The game of chess and its immediate precursors have a history of over 2,000 years. But what of the prehistory of the game and the pieces used? The hypothesis presented in this article is that the development of the pieces that are now associated with chess is part of a cultural ecological continuum of gaming materials through stones and other naturally occurring materials with simple shapes, stones shaped and embellished by human hands, naturally occurring stones with human or animal likenesses, figurines made from stone, clay, wood and other materials, and proto-chess pieces. It is suggested that comparative analysis of artefact assemblages, taking account of context, associated objects, spatial distributions and usage histories, may reveal patterns and connections that enable a more refined understanding of how the symbolism and iconography of chess developed and how they are reflected in the selection of gaming materials and the emergence of proto-chess pieces.

Studying Traditional Crafts’ was the theme of a conference organised by the Estonian Native Crafts Department of the Viljandi Culture Academy, one of four colleges in the University of Tartu. The conference was held in Viljandi, November 12th-13th, 2019, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Department. Over one hundred people attended the conference, many from Estonia, but also delegates from Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, Tajikistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. A conference is a collective sharing of ideas and points of view: knowledge and understandings are built collaboratively through critical reflection, cross-disciplinary exchange, consensus and sometimes by disagreement. This report of the conference is an interpretation and synthesis of its proceedings in generalised terms. For readers wishing to see specific presentations, most of them are available on the conference website: https://sisu.ut.ee/craftconference2019/lectures. To be a craft practitioner is to be an ‘insider’, to work with tools and materials, drawing on a unique combination of experience, knowledge and skill, to produce useful or aesthetic objects. Many of the people who now study traditions and crafts are not themselves practitioners. There is a small but increasing number of people who are practitioners and who are conducting academic research on crafts, either on their own practices or on those of others. More people are involved in curation, conservation, preservation and renovation, mostly employed in the museums and heritage sectors. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have to cater for this growing demand. The job of the researcher of traditional crafts is to unravel the biography of the object and its maker, to understand something of changing contexts. Here the abilities of the historical researcher and anthropologist are valuable. The more we know historically about how craft objects were made and the socio-economic and cultural circumstances in which the making took place, the greater is the heritage value. In heritage re-creations, ‘authenticity’ is important, which in turn requires close attention to historical detail. Heritage and tradition are increasingly seen as components of national identity and crafts as a means of keeping that identity alive. Higher education about traditional crafts provides a framework for discussing tradition as a dynamic cultural process and critiquing it in environmental and societal terms at local, national and global levels. HEIs have to be responsive to new ideas, new connections and emerging agendas. Many craft practices can be shown to be inextricably linked to landuse, which in turn has a major impact on biodiversity. Locally-based initiatives which integrate fulfilling employment with responsible land management are no longer rarities. People are making lifestyle choices which recognise tradition because of its contribution to quality of life and a good environment. In response to these developments, the new courses and opportunities offered by HEIs are exciting, but they also call for innovative approaches to teaching and learning. The Viljandi conference addressed these challenges, giving voice to approaches from different national and cultural contexts and from different traditions of making and research.

"Paths between head and heart: exploring the harmonies of science and spirituality." Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 9(2), pp. 178–179

This research is a contribution to issues of digital technology use at the interface of formal and informal learning contexts. The research was conducted in the discourse tradition and investigates Finnish teacher training students' 'manners of speaking' as resources for, and obstacles to, making pedagogical changes in response to the potential of digital technology. Findings revealed that the resources and obstacles associated with transitions between formal and informal learning contexts are concerned with students' engagement in: (i) linking formal and informal activities, (ii) avoiding uncertainty, and (iii) participating in shared work practices. This research argues that risk taking is an opportunity in making the associated pedagogical changes. Risk taking can be developed in teacher education by critically evaluating how to support students in their use of digital technology at personal, group and cultural levels.

This article reports comparative case studies in three countries: Estonia, Cyprus and Peru. Through these, the cultural ecologies of six textile craft practitioners, two in each country, were investigated using an interview-based situational analysis. Cultural ecology is concerned with transactional relationships between people and the environments that they inhabit. It provides a lens on the processes of continuity and change that shape cultural patterns and cultural traditions. Interviews were conducted in open format around questions about biographical and professional practice. Relationships between practitioners' personal histories and their craft practices were explored. Outcomes suggest that the cultural ecologies are profoundly shaped by the transmission of customs, beliefs and values from generation to generation, which, in turn, are located within a place of social interaction conferring a sense of belonging and an environment for the formation of social identities. These attachments powerfully influence continuity in the craft traditions. The interrelated processes of globalization and technological development are the dominant agents of change. Responses to these pressures vary with the practitioners in the three countries and are linked to factors associated with cultural resilience.

