Presentation on Finnish Innovation Companies

Staircase at the Kaisa University Library

I attended a presentation by Sam Northern. He is another Fulbright Teacher selected to do research at the University of Helsinki. This took place at the Kaisa Library which is one of the libraries for the University of Helsinki. He talked about phenomena learning. He has been studying on how to use technology and virtual reality in learning.

WEEKEN FUN AND WINTER BREAK IN FEBRUARY

Skiing Holiday

February 18-25.  It’s winter break (skiing holiday, one week) in Helsinki. Now is time to explore skiing, museums and travel. 

Two days of cross country skiing and a visit to Kaisakoti, established by the wife of the former president Kyösti Kallio in 1938. There are very few downhill skiing resorts in souther Finland because the land is so flat. Most of the people prefer cross country skiing anyway.  

Physics Methods last class and Charging a cell phone

Bicycling to charge a cell phone.

Before the class, a student was using an exercise bike to charge his cell phone.. He had bicycled for 10 minutes and his cell phone was charged only 6%.

Lecture on formative assessment.

Task: Discuss with your partner: what is formative assessment, what kind, what belongs to formative assessment and how does it affect learning.

Students discussed the topic for about 5 minutes. There were 9 male and 3 female students present.

"Vanhojen Tanssit". The Oldies Dance performed by the High School Juniors

Dancing at the Sibelius High School.

Juniors at Finnish high schools step into the shoes of their graduating seniors to celebrate their ascendancy.  Now they are the “oldest students”, upper class, in a high school. This takes place the same day after the seniors leave the school at the end of February.  Old dancing is the most magnificent celebrations of high school. Students dress in ball gowns and dress suits of a bygone era and show off their expertise in traditional dances. 

Eleven School came together to dance at the Conference Hall in Helsinki. 

Penkkarit and Marticulation Exam

Seniors ride in a truck, make noice ,and throw candy to spectators.

Penkkarit is a traditional “good-by” truck ride around the city by high school seniors. They make lots of noise and throw candies to spectators. Over 100 high schools were involved. This was the last day for them in classrooms. Studying continues outside the classrooms. Next students have one month to prepare for the matriculation exam which is held on March 12-28. In order to graduate from high schools, students are required to take at least 4 exams and pass them.

Visit Espoonlahahti Junior High and High School

Teachers' sleeping quarters.  Teachers are allowed
 to take a nap in the middle of the day!

Teacher Lounges are comfortable

Samuel, Sara and I visited the Espoonlahti Junior High School on Monday morning. The address for the school is Opettajantie 3, Espoo. We settled in principal’s office.  He gave us a book describing the history of the school.  The school is located in a “rich” neighborhood with 360 students and 37 faculty members in Junior High and 400 students and 26 faculty in High School. There were originally 100 students, now close to 800.  The school also had a 100-seat auditorium for natives and for foreigners. The school has been renovated and now the auditorium can seat all 800 students.  In 2015 Finland accepted many Iraqis, and Finnish government paid for their education.  Finnish government gives money to schools, based on the population.  

Benefits of Having Children in Finland

Finnish Government pays you to have children.  The amount increases the more children you have.  This is to support the cost of rising children.  The Government also hopes to increase the birth rate that has been declining for many years.  You are entitled to this tax-free money, regardless of your income.  The payments continue until your child turns 17. You can also deduct certain amount /child from your taxes.  This is tied to your income, the less you make, the bigger the deduction. This law was established in 1948. 

Dad with a Child in Forest

# of Children	The amount in € / $ per month
First Child	95,75 €/ $ 111.60
Second Child	105,80 €/ $123.30
Third Child	135,01 €/ $157.36
Fourth Child	154,64 €/ $180.24
Additional Children	174,27€/ $203.20
If you are a single parent, you get extra money/month	48,55€/ $56.59 /child

Art in Forest

Art in Forest

Art in Forest in the Middle of Winter

I happened to take a shuttle bus to Nuuksio Nature Center on a skiing vacation. This free bus ran only during this week. Once I entered the center an hour later, I noticed that there was an Art in Forest activity for children on that day.  I was little skeptical about this because the temperature outside was -12 C (10.2 F).  

LUMA Cafe

Maya and Julia Halonen explaining the book

LUMA Cafe

“The aim of the LUMA Centre Finland is to inspire and motivate children and youth into mathematics, science and technology through the latest methods and activities of science and technology education.
The aim is also to support the life-long learning of teachers working on levels of education from early childhood to universities, and strengthen the development of research-based teaching.”

SYKLI Professional Development for Teachers

Teachers learning to make sounds.

Our place-Innovative Technology and Trash Design for High School Students.

“Our place” developed by SYKLI, is a program that gives teachers professional development opportunities.  Their motto is – observations-ideas-experimenting-fulfillment- assessment. This particular workshop I attended, was trying to attract schools to adopt this hands-on program, starting Fall 2018.  All the materials would be free for schools.  This curriculum was geared toward biology, physics, mathematics, art, and handcrafting classes.  The ideas introduced here could also be incorporated to health, chemistry and music classes. The curriculum uses Mehack and Dodo kits.  Participating teacher will receive full training and a kit free.  

Another workshop I attended was “Trash Design” course.  The idea was to use existing materials to make something useful and link everything to existing curriculum. 

Co4Lab- Event

Presentation by Yasmin Kafai

I attended the "Get excited about Maker Culture in Co4Lab- Event"!

After the coffee and karjalanpiirakka (Karelia pastry) we listened the talk by Dr. Kafai.  Her talk lasted for one hour and it was truly educational.  She has developed a new curriculum “Stitching the Loop” to teach electronics to high school students.  She had a pilot school in Los Angeles and she showed a video on how the students followed the curriculum. I asked her the name of the school, but she refused to tell, siting privacy laws. The video will be available later this fall and supposedly the curriculum will be available online.  

After the presentation, participants divided into three groups based on pre-registration. Mine was E-Textiles.  

Abitti.fi. Exam Creator

I created an account to abitti.fi. Teachers use this program to create tests.  

 

There were 7 pre-service teachers in this class, 2 boys, 5 girls.  

All the teachers have to learn to use abiti.fi program to create tests.

The program allows teachers to use three types of questions; essay, multiple choice, and pull down answer.  








I created one practice test but to open it, it requires “.med" application.   I don't have it in my computer and I was not allowed to download it, so I was not able see the final product.   Here is the copy of my original creation. I am sure this would look good, if I had the proper software to run this.  Anyway, it was nice to learn on how to use different programs.   

Digital Education

Juho  Moilanen explains the new digital world.  

Group teaching:  Biology and Geography Instructors at the Helsinki University game together tho have this lecture on Digital Education for pre-service teachers.  In addition, several company representative gave lectures on different tools that can be used in Education.  Next year everything will be digital.  This includes all the lecture materials for teachers and all the assignment and assessments for students.  This means that everyone must have computer.

Physics Methods Class Continues.

Student presentations

Today the student presented lesson plans.  3 girls and 3 boys present

Group #1 How to assess argumentative statements?  What is wrong and why, what is right and why?  

This was a reading assignment.  Newspaper article with an argumentative statement.  Students have 2 choices to read: 1.  2010 article describes how Jodi tablets disappeared from the store selves and storage.  2.  Keski-uusimaa.fi newspaper published an article "Building a Nuclear Power Plant."  Tyyne Jaakkola wrote the article, artist.  

In each article, what are the misinterpretations and why?