LUMA News

The Finnish Meteorological Institute puts science into high school STEM courses by offering students the possibility to collect actual data and to do real science alongside researchers. Mixing citizen science with STEM education could benefit both in the future, thinks researcher Atte Harjanne.

The 5T project coordinated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute offers high school students the opportunity to participate in actual research under the guidance of scientists. The two-year project is financed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

Participation in the project is open to all interested high school groups. The process usually begins with a visit to the FMI in Helsinki where the students meet the scientists and get an overview of the research topics. The students can choose their projects among several themes, for example measurements of the depth and coverage of snow, phenology, the amount of pollen, observations of the Aurora Borealis and climate change actions taken by local communities. They can also help by designing novel mobile weather services -some may even have the skills to code these applications.

In the field the students contribute to research by for example making observations on different phenomena in their everyday environment. The work can be included in a STEM subject course or it can extend over a longer period of time and include several subjects.

The role of the teacher is to integrate the research projects to the context and pedagogical goals of the subject or course.

Citizen science benefits both researchers and the public

The 5T project links the traditional aspects of outreach and STEM education with the trending global movement of citizen science, says the project’s contact person, researcher Atte Harjanne from FMI:

“Citizen science is a rising trend around the world. It is a big thing especially in meteorology and climate research, which rely on observations.”

Millions of people around the world have already participated in citizen science projects that take advantage of the power of crowdsourcing. Anyone with a smartphone can participate in making and recording observations or simple measurements or screen data for specific findings.

Citizen science could become a powerful tool in STEM teaching: interest in the natural sciences and STEM education could benefit from citizen science as students will feel more involved with research.

“The kids will get an idea of what STEM areas could offer as a career choice and they will be more familiar with how science is done in real life. Our aim is to study if and how participating in this project changes the students’ conceptions about science,” Harjanne says.

According to feedback from the students and teachers contributing to research motivates the students and has engaged them successfully in STEM studies.

So far snow has been the most popular research topic. Harjanne thinks this could be due to the straightforward and scalable nature of the tasks. “Snow measurements were probably the most easily approachable topic also from the teachers’ point of view,” he says.

The project has received positive feedback also from the researchers who, according to Harjanne, are happy with the work of their teenage research assistants. The students collect real data, Hajanne emphasizes: they are a part of actual research.

“We expect all students to do their best in the project: all observations must be made carefully and recorded diligently according to the researchers’ instructions. Otherwise they are of no use to science.”

The Finnish Meteorological Institute offers information, open access data and educational resources on climate and climate change: Visit the Climate Guide portal.

Text: Maija Pollari.

The European IRRESISTIBLE-project develops STEM education with a focus on engaging youth with responsible research and innovation.

Current research in the natural sciences progresses in close collaboration with the the public, industry, policy-makers and civil society. The process should include open and transparent discussion and handling of the social, ethical and environmental effects, risks and opportunities of scientific research.

Why is it important that everyone should have access to knowledge about advances in science? How do we decide what kind of nanoparticles are allowed in cosmetics or what side effects are acceptable in novel cancer treatments? How does information generated by the scientific community reach the policy makers and consumers? How and why is our climate changing and how does it affect our daily life?

IRRESISTIBLE is a project project improving young people’s awareness and engagement in responsible research and innovation. Funded by the European Union, the project aims to cross boundaries between traditional STEMteaching in schools and informal learning environments through a combination of formal and nonformal learning.

Teacher training will be an important approach in bringing these themes to schools, science centres and museums.

Ten European countries are involved in the project. Finland is represented by the universities of Helsinki and Jyväskylä. Researchers of the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Jyväskylä will work together with climate experts at the University of Helsinki to develop a teaching module and exhibition on climate change.

Other countries will similarly tackle topics in for example nanosciences and -technology, renewable energy, genomics and oceanography.

Read more about the IRRESISTIBLE project.

Text: Antti Laherto, Anna-Leena Kähkönen & Taina Ruuskanen.

Funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the LUMA Finland programme will develop new methods and resources to inspire 6-16 year-olds towards STEM and to increase their skills and knowledge.

Declining results in international surveys on student performance, interest and motivation in STEM subjects have encouraged lively discussions in Finland. In addition to teachers and parents, policy makers have expressed their concerns about the low appeal of natural science, technology and mathematics studies and careers. Young people with sufficient skills and knowledge in STEM areas are essential for maintaining an economically sustainable future in Finland.

To address the situation, the Ministry of Education and Culture chose LUMA Centre Finland proposal, “LUMA FINLAND,” as a six-year national development programme. Aiming to inspire and engage 6-16 year-olds in the importance of science, technology and mathematics, the LUMA Finland programme will work together with teachers, students, families, schools and policy makers.

The LUMA FINLAND programme was officially launched on September 1st 2014 at the University of Oulu during the 3rd national Mathematics Teaching Day.

In practice the development programme is organized into three thematic categories each including diverse subprojects on specific topics. The main themes are:

1. Mathematics
2. Natural and environmental sciences
3. Technology education

Each theme will also address and develop inquiry-based learning, ICT in education, career opportunities and skills and core competencies in a knowledge-based society.

The LUMA FINLAND programme will draw on current education research to design and implement new teaching methods, learning environments and materials for schools. A student-centered approach with the aim of providing hands-on experiences about research and science will be used throughout the programme.

“Problem solving requires creativity and should learn to use technology as a useful tool in the process,” said professor Tapio Salakoski, who is responsible for projects under the technology theme. According to professor Peter Hästö, creativity will also be emphasized in the mathematics programme.

“I think the motivation for mathematics arises from focusing on an individual’s capacity for deduction, thinking and creativity instead of rigid textbook answers.”

