Mirva Heikkilä
Biographic Data
| ID | 5398190 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mirva Heikkilä |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mirva |
| FAMILY NAME | Heikkilä |
| SIGNATURE | HEIKKILÄ M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Turku |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6873-3943 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Student teachers’ syntheses of knowledge on biodiversity loss from relevant, irrelevant and fake sources
Scientific literacy is becoming increasingly important for teachers in the current knowledge landscape, where fake information is gaining ground. However, little is known about how fake content becomes part of ordinary knowledge in science education. This study investigated how Finnish student teachers recognised fake content on the topic of biodiversity loss in an online learning environment and how they used it. Seventy-one first-semester prima…
The Role of Educational Science in Professional Knowledge
The significance of theoretical knowledge for professional practice is widely acknowledged, but how students in professional education construct meanings of their major subject remains understudied. This study examined how primary student teachers reflect on the role of educational science in their professional knowledge. Textual data were collected after their first practicum in a Finnish primary teacher education programme. Discourse analysis i…
How is mental health associated with adolescent alpha-amylase and cortisol reactivity and coordination
To better understand the role of neuroendocrinological regulation in adolescent mental health, stress reactivity needs to be analyzed through both the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Accordingly, this study examined how adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing mental health symptoms are associated with their salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol levels, responses, and coordination (symmetry vers…
Polyphonic agency as precondition for teachers’ research literacy
This article provides a conceptual clarification of the complementary relationship between teachers’ research literacy and their role-based agency. In many countries, teachers are increasingly expected to actively use and develop research. However, without taking account of teachers’ distinct conditions of agency, this expectation may weaken rather than strengthen the profession. Top-down mechanisms that push teachers to follow rigid evidence-bas…
Student teachers’ conceptual understanding of biodiversity loss in a multiple-source learning environment
Environmental content is becoming increasingly important in schools, but teachers may have difficulty grasping accurate knowledge. This study investigated how student teachers construct a conceptual understanding of biodiversity loss in an online environment. Sixty-five first-semester primary student teachers at a Finnish university were given the task of writing a synthesis of text from online sources to prepare for a primary school science less…
Epistemic agency in student teachers’ engagement with research skills
In today’s knowledge intensive and post-factual world, student teachers’ relationship towards knowledge is a vital element in learning to teach. Student teachers must have a sense of epistemic agency to see themselves as productive participants in knowledge-laden activities. However, little attention has been paid to the role of agency in the interconnections between research and teaching in higher education. This study aims to identify how epist…
Finnish pre-service teachers’ identity development after a year of initial teacher education
Amidst the broad range of teacher competencies, professional beliefs and professional identity are two important domains of personal orientations that inform teacher quality. This study examines how pre-service teachers have negotiated their professional identity after their first year in initial primary teacher education. The study uses qualitative data from an online survey voluntarily answered by seventy-two Finnish pre-service teachers in Spr…
Methodological Insights on Teachers’ Professional Agency in Narratives
This article presents post-structural narrative methodologies to examine teachers’ agency. According to previous research, agency is important for the learning and well-being of teachers. However, post-structuralism has questioned the assumption of agency as being located in the individual and has claimed a more entwined and relational perspective. The article disturbs clear-cut categorisations of teachers’ agency as strong or weak and argues for…
Exploring the relational nature of teachers’ agency negotiation through master- and counter-narratives
Teachers’ agency has recently been vastly studied from a sociocultural perspective, emphasising that teachers’ action is shaped by the structures within which teachers work. However, this study provides a different perspective, introducing relational sociology to the research on teachers’ agency. Here, agency is seen as embedded in interdependencies and relationships, either personal or impersonal. Finnish newly qualified teachers were interviewe…
Voices of student teachers' professional agency at the intersection of theory and practice
Exploring the relational nature of teachers’ agency negotiation through master- and counter-narratives
