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Maija Nousiainen
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

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Journal article
Published: 21 July 2021 in Education Sciences
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The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding about undergraduate life science students’ conceptions concerning the role of photosynthesizing plants in the ecosystem, utilizing a network analysis method. Science learning requires the integration and linking of abstract and often counterintuitive concepts successfully into multifaceted networks. The quality of these networks, together with their abilities to communicate via the language of science, influences students’ success in academic, verbal problem-solving tasks. This study contributes to investigating students’ understanding, utilizing a modern network analysis method in exploring first-year university life science students’ written answers. In this study, a total of 150 first-year life science students answered two open-ended tasks related to the role of photosynthesizing plants in the ecosystem. A network analysis tool was used in exploring the occurrence of different-level science concepts and the interrelatedness between these concepts in students’ verbal outputs. The results showed that the richness of concept networks and students’ use of macro-concepts were remarkably varied between the tasks. Higher communicability measures were connected to the more abundant existence of macro-concepts in the task concerning the role of plants from the food-chain perspective. In the answers for the task concerning the role of plants regarding the atmosphere, the students operated mainly with single facts, and there were only minor interconnections made between the central concepts. On the basis of these results, the need for more all-encompassing biology teaching concerning complex environmental and socio-economic problems became evident. Thus, methodological and pedagogical contributions are discussed.

ACS Style

Ilona Södervik; Maija Nousiainen; Ismo. Koponen. First-Year Life Science Students’ Understanding of the Role of Plants in the Ecosystem—A Concept Network Analysis. Education Sciences 2021, 11, 369 .

AMA Style

Ilona Södervik, Maija Nousiainen, Ismo. Koponen. First-Year Life Science Students’ Understanding of the Role of Plants in the Ecosystem—A Concept Network Analysis. Education Sciences. 2021; 11 (8):369.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ilona Södervik; Maija Nousiainen; Ismo. Koponen. 2021. "First-Year Life Science Students’ Understanding of the Role of Plants in the Ecosystem—A Concept Network Analysis." Education Sciences 11, no. 8: 369.

Journal article
Published: 13 August 2020 in Nordic Studies in Science Education
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Argumentation and knowledge justification have been noted as important skills to be learned in secondary and tertiary level of education. These skills are especially crucial in teaching and learning physics because physics knowledge is normative and has hierarchical structure. The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, we propose a framework to analyze pre-service physics teachers’ knowledge justification. Second, we show how this framework can be used to examine pre-service physics teachers’ knowledge justification in the context of quantum physics. The sample consists of 68 knowledge justification schemes on four quantum phenomena (N=17 participants who all produced four schemes). The proposed framework discusses conceptual, relational and strategic knowledge presented in knowledge justification schemes. The results show that analysis framework reveal significant differences between pre-service teachers’ knowledge justification. We conclude that there is need and room for such practical tools, which help future teachers to organize and consider their own knowledge.

ACS Style

Karoliina Vuola; Maija Nousiainen. Physics knowledge justification: an analysis framework to examine physics content knowledge. Nordic Studies in Science Education 2020, 16, 149 -166.

AMA Style

Karoliina Vuola, Maija Nousiainen. Physics knowledge justification: an analysis framework to examine physics content knowledge. Nordic Studies in Science Education. 2020; 16 (2):149-166.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karoliina Vuola; Maija Nousiainen. 2020. "Physics knowledge justification: an analysis framework to examine physics content knowledge." Nordic Studies in Science Education 16, no. 2: 149-166.

Journal article
Published: 17 March 2020 in Education Sciences
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Learning the wave-particle dualism of electrons and photons plays a central role in understanding quantum physics. Teaching it requires that the teacher is fluent in using abstract and uncommon terms. We inspect the lexical structures of pre-service teachers’ declarative knowledge about the wave-particle dualism of electrons and photons in the context of double-slit interference. The declarative knowledge is analyzed in the form of a lexical network of terms. We focus on lexical structures because, in teaching and learning, knowledge is communicated mostly through lexical structures, i.e., by speaking and writing. Using the lexical networks, we construct the lexicons used by pre-service teachers to express their knowledge of electrons and photons in the context of double-slit interference. The lexicons consist of eight different key terms, each representing a set of closely-related or synonymous terms. The lexicons by 14 pre-service teachers reveal remarkable variation and differences, and are strongly context-dependent. We also analyzed lexicons corresponding to two didactically-oriented research articles on the same topic and found that they also differ. Lexicons paralleling both texts are found among the pre-service teachers’ lexicons. However, only some of the pre-service teachers use such rich vocabulary as would indicate multi-faceted understanding of quantum entities.

