12 "myths" about education in Finland debunked The success of public schooling in Finland has been a huge topic of discussion in the education community over the past year. I’ve read a few good articles about it, including Why Are Finland’s Schools So Successful?, and was impressed with what I learned. So when the image to the left started circulating on social media, I shared it along with a link to 26 Amazing Facts About Education in Finland. The image and the article weren’t in total agreement about the state of Finnish education, and neither were commenters on Facebook. A Finland native named Nina Smith had recently offered to guest blog for me, and I was thrilled when she was receptive to my request for her to respond to the rumors floating around about Finnish education. Obviously, Nina can’t speak on the experiences of all students and teachers in Finland, but having received her own education there as well as having taught there for several years, I feel she has some important experiences and insights to share with us.
How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty In the classroom, subjects are often presented as settled and complete. Teachers lecture students on the causes of World War I, say, or the nature of matter, as if no further questioning is needed because all the answers have been found. In turn, students regurgitate what they’ve been told, confident they’ve learned all the facts and unaware of the mysteries that remain unexplored. Without insight into the holes in our knowledge, students mistakenly believe that some subjects are closed. But our collective understanding of any given subject is never complete, according to Jamie Holmes, who has just written a book on the hidden benefits of uncertainty. He wants students to grapple with uncertainty to spark their curiosity and better prepare them for the “real world,” where answers are seldom clear-cut or permanent. “We’re much more certain about facts than we should be,” Holmes said. Address the emotional impact of uncertainty. Assign projects that provoke uncertainty. Linda Flanagan
5 Essential 21st Century Teaching Strategies Before we can dive into what teaching strategies a 21st century educator should use, we must first take a look at what 21st century learning is. The term “21st century learning” has been used to refer to abilities students must master, such as problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, and digital literacy. Some refer to it as the ability to collaborate, communicate, and demonstrate skills that will ultimately help students navigate their way in the future. The idea of what 21st century learning is, is open to interpretation and controversy. 1. Being a 21st century educator means the ability to be able to teach and reach all learners. 2. The ability to not only learn about the new educational gadgets that will help students learn better and faster, but to also have the ability to know how to use and implement the gadget within the classroom is an essential skill of a 21st century educator. 3. 5 of the most important teaching strategies 21st century educators should have. 4. 5.
Study Finds Montessori Schools Level the Playing Field for Disadvantaged Kids Researchers and educators have identified early childhood as one of the most important developmental periods in a person’s life, setting in place patterns that can predict life outcomes. This is not surprising given the fact that the human brain goes through profound changes in the first six years, most of which appear to be permanent. In addition, economic analyses have shown that educational interventions aimed at preschool programs have the highest return on investment. Yet, there is little consensus on what kinds of programs should be widely implemented and have the most positive effects. A new longitudinal study from the University of Virginia has been published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology comparing the Montessori educational method to regular preschool education. The Montessori method was developed by Dr. The newly published study is one of few on the Montessori method that has overcome study limitations like good controls, sample sizes and program quality.
Could Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose Be the Keys to Motivating Students? Daniel Pink has studied motivation in the business world for a long time and he’s come to the startling conclusion that traditional ways of motivating employees with financial incentives doesn’t work. In study after study, social scientists have found that external rewards narrow the focus and restrict possibilities, making it difficult for people to come up with creative solutions to complex problems. The only time incentives worked, in fact, was when the problem was mechanical and the path to the solution was straightforward. Instead, companies around the world have shown that employee motivation increases when people have autonomy, a driving purpose and the desire to perfect their craft. While his TED talk is framed in the language of business, it’s easy to see the parallels in Pink’s argument to schools and learning. Watch Dan Pink lay out his case.
What not to do when your kid tells a lie At the ripe old age of 3, my older daughter has begun flirting with falsehoods. So far, the few lies she has told have been comically bad and easy to spot. Her dad and I usually laugh at them with an amused, “Oh, yeah?” But now that I’ve stopped to consider, that strategy seems flawed. While reporting a story on adult lying, I had the pleasure of talking with developmental psychologist Victoria Talwar of McGill University, who studies lying in children. My accusatory question had created conditions ripe for this lie to be spawned. Lying, it turns out, is actually a sign of something good happening in the developing brain. That thought sounds simple, but it’s actually quite profound. For the rest of us parents who can’t maintain an elaborate charade like that, Talwar says the key is to create an environment that fosters truth-telling. Another strategy to minimize lies, as simple as it sounds, is to ask your kid to tell you the truth.
What if All they want to do is Play Video Games? | Sheila Baranoski “Easy for you to say unschooling works,” someone told me. “Your kids are interested in academic things. You don’t know my kids. To which I can only laugh. Or I could tell you that all they want to do is play video games. Both versions of the story would be true. Because of the hours and hours and hours and hours, day after day after day after day, month after month after month, year after year after year of video game playing, they naturally became immersed in Japanese things because that’s where Nintendo headquarters is. Their games sometimes have historical or mythological creatures in them, which gets them curious, resulting in google searches and family conversations. Because of their love of Japan, I got them each a subscription to Japan crate for their birthdays, where they get a box of Japanese goodies each month. The symphonies I mentioned? As a matter of fact, through the years, they’ve been so into music because of video games. We went to Nintendo World in New York City.
Jessica Lahey’s ‘The Gift of Failure’: A Fear of Risk-Taking Has Destroyed Kids’ Love of Learning I’ve known the mother sitting in front of me at this parent-teacher conference for years, and we have been through a lot together. I have taught three of her children, and I like to think we’ve even become friends during our time together. She’s a conscientious mother who obviously loves her children with all of her heart. I’ve always been honest with her about their strengths and weaknesses, and I think she trusts me to tell her the truth. “Marianna’s grades are fine; I’m not worried about that, but she just doesn’t seem to love learning anymore.” She’s absolutely right. The truth—for this parent and so many others—is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it’s our fault. I look at this mother with concern on her face, her eager pencil poised to write down my words of wisdom. This mother’s hovering comes from a place of love—that’s clear. I know this mom because she’s just like me.
The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland Approaching the school’s playground that morning, I watched as an army of 5- and 6-year-old boys patrolled a zigzagging stream behind Niirala Preschool in the city of Kuopio, unfazed by the warm August drizzle. When I clumsily unhinged the steel gate to the school’s playground, the young children didn’t even lift their eyes from the ground; they just kept dragging and pushing their tiny shovels through the mud. At 9:30 a.m., the boys were called to line up for a daily activity called Morning Circle. (The girls were already inside—having chosen to play boardgames indoors.) “Making dams,” sang a chorus of three boys. “Nothing else?” “Nothing else,” they confirmed. “[Children] learn so well through play,” Anni-Kaisa Osei Ntiamoah, one of the preschool’s “kindergarten” teachers, who’s in her seventh year in the classroom, told me. When children play, Osei Ntiamoah continued, they’re developing their language, math, and social-interaction skills. Timothy D.
Study suggests giving kids too many toys stifles their creativity (Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers at the University of Toledo in the U.S. has found that children are more creative when they have fewer toys to play with at one time. In their paper published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development, the group describes their observational study of toddlers at play, what they learned and offer some suggestions for parents. Parents have long been subject to the opinions of others, some of which include judgments regarding the number of toys they should provide for their children. Some suggest more toys show children they are more loved, while others argue more toys is overkill and a poor substitute for parental attention. In this new effort, the researchers have conducted a simple experiment meant to test creativity in toddlers playing with toys. In the experiment, parents were asked to bring toddlers to a play area where the little ones were given either four toys or 16 toys to play alone with for 30 minutes.