagogical development possibilities of the curriculum. The essential viewpoints are then the setting of thematically-oriented aims as a basis for content development, the curriculum’s pedagogical structuring on the basis of the learning process and the enhancement of connections between curricular content and pedagogy in a purposeful way. Keywords: curriculum, curriculum theory, curriculum design, core curriculum guidelines, teaching content, pedagogy

Tacit Pedagogical Knowing: At the Core of Teacher's Professionality

The purpose of this research was to examine class teachers' interactive pedagogical thinking and action, in other words their tacit pedagogical knowing. Tacit pedagogical knowing was defined as a process in interactive teaching situation, through which a teacher finds solutions to surprising and challenging situations, pedagogical moments, so that the lesson continues. Teachers are able to describe their tacit pedagogical knowing afterwards and also find some reasons for it as well. More specifically, the aim was to study, 1) how does a class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing appear in teacher's actions, and 2) what kinds of contents include in class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing. The research material was gathered from four class teachers by videotaping their lessons and by stimulated recall interviews. In addition to this, the researcher spent a relatively long time in the research participants' classrooms. She conducted initial interviews and orientating observations by means of participant observation in order to get to know the participants and their contexts better. A phenomenologically oriented approach, which proceeded by following abductive logic, was used in the analysis procedures of the videotaped and stimulated recall data. In addition to this, correlation examinations were used in the validation of stimulated recall data analyses. The appearance of the tacit pedagogical knowing was observed in the videotaped data. The contents of tacit pedagogical knowing were defined by the analyses of stimulated recall data. According to the research results, a class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing appears in the maintenance of the pedagogical relation, the teacher's relation to content, and the didactical relation. The contents of class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing were many sided. The maintenance of the pedagogical relation, the teacher's relation to content, and the didactical relation were elements of the contents as well. In addition to these, the maintenance of teacher's pedagogical authority, the maintenance of the student's role or pedagogical authority, and the awareness of the nature of the content of instruction are included in the contents of teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing. The phenomenon of tacit pedagogical knowing was observed to be clearly a process-like and relational phenomenon. Based on the research results, a model of teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing was developed. Using the model, it is possible to illustrate the factors that are at the core of teacher's professionality. This model could be used in the context of teacher education, supervision, or in-service training.