Adventures in Icelandic Schools #MakerEd #MakerMentality

I have been very lucky to spend a couple of days exploring Icelandic schools before providing workshops for the Icelandic educational community. I have been so impressed with the amazing things I have seen in the classrooms. Here are a few things that stuck out to me.

Here are a couple of photos of the woodshop class that students in grades 1-8 all take at Arskoli. They work on projects to learn various skills. I love that this is a required class for students in this age group. The more work I do with Makerspaces, the more I see the value in getting students comfortable using these types of tools at a young age. It really opens up the possibilities for projects down the line when they have a wider base of skills.

Here is a Home Ec class that these 3rd grade students are taking. They are making cookies and the teacher is recording them and posting their explanation of the baking process to SeeSaw. This is a wonderful way for students to work with their hands and demonstrate understanding of what was covered in class. Adding the video to SeeSaw for parents and students to see is an awesome addition to the process. 

In this photo, students are in Textiles class learning to knit, sew, crochet, and more. Again, all project based and students produce artifacts to demonstrate their learning.  

Art class students are making with clay. Students were making candle holders and small animals. One group was spending time making clay mice. I figured I would give it a go, but the side-eye from this young student suggests she was wary of my clay skills. 

The nice part about all of this is that these skills are all transferable to all of the other classes the students attend. Maths, English, Science, etc. are all using Project Based Learning to explore ideas and the students have the skills to create varied artifacts to demonstrate their learning.

Being able to present and connect with the amazing teachers from Iceland was an amazing experience. I also was able to spend some time with some fabulous educators from North America as well.

It was such an amazing opportunity to learn about the educational culture of another country and see how I can implement what they have done in my school so we can all be better together. There are more posts to come on my Icelandic Adventure, I just need more time to unpack them all.

Hugs and High Fives,

Nick