University of Lapland

About: University of Lapland is a education organization based out in Rovaniemi, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Arctic & Indigenous. The organization has 665 authors who have published 1870 publications receiving 39129 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Rovaniemi & Lapin yliopisto.

Implementing inclusive education in Lithuania: what are the main challenges according to teachers’ experiences?

Abstract: The purpose of this article was to analyse the challenges primary and subject teachers had experienced concerning the implementation of inclusive education in Lithuanian primary schools, progymnasiums and gymnasiums. In this study, 86 Lithuanian teachers reflected on their experiences of teaching in heterogeneous classes. The data were collected from 13 group interviews. The article highlights the challenges encountered by the primary and subject teachers in implementing inclusive teaching. The findings were arranged under four themes. Concerning teachers’ pedagogical competence, the teachers highlighted difficulties in differentiating their teaching and including the students with special educational needs in the classes’ social peer networks. Teachers also pointed out the need for multiprofessional collaboration and dialogue with parents. The themes were then interpreted in the theoretical frames of teachers’ professional competences. At a practical level, the study’s findings may help teacher educators understand the teacher competences needed to implement inclusive education and support them to develop existing teaching programs to target the successful implementation of inclusive education. At a conceptual level, this study presents evidence for preparing teachers to work in the conditions of striving towards inclusive education.

A Multidimensional Adapted Process Model of Teaching

Abstract: In the present study, we aimed to specify the key competence domains perceived to be critical for the teaching profession and depict them as a comprehensive teacher competence model. An expert panel that included representatives from seven units providing university-based initial teacher education in Finland carried out this process. To produce an active construction of a shared understanding and an interpretation of the discourse in the field, the experts reviewed literature on teaching. The resulting teacher competence model, the multidimensional adapted process model of teaching (MAP), represents a collective conception of the relevant empirical literature and prevailing discourses on teaching. The MAP is based on Blomeke et al.’s, Zeitschrift fur Psychologie, 223, 3–13, (2015) model which distinguishes among teacher competences (referring to effective performance of teachers’ work), competencies (knowledge, skills, and other individual competencies underlying and enabling effective teaching), and situation-specific skills of perceiving, interpreting, and making decisions in situations involving teaching and learning. The implications of the MAP for teacher education and student selection for initial teacher education are discussed.

Remote control for pervasive services

Abstract: In this paper, we present the REACHeS architecture for controlling pervasive services through physical user interfaces, using a mobile terminal and icons placed in the environment. An icon advertises a service that can be started by touching the icon with a mobile terminal. This service activation configures the mobile terminal as a remote control for the service. We have implemented this architecture and designed an icon set. The physical user interface is based on RFID technology: the terminals are equipped with RFID readers and RFID tags are placed under the icons. We present the first prototype applications and the first usability tests that we have carried out.

Analysis of reconstructed annual precipitation from tree-rings for the past 500 years in the middle Qilian Mountain

Abstract: The ring-width chronology of a Juniperus przewalskii tree from the middle of the Qilian Mountain was constructed to estimate the annual precipitation (from previous August to current July) since AD 1480. The reconstruction showed four major alternations of drying and wetting over the past 521 years. The rainy 16th century was followed by persistent drought in the 17th century. Moreover, relatively wet conditions persisted from the 18th to the beginning of 20th century until the recurrence of a drought during the 1920s and 1930s. Based on the Empirical Mode Decomposition method, eight Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) were extracted, each representing unique fluctuations of the reconstructed precipitation in the time-frequency domain. The high amplitudes of IMFs on different timescales were often consistent with the high amount of precipitation, and vice versa. The IMF of the lowest frequency indicated that the precipitation has undergone a slow increasing trend over the past 521 years. The 2–3 year and 5–8 year time-scales reflected the characteristics of inter-annual variability in precipitation relevant to regional atmospheric circulation and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), respectively. The 10–13 year scale of IMF may be associated with changing solar activity. Specifically, an amalgamation of previous and present data showed that droughts were likely to be a historically persistent feature of the Earth’s climate, whereas the probability of intensified rainfall events seemed to increase during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. These changing characteristics in precipitation indicate an unprecedented alteration of the hydrological cycle, with unknown future amplitude. Our reconstruction complements existing information on past precipitation changes in the Qilian Mountain, and provides additional low-frequency information