ACS Style

Maija Nousiainen; Ismo T. Koponen. Pre-Service Teachers’ Declarative Knowledge of Wave-Particle Dualism of Electrons and Photons: Finding Lexicons by Using Network Analysis. Education Sciences 2020, 10, 76 .

AMA Style

Maija Nousiainen, Ismo T. Koponen. Pre-Service Teachers’ Declarative Knowledge of Wave-Particle Dualism of Electrons and Photons: Finding Lexicons by Using Network Analysis. Education Sciences. 2020; 10 (3):76.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maija Nousiainen; Ismo T. Koponen. 2020. "Pre-Service Teachers’ Declarative Knowledge of Wave-Particle Dualism of Electrons and Photons: Finding Lexicons by Using Network Analysis." Education Sciences 10, no. 3: 76.

Conference paper
Published: 25 November 2019 in Econometrics for Financial Applications
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The lexical structure of language of science as it appears in teaching and teaching materials plays a crucial role in learning the language of science. We inspect here the lexical structure of two texts, written for didactic purposes and discussing the topic of wave-particle dualism as it is addressed in science education. The texts are analyzed as lexical networks of terms. The analysis is based on construction of stratified lexical networks, which allows us to analyze the lexical connections from the level of cotext (sentences) to context. Based on lexical networks, we construct lexicon profiles as they appear in two texts addressing the wave-particle dualism of electrons and photons. We demonstrate that the lexicon profiles of the two texts, although they discuss the same topic with similar didactic goals, nevertheless exhibit remarkable variation and differences. The consequences of such variation of lexicon profiles for practical teaching are discussed.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Lexical Networks and Lexicon Profiles in Didactical Texts for Science Education. Econometrics for Financial Applications 2019, 15 -27.

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Lexical Networks and Lexicon Profiles in Didactical Texts for Science Education. Econometrics for Financial Applications. 2019; ():15-27.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2019. "Lexical Networks and Lexicon Profiles in Didactical Texts for Science Education." Econometrics for Financial Applications , no. : 15-27.

Journal article
Published: 29 May 2019 in Education Sciences
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Supporting teacher candidates’ learning of coherent and well-ordered content knowledge is one of the most important educational aims in subject teacher education. To reach this aim, teacher educators need suitable tools to enhance the formation of such knowledge. In this article, we present an analytical framework to examine conceptual knowledge, meaning the ability to define the relevant concepts pertaining to a task; relational knowledge, i.e., the ability to consider interrelations between the concepts; and strategic knowledge, i.e., the ability to use the knowledge by providing (experimental or modeling) procedures, which build new knowledge. A sample analysis of 16 teacher candidates’ written reports is presented to illustrate how this framework can be used. The aim of the study was to reveal what kind of variation in teacher candidates’ content knowledge can be found. This study suggests that teacher candidates’ written reports can reveal remarkable differences in the epistemic dimensions of content knowledge. The framework shows the differences among the teacher candidates as well as produces information for teacher educators of the critical aspects, when and where to intervene, and where to focus using different teaching practices.

ACS Style

Maija Nousiainen; Heidi Hyytinen; Elina Palmgren; Auli Toom. How Do Physics Teacher Candidates Substantiate Their Knowledge? An Analytical Framework for Examining the Epistemic Dimensions of Content Knowledge in Higher Education. Education Sciences 2019, 9, 120 .

