Kirsti Lonka

Both cognitive and emotional factors are critical to engagement in game-based learning. However, few studies provide evidence of the influence of games on learning from an emotional perspective. Epistemic emotions like curiosity, surprise and confusion are especially relevant because they directly relate to the knowledge-related aspects of learning, cognitive processes and knowledge construction (e.g. Muis et al., 2015). The present study examined the epistemic emotions of political science students ( N =22) in an international relations course utilising the board game Diplomacy to enhance the learning experience. Students’ epistemic emotions were measured repeatedly after every course session and analysed using a processoriented intra-individual approach. The within-person analyses ( N =212) showed that game sessions increased all epistemic emotions (curiosity, enjoyment, surprise, confusion, anxiety and frustration) except boredom compared to lectures. Moreover, during the course, curiosity, enjoyment, confusion and anxiety decreased, boredom increased, and surprise and frustration remained constant. However, the individual differences in these trajectories indicated that students reporting a decrease in anxiety, surprise and enjoyment achieved better learning outcomes than those exhibiting a more stable emotional trend. The findings suggest that students’ epistemic emotions can be affected by instructional choices, such as the integration of game elements. Adding game features can trigger particularly positive activating emotions among students but can also provoke negative affect. Students who appeared to manage high pressure and uncertainty by controlling their anxiety levels also achieved better cognitive results, whereas pure enjoyment of the game did not guarantee positive learning outcomes. The uniqueness of individual emotional trajectories and their relationship to learning outcomes suggests that the conclusions based on the group-level findings are not applicable to all individuals.

Entrepreneurship education is crucial in fostering and supporting entrepreneurial intentions among young people. However, many factors, such as immigrant background, are associated with whether youth aspire to an entrepreneurial career. The aim of this study was to examine whether immigrant-origin youth in Finland were more likely than natives to aspire to an entrepreneurial career, and to what extent their sense of belonging, acculturation attitudes, and self-esteem explained these aspirations (N = 2838, Mage = 15.6). Regression (OLS and L2-regularized) and moderation analyses stratified by immigrant status and gender revealed that the immigrant-origin youth were more likely to aspire to an entrepreneurial career than their native counterparts, even after adjusting for gender. Among the male immigrant-origin youth, self-esteem, a sense of belonging, and acculturation attitudes explained 25% of the variation in their entrepreneurial intentions. However, the associations of these factors with entrepreneurial intentions among the native youth were weaker, and they were not related to entrepreneurial intentions among the female immigrant-origin youth at all. Acculturation attitudes were associated with EIs among the native females, but not the males.

This study investigated the development of study engagement from the end of upper secondary school through the first and second years of higher education. The participants experienced the challenges related to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic while they were either university students or preparing for university entrance exams. The study employed a person-oriented approach to determine what kind of developmental trajectories emerge in study engagement when following the student participants from the end of upper secondary school through the first and second years of higher education. Furthermore, the study investigated whether socio-emotional skills obtained by the end of secondary school and before the pandemic play a role in more adaptive development through demanding restrictions related to the worldwide pandemic and general changes in the learning environment. The 852 participants answered questionnaires on study engagement and socio-emotional skills in spring 2019, and of them, 426 individuals who continued their education answered regarding study engagement again in spring 2020 and winter 2020/2021. The grades in math and Finnish language were also included. The results indicated that most students tended to experience a drop in study engagement during the first wave of COVID-19 compared to the pre-pandemic level; however, they managed to boost their engagement back to previous levels approximately 6 months later. Students who managed to recover their engagement also tended to have higher socio-emotional skills than students who were struggling with study engagement before the pandemic or who started to struggle during the pandemic.

Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan peruskoulun seitsemäsluokkalaisten (N=977) odotuksia ja arvostuksia kolmea lukuainetta sekä ilmiölähtöistä oppimista kohtaan. Aineisto kerättiin syksyllä 2019 sähköisellä motivaatiokysymyksiä sisältäneellä kyselylomakkeella. Henkilösuuntautuneella tutkimusotteella tunnistettiin viisi motivaatioprofiilia odotuksista ja arvostuksista äidinkieltä, matematiikkaa, fysiikkaa ja ilmiölähtöistä oppimista kohtaan. LUMA-orientoituneet (31 %) ilmaisivat korkeinta tehtäväarvoa matematiikkaa ja fysiikkaa kohtaan, Ilmiöorientoituneet (20 %) olivat kiinnostuneempia ilmiölähtöisestä oppimisesta kuin tutkituista oppiaineista, Motivoituneet hyvinvoivat (24 %) olivat kiinnostuneita ilmiölähtöisyydestä sekä mitatuista oppiaineista ja kokivat kaikissa niissä vain vähän kuormitusta. Motivoituneet kuormittuneet (14 %) olivat kiinnostuneita kaikesta, mutta kokivat myös kuormitusta, ja Heikosti motivoituneet (10 %) eivät olleet motivoituneita mistään mitatuista aihepiireistä ja kokivat korkeaa kuormitusta. Tyttöjen ja poikien välillä ei ollut merkitsevää eroa profiileissa. Profiilien välillä tunnistettiin eroja perheen taloustilanteessa ja kaikkien arvosanojen keskiarvoissa. Keskiarvoinen tai heikompi taloustilanne -ryhmään kuului Motivoituneita hyvinvoivia odotettua vähemmän ja Heikosti motivoituneita enemmän. Heikosti motivoituneet -profiilin oppilailla tunnistettiin alhaisin ja Motivoituneilla hyvinvoivilla korkein keskiarvo. Merkittävä osa oppilaista koki ilmiölähtöisen oppimisen kiinnostavana. Tätä tietoa kannattaisi hyödyntää kouluissa: ilmiöön nivominen voisi lisätä oppilaiden motivaatiota myös monen oppiaineen tai laaja-alaisen taidon suhteen.

The present study identifies job crafting profiles of public sector employees and how they differ in terms of employees’ work engagement, workaholism, and approach to learning. Participants represent various occupations from educational field (e.g., teachers), technical field (e.g., ICT-experts), and administrative field (e.g., customer servants). Using latent profile analysis, three job crafting profiles could be identified: Passive crafters (25%), Average crafters (57%), and Active crafters (18%). Passive crafters reported the lowest values in all approach-oriented job crafting strategies (increasing job resources and demands) and the highest value in avoidance-oriented job crafting (decreasing hindering job demands). Active crafters reached the highest values in all approach-oriented job crafting and the lowest value in avoidance-oriented job crafting. Average crafters used all job crafting strategies close to the average level. The lowest work engagement, workaholism, and reflective-collaborative approach to learning were reported by passive crafters. Both average crafters and active crafters reported higher workaholism and reflective-collaborative learning approach than passive crafters. Active crafters reported the highest work engagement. Study findings show the interplay between employees’ job crafting, work engagement, workaholism, and epistemic approach. This study extends workplace learning research field by offering new theoretical information and is the first one exploring job crafting profiles and their differences regarding employees’ epistemic approach; reflective learning, collaborative knowledge-building, and metacognition. Study discusses theoretical contributions and practical implementations, which may be used in work life induction, and in fostering job crafting and continuous workplace learning.

Online shopping addiction can be defined as an Internet‐based behavioural addiction which may lead to economic problems. Even though shopping is increasingly common through mobile devices, the effects of smartphone use on online shopping addiction are underexamined. Following a survey of 1000 18 to 29‐year‐olds in Finland, we examined young adults' online shopping addiction and economic problems from the perspective of self‐regulation and problems in regulating smartphone use. The results indicated that low self‐regulation in an online environment facilitates online shopping addiction, which further leads to dissatisfaction toward personal money management through indebtedness. Moreover, we illustrated how distractive stimuli of digital environments can act as primers for addiction by showing how problems in regulating smartphone use facilitates online shopping addiction for young adults with generally low self‐regulation. We conclude our article by offering guidance on how the teaching of self‐regulatory strategies as well as financial and information communications technology skills may decrease the tendency for online shopping addiction.

