A recent doctoral thesis shows that learning is also something that needs to be learned and taught

Estonian Research Council

In his thesis, entitled "Teachers' and students' knowledge of learning strategies and how to teach them in the classroom", Granström investigated the methods used in Estonian schools to make learning more effective and the extent of their use. "Teachers were found to employ a variety of learning strategies and to value deeper learning strategies more than superficial ones, but their knowledge of them is sometimes incomplete,” he summarises the findings of his study. “There is also a lack of knowledge of how to teach and link learning strategies to learning.”

At the same time, his research shows that students value strategies that support shallow rather than deep learning, which can be difficult to understand, as immediate results are harder to perceive and teachers tend not to explain the advantages of one method or another. "In order for students to move towards the use of more sophisticated learning strategies that support deep learning, teachers should consciously support the development of students' knowledge of learning strategies and encourage their independent use,” Granström finds.

The more rapidly the world around us changes, the more topical this issue becomes, because knowing how to plan learning more effectively and to learn independently is important not only in school, but also later in life. "In a society where flexibility of knowledge is of great importance, and adaptation and the independent acquisition of knowledge is a lifelong process, poor knowledge of learning can become an obstacle to adapting to change," the researcher notes.

"If a teacher can adequately explain and demonstrate to their students the advantages of different learning strategies and how to use them independently, as well as guiding the students to use them, this will have a positive impact on students' motivation to learn."

In order to ensure that teachers are able to use learning strategies when planning lessons, and to explain them to pupils, Granström recommends that teacher training and school development programmes place more emphasis on introducing them: teachers need to be taught how to use learning strategies starting with students in Grade 1.

Mikk Granstöm defended his PhD thesis "Teachers' and students' knowledge of learning strategies and their teaching in the classroom" on 17 September. The thesis was supervised by Professors Eve Kikas and Eve Eisenschmidt of Tallinn University and opposed by Associate Professor Pirko Tõugu of the University of Tartu and Professor Markku Hannula of the University of Helsinki.

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Ph.D. thesis: Media offers multiple niches to researchers

Estonian Research Council

 

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Arko Olesk

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Credit: Reigo Pajula

"Researchers who are driven by a more strategic goal are usually able to be more visible in the media and to guide coverage in the direction that suits them,” explains Arko Olesk, whose doctoral thesis is titled "The mediatization of researchers: process, indicators, impact”.

"One can see similarities between media communication of scientists and the processes taking place in evolution,” Olesk adds. “A researcher has to adapt in order to successfully get their message across in the media. If they are primarily interested in explaining their subject in a comprehensible way, they need different skills and techniques than if their aim is to guide a public debate. Just as species adapt to their ecological niche, scientists adapt to the media niche they wish to inhabit."

"In my work, I outline five dimensions for assessing such adaptations," explains Olesk. These include an understanding of media logic and the ability to use it to your advantage. "For a researcher who wants to present their work, it's enough to adapt to journalists' expectations to respond quickly and to explain topics simply and interestingly. However, researchers with a more strategic aim need to be able to bring issues to the press themselves, by contacting journalists and offering ideas in a way that is attractive for them.”

The work builds on, among other things, the experience of the research group that launched Estonia's first satellite, ESTCube-1. "Studying their interactions with the media allowed us to see how researchers learn the written and unwritten rules of the media, and to understand how different objectives shape patterns in media communication," notes Olesk.

The scientific literature on media relations of scientists has pointed out that if researchers become overly concerned with media visibility, the scientific quality of their work can suffer. "No similar effects were apparent from this study,” says Olesk. “But while there is a lot of talk about the need for researchers to do more public outreach, we need to be aware of the threats this can pose to the quality of media coverage of science.”

The paper also identifies the weakening of the position of the press as a potential threat. "As scientists get better and better at 'selling' their ideas, and journalists don't have the time or desire to dig deeper, it's easy for scientists to get the media coverage they want," Olesk describes. "As long as a scientist's motives are noble, nothing bad may happen, but it is easy to overblow scientific results or spread questionable claims by exploiting journalists' trust in scientists. Societies will therefore continue to need critical science journalism."

"We can see that the media communication patterns of researchers can also be judged by the beneficial or detrimental impact they have on science in general, researchers themselves, the public or journalists,” says Olesk. “There are patterns that lead to problems, but there are also patterns where everyone benefits. It is precisely the skills needed to maintain and create such patterns that we need to pay more attention to when training researchers and journalists."

The defence of Arko Oleski's doctoral thesis took place on 18 September. Thesis supervisors were Barbi Pilvre and Anastassia Zabrodskaya, and the opponents Ragne Kõuts-Klemm from the University of Tartu and Mike Schäfer from the University of Zurich. The full text of the paper is available here: https://www.etera.ee/zoom/202230/view

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Subject of Research

People