January Reflections and the Presidential Elections.

Fulbright Grantees at the ice-skating ring.  

My home for the next 6  months.

 I left sunny warm (82 F, 27 C) California on Wednesday 1/10 and arrived to dark cold (27 F, -3 C) Finland on Thursday. This will be my home for the next 6 moths. My apartment is in the middle of a construction site. The view from my balcony, which faces north-west, can be depressing with sand everywhere, but at 
the same time interesting. I can see the construction crew working on sites and I can monitor the progress daily. They are working there regardless of the temperature.
But, it was not depressing for long, because the snow started falling a week later. 

Physics Methods Class

Students design a physics problem to be used in the classroom.  

It was time again to attend a Physics Method class. The title of the lesson today was 

"Study Plan and Teaching Development"

There were 9 pre-service teachers in this class- 5 female 4 male students

Topics for today’s lesson were:  

1.  Curriculum planning,

2.  Assessment as a way to develop learning

3.  Being present

4.  Group work

5.  Final Exam

6. Reflections on the curriculum

In Finnish "Opetuksen suunnittelu, arviointi osana oppimisen kehittäminen

Läsnäolo, ryhmätyö,

Loppu Tentti kurssiarviointi suunnittelu "

EDUCA at the Messukeskus

EDUCA Exhibition offered Professional development opportunities, tool, and lesson plans to Educators. 

I attended this Science Exhibition with Sam Northern, Maya Kaul and Lind Szypula, and Martha Infante who are also Fulbright Teachers. In this blog, I copied Sam’s experience on this EDUCA exhibition.  He is trying to explore phenomena learning in Finland.  This is new to all of us and includes the use of technology in Education.  His findings focus on elementary education and mine on Junior High and High School Education. 

Fulbright Orientation

With Sam Norton from Kansas Fulbright Orientation for all the Fulbright  Grantees to Finland.  This three day event from January 24-26, included ice-skating, seminars, visit to US Embassy and the Design Museum.   The orientation started on Wednesday afternoon when the spring awardees gathered around the ice skating ring near the Railway Station.  Some skated and others stood around the ring and chattered.  Skates were available for rent.  The skating lasted for an hour and then we moved to Atheneum Bistro to have a meal.  Chatter continued.  It was nice to see all the Fulbright teachers I met last August in Washington DC.

Mathematics Lesson Planning

Lecture on how to develop teaching materials in mathematics and how to develop as a teacher. 

Professor was Hannu Markkula.  The theme was this semester lectures was “Teacher as examiner of her/his work”.

There were 31 students the class; 10 males, 21 females. It’s interesting, always more females than males in all the education classes. 

Today’s lecture: Time management for Beginning Teachers and Engagement in Diagnostics

Writing Theses

Theses is mandatory to all the teacher candidates.

Everyone who wants to become a teacher, needs to write two theses, one for a Bachelors Degree and the other one for Masters.
Topic for both theses is usually the same.  The second one is a continuation of the first one.   The second one has to be research based.  Teachers must conduct surveys or do classroom observations or anything that includes manipulating data. 

Virtual World

I am hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains, near my home in California.  

Virtual world, it’s coming.  How to use it in education? We were able to go to Robo-lab where we experienced the virtual world around the globe.  We used special glasses and earphones.  The geography world let me visit Hollywood and the San Gabriel Mountains where I have hiked many times. I was able to take a dog with me and throw balls to him to catch along the way to Mount Wilson. Interesting.

High School Exit Exam (Matriculation Exam)

Lecture on Matriculation Exam

“The purpose of the matriculation examination is to determine whether candidates have assimilated the knowledge and skills set out in the National Core Curriculum for General Upper Secondary Education and whether they have reached an adequate level of maturity in line with upper secondary school education”.

                                                            Ministry of Education and Culture

What is the computerized high school exit exam format and how to grade it?  There are about 6000 students who will take the exam in chemistry this year. Next year, all the exams must be done electronically.  This year it is still optional. Subject teachers are required to grade their own students' exams and then the exams are sent to a local University where the professors in Education Department recheck the answers.  

Next year all the high school exams must be taken with a computer

Seniors last day in school is at the end of February.  But, it does not mean that the school is over. Studying continues outside the classrooms.

Next students have one month to prepare for the matriculation exam which takes place on March 12-28. In order to graduate from high schools, students are required to take at least 4 exams and pass them. 1. Finnish, which is mandatory to all the Finnish speaking students. This takes two days; language and writing. Then, students need to choose 3 additional exams from the following categories: 2. Swedish (listening and reading exams). 3. Foreign Language, listening and reading. (English, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Italy, Latin, or Portuguese). 3. Mathematics (advanced which is called long mathematics or regular eq. short). 4. Science and Humanities (Psychology, Philosophy, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science, Geography or Health). Of course, students can take several of these exams.
The exams are given in fall and spring. In theory, students can take 8 exams which are graded as shown in the table below.  

Second day at he University, Lectures on Chemistry Methods

Professor Jarkko is giving a lecture on concept mapping

I left Tuesday morning trying to catch a tram 10 minutes earlier than last Friday. I left 9.15 hoping to catch the 9.21 tram.  I run and missed it by 100 meters.  Well, it was a cold morning -7 degrees C (14 ^°F) but felt like -13 ^°C (8.6 ^°F) because of the wind was blowing hard. I decided to have my morning walk and walked to Clarion Hotel, 500 miters away.  There, I waited for the second tram. Apparently, my lungs did not like the cold weather or the running because I coughed all the way to the University. The public transportation is awesome. Trams run every 5-10 minutes.  I bought the monthly pass, so I can hop on a train or a bus anytime.  The only problem with this kind of pass is that people seem to use it even for very short distances.  So much for exercise! 

My First Day at Job

Jarkko Lampiselkä's presentation on "How to Teach Chemistry"
White boards were used extensively in interaction.

My first day as a Fulbright Teacher at the University of Helsinki. 

On my first day as a Fulbright Teacher at the University of Helsinki, I met my advisor Docent Kalle Juuti. He picked me up from the front entrance to the building and we chatted for an hour in the cafeteria. I explained my “wish-list” what I want to experience while staying in Finland. Later we moved to his office and he started emailing to his colleagues about my desire to learn everything about Finnish Education system.  One response from a colleague was immediate and soon I was sitting in a classroom of Jarkko Lampiselkä, who is a professor of Teacher Education

Student presentations

Time to Depart

The suitcases were packed early.  I had collected all the possible clothing I could imagine to use in Finland.  They of course did not fit all in one suitcase.

Getting ready to leave to Finland.

I am leaving to Finland a week from now. Exited? Yes.
What do I experience?  I love the unexpected.  Finland is familiar to me but the University of Helsinki, my host, is not.  Do I have freedom to explore my interests or do I have to follow my advisor’s vision of my journey?  My original mentor at the University was changed and I have not had any formal discussions with my new mentor, Dr. Kalle Juuti, yet.