The “Finnish Way” to Optimize Student Learning
The “Finnish Way” to Optimize Student Learning Lessons from a Fulbright Experience by Janet English Dedicated to Curtis Browne and Bobby English “The Finnish Way” to Optimize Student Learning is a valuable resource for those wanting to improve educational policy and practice. Finns have been combining high quality educational research and classroom practice for more than twenty-five […]
The “Finnish Way” to Optimize Student Learning
The “Finnish Way” to Optimize Student Learning Lessons from a Fulbright Experience by Janet English Dedicated to Curtis Browne and Bobby English “The Finnish Way” to Optimize Student Learning is a valuable resource for those wanting to improve educational policy and practice. Finns have been combining high quality educational research and classroom practice for more than twenty-five […]
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements Thank you to all who helped make this project a success either through grants, friendship, support, or participation in the project. Major funding and support for this project provided by: The Fulbright Program, The Institute for International Education, Fulbright Center, Helsinki, Finland, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Bob English and Anna Zara, Harriet Roop, […]
Appendix B: Vocational School
Appendix B: Vocational School Finnish Basic Education is for children 7-16 years old. Students may then choose to continue their education at lukio (high school), vocational school, or not go to school at all. Vocational education offers professional certificates in more than forty-five fields including plumbing, electrical work, painting, and hospitality. After three years of study (and […]
Appendix A: American Research Used in Finnish Education
Appendix A: American Research Used in Finnish Education A list of American writers and research referenced by Finnish educators: Redesigning Group Work by Elizabeth Cohen Gerald Coles John Dewey The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by Tim Gallwey Predicting the Behavior of the Education System by Thomas F. Green […]
21. Lessons Learned and the Journey Home
A Summary of Lessons Learned Chapter 21 Finland is changing into the land of the “midnight sun;” the days are long, leaves are bursting from their branches and sea gulls have migrated back from the south. This morning I saw a brown hare the size of a dog. High school seniors took their matriculation exam last […]
1. The Frigid North
Chapter 1 The Frigid North My double prop plane touches down in eastern Finland forty-five miles from Russia, it is the dead of winter, the sky is overcast, and the trees and ground are covered with snow. It’s a little past noon and the sun is already low on the horizon. Yesterday I was living in sunny […]
2. Nine-Year-Olds with Power Tools
“If you have (a) main target, everybody learns.” Chapter 2 Down a short and gentle wheelchair ramp I enter a wide corridor into Joensuu Normal School. This is one of the teacher training schools at the University of Eastern Finland. On my left is the school cafeteria and on the right, a stuffed Finnish bear — one meter […]
3. Moonlight in the Finnish Forest
“I always give (students) problems to solve.” Chapter 3 Across the hall is a bulletin board with sketches of polar bears walking across the snow. Alongside it, pictures of the Finnish forest are painted in the moonlight, with most shadows placed correctly but some as if there is a second or third moon in the nighttime sky. I feel […]
4. Bridges, Chairs and Machines
“Problem solving probably takes place every day in the classrooms in Finland….” Chapter 4 Adjacent to the wood shop and next to the fireplace is a science lab with a ceiling two stories high. An image of the Joensuu night sky spreads across the ceiling and pinpricks of light shine as stars when the hanging room lights are turned off. […]