AMA Style

Maija Nousiainen, Heidi Hyytinen, Elina Palmgren, Auli Toom. How Do Physics Teacher Candidates Substantiate Their Knowledge? An Analytical Framework for Examining the Epistemic Dimensions of Content Knowledge in Higher Education. Education Sciences. 2019; 9 (2):120.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maija Nousiainen; Heidi Hyytinen; Elina Palmgren; Auli Toom. 2019. "How Do Physics Teacher Candidates Substantiate Their Knowledge? An Analytical Framework for Examining the Epistemic Dimensions of Content Knowledge in Higher Education." Education Sciences 9, no. 2: 120.

Journal article
Published: 20 January 2019 in Education Sciences
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Relational interlinked dependencies between concepts constitute the structure of abstract knowledge and are crucial in learning conceptual knowledge and the meaning of concepts. To explore pre-service teachers’ declarative knowledge of physics concepts, we have analyzed concept networks, which agglomerate 12 pre-service teacher students’ representations of the key elements in electricity and magnetism. We show that by using network-based methods, the interlinked connections of nodes, locally and globally, can be analyzed to reveal how different elements of the network are supported through their connections to other nodes in the network. Nodes with high global connectivity initialize contiguous concept patchworks within the network and are thus most often found to be abstract, general, and advanced concepts. Locally cohesive concepts, on the other hand, are nearly always auxiliary supporting concepts, related to specific textbook-type experiments and model-type conceptional elements. Comparisons of group-level knowledge and individual pre-service teacher students’ knowledge in the form of networks shows that while in group-level the aggregated knowledge is expert-like, at the individual level pre-service teacher students possess only a fraction of that knowledge.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge of Relational Structure of Physics Concepts: Finding Key Concepts of Electricity and Magnetism. Education Sciences 2019, 9, 18 .

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge of Relational Structure of Physics Concepts: Finding Key Concepts of Electricity and Magnetism. Education Sciences. 2019; 9 (1):18.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2019. "Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge of Relational Structure of Physics Concepts: Finding Key Concepts of Electricity and Magnetism." Education Sciences 9, no. 1: 18.

Research
Published: 03 July 2018 in Applied Network Science
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Concept maps, which are network-like visualisations of the inter-linkages between concepts, are used in teaching and learning as representations of students’ understanding of conceptual knowledge and its relational structure. In science education, research on the uses of concept maps has focused much attention on finding methods to identify key concepts that are of the most importance either in supporting or being supported by other concepts in the network. Here we propose a method based on network analysis to examine students’ representations of the relational structure of physics concepts in the form of concept maps. We suggest how the key concepts and their epistemic support can be identified through focusing on the pathways along which the information is passed from one node to another. Towards this end, concept maps are analysed as directed and weighted networks, where nodes are concepts and links represent different types of connections between concepts, and where each link is assumed to provide epistemic support to the node it is connected to. The notion of key concept can then be operationalised through the directed flow of information from one node to another in terms of communicability between the nodes, separately for out-going and in-coming weighted links. Here we analyse a collated concept network based on a sample of 12 original concept maps constructed by university students. We show that communicability is a simple and reliable way to identify the key concepts and examine their epistemic justification within the collated network. The communicabilities of the key nodes in the collated network are compared with communicabilities averaged over the set of 12 individual concept maps. The comparison shows the collated network contains an extensive set of key concepts with good epistemic support. Every individual networks contain a sub-set of these key concepts but with a limited overlap of the sub-sets with other individual networks. The epistemically well substantiated knowledge is thus sparsely distributed over the 12 individual networks.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Concept networks of students’ knowledge of relationships between physics concepts: finding key concepts and their epistemic support. Applied Network Science 2018, 3, 14 .

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Concept networks of students’ knowledge of relationships between physics concepts: finding key concepts and their epistemic support. Applied Network Science. 2018; 3 (1):14.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2018. "Concept networks of students’ knowledge of relationships between physics concepts: finding key concepts and their epistemic support." Applied Network Science 3, no. 1: 14.

Journal article
Published: 15 April 2018 in European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
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We present a method to analyse how pre-service science teachers relate events, ideas, characters and deeds in history of science and in cultural and general history. A group of 25 students presented their views they deemed to be of importance in history of science, culture, society and politics in era between 1550 and 1850. The sample is based on students’ study reports and analysed by using network analysis. We show how students’ knowledge of history of science and history in general are organised around certain famous characters, ideas, events and institutions, thus revealing the phenomenon of accumulation of fame; the Mathew effect in action.

