Johannes Pernaa
@helsinki.fi
University Lecturer, Department of Chemistry/faculty of Science
University of Helsinki
I work as a university lecturer at the Chemistry Department in University of Helsinki. My main responsibility is to develop chemistry teacher education in our university, which includes a lot of teaching and thesis supervising. I am also the Editor-in-Chief of LUMAT.
EDUCATION
2015 B.Eng., Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
2011 Ph.D., University of Helsinki
2008 M.Sc., University of Helsinki
2008 B.Sc., University of Helsinki
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Chemistry, Education, Computer Science, Information Systems
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Emmi Vuorio, Johannes Pernaa, and Maija Aksela
MDPI AG
This paper explores how concept maps can be structured based on researcher narration as a systems thinking (ST) approach in science education to portray the systemic nature of developmental work by chemists on solutions related to sustainability. Sustainability cannot be achieved without a systemic approach that considers all the domains of prosperity and well-being—ecological, social, and economic. Science education must respond to this challenge accordingly and find effective ways to include the ST approach. Data were collected from three semi-structured, in-depth interviews with chemists. The analysis was carried out using qualitative content analysis and modelling the systemic structures in concept maps as articulated by the chemists. The results show that authentic narratives of chemists’ developmental work can be used as material in a concept mapping exercise to reveal several ST elements and learning objectives, including leverage points and delays, that have not been presented in previous exercises. The chemists’ descriptions were also found to address the challenge of sustainability education by depicting a holistic and multidimensional picture of the reality where the developmental work is conducted. Furthermore, all three domains of sustainability were identified. The economic and industrial perspectives were especially valuable from the science education viewpoint.
Outi Haatainen, Johannes Pernaa, Reija Pesonen, Julia Halonen, and Maija Aksela
MDPI AG
This qualitative case study aims to examine the role of a non-formal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning laboratory in supporting the development of teacher identity among pre-service science teachers. With teacher identity impacting the educational responsiveness and resilience of a teacher, it is important to support the professional identity of STEM educators if we are to enhance the quality of STEM education. Data collection occurred in three stages between 2017 and 2024. Qualitative content analysis through an inductive category formation was used for data analysis. The intercoder reliability was checked (Cohen’s kappa 0.802). Results suggest that non-formal STEM learning environments can enhance pre-service teachers’ professional learning and identity by allowing the autonomous practical application of theory in an authentic collaborative laboratory environment and by strengthening their self-efficacy through positive teaching experiences. Participants reported that such versatile experiences are generally not available during their formal university education. This study offers suggestions for STEM teacher education and insights into ongoing research dialogues about the role of non-formal learning in supporting the learning and identity of STEM teachers.
Johannes Pernaa, Topias Ikävalko, Aleksi Takala, Emmi Vuorio, Reija Pesonen, and Outi Haatainen
MDPI AG
Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are next-word predictors built on large language models (LLMs). There is great interest within the educational field for this new technology because AI chatbots can be used to generate information. In this theoretical article, we provide educational insights into the possibilities and challenges of using AI chatbots. These insights were produced by designing chemical information-seeking activities for chemistry teacher education which were analyzed via the SWOT approach. The analysis revealed several internal and external possibilities and challenges. The key insight is that AI chatbots will change the way learners interact with information. For example, they enable the building of personal learning environments with ubiquitous access to information and AI tutors. Their ability to support chemistry learning is impressive. However, the processing of chemical information reveals the limitations of current AI chatbots not being able to process multimodal chemical information. There are also ethical issues to address. Despite the benefits, wider educational adoption will take time. The diffusion can be supported by integrating LLMs into curricula, relying on open-source solutions, and training teachers with modern information literacy skills. This research presents theory-grounded examples of how to support the development of modern information literacy skills in the context of chemistry teacher education.
