<story><title>Finland to abandon school subjects in favour of phenomenon-based learning (2016)</title><url>https://curiousmindmagazine.com/goodbye-subjects-finland-taking-revolution-education-step/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>danenania</author><text>I believe that in Japan, they deal with this disparity by asking the top students to help teach others in the class. It seems like an interesting approach in that teaching something well requires a much higher bar of understanding than doing well on a test, &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; it’s an excellent way to reinforce knowledge for the one doing the teaching.&lt;p&gt;So the top students get a more difficult challenge than just coasting along, and the other students benefit as well. And, of course, it promotes teamwork and solidarity.&lt;p&gt;I’m sure there are downsides too. Perhaps it could create tension between the “teacher’s pets” and the others?</text></item><item><author>netjiro</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve seen test numbers where the top 5% group learn around 5-10x faster than the 50% group. The numbers hold for short term recall, long term recall, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, etc.&lt;p&gt;There is no way &amp;quot;school&amp;quot; can equalise this. There is no reason to keep stuffing everyone in one box.</text></item><item><author>kstenerud</author><text>The problem stems from trying to make a one-size-fits-all solution. You can never fit everyone into the same box, but people like simple solutions so we keep trying.&lt;p&gt;In the 2nd grade, I had a teacher who recognized potential in some of her students and separated them from the rest of the class to engage in self-directed learning. There were three of us chosen. I achieved grade 5 level proficiency in a number of subjects, while the smartest kid reached grade 7 in almost all of them. The following year, I changed schools, and spent the next 3 years re-doing the same boring shit over and over. My protestations were countered with &amp;quot;Well, if you&amp;#x27;ve already done it, then it should be easy to do it again!&amp;quot; I learned my lesson, and my grades from that point on slipped from straight As to the minimum required to pass. I&amp;#x27;d only apply myself when doing my own projects (mostly programming).&lt;p&gt;Like in anything else, if you want to see success, you need to hire teachers who can recognize and focus potential, and then give them the leeway to do so based on their good judgment.</text></item><item><author>tremguy</author><text>Finn here. Results have been negative on this so far, at least for students before high school [1]. Most children at that stage aren&amp;#x27;t yet capable of self-directed learning. Problem is compounded by the distractive effect of digital equipment in class.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;yle.fi&amp;#x2F;uutiset&amp;#x2F;osasto&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;finlands_digital-based_curriculum_impedes_learning_researcher_finds&amp;#x2F;10514984&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;yle.fi&amp;#x2F;uutiset&amp;#x2F;osasto&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;finlands_digital-based_cu...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>vidarh</author><text>My two best teachers (this was in Norway) took two very different approaches. One basically gave me a free reign to move ahead of the rest of the class and brought in more advanced text books for me, let me suggest my own homework etc. It took extra work for her, so I was lucky she put in the effort.&lt;p&gt;The other did what you suggest, and would have me go around and help others as soon as finished my own work. It was useful as a means to learn to understand what other people found difficult and why. It might not have helped that much with my understanding of the subject (maths) itself, but it helped with problem solving skills - having to come up with different ways of explaining things or approach a problem from different angles to whichever one I thought was most obvious when that &amp;quot;obvious&amp;quot; angle didn&amp;#x27;t work for someone else, and I think that was useful.</text></comment>
<story><title>Finland to abandon school subjects in favour of phenomenon-based learning (2016)</title><url>https://curiousmindmagazine.com/goodbye-subjects-finland-taking-revolution-education-step/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>danenania</author><text>I believe that in Japan, they deal with this disparity by asking the top students to help teach others in the class. It seems like an interesting approach in that teaching something well requires a much higher bar of understanding than doing well on a test, &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; it’s an excellent way to reinforce knowledge for the one doing the teaching.&lt;p&gt;So the top students get a more difficult challenge than just coasting along, and the other students benefit as well. And, of course, it promotes teamwork and solidarity.&lt;p&gt;I’m sure there are downsides too. Perhaps it could create tension between the “teacher’s pets” and the others?</text></item><item><author>netjiro</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve seen test numbers where the top 5% group learn around 5-10x faster than the 50% group. The numbers hold for short term recall, long term recall, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, etc.&lt;p&gt;There is no way &amp;quot;school&amp;quot; can equalise this. There is no reason to keep stuffing everyone in one box.</text></item><item><author>kstenerud</author><text>The problem stems from trying to make a one-size-fits-all solution. You can never fit everyone into the same box, but people like simple solutions so we keep trying.&lt;p&gt;In the 2nd grade, I had a teacher who recognized potential in some of her students and separated them from the rest of the class to engage in self-directed learning. There were three of us chosen. I achieved grade 5 level proficiency in a number of subjects, while the smartest kid reached grade 7 in almost all of them. The following year, I changed schools, and spent the next 3 years re-doing the same boring shit over and over. My protestations were countered with &amp;quot;Well, if you&amp;#x27;ve already done it, then it should be easy to do it again!&amp;quot; I learned my lesson, and my grades from that point on slipped from straight As to the minimum required to pass. I&amp;#x27;d only apply myself when doing my own projects (mostly programming).&lt;p&gt;Like in anything else, if you want to see success, you need to hire teachers who can recognize and focus potential, and then give them the leeway to do so based on their good judgment.</text></item><item><author>tremguy</author><text>Finn here. Results have been negative on this so far, at least for students before high school [1]. Most children at that stage aren&amp;#x27;t yet capable of self-directed learning. Problem is compounded by the distractive effect of digital equipment in class.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;yle.fi&amp;#x2F;uutiset&amp;#x2F;osasto&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;finlands_digital-based_curriculum_impedes_learning_researcher_finds&amp;#x2F;10514984&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;yle.fi&amp;#x2F;uutiset&amp;#x2F;osasto&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;finlands_digital-based_cu...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kstenerud</author><text>This is also how the school houses of old worked. You&amp;#x27;d have all ages present since the population was so small, and the older kids would teach the younger kids while also doing their own studies.&lt;p&gt;This was a big help for socializing skills and empathy, since you were no longer segregated by age or sex and were exposed to many age groups with their own challenges throughout your early schooling.</text></comment>