ACS Style

Ismo Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. University students’ associative knowledge of history of science: Matthew effect in action? European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 2018, 6, 69 -81.

AMA Style

Ismo Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. University students’ associative knowledge of history of science: Matthew effect in action? European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. 2018; 6 (2):69-81.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2018. "University students’ associative knowledge of history of science: Matthew effect in action?" European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 6, no. 2: 69-81.

Journal article
Published: 01 April 2018 in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
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Learning scientific knowledge is largely based on understanding what are its key concepts and how they are related. The relational structure of concepts also affects how concepts are introduced in teaching scientific knowledge. We model here how students organise their knowledge when they represent their understanding of how physics concepts are related. The model is based on assumptions that students use simple basic linking-motifs in introducing new concepts and mostly relate them to concepts that were introduced a few steps earlier, i.e. following a genealogical ordering. The resulting genealogical networks have relatively high local clustering coefficients of nodes but otherwise resemble networks obtained with an identical degree distribution of nodes but with random linking between them (i.e. the configuration-model). However, a few key nodes having a special structural role emerge and these nodes have a higher than average communicability betweenness centralities. These features agree with the empirically found properties of students’ concept networks.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Modelling students’ knowledge organisation: Genealogical conceptual networks. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 2018, 495, 405 -417.

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Modelling students’ knowledge organisation: Genealogical conceptual networks. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications. 2018; 495 ():405-417.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2018. "Modelling students’ knowledge organisation: Genealogical conceptual networks." Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 495, no. : 405-417.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2018 in Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
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ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. An Agent-Based Model of Discourse Pattern Formation in Small Groups of Competing and Cooperating Members. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 2018, 21, 1 .

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. An Agent-Based Model of Discourse Pattern Formation in Small Groups of Competing and Cooperating Members. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. 2018; 21 (2):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2018. "An Agent-Based Model of Discourse Pattern Formation in Small Groups of Competing and Cooperating Members." Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 21, no. 2: 1.

Conference paper
Published: 27 November 2017 in Econometrics for Financial Applications
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Concept maps are used in teaching and learning as representations of students’ understanding of conceptual knowledge. Concept maps are basically networks of interlinked web of concepts. A long-standing problem in educational research is identifying the key concepts of importance in such networks. Here we use network analysis to examine students’ representations of the relatedness of physics concepts in the form of concept maps, and suggest how key concepts and their epistemic support can be identified. The concept maps are analysed as directed and weighted networks, where nodes are concepts and links represent different types of connections between concepts. The notion of key concept is operationalised through the communicability, separately for out-going and in-coming weighted links. Using a collated concept network based on a sample of 12 original concept maps constructed by university students we show that the communicability is a simple and reliable way to identify the key concepts and examine their epistemic justification within the network.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Concept Networks in Learning and the Epistemic Support of Their Key Concepts. Econometrics for Financial Applications 2017, 759 -769.

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Concept Networks in Learning and the Epistemic Support of Their Key Concepts. Econometrics for Financial Applications. 2017; ():759-769.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2017. "Concept Networks in Learning and the Epistemic Support of Their Key Concepts." Econometrics for Financial Applications , no. : 759-769.

Journal article
Published: 02 September 2017 in Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education
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We discuss here conceptual change and the formation of robust learning outcomes from the viewpoint of complex dynamic systems (CDS). The CDS view considers students’ conceptions as context dependent and multifaceted structures which depend on the context of their application. In the CDS view the conceptual patterns (i.e. intuitive conceptions here) may be robust in a certain situation but are not formed, at least not as robust ones, in another situation. The stability is then thought to arise dynamically in a variety of ways and not so much to mirror rigid ontological categories or static intuitive conceptions. We use computational modelling to understand the generic dynamic and emergent features of that phenomenon. The model is highly simplified and idealized, but it shows how context dependence, described here by an epistemic landscape structure, leads to the formation of context dependent robust states that can be viewed as attractors in learning, and how owing to the sharply defined nature of these states, learning appears as a progression of switches from one state to another, giving thus the appearance of conceptual change as switches from one robust state to another. Finally, we discuss the implications of the results in directing attention to the design of learning tasks and their structure, and how empirically accessible learning outcomes might be related to these underlying factors.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Tommi Kokkonen; Maiji Nousiainen. Complex Dynamic Systems View on Conceptual Change: How a Picture of Students’ Intuitive Conceptions Accrue From Dynamically Robust Task Dependent Learning Outcomes. Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education 2017, 14, 1 .

