Student-teacher relationships are crucial for adolescents' adjustment in the school context. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of teacher closeness in academic emotions and achievement among adolescents with and without learning difficulties during the first year in lower secondary school. Students' learning difficulties (LDs)…

In this article, we ask how students with a range of social class and ethnic backgrounds perceive their opportunities to participate in the classroom and influence their learning, and what perceptions teachers have of teaching and students' participation in a school with a diverse student body. The context of this study is a lower secondary school…

This study explored the situational interest and emotional valence of 13-year-old students (N = 94) participating in a five-session science course. The relationship between students' situational interest and emotional valence and their individual interest was also studied. During each session, students participated in a collaborative learning…

The aim of this study was to design a novel and holistic way to teach chemical bonding at the middle school level according to research on the teaching and learning of bonding. A further aim was to investigate high achieving middle school students' conceptual structures concerning chemical bonding by using a systemic perspective. Students in one…

Interest research offers different hypotheses about the association between interest and learning outcomes. The standard hypothesis proposes that interest predicts learning outcomes: people acquire new knowledge about a topic they find interesting. The affective by-product hypothesis assumes that learning predicts interest: by learning something,…

Purpose: The digital age has provided new possibilities for the connected learning. To better understand these opportunities in the school context, the purpose of this paper is to examine what kinds of learning communities emerge in international learning projects and how tools and technologies support students' inquiries and peer connections.…

Authority, a fundamental part of the teaching-studying-learning process, is a problematic and poorly understood component of classroom life. It can be said, in practical terms, that pedagogical authority is constructed in classrooms, in teacher-student interaction and in the spirit of their physical presence, confidence, appreciation,…

Introduction: Few studies have addressed teacher trainees' information acquisition in the context of a task. The paper reports findings from an empirical study on teacher trainees' use of information (seeking) channels and sources, and their modes of information acquisition in lesson planning. Method: Semi-structured (retrospectively held)…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the socioscientific issue (SSI) method as a way of improving seventh graders' nutrition know-how on dietary supplements (DS), and to describe how students experience learning nutritional issues through the SSI method. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were seventh graders from three different…

This longitudinal study examined how two externalising behaviour problems, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CDs), are associated over time with low motivation (MAS), and how these problems effect academic performance. In our cross-lagged analysis, we found reciprocal effects between ADHD symptoms and MAS…

A Hypercontextualized Game (HCG) is a locally designed game that supports its players in gathering context-specific information and in-depth understanding and knowledge regarding the context of a site. LIEKSAMYST, an exciting mobile application, with which visitors can play various games based on stories, was originally developed for the open-air…

A declining trend in adolescents' interest in science learning and attitudes towards science-related careers has been reported during recent years. There has been a call for more motivating learning environments that inspire students to develop interest towards science. This study examines students' interest development in STEM subjects in an…

Digital technologies have been increasingly embedded in students' everyday lives. Interest-driven sociodigital participation (ISDP) involves students' pursuit of interests mediated by computers, social media, the internet, and mobile devices' integrated systems. ISDP is likely to intertwine closely with young people's social networks that has been…

This study examined the role of learning difficulties in academic emotions and achievement across the transition to lower secondary school among 848 Finnish adolescents. Reading difficulties (RD) and math difficulties (MD) were identified based on test scores in Grade 6 and 7. Students with difficulties were identified as having resolving,…

This research draws on sociocultural theories of learning and activity theory to explore the challenges faced by an innovative community of teachers in Central Finland. The aim of the teacher community was to develop a stream of foreign-language (FL)-mediated teaching and learning in the locality from kindergarten to upper secondary level. To…