Culture Lesson:
Finland
N ATA L I E O L S O M M E R
Objective
Students will be able to recall key facts about Finland’s geography,
basic statistics, culture, and education.
What do you know about Finland?
1. When did Finland gain independence from Russia?
A) July 4th, 1776 B) December 7th, 1941 C) December 6th, 1917 D) January 18th, 1935
2. What is the northernmost region of Finland called?
A) Siberia B) Lapland C) Pomerania D) Ostrobothnia
3. OPEN-ENDED: What do Finns value?
4. OPEN-ENDED: What have you learned about Finland’s education system, compared to that
of the US?
The Republic of Finland
Stats
• Head of Gov’t: Prime Minister Sanna Marin
• Head of State: President Sauli Niinisto
• Capital: Helsinki
• Population: 5,571,000
• Official Languages: none
• Gained independence from Russia on
December 6th, 1917
It’s called “the land of a thousand lakes.”
56,000 to be exact...
Lake Saimaa
Lake Paijanne
Land of the Midnight
Sun
Lapland, Finland
• Northernmost region of Finland
• Inhabited sparsely by the Saami
people
• 1/3 of Finland’s total area
Finnish Values
“Take a man by his words and a bull by its horns”
– a Finnish proverb
What do you think this means?
Finnish Values
• Formal education
• The sauna – washing, peace,
relaxation
• Individualism
• Nature
• Discussion – to the point
Education
• Schools are publicly funded
• Every school draws from same pool of university-trained educators
• Formal schooling begins at age 7
• Homework is less; holistic view of children's learning
• More breaks throughout the day, shorter day
• All classes are mixed in student ability
• Learn more languages
• Teachers spend 4 hours/day in the classroom + 2 hours/week in prof. development
• National curriculum is a baseline; teachers can be creative
Education (continued) • No reliance on standardized testing; one
exam for graduating high school
• Teachers know their students well;
(students have same elementary teacher
for years)
• Depth over breadth
What do you know about Finland?
1. When did Finland gain independence from Russia?
A) July 4th, 1776 B) December 7th, 1941 C) December 6th, 1917 D) January 18th, 1935
2. What is the northernmost region of Finland called?
A) Siberia B) Lapland C) Pomerania D) Ostrobothnia
3. OPEN-ENDED: What do Finns value?
4. OPEN-ENDED: What have you learned about Finland’s education system, compared to that
of the US?
Learning Styles
• Visual Learner – Inclusion of photos of Finland, maps, flag, and education system of Finland
• Conceptual Learner – Inclusion of the Finnish proverb to relay idea of Finnish values through a
quote instead of only listing them.
• Spatial Learner – To better describe the Finnish education system, I included the flowchart
which visually describes how the system works
• Independent Learner – I asked students questions about what they knew about Finland and
sought the brief discussion of their individual answers to activate each student’s prior knowledge
• Creative Learner – I asked students to interpret what they thought the Finnish proverb meant.
References
• Britannica, E. (2023). Finland [Map]. Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., Scranton, PA.
[Link]
• Britannica, T. Information Architects of Encyclopaedia (2023, March 4). Finland. Encyclopedia
Britannica. [Link]
• [Link]
• [Link]
• [Link]
• [Link]