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Tommi Kokkonen, Maiji Nousiainen. Complex Dynamic Systems View on Conceptual Change: How a Picture of Students’ Intuitive Conceptions Accrue From Dynamically Robust Task Dependent Learning Outcomes. Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education. 2017; 14 (2):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Tommi Kokkonen; Maiji Nousiainen. 2017. "Complex Dynamic Systems View on Conceptual Change: How a Picture of Students’ Intuitive Conceptions Accrue From Dynamically Robust Task Dependent Learning Outcomes." Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education 14, no. 2: 1.

Journal article
Published: 15 April 2017 in European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
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Argumentation in teaching and its centrality in higher education has been noted to be important. The logical order of presented content knowledge and soundness of reasoning are both essential parts of well-planned teaching. Even though coherent and sound argumentation is essential, even more important is the ability to reorganize the content structure for teaching purposes. This study investigates pre-service physics teachers’ knowledge justification schemes (identification of content knowledge) and didactical schemes about four different topics on quantum physics. The data is collected from a physics teacher preparation course which attended of N=16 pre-service physics teachers’. The knowledge justification schemes (KJS) and didactical schemes (DS) were evaluated and scored. Each pre-service teachers’ scores of KJS’s and DS’s were summed up and normalized from 0 to 1. The results suggest that successful identification of content knowledge (quality of KJS) is a pre-requisite qualified didactical scheme but the opposite never happens. The results offer new kind of understanding how scientific argumentation can be implemented in higher education and especially in teacher education. The possibilities to use argumentation as a teaching method as well as method to learn scientific knowledge in teacher education is discussed.

ACS Style

Maija Nousiainen. Organization of physics content knowledge for teaching purposes: From knowledge justification schemes to didactical schemes. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 2017, 5, 210 -221.

AMA Style

Maija Nousiainen. Organization of physics content knowledge for teaching purposes: From knowledge justification schemes to didactical schemes. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. 2017; 5 (2):210-221.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maija Nousiainen. 2017. "Organization of physics content knowledge for teaching purposes: From knowledge justification schemes to didactical schemes." European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 5, no. 2: 210-221.

Journal article
Published: 01 March 2017 in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
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ACS Style

I.T. Koponen; T. Kokkonen; Maija Nousiainen. Modelling sociocognitive aspects of students’ learning. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 2017, 470, 68 -81.

AMA Style

I.T. Koponen, T. Kokkonen, Maija Nousiainen. Modelling sociocognitive aspects of students’ learning. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications. 2017; 470 ():68-81.

Chicago/Turabian Style

I.T. Koponen; T. Kokkonen; Maija Nousiainen. 2017. "Modelling sociocognitive aspects of students’ learning." Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 470, no. : 68-81.

Journal article
Published: 15 January 2017 in European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
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The concepts of electricity and magnetism in physics are complex and demanding to learn because their meaning builds through several different phenomenological areas. Each of these phenomenological areas adds a certain facet of the meaning of the concept. All standard physics textbooks discuss at least 1) force, 2) energy and work, and 3) electric charge and current, which are different phenomenological facets of field and which also are implicitly covered in instruction. It is of interest to ask, how these three facets are actually reflected in university students’ declarative (expressed and communicated) knowledge of electric and magnetic field concepts. Here this problem is addressed by using recently introduced concept networks as a research tool. Using these concept networks, pre-service physics teachers have represented their views how electric and magnetic field concepts are linked to other concepts and conceptual elements in electricity and magnetism. The results suggest that more extensive is the students’ basis of content knowledge the more balanced are the facets, while students with less extensive basis of content knowledge tend to favour forcebased understanding of the electric and magnetic fields. The implications of the findings on teaching and instruction are discussed.