Topias Ikävalko, Johannes Pernaa, Outi Haatainen, and Maija Aksela
Frontiers Media SA
There is a great need to develop research-based models for supporting collaboration between educational institutions. Collaboration models are needed, for example, to assist the transition from lower educational level to higher education or from higher education to working life. In this research, collaboration was conducted through a joint course between upper secondary school and university, which addressed global challenges by using a project-based learning approach. There is a shortage of research exploring students’ perceptions of collaboration. Therefore, the main purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the relevance of the joint course for upper secondary school students and university students. The research was guided by the following research question: What kind of relevance did the students experience in the joint project-based learning course? The data were gathered using questionnaires, interviews, and reflective study reports. The data were analyzed via theory-based content analysis, where research-oriented relevance model was used as the analysis framework. The analysis framework enabled categorizing experienced relevance on individual, vocational, and societal dimensions. Altogether, the analysis produced seven relevance categories for upper secondary students and nine for university students. According to the analysis, upper secondary school students felt that the course offered the most on an individual relevance dimension, whereas university students experienced the vocational relevance dimension a the most diverse. As the main conclusion, this research produced new insights on the experienced relevance of upper secondary level and higher education cooperation from the students’ point of view. The acquired knowledge can be useful for everyone developing new cross-institutional collaboration models.
Rajiv Kumar, Magali Cucchiarin, Agnieszka Maria Jastrzębska, Gerardo Caruso, Johannes Pernaa, and Zarrin Minuchehr
Elsevier
Sari Yli-Kauhaluoma, Milt Statheropoulos, Anne Zygmanowski, Osmo Anttalainen, Hanna Hakulinen, Maria Theodora Kontogianni, Matti Kuula, Johannes Pernaa, and Paula Vanninen
MDPI AG
Public warning systems are an essential element of safe cities. However, the functionality of neither traditional nor digital emergency warnings is understood well enough from the perspective of citizens. This study examines smart city development from the perspective of safety by exploring citizens’ viewpoints. It investigates people’s perceptions of the ways in which they obtain warnings and information about emergencies involving health risks. Data were collected in the form of focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews in Finland, Germany, and Greece. The results suggest that people place a lot of trust in their social network, receiving text messages, and their ability to use web-based search engines in order to obtain public warnings. The study discusses the challenges identified by citizens in the use of conventional radio and television transmissions and sirens for public warnings. Based on the results, citizens demonstrate informed ignorance about existing mobile emergency applications. Our results imply that it is not sufficient to build emergency communication infrastructure: the development of smart, safe cities requires continuous work and the integration of both hard and soft infrastructure-oriented strategies, i.e., technological infrastructure development including digitalisation and education, advancement of knowledge, and participation of people. Both strategic aspects are essential to enable people to take advantage of novel digital applications in emergency situations.
Johannes Pernaa, Aleksi Takala, Veysel Ciftci, José Hernández-Ramos, Lizethly Cáceres-Jensen, and Jorge Rodríguez-Becerra
MDPI AG
This qualitative research explored the rationales of open-source development in cheminformatics. The objective was to promote open science by mapping out and categorizing the reasons why open-source development is being carried out. This topic is important because cheminformatics has an industrial background and open-source is the key solution in promoting the growth of cheminformatics as an independent academic field. The data consisted of 87 research articles that were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis produced six rationale categories: (1) Develop New Software, (2) Update Current Features, Tools, or Processes, (3) Improve Usability, (4) Support Open-source Development and Open Science, (5) Fulfill Chemical Information Needs, and (6) Support Chemistry Learning and Teaching. This classification can be used in designing rationales for future software development projects, which is one of the largest research areas in cheminformatics. In particular, there is a need to develop cheminformatics education for which software development can serve as an interesting multidisciplinary framework.
Topias Ikävalko, Johannes Pernaa, and Maija Aksela
MDPI AG
The transition from upper secondary school to higher education is a major change in students’ lives. Supporting students to make informed decisions based on a realistic view of higher education is one of the key elements to ensuring their motivation in future studies. Cooperation between upper secondary and higher education is one model for providing students with realistic views. However, little research has been produced from this cooperation. Therefore, the aim of this paper, based on mixed-method research, is to produce new insights into the opportunities provided by institutional cooperation by analyzing the views of Finnish upper secondary school principals (N = 94). The data were gathered using an online survey and analyzed via qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics. The results indicate that principals consider cooperation with higher education institutions to be beneficial but there are some challenges in its implementation, such as the different structures of upper secondary schools and universities and inadequate information about possible opportunities. There are also great differences in upper secondary schools’ levels of participation. Distance to the nearest higher education institution and the size of the upper secondary school affected the participation models. There is a need to support cooperation between institutions to ensure equal possibilities for students, such as common structures, better information, as well as a multitude of different opportunities.
