De projeto piloto ao país todo

 Algo que já comentei é a capacidade do sistema de ensino finlandês observar problemas, gerar soluções, testar projetos piloto e, só depois disso, estender para todas as escolas. No blog Taught by Finland, o professor primário Tim Walker, que é americano, conta sua experiência na Finlândia. Ele comenta sobre o projeto Finnish Schools on the Move, para incentivar atividade física nas escolas.
Confira o texto do Tim Walker em:
http://www.taughtbyfinland.com/home/finnish-schools-are-on-the-move-and-americas-need-to-catch-up

Resumo Finlândia em 2 minutos

A pedido da SETEC/MEC, a TV IFSC fez uma gravação de dois minutos sobre minha experiência na Finlândia.

Quando eu digo que praticamente não há inovação em educação na Finlândia, estou confimando o que Pasi Sahlberg comenta em seu livro. E com isso não estou desmerecendo o sistema finlandês; é realmente fabuloso. Igualdade de oportunidades, aprendizado baseado em projetos, sócio-construtivismo, ensino por competências não são ideias novas, tem mais de um século. O que a Finlândia mostra é a capacidade de implementar com muito sucesso essas ideias.
Quer ver algo que eu achei realmente inovador?
Confira aqui a experiência da Proakatemia e também a Escola Técnica Kiipula.

=================================
English

Answering a request from SETEC/MEC (Brazilian Ministry of Education), TV IFSC recorded a 2-minute video about my experience in Finland.
You can turn on captions in English.

When I mention that one barely find educational innovation in Finland, I'm confirming what Pasi Sahlberg wrote in his book. And I'm not debunking the Finnish system. It's truly impressive. What I mean is that equality, project-based learning, socio-constructivism, competence-based learning are not new ideas, they are more than a century old. Finland shows an impressive ability to make these ideas work with great success.
Do you want to check what I found innovative?
Here, the experience at Proakatemia, and here, Kiipula Vocational School.

Education for non-humans

When discussing the educational system in Finland, we should note it's so successful that it's been applied even for non-humans.
These are photos that I took in Ivalo, a small village North the Arctic Circle. As you may know, on December there is no Sun there, so even at 5pm (the time I shot the pictures) everything is under the darkness.

But going back to the main topic of this post:
This can be weird for Brazilians, but, in Finland, animals are allowed to drive cars following some rules:
- only Finnish huskies can apply for the license
- they should pass a very hard test, proving they have good vision and hearing
- they are allowed to drive only North the Polar Circle (this is the reason you can't see this in the capital, Helsinki)
- the car should be adapted with special pads in the steering wheel

How can't you admire such an educational system and country?

Now, a last word:






Please, check the date of this post!

Different experiences, same opinion

I've just read an article at an Australian newspaper, The simple reasons behind Finland's educational success and I'd like to say that it's absolutely correct:

• schools' facilities are well-maintained;
• facilities are functional;
• teachers take part in the design process during renewing a school or building a new one;
• vocational education is firmly linked with the work life.

A visual account of my educational experience in Finland

Além do índice do blog, resolvi fazer um mapa com algumas das minhas experiências na Finlândia.

Workshop at Ahveniston koulu

On December, 17th, we went to Ahveniston koulu, in Hämeenlinna, to develop an activity with students.

This activity was inspired by a course I've attended in Coursera early this year called Tinkering Fundamentals: A Constructionist Approach to STEM Learning. This course was provided by Exploratorium, "an eye-opening, playful place to explore how the world works", in San Francisco, CA.
The activity we developed with 9th grade students at Ahveniston koulu was the creation of a scribbling machine. We gave them some ideas about the connection between drawing and movement, and we showed an example of such a machine. After that, they were free to create with the available material their own machines. We acted as facilitators, showing them how to solve some problems when necessary.
For me, it was a very interesting opportunity to see joy in learning, and the connection between arts and engineering through free experimentation.
Finns are so quiet (specially when they need to speak in English) that sometimes you don't know if they are really enjoying what you are doing. I hope these students enjoyed this activity. :-)

Here are some photos.

The environment, the classroom of Math.

As pointed out by the Exploratorium guideline for this activity, the environment has a important role. The classroom was just perfect, because it's comfortable, with good lighting and worktables, and students could see the work of their colleagues.

A very short introduction

Hands on!

First tests

Play time: everybody together!

And now, the video.

Very clever students! Congratulations for them all!

I'd like to thank the support from HAMK, specially Maaret, Marja, and Juuso, and also the teachers at Ahveniston koulu, Tove and Marika. Special thanks also to my colleagues Rodrigo (IFMS) and Carolina (IFRN).

Visit to the Playful Learning Center - University of Helsinki

On Dec, 15th, we visited the Playful Learning Center, a new space at University of Helsinki for research and development of learning solutions for the 21st century.
This laboratory was established last September through a partnership with Rovio.