ACS Style

Maija Nousiainen; Ismo Koponen. Pre-service physics teachers’ content knowledge of electric and magnetic field concepts: Conceptual facets and their balance. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 2017, 5, 74 -90.

AMA Style

Maija Nousiainen, Ismo Koponen. Pre-service physics teachers’ content knowledge of electric and magnetic field concepts: Conceptual facets and their balance. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. 2017; 5 (1):74-90.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maija Nousiainen; Ismo Koponen. 2017. "Pre-service physics teachers’ content knowledge of electric and magnetic field concepts: Conceptual facets and their balance." European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 5, no. 1: 74-90.

Journal article
Published: 18 October 2016 in Complex Adaptive Systems Modeling
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Purpose In small cooperative and collaborative groups, patterns of interaction, discourse and dialogue are often strongly bidirectional; ties are reciprocal and reciprocated. This reciprocation of ties leads to the formation of interaction patterns that are reciprocated dyads (two individuals connected reciprocally) and triads (three individuals connected reciprocally). In this study, we use an agent-based model to explore how such reciprocated dyadic and triadic patterns emerge from self-reinforced appreciation between peers in a small group. Methods The model assumes that the agents’ decisions to interact depend on how their self-appreciation compares to their appreciations of their peers (peer-appreciation). These comparisons are competitive in that an agent seek to increase its appreciation in relation to its peers. As a consequence, agents change their self-appreciation and appreciation towards their peers depending on their sensitivity to the competitive comparison. Results When agents’ sensitivity to competitive comparisons is low, the most common patterns of appreciation are egalitarian triads (all three agents appreciate each other), while for moderate sensitivity, leadership-type patterns emerge (one agent connected strongly to two other unconnected agents). When sensitivity is high, strong reciprocally connected dyads emerge. The model thus predicts thus a transition from egalitarian triads to strong dyads as agents’ sensitivity to competitive comparisons increases. Conclusions The structural similarity between patterns emerging as model results and patterns reported in empirical research suggests that: (1) reciprocation based on appreciation is a strong candidate for explaining the formation of such patterns, and (2) individual sensitivity to competitive comparisons of appreciation may be a key factor that can be used to the tune dynamics of interaction in small groups.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Formation of reciprocal appreciation patterns in small groups: an agent-based model. Complex Adaptive Systems Modeling 2016, 4, 24 .

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Formation of reciprocal appreciation patterns in small groups: an agent-based model. Complex Adaptive Systems Modeling. 2016; 4 (1):24.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2016. "Formation of reciprocal appreciation patterns in small groups: an agent-based model." Complex Adaptive Systems Modeling 4, no. 1: 24.

Journal article
Published: 05 July 2016 in Complexity
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The process of learning scientific knowledge from the dynamic systems viewpoint is studied in terms probabilistic learning model (PLM), where learning accrues from foraging in the epistemic landscape. The PLM leads to the formation of attractor-type regions of preferred models in an epistemic landscape. The attractor-type states correspond to robust learning outcomes which are more probable than others. These can be assigned either to the high confidence in model selection or to the dynamic evolution of a learner's proficiency, which depends on the learning history. The results suggest that robust learning states are essentially context dependent, and that learning is a continuous development between these context dependent states. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2016

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Tommi Kokkonen; Maija Nousiainen. Dynamic systems view of learning a three-tiered theory in physics: robust learning outcomes as attractors. Complexity 2016, 21, 259 -267.

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Tommi Kokkonen, Maija Nousiainen. Dynamic systems view of learning a three-tiered theory in physics: robust learning outcomes as attractors. Complexity. 2016; 21 (S2):259-267.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Tommi Kokkonen; Maija Nousiainen. 2016. "Dynamic systems view of learning a three-tiered theory in physics: robust learning outcomes as attractors." Complexity 21, no. S2: 259-267.