The topic of this book concerns protection of sacred sites in the Arctic. To recognise indigenous customary law means to support indigenous customary protection of such sacred sites. It also implies safeguarding cultural heritage in the Arctic. Both legal pluralism and cultural ecology help us understand indigenous customary laws in the Arctic and why we should recognise them. The aim of this chapter is to explain the relations between cultural ecology and legal pluralism in making a case for the recognition of indigenous customary law in the Arctic. It is not about human rights or international public law. It does not deal with any substantial law. However, the implications of the ideas presented here concern constitutional law, cultural autonomy, political autonomy, international law, and the concept of sovereignty. The ideas refer also to the problem of ethos as the basis of every law and society.

This research focuses on Finnish students' (n = 84) experiences of using personal iPads in their studies through 3 years of upper secondary schooling. It is based on results from one of the first schools in Finland where all the new students were provided with iPads at the start of their studies. Data consists of: (i) 127 short stories written by students about how they would advise a new teacher and a new student to use iPads in teaching and learning, and (ii) four group discussions on the same topics. Qualitative thematic analysis of the data was guided by the TPACK framework. Results suggest that: (i) teachers' pedagogical approaches changed little in response to the new devices and remained largely teacher-centred, and (ii) students do not have the confidence to radically change learning styles to take advantage of the affordances of the devices. The value that iPads add to teaching and learning is difficult to quantify because of the complex and often conflicting factors involved. Overall, the findings imply that teachers' TPACK is generally resistant to change and students' proto-TPACK is insufficiently developed to initiate change. An approach that systematically develops both students' and teachers' TPACK is advocated.

Many pre-service teachers are members of the net generation and are expected to be familiar with different ICTs, yet several studies have indicated that they are not necessarily able to use them for teaching and learning. The notion of teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) is central to this concern. In this study we use the responses of 146 pre-service teachers to open-ended questions about the experiences and knowledge of ICT and pedagogy they brought with them when they entered university teacher training. The data were analysed qualitatively with content analysis based on an integrative framework generated from a number of theoretical perspectives. Derived categories and subcategories were used to construct a framework for `proto-TPK' as a basis for establishing a starting point for the coordinated development of TPK with students in their university training and early careers.

Visual databases are increasingly important resources through which individuals and groups can undertake species identification. This paper reports research on the collaborative processes undertaken by pre-service teacher students when working in small groups to identify birds using an Internet-based taxonomic resource. The student groups are conceptualised as 'knowledge-building communities' working in a 'joint problem space' comprising the collective knowledge of the participants interacting with the taxonomic database. Collaborative group work and associated dialogue were recorded with digital video. The recordings were analysed for the categories of dialogue and the categories of knowledge used by the students as they interacted with the taxonomic database and how they drew on their previous experiences of identifying birds. The outcomes are discussed in the context of the interplay of individual and social processes and the interplay between abstraction and lived experience in the joint problem space.

Scaffolding helps the novice to accomplish a task goal or solve a problem that otherwise would be beyond unassisted efforts. Scaffolding firstly aims to support the learner in accomplishing the task and secondly in learning from the task and improving future performance. This study has examined pre-service teachers' experiences of technology enhanced/computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning when studying the anatomy of fish. The study investigated pre-service teachers' experiences of scaffolded use of a Wiki in structuring a dissection inquiry activity combined with scaffolded use of digital imaging to support problematizing during the sense making process. Quantitative data on the benefits experienced by the pre-service teachers in using the Wiki and in digital imaging were collected through responses to questions posted through an online questionnaire. Structure equation modeling was used to investigate the relationship between scaffolding with the Wiki and the experienced benefits of using technology. The use of structural scaffolding with the Wiki was not seen to be directly related to the experienced benefits. In encouraging knowledge acquisition and supporting deeper thinking on the topic, digital imaging had the strongest positive relationship to the experienced benefits of the technology, but there was no direct relationship with the use of the Wiki. However, scaffolding by structuring the activity with the Wiki had meditational, indirect, effects through visualizations and peer support to intentional and active participation and thus the scaffolds were working during the inquiry synergistically. For teacher education this means that pre-service teachers may recognize the benefits of using technology only through a significant experience and thus under value the role of the technology itself.

This article concerns perspectives on, and formative experiences of, crafts and cultural heritage reported by twenty exchange students from seven countries who studied Cultural Heritage and Craft Education in an International Study Programme at a University in Finland. The research is reported in a cultural ecological framework. Data were collected through individual and group activities concerned with students' understandings of key terms, memories evoked by undertaking craft activities, values held about crafts and cultural heritage, and accounts of craft education. Results show that engaging in craft practices evokes strong associations with people, places, artefacts, activities, feelings and sensations. Crafts are valued particularly for the way they connect with culture and the possibilities they offer for self-expression. Cultural heritage is associated with crafts but relationships between the two are not taught in schools. The significance of the research concerns the case made for connecting crafts and cultural heritage in a broader conceptualization of arts education.

