The aim of the present study is to improve the quality of students' environmental literacy and sustainability education in chemistry teaching by combining the socio-scientific issue of life-cycle thinking with inquiry-based learning approaches. This case study presents results from an inquiry-based life-cycle thinking project: an interdisciplinary…

Learning should make information meaningful to the students. We can all agree with that --but the messages coming from schools will tell us a different story. Instead of enthusiasm, happiness and joy of learning, the echo repeats problems, ill behaving and indisposition. This makes us wonder: has the traditional school come to its end? This…

The Intercultural Product Pitch OIL (Online International Learning) Project set out to broaden the international experience for a small cohort of undergraduate students by enabling them to collaborate on a series of activities that would raise intercultural awareness and improve key communication skills. The project involved collaboration between…

This report aims to provide insight into the realities faced by higher education academic staff at a time of fast-moving change and increasing societal demand. Fluctuating student numbers, new funding and steering mechanisms are among the features of today's European higher education landscape, but not enough is known about how academic staff are…

The systematic review by Sommer, Leuschner, and Scheithauer ("International Journal of Developmental Science" v8, n1-2, p3-24, 2014) includes 126 school shooting cases from 13 countries. This comprehensive review provides a valuable synthesis of a topic largely discussed in school shooting research: The role of bullying and peer…

The present study examined an international sample of adults from the Survey of Adult Skills administered by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2009) to assess (1) how specific individual and country-level characteristics predict adult readiness to…

This article presents a qualitative case study based on an analysis of the outcomes and meanings attributed by university academics to an institutional merger, from the perspective of organisational identity. The change process may have broadened the "us and them" gap that exists between those responsible for university leadership and…

In this case study, theoretically rooted in peer-assisted learning (PAL), ten female high school students, acting as peer teachers, taught hip hop dance in a voluntary physical education course. The data, derived from questionnaires and interviews with the peer teachers, were analysed using content analysis. The results showed that the peer…

The article explores the role of digital media in supporting lifelong learning. In particular, it focuses on bloggers who write their blogs voluntarily in their own free time. The aim is to examine how lifelong learning--viewed as self-directed, nonformal learning and active participation that evolves from a desire for self-actualization--occurs…

This article analyses performance dialogs (PDs) in the university context in Finland. These are held annually between employers and employees. The study was carried out to assess the efficacy of this technique. Research methods included an electronic questionnaire over two different years delivered to the whole staff of the Department of Teacher…

In recent decades, many educational reforms have been implemented that aim to effect a change in teachers' and pupils' roles by promoting meaningful learning. Yet, little is known about how teachers perceive these roles as a part of their professional belief system. In this study, 68 Finnish comprehensive school teachers were interviewed. The data…

This paper asks how a teacher transforms from constrained and controlled to an independent yet dialogical agent. We analyse and describe the transformation of a teacher in the Finnish rural north in one school semester from a "conforming" teacher to a "transformative teacher," examining the narrative of her personal journal and…

In this paper we present our experiences of teaching an annually organized virtual reality (VR) capstone course. We review three iterations of the course, during which a total of 45 students completed the course and 16 VR applications were implemented. Our comparative analysis describes the students' evaluation of the course, the applications…

This paper is based on a pedagogical action research initiative that explores what constitutes the "lived pedagogy" of the classroom from the pupils' perspective. Photography and group interviews were utilised to allow pupils to express their perspectives. The results show that pupils considered situations meaningful when they were able…

This article discusses theory and methods of researching the everyday experiences of children in the city environment combined with the question of giving a voice to children. The article is organised into three parts. Part one provides a conceptual background, theorising the relational as well as intergenerational character of the concept of…