Doctoral Researchers N-W

Doctoral Researchers and research assistants of the LECI expert group
Mikko Niemelä

Doctoral Researcher 

Research themes

Knowledge Integration in Education and Science. Core questions of the study are: a) what is integration in education, b) why integration is done, c) what kind of benefits and challenges are expected, d) how it is executed currently in Finnish schools, and d) how integration in schools is parallel and connected to practices of interdisciplinary science.

See poster presentation: Teachers’ Knowledge in Integrating the Curriculum

Funding 

Finnish Cultural Foundation (Lauri Järvi Fund)

Contact information

E-mail: mikko.a.niemela@helsinki.fi

Alexandra Nordström

Doctoral Researcher, M.Soc.Sci

Research themes

Alexandra Nordström is a doctoral researcher in the School, Education, Society, and Culture Doctoral Programme at the University of Helsinki. She holds a Master of Social Sciences with a focus on educational sociology. Her research themes include young children’s emotion and affect, literacy practices, interaction/intra-action, multiliteracies pedagogy, and sociocultural and new materialist theories. She is a member of the Playful Learning Center and the Learning, Culture and Interventions expert group in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Alexandra also teaches in the bachelor and master programmes at the Faculty of Educational Sciences. She is currently the JURE coordinator of EARLI SIG 25 - Educational Theory.

Current projects

Joy of Learning Multiliteracies / Monilukutaitoa Opitaan Ilolla (MOI)

Find out more:

University of Helsinki Research portal    

LinkedIn 

Twitter 

Contact information

E-mail: alexandra.nordstrom@helsinki.fi

Helmi-Riikka Olkinuora

Research assistant

Research themes

"Teacher Interventions in Students’ Joint Work in a Novel Design and Making Environment". The study analyzes teacher interventions in students’ joint work in a novel digital design and making environment, focusing on which kind of situations caused teachers to intervene in students’ joint work and which intervention strategies teachers use when intervening. The data consists of video recordings that were filmed at a participating primary school, which had introduced a new design and making environment (called the FUSE Studio). The results depict what it entails from a teacher to facilitate and further students’ engagement and development of relative expertise in interest-driven peer collaboration and learning.

Current project 

Learning by Making: The Educational Potential of School-Based Makerspaces for Young Learners' Digital Competencies (iMake)

Contact information

E-mail: riikka.olkinuora@helsinki.fi

Birgit Paju

Doctoral Researcher, M.A.

Research themes

Inclusive education, inclusion, educational reform, collaboration, training.

Current projects

Fostering Inclusive Education in schools – teaching staff’s perceptions and contradictions

Find out more:

ORCID

Contact information

E-mail: birgit.paju@helsinki.fi

Heidi Paju

Doctoral Researcher

Research themes 

Political formation of vocational education: A comparative study of Finnish and Estonian vocational education systems. The emphasis of the research lies on a comparative study of Estonian and Finnish Vocational Education Training systems. The research adopts two methodological approaches: historical comparative approach, and critical policy analysis

Funding

Seed funding from Journal of Vocational Education and Training

Contact information

E-mail: heidi.paju@helsinki.fi

Yenny Hinostroza Paredes

Doctoral Researcher

Research Themes

Initial teacher education; education policies; teacher educators; critical social theory, comparative research.  My study aims to compare the professional agency of Chilean and Finnish teacher educators in the managerial university. Its main questions are: How do academic teacher educators construct their professional agency in teacher education departments of Chilean and Finnish universities? How do they exercise agency within managerial work environments? How does this agency impact their professional agency negotiations and their career path expectations?

Find out more:

University of Helsinki Research Portal

LinkedIn

Contact Information

E-mail: yenny.hinostrozaparedes@helsinki.fi

Christopher Petrie

Doctoral Researcher, MA (Educ.)

Research themes

Design and Use of Domain-specific Programming Platforms

The nature of Christopher's doctorate is about the design and use of domain-specific programming languages. The purpose of this research is to address gaps in the literature about the design and use of three widely used programming platforms for novices, specifically on how they can support Computational Thinking (CT) development and promote positive attitudes towards programming. Christopher is also working as the Director of Digital Learning at New Nordic Schools and was previously Head of Global Research at HundrED.org in Helsinki, Finland.

Current projects

Design and Use of Domain-specific Programming Platforms: Interdisciplinary Computational Thinking in EarSketch and TunePad

Past Projects

 

Petrie, C. (2022). Programming music with Sonic Pi promotes positive attitudes for beginners. Computers & Education, 179, 104409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104409

Petrie, C. (2022). Every Child to Flourish in a Post-COVID-19 World: Eight Lessons and Visions for the Future. In Vincent-Lancrin, S., C. Cobo Romaní and F. Reimers (eds.), How Learning Continued during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Lessons from Initiatives to Support Learners and Teachers (pp. 86–100), OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bbeca162-en

Petrie, C. (2021). Interdisciplinary computational thinking with music and programming: A case study on algorithmic music composition with Sonic Pi. Computer Science Education, 1–23. Retrieve from: https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2021.1935603

 

Find out more:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Contact information

christopher.petrie@helsinki.fi 

 

Lauri Pynnönen

Doctoral Researcher

Research themes

My research investigates non-formal digital game-based learning (GBL) with refugee children in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Within the scope of the project digital GBL is used to teach early-grade children the basics of numeracy and literacy with tablet computes and selected mobile applications. The children learn to read in their native language, basics of English and basic numeracy without a teacher at their own pace following learning goals that mimic those of the national curriculums of their respective countries.