This paper reports research in Finland into how pre-service teachers' experiences of using Second Life in a course about sex education, and how projections about the use of virtual environments like Second Life in their future teaching at primary level, contributed to the development of their proto-TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge). Data collected consist of empathy-based stories and reflective discussions. Results suggest that despite challenges with the technology, the pre-service teachers offered insightful reflections on their use of Second Life in learning from the perspective of the different components of the TPACK frame, especially technological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge. However, the experience of using Second Life did little to extend their content knowledge (of sex education).

This research focuses on how experiences of learning with ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways can affect pre-service teachers' intentions to use ICT for teaching and learning. The research is based on the framework of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). It is a quasi-experimental design study with pre- and post-testing. The effects that a 12-week course using collaborative, inquiry based learning practices and several ICT applications have on four areas of pre-service teachers' TPB are investigated. The research was conducted using repeated measures t-tests and structure equation modelling (SEM). The results indicate that there were no differences in pre-service teachers' attitudes and behavioural intentions towards the use of ICT for teaching and learning. Statistically significant changes were found in pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and subjective norms concerning the use of ICT for teaching and learning. Also, differences between pre- and post-testing were found in the relationship between subjective norms and self-efficacy and other areas of TPB.

This paper reports a comparative study in a Finnish school and a British school of the emotional associations made by 10-11-year-olds with their school grounds. Colour and symbol associations were used as a stimulus for getting students to engage with their school grounds, describe their feelings about them, and produce a lexicon of emotion words'. The lexicon was used by the students in writing descriptive texts explaining place meanings' and place attachments'. In addition to content analysis, sentiment analysis algorithms were used to yield hierarchical representations of the affective content of the texts. The detail of the most frequently used emotion words is reported and similarities and differences between the associations in the two different cultural settings are discussed. The lexicon associated with the school grounds in both schools was largely positive. The educational implications of supporting students in engaging with learning environments are briefly discussed.

In this paper we review briefly histories and ideologies underlying multiculturalism in Nordic countries, highlighting tensions between integrationist and inclusive approaches. We propose a cultural ecological framework through which we discuss the possibility of a transculturalism based on Fourth World engagement with the environment. Cultural ecology is about the reciprocal interactions and transactions between people and their environments. The Fourth World is a circum-global, pan-arctic region which includes the northern parts of some Nordic countries. We argue that whether or not there is a distinctively Nordic version of multiculturalism, Nordic countries have access to Fourth World ways of engaging with the environment which transcend notions of inter- and multiculturalism and the ideological tensions associated with them.

This chapter sets out an approach to professional development and team building in a newly established faculty in a Finnish university. A method is given for mapping the academic and professional experiences of eight faculty members across disciplinary boundaries to arrive at a cross-disciplinary framework for collaborative research in multi- and intercultural education. Building cumulatively on faculty members' expertise, the mapping revealed three interconnected themes as a basis for collaborative research: boundary transactions between knowledge, skill, and language; boundary objects as representations and carriers of culture; and technological mediation of boundary encounters. A collectively agreed position statement is given for each of the themes along with a discussion of associated pedagogical ideas.

This study focuses on upper secondary and vocational level teachers as users of social software i.e. what software they use during their leisure and work and for what purposes they use software in teaching. The study is theorised within a technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, the emphasis is especially on technological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge. Four hundred thirty seven teachers were surveyed using an online questionnaire with Likert scaled statements and open-ended questions. Results suggest that the number of different types of social software actively used for teaching is small and that the potential of social software as a tool for supporting collaborative learning has not yet been realised. Discussion of the results is framed in the context of teachers’ developing technological pedagogical content knowledge.

The aim of this chapter is to draw together two theoretical perspectives on the dynamics of educational change and propose a contemporary integrated framework as an analytical tool for use in education. A cultural ecological framework, which views the individual as an integral part of the environment and places significance on interaction with the environment in the context of daily work, is integrated with a cyclonic transactional framework, which emerges from recent research on online education and traverses hermeneutical, transformational mechanisms. The cyclonic transactional framework forms a bridge between abstraction and lived experience, which are both at the heart of the cultural ecological framework, and provides a mechanism through which learning relationships may be explored. The augmented and integrated framework, developed from historical and current explorations, is a tool that can assist policy development, implementation, and evaluation for both classroom and online education.