Teachers’ agency has recently been vastly studied from a sociocultural perspective, emphasising that teachers’ action is shaped by the structures within which teachers work. However, this study provides a different perspective, introducing relational sociology to the research on teachers’ agency. Here, agency is seen as embedded in interdependencies and relationships, either personal or impersonal. Finnish newly qualified teachers were interviewe…
Voices of student teachers' professional agency at the intersection of theory and practice
Methodological Insights on Teachers’ Professional Agency in Narratives
This article presents post-structural narrative methodologies to examine teachers’ agency. According to previous research, agency is important for the learning and well-being of teachers. However, post-structuralism has questioned the assumption of agency as being located in the individual and has claimed a more entwined and relational perspective. The article disturbs clear-cut categorisations of teachers’ agency as strong or weak and argues for…
Exploring the relational nature of teachers’ agency negotiation through master- and counter-narratives
Teachers’ agency has recently been vastly studied from a sociocultural perspective, emphasising that teachers’ action is shaped by the structures within which teachers work. However, this study provides a different perspective, introducing relational sociology to the research on teachers’ agency. Here, agency is seen as embedded in interdependencies and relationships, either personal or impersonal. Finnish newly qualified teachers were interviewe…
Epistemic agency in student teachers’ engagement with research skills
In today’s knowledge intensive and post-factual world, student teachers’ relationship towards knowledge is a vital element in learning to teach. Student teachers must have a sense of epistemic agency to see themselves as productive participants in knowledge-laden activities. However, little attention has been paid to the role of agency in the interconnections between research and teaching in higher education. This study aims to identify how epist…
Finnish pre-service teachers’ identity development after a year of initial teacher education
Amidst the broad range of teacher competencies, professional beliefs and professional identity are two important domains of personal orientations that inform teacher quality. This study examines how pre-service teachers have negotiated their professional identity after their first year in initial primary teacher education. The study uses qualitative data from an online survey voluntarily answered by seventy-two Finnish pre-service teachers in Spr…
How is mental health associated with adolescent alpha-amylase and cortisol reactivity and coordination
To better understand the role of neuroendocrinological regulation in adolescent mental health, stress reactivity needs to be analyzed through both the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Accordingly, this study examined how adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing mental health symptoms are associated with their salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol levels, responses, and coordination (symmetry vers…
Polyphonic agency as precondition for teachers’ research literacy
This article provides a conceptual clarification of the complementary relationship between teachers’ research literacy and their role-based agency. In many countries, teachers are increasingly expected to actively use and develop research. However, without taking account of teachers’ distinct conditions of agency, this expectation may weaken rather than strengthen the profession. Top-down mechanisms that push teachers to follow rigid evidence-bas…
Student teachers’ conceptual understanding of biodiversity loss in a multiple-source learning environment
Environmental content is becoming increasingly important in schools, but teachers may have difficulty grasping accurate knowledge. This study investigated how student teachers construct a conceptual understanding of biodiversity loss in an online environment. Sixty-five first-semester primary student teachers at a Finnish university were given the task of writing a synthesis of text from online sources to prepare for a primary school science less…
The Role of Educational Science in Professional Knowledge
The significance of theoretical knowledge for professional practice is widely acknowledged, but how students in professional education construct meanings of their major subject remains understudied. This study examined how primary student teachers reflect on the role of educational science in their professional knowledge. Textual data were collected after their first practicum in a Finnish primary teacher education programme. Discourse analysis i…
Student teachers’ syntheses of knowledge on biodiversity loss from relevant, irrelevant and fake sources
Scientific literacy is becoming increasingly important for teachers in the current knowledge landscape, where fake information is gaining ground. However, little is known about how fake content becomes part of ordinary knowledge in science education. This study investigated how Finnish student teachers recognised fake content on the topic of biodiversity loss in an online learning environment and how they used it. Seventy-one first-semester prima…
Pedagogy (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Social science (5 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (5 works) · Professional development (4 works) · Teacher education (4 works) · Mathematics education (3 works) · Narrative (3 works) · Political science (3 works)