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| Theses is mandatory to all the teacher candidates. |
Topic for both theses is usually the same. The second one is a continuation of the first one. The second one has to be research based. Teachers must conduct surveys or do classroom observations or anything that includes manipulating data.
I attended a lecture “Kandi- ja grad group “by professors C, Laine & Hannula, Room Aurora 210.
Professor Markku Hannula had agreed that I can attend his lecture on witing theses. He sent me the preliminary theses written by Marjukka Lukkaroinen. This was titled“Kertolaskuja liikunnallisesti. Kehittämistutkimus liikunnallisen matematiikan opetusmateriaalin kehittämisestä 3.-luokkalaisille”.
My translation of the title:“Multiplications with physical activity. Developing mathematics teaching materials for third-grade math classes”.
Marjukka had already tested her idea with third grade teachers. Three teachers had agreed to be the test subjects. The paper was 80 pages long and had intro, procedure, results and analysis.
But before we discussed Marjukka's thesis, the class discussions started with 11other students who are doing the theses for a bachelor’s degree. They introduced their own topics. Rest of the class discussed the ideas, gave feedback and proposed improvements.
Ideas from students:
Student #1. New technology in Mathematics, comparison between new and mature teachers. How do teachers feel on technology?
Student #2. If you have difficulties in mathematics, do you have difficulties in other topics as well? If the difficulties start early, do they continue later in life?
Instructor: This has been studied a lot.
Student #3 had several ideas. She wanted to examine Mini-theory. According to theory, students mix rules in mathematics, for example divide the wrong way. Does this difficulty transfer from elementary to high school? How do you get rid of the mini-theory? What is the outcome between students who have used manipulatives or the ones who have not used? She could not make up her mind on what to focus on.
Next, we discussed Marjukka’s master thesis. She gave a brief overview of her theses. Two student in a class were already appointed as opponents and they had questions along with the instructors. The class went through page by page the theses and commented on the findings. I was also able to express my thoughts.
There were 12 females, one male in the class.
There were 12 females, one male in the class.