The aim of the study was to introduce novel practice to materialize digital artifacts from oral discussions to scaffold knowledge co-construction. Speech-recognition technology emerges speech together from face-to-face conversation and externalizes, without notetaking, digital speech artifacts, digital word cloud, to large-format touch device, giving groups affordance to interact and co-construct knowledge further around the shared artifact. The participants were eight student teachers in mathematics and natural sciences. Pedagogical design followed Engaging Learning Model (Lonka 2012, 2018) in three phases 1) Activation 2) Learning 3) Evaluation. Data included videos, screen captures and audio recordings of student teachers’ co-construction. In this qualitative study, a thematic analysis, content analysis and interaction-analysis techniques were used for an in-depth examination of the relevant episodes to analyze 1) a method for materializing group discussions’ oral ideas with digital speech artifacts in co-construction 2) possible indicators of productive interactions 3) indicators of group engagement in artifact-oriented co-construction.Results showed that speech artifacts and artifact-orientation scaffolded mutual understanding and deepened knowledge co-construction process. Word clouds mediated and scaffolded the groups to interact productively in negotiating and summarizing knowledge and building shared understanding. Groups co-constructed content knowledge further, using also off-topic artifacts which built social cohesion, creativity and gave new approaches to science education. Artifact-oriented co-construction engaged the group cognitively, behaviorally and socially: As a mediating artifact, the word cloud scaffolded active collaboration on-task, elaboration of knowledge and regulation of the shared learning process that included positive socio-emotional interactions.

Background: This study explored the physiological correlates of students' self‐reported emotions in ecologically valid settings by combining biosignal data (on physical and cardiac activity) and experience sampling method (ESM) data. Aims: The aim was to examine the concurrent associations between self‐reported excitement, calmness, anxiety, and boredom (adopted from the dimensional model of emotions) and students' heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) (indicators of physiological arousal and the activation of the autonomous nervous system). Students' physical activity was controlled in the models via the metabolic equivalent of task (MET) values (actigraphy data). A second objective was to explore how to combine the information stored by these three sources of ambulatory assessment. Sample: The study comprised 136 high school students with multiple repetitive data points. Methods: For three consecutive days, students wore biometric sensors and wristbands collecting their HR, HRV, and MET signals, and answered the ESM questionnaires five times a day on smartphones. Results: When MET values were controlled for, self‐reported excitement was related to higher HR as well as lower HRV during a specific moment, indicating stronger sympathetic activity (i.e., physiological arousal/activation). Self‐reported boredom was related to lower HR but was unrelated to HRV. Self‐reported calmness and anxiety were unrelated to HR and HRV after controlling for MET. Conclusions: A 5‐min time window with a Gaussian weighted mean seemed to be an appropriate data processing method for capturing the physiological arousal (or abate) of self‐reported excitement and boredom. The findings suggest that the physiological stimulus of elevated HR could be interpreted by students as an adaptive state of excitement. Combining the experience sampling approach and the physiological measures revealed how the mind and body function in interplay and can therefore provide objective evidence of emotional and motivational processes as they unfold in students' daily lives.

The aim of this study was to examine entrepreneurship in the context of future Finnish teachers’ readiness to teach 21st century (broad-based) competencies. Teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching entrepreneurial skills and financial matters is vital for their pupils to actively participate and flourish in future society. The study utilized survey data of future teachers’ expectancy-values in teaching seven broad-based competencies of the current national curriculum and their financial literacy. Future teachers expressed high interest in all competencies but reported the least self-efficacy and highest cost in teaching ICT as well as working life and entrepreneurship competencies. Teaching self-efficacy (TSE) in entrepreneurial competencies was predicted by subjective evaluations of financial capability and TSE in consumer skills. Teaching STEM subjects as well as male gender were related to better objective financial knowledge. We discuss the implications of observed financial capability, lack in self-efficacy, and high experienced cost of teaching these competencies. Support for future teachers’ readiness to teach working life skills, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy through phenomenon-based school subject collaboration, formal teacher training, and digital applications are emphasized.

Introduction: The majority of adolescents engage with others online, and using social media is one of their top activities. However, there is little longitudinal evidence addressing whether active social media use is associated with study‐related emotional exhaustion or delayed bedtime at the individual level of development during adolescence.Method: A 6‐year longitudinal survey study (N = 426, female, 65.7%) was conducted (2014–2019) in Finland when the participants were 13–19 years old. Utilizing a Random Intercept Cross‐Lagged Panel Model, this study focused specifically on longitudinal within‐person effects.Results: No clear patterns between increased active social media use, increased emotional exhaustion, and delayed bedtime were found; however, the associations varied across the years of adolescence: active social media use and delayed bedtime were only associated in early adolescence; active social media use and emotional exhaustion were associated in both middle and late adolescence.Conclusions: Intraindividual relations between adolescents' reported active social media use, emotional exhaustion, and sleeping habits are small, inconsistent, and vary according to age. Therefore, future research should focus on additional longitudinal studies to examine the specific practices of social media use during the different developmental stages of at‐risk individuals.