Miha Ambrož, Johannes Pernaa, Outi Haatainen, and Maija Aksela
MDPI AG
We describe a master’s level chemistry education course that was designed to support STEM education by strengthening the E component with an engineering approach. Engineering approach is a method of conducting projects systematically similar to professional engineers. In the course, the future chemistry teachers were given the task of building a measurement instrument using a single-board computer (SBC). In addition to course description, we present a pilot study, the aim of which was to explore the opportunities and challenges the engineering approach initiates with pre-service chemistry teachers trying to accomplish a SBC-based open engineering project. The study employed a qualitative research approach, using the course as the data collection platform. The collected data was analyzed using an inductive content analysis. The data analysis shows that an open SBC project is a good platform for learning and teaching future chemistry teachers about chemistry-driven STEM education, but it is very challenging to conduct. The main conclusion is that the engineering approach is a practical solution for strengthening the engineering in STEM education. To generalize these findings to a wider context, we suggest further research to improve the course using this study’s results and re-evaluate the approach in a new instance of the course.
Jorge Rodríguez-Becerra and Johannes Pernaa
Frontiers Media SA
COPYRIGHT © 2023 Rodríguez-Becerra and Pernaa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Editorial: Computational science and STEM education
Johannes Pernaa, Vilja Kämppi, and Maija Aksela
MDPI AG
By introducing the sustainable nature of chemistry to students—makers of the future—teachers, and teacher students we can promote their scientific literacy and increase understanding of the relevance of chemistry research and studies in sustainability. Ionic liquids are a topical example of innovation of green chemistry research offering many possibilities for sustainable chemistry education. This article describes how to develop research-based learning materials on ionic liquids using educational design research as a design strategy. The design process included two cycles and the initial design solution was iterated via a qualitative case study conducted with future chemistry teachers. The main result of this research is the designed context-based activity that engages learners with individual, vocational, and societal levels of relevance. In addition, the study produced new insights into future chemistry teachers’ perceptions of ionic liquids’ possibilities in a chemistry learning context. According to future chemistry teachers, ionic liquids are an interesting new context for laboratory learning and can increase interest in chemistry studies.
Johannes Pernaa
American Chemical Society (ACS)
José Hernández-Ramos, Johannes Pernaa, Lizethly Cáceres-Jensen, and Jorge Rodríguez-Becerra
MDPI AG
Currently, a growing number of learning institutions at all educational levels are including problem-based learning (PBL) in their curricula. PBL scenarios often utilise technology and socio-scientific Issues (SSI), which enables the simultaneous learning of content and creative thinking and working skills needed in generating new knowledge for the future. In this sense, using SSI and technological tools in PBL learning environments can be viewed as a starting point for acquiring and integrating new knowledge. However, there is no comprehensive knowledge regarding the possibilities of this approach. The objective of this systematic review is to produce this knowledge via the PRISMA method. The strategy is used to explore the effects of the described approach through implementations conducted at secondary and undergraduate levels. The data consisted of 33 research articles that were categorised via qualitative content analysis. According to the results, PBL scenarios exploit mainly local SSIs that link scientific knowledge with a meaningful context for students. Technology is principally used in offering technical support for teaching tasks. Lastly, these results are discussed from the technological pedagogical science knowledge (TPASK) framework perspective, which proposes guidelines for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Lizethly Cáceres-Jensen, Jorge Rodríguez-Becerra, Bárbara Jorquera-Moreno, Mauricio Escudey, Sofía Druker-Ibañez, José Hernández-Ramos, Tatiana Díaz-Arce, Johannes Pernaa, and Maija Aksela
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Teaching the fundamentals of chemical kinetics on the college level is challenging to teachers and students alike due to its abstract nature of concepts and limited connection with real context app...