See poster Lauri Pynnönen's poster presentation here: Digital Game-based Learning in Emergency Contexts

 

Contact information

E-mail: lauri.pynnonen@helsinki.fi

Juhana Rantavuori

Doctoral Researcher, MA (Educ.)

Research themes

Cultural-historical activity theory; expansive learning; social movements; workplace learning

Current projects

Learning in Productive Social Movements

Find out more:

University of Helsinki Research Portal   

ResearchGate 

LinkedIn 

Academia 

GoogleScholar

Contact information

Email:  juhana.rantavuori@helsinki.fi

 

Jenny Renlund

Doctoral Researcher

Research themes

Young children and emergent literacy, multiliteracies, environmental education, digital literacy, interaction, peer dialogue, meaning making, aesthetic dimensions of learning, equal learning opportunities

Current projects

Learning by Making: The educational potential of school-based makerspaces for young learners’ digital competencies (iMake)

Digital mediation of children’s interactions with the more-than-human world: Perezhivaniya and literate practices funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC)

PLC - Playful learning center

Find out more:

University of Helsinki Research Portal

Contact information

E-mail: jenny.renlund@helsinki.fi

Päivi Ristimäki

Doctoral Researcher, M.Sc. (Econ.&Bus.Adm.) 

Research themes 

Learning and Concept Formation in Digital Era, Transformation of Management Team´s Agency, Explorative and Exploitative Actions of a New Logic for Business Activity, Customer-oriented Development, Ethnographic Research Settings and Research-based Interventions

Recent projects

Learning production concepts (OT) – Tools for the management of networked activity

Find out more:

University of Helsinki Research Portal   

LinkedIn  

ResearchGate

Contact information

E-mail: paivi.ristimaki@helsinki.fi

Heidi Sairanen

Doctoral Researcher, MA (Educ.)

Research themes

Young children and learning, agency and sense of agency, meaning making, motivation for learning, multiliteracy, children’s media and digital literacies, children’s voice, children as co-researchers 

See Heidi Sairanen's poster presentation here: Agency in Early Years Educational Contexts

Current projects

Learning Multiliteracy With Joy / Monilukutaitoa Opitaan Ilolla (MOI)

Contact information

E-mail: heidi.sairanen@helsinki.fi

Marika Schaupp

Doctoral Researcher

Research themes

New forms of capability building and HRD practices, changes in work organizations and work practices, learning, generalization and concept formation, cultural-historical activity theory.

Find out more:

University of Helsinki Research Portal

Contact information

E-mail: marika.schaupp@helsinki.fi

Rachel Sinquefield-Kangas

Doctoral Researcher, M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction

Research themes

Creativity and artistic practices as faculties for empathy development during adolescences. Critically pedagogy, aesthetic development and Identity. Visual culture, augmented & virtual reality in education. Arts based education research methods.

See poster presentation: The socio-cultural interpretations that lie between us: Exploring empathy in 21st century visual arts pedagogy the Equation

Current projects

Find out more:

University of Helsinki Research Portal   

ResearchGate  

LinkedIn  

Twitter

    Contact information

    E-mail: rachel.sinquefield-kangas@helsinki.fi

    Skype: Live: rkangas_4

    Marika Toivola

    Doctoral Researcher

    Research themes

    Teacher’s agency and identity in Flipped learning. The study contributes to existing research knowledge in two ways: On the one hand, it helps understand the process of conceptualization of the phenomenon of Flipped learning particularly from math teacher perspective. On the other, the study is contributing in particular to efforts at promoting a change in the teaching of mathematics.

    See poster presentation: Teachers’ Agency and Identity in Flipped Learning

    Find out more:

    University of Helsinki research portal

    Academia 

    LinkedIn 

    Twitter  

    Marika Toivola's homepage

    Contact information

    E-mail: marika.toivola@helsinki.fi

    Minna Vasarainen

    Doctoral Researcher

    Research themes

    Changing collaborative work and learning as well as social assessment of valuation-tied decisions in and out of virtual environments. My research project applies activity theory and pragmatism. The aim of my dissertation is to study valuation as a part of organizational learning in the context of virtual environments, from augmented and mixed reality to full immersive virtual surroundings.  In singular work-life projects, the aim is to form knowledge and tools for practical use.

    Find out more:

    University of Helsinki Research Portal

    DigIT research group

    LinkedIn

    Contact information

    E-mail: minna.vasarainen@helsinki.fi

    Yan Wang

    Doctoral Researcher

    Research themes

    Comparative studies on the Finnish and Chinese science curriculum. The doctoral thesis is an article-based one to investigate how aims for scientific literacy and 21st century competencies are implemented in National Primary Science Curricula in Finland and China. Further empirical research would be done based on the analysis results of the intended curriculum.

    See Yan Wang's poster presentation here: Comparative Study of the National Science Curricula in Finland and China - Aiming for Science LIteracy and 21st Century Competencies

    Funding 

    China Scholarship Council for doctoral studies

    Contact information

    E-mail:  yan.wang@helsinki.fi

    Chinny Wong

    Doctoral Researcher

    Research themes

    Engaging young children in sustainability education through applying design practices: ecological literacy, climate change education, playful learning, multiliteracies, design thinking, pedagogical creativity, co-creation and participatory methods. 

    Current projects

    Playful Learning Centre – PLC 

    The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies – MOI 

    Find out more:

    University of Helsinki Research Portal

    LinkedIn 

    ResearchGate  

    Contact information

    Email: chin.wong@helsinki.fi