Ms. Krista Kiuru, the Minister for Education commented on the need for a national development programme when the desicion was made public in April 2014. Read the Minister’s comments.

More information:

Head of the programme, prof. Maija Aksela, director of LUMA Centre Finland, maija.aksela@helsinki.fi.

Text: Maija Pollari.

Recent research at the University of Turku reveals a novel factor, spontaneous focus on quantitative relations that plays a role in the development of mathematical thinking. According to the study children with a tendency to focus spontaneously on quantitative relations might have an advantage in school mathematics.

Spontaneous Focusing on Quantitative Relations

While children have a variety of mathematical competencies, some show a greater tendency to focus spontaneously on quantitative relations. Researcher, MA Jake McMullen discovered that this tendency shows even in situations that are not explicitly mathematical and is a factor in developing mathematics skills.

“We were interested in expanding our groups’ previous research on children’s focusing on exact number and how it contributes to early counting and numerical skills. We supposed that looking at how children spontaneously focus their attention on the relationships between numbers and quantities might also be important for math development,” he says about discovering the research topic.

McMullen’s recent PhD dissertation at the University of Turku essentially defined Spontaneous Focus on Quantitative Relations (SFOR) and examined its role in the development of rational number conceptual knowledge.

Impact on Mathematical Development

McMullen developed methods for measuring spontaneous focusing on quantitative relations in primary school children and examined it in relation to the development of rational number conceptual knowledge.

He gathered data from research settings where children participated in different activities. “The studies that made up my dissertation involved feeding stuffed animals pieces of bread or spoons of rice, or describing how sets of objects had changed,” he says and adds that his post-doc studies will include scenarios and studies of real life activities in children’s everyday lives.

Although there was considerable variation between individuals, children who were more likely to recognize and use quantitative relations had advantages in mathematics, for example in arithmetic fluency. Also, follow-up studies revealed that SFOR tendency predicted fraction conceptual knowledge in fourth-graders.

While the impact on mathematical development is clear, McMullen says it is too early to say if spontaneous focusing predicts success in school mathematics.

“It seems to be a predictor of math development, especially knowledge of rational numbers, so we do think that it is helping with school math. Of course, we don’t expect it to be a sole determiner of success with school math, but it at least seems worth consideration when thinking about teaching and learning of math.”

In everyday life we all must make do with the mathematical competencies that we have. According to McMullen spontaneous focusing tendency might be quite common: “I would argue that everyone has some level of SFOR tendency, it’s just a matter of degree and different thresholds for recognizing opportunities to use quantitative relations in everyday situations. More evidence is still needed to determine if this is true.”

McMullen’s results suggest that children with spontaneous focusing tendency gain more and better practice with quantitative relations in everyday situations because of their natural tendency. This could be one explanation behind the observed effect on mathematical learning and development.

Teachers can support and strengthen spontaneous focusing tendency in children. Future research will help determine how this could be done effectively.

“We can’t say at this point exactly what we recommend to be done, in fact this is one of the major goals of our academy funded TULOS project. But, in general we would expect that teachers encouraging students to see these mathematical relations (and mathematics in general) in their everyday lives would help promote both SFOR and related math skills and knowledge. This is what my colleagues found when they did a study on enhancing children’s focusing on number,” McMullen says.

The PhD dissertation is openly accessible through the University of Turku’s electronic archives: McMullen (2014) Spontaneous Focusing on Quantitative Relations and the Development of Rational Number Conceptual Knowledge

McMullen will continue research on SFOR in the TULOS-project funded by the Academy of Finland.

Text: Maija Pollari.

How to improve students’ motivation in learning science at school is a challenge most teachers face in their daily lives. A recent PhD dissertation at the University of Helsinki shows that industry site visits can help improve students’ motivation and engage them in STEM subjects.

Many STEM teachers consider the lack motivation a major factor in the low popularity of their subjects. This is a familiar complaint in physics and chemistry classes where motivation van vary significantly between individuals.

Researcher Anni Loukomies at the University of Helsinki sought solutions to this problem in her PhD studies. According to her results industry site visits can help boost motivation and interest in learning science at school.

Loukomies studied how an inquiry-based site visit teaching sequence affected the students’ motivation. She collaborated with STEM teachers to research and design a teaching sequence focusing on industry site visits. The unit combined inquiry activities, industry site visits, expert interviews and writing tasks.

Enhanced motivation in science through relevant real life applications

Loukomies gathered survey and interview data from students aged 14-15 participating in the study. The designed teaching sequence was tested in several middle schools in Helsinki Finland and, in the final phase, in Greece. According to the results the teaching sequence had the potential to promote motivation in school science by enhancing the students’ feeling of relevance of their science studies.

The study provides useful information to teachers on how to differentiate teaching according to varying motivational profiles and different needs in the classroom. In unmotivated students discovering real life industrial applications and solutions played a significant role in creating motivation. On the other hand students who started with a higher level of motivation felt that the teaching sequence further supported their interest and strengthened their planning and decision making skills.

“Students can be critical about studying sciences if they are unclear about the purpose of the studies,” Loukomies said. “Some of the unmotivated students were in fact interested in science, but did not care much for studying in school.” In these students especially connecting school science to real life and industrial applications or emphasizing career or work aspects is a good way to improve motivation.

Loukomies, who is a science teacher herself, believes the key to engagement in STEM subjects could be found through embracing the world outside school.

“In addition industry site visits could support motivation through providing interesting role models in different sciences. Diverse role models would be essential in getting rid of stereotypical views of scientists and researchers.”

Read Anni Loukomies’ PhD dissertation online: Loukomies, Anni (2013) Enhancing Students’ Motivation towards School Science with an Inquiry-Based Site Visit Teaching Sequence: A Design-Based Research Approach

Text: Maija Pollari. Photo: Sakari Tolppanen.