Johannes Pernaa, Gareth T. W. Law, and Sanjeev Ranjan
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Johannes Pernaa and Susanne Wiedmer
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Abstract The focus of this systematic literature analysis is to provide a comprehensive review of earlier research on the utilisation of 3D printers in chemistry education. The objective is to offer research-based knowledge for developing chemistry education through following research questions: what kind of work has been done in the field of 3D printing in chemistry education; what kind of design strategies have been implemented; how 3D printing has been used in chemistry education research. The data consists of 47 peer-reviewed articles which were analysed via qualitative content analysis using a technological pedagogical content knowledge framework. Theoretical framework was selected because integrating 3D printing in chemistry education requires knowledge of chemistry, technology, and most importantly, pedagogy. Our research indicates that integrating 3D printing begins by analysing current challenges which are reasoned via pedagogical or technological content knowledge-based arguments. 3D printing was used for producing solutions (e.g. physical models) that support working with found challenges. In chemistry education research, 3D printing has mainly been used for printing research instruments; few studies have investigated its effect on learning or students’ perceptions towards it. There is a great need for comprehensive student-centred pedagogical models for the use of 3D printing in chemistry education.
Jorge Rodríguez-Becerra, Lizethly Cáceres-Jensen, Tatiana Díaz, Sofía Druker, Víctor Bahamonde Padilla, Johannes Pernaa, and Maija Aksela
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
The purpose of this descriptive case study was to develop pre-service chemistry teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Science Knowledge (TPASK) through novel computational chemistry modules. The study consisted of two phases starting with designing a computational chemistry based learning environment followed by a case study where students’ perceptions towards educational computational chemistry were explored. First, we designed an authentic research-based chemistry learning module that supported problem-based learning through the utilisation of computational chemistry methods suitable for pre-service chemistry education. The objective of the learning module was to promote learning of specific chemistry knowledge and development of scientific skills. Systematic design decisions were made through the TPASK framework. The learning module was designed for a third-year physical chemistry course taken by pre-service chemistry teachers in Chile. After the design phase, the learning module was implemented in a course, and students’ perceptions were gathered using semi-structured group interviews. The sample consisted of 22 pre-service chemistry teachers. Data were analysed through qualitative content analysis using the same TPASK framework employed in the learning module design. Based on our findings, pre-service chemistry teachers first acquired Technological Scientific Knowledge (TSK) and then developed some elements of their TPASK. Besides, they highly appreciated the combination of student-centred problem-based learning and the use of computational chemistry tools. Students felt the educational computational learning environment supported their own knowledge acquisition and expressed an interest in applying similar learning environments in their future teaching careers. This case study demonstrates that learning through authentic real-world problems using educational computational methods offers great potential in supporting pre-service teachers’ instruction in the science of chemistry and pedagogy. For further research in the TPASK framework, we propose there would be significant benefit from developing new learning environments of this nature and evaluating their utility in pre-service and in-service chemistry teacher's education.
Johannes Pernaa and Veli-Matti Vesterinen
LUMA Centre Finland
During the past few decades, several interconnected research traditions have paid more and more attention to the process of educational design. Educational design research and other design-oriented methods seek solutions for complex educational problems through systematic, iterative, and continuing process of design, development, and evaluation of educational practices. This special issue presents six articles including research on educational design research methodology as well as research utilizing educational design research methods.
Johannes Pernaa and Maija Aksela
American Chemical Society (ACS)
The topics of nature, for example semiochemicals, are motivating topics, which can be used to teach organic chemistry at high school level. The history, classifications, a few important applications of semiochemicals, and an semiochemical that can be synthesized in the laboratory are presented. The laboratory synthesis is carried out through the well-known Fischer esterification reaction, which is easy to implement in a high school laboratory. Computer-based molecular modeling, based on free software, can be used for supporting the characterization of the synthesized molecule. This information can be used as orientation and motivating material for inquiry- and context-based high-school organic chemistry.