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  […]

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.  […]

18. Finns Share Insights About American Education

“I guess I’d say I didn’t really like the multiple-choice thing in the U.S.  My sister said it really well: ‘It felt really funny to not having to produce anything yourself. You would just choose from already ready answers.’” Chapter 18 It’s toward the end of my journey and I sit down to interview students who […]