Journal article
Published: 30 October 2015 in LUMAT: International Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education
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Helsingin yliopiston Fysiikan laitoksella annettava aineenopettajan koulutus keskittyy opettajien aineenhallinan syventämiseen ja se perustuu didaktisen fysiikan tutkimukseen. Didaktinen fysiikka puolestaan on fysiikkaan kuuluva tutkimuksen ja opetuksen ala, joka keskittyy fysiikan käsitteiden, käsiterakenteiden ja niiden kehittymiseen liittyvien piirteiden tutkimukseen. Didaktiseen fysiikkaan nojautuva fysiikan opettajankoulutus hyödyntää tätä tietoa fysiikan opetuksen suunnittelussa ja toteutuksessa. Didaktisen fysiikan tavoitteena on fysiikan opetuksen kehittäminen siten, että opetus ja oppiminen olisivat mahdollisimman lähellä sitä, millaisena fysiikka tieteenä näyttäytyy. Didaktisen fysiikan tutkimuksen ”tuotteita” ovat opetuksellisten lähestymistapojen mallit, erityiset didaktiset sovellukset, opetuksessa käytettävät työskentelymenetelmät, kurssisuunnitelmat ja oppimateriaalit.

ACS Style

Ismo Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Didaktinen fysiikka opettajankoulutusta suuntaamassa. LUMAT: International Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education 2015, 3, 729 -743.

AMA Style

Ismo Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Didaktinen fysiikka opettajankoulutusta suuntaamassa. LUMAT: International Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education. 2015; 3 (6):729-743.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2015. "Didaktinen fysiikka opettajankoulutusta suuntaamassa." LUMAT: International Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education 3, no. 6: 729-743.

Conference paper
Published: 01 January 2015 in Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management
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The SCITEPRESS Digital Library offers online access to all papers presented at INSTICC conferences, as well as a few conferences organized by others.

ACS Style

Ismo Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Finding the Key Concepts of Students’ Knowledge - A Network Analysis of Coherence and Contingency of Knowledge Structures. Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management 2015, 239 -244.

AMA Style

Ismo Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Finding the Key Concepts of Students’ Knowledge - A Network Analysis of Coherence and Contingency of Knowledge Structures. Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management. 2015; ():239-244.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2015. "Finding the Key Concepts of Students’ Knowledge - A Network Analysis of Coherence and Contingency of Knowledge Structures." Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management , no. : 239-244.

Journal article
Published: 19 February 2014 in Journal of Complex Networks
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Students' understanding of scientific conceptual knowledge is often represented as an interlinked web of concepts, principles, laws and models. A long-standing problem in educational research is identifying the key concepts that are central in producing cohesion and contingency in such a web. Here we use network analysis to examine students' representations of the relatedness of physics concepts in the form of concept maps, and suggest how key concepts can be identified. The concept maps are analysed as weighted networks, where nodes are concepts or other conceptual elements and links represent different types of epistemically justified connections between concepts. The importance of concepts in providing cohesion is operationalized through subgraph centrality $${\mathrm {SC}}$$, while their importance in providing contingency is operationalized through communicability betweenness centrality $${\mathrm {BC}}$$. Key concepts are identified through importance ranking $${\mathrm {IR}}$$, which is the geometric mean of $${\mathrm {SC}}$$ and $${\mathrm {BC}}$$, suitably normalized. We show that $${\mathrm {IR}}$$ is able to reliably identify a set of nodes that are the most important in all networks. In order to effect a more detailed comparison of different concept networks, a similarity measure is developed, which pays attention to subtle but important differences in the importance rankings of concepts in different concept networks.

ACS Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. Concept networks in learning: finding key concepts in learners' representations of the interlinked structure of scientific knowledge. Journal of Complex Networks 2014, 2, 187 -202.

AMA Style

Ismo T. Koponen, Maija Nousiainen. Concept networks in learning: finding key concepts in learners' representations of the interlinked structure of scientific knowledge. Journal of Complex Networks. 2014; 2 (2):187-202.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ismo T. Koponen; Maija Nousiainen. 2014. "Concept networks in learning: finding key concepts in learners' representations of the interlinked structure of scientific knowledge." Journal of Complex Networks 2, no. 2: 187-202.