Wonderful question, Emma, and thanks for asking it! It provoked some internal discussion here.
We’re very similar to a general phenomenon-based learning (PBL) philosophy. In a classroom or communal-based learning environment, we always begin with a real problem, a phenomenon, an idea - and ideally, it would start from the child's own curiosity. We start with storytelling to spark curiosity and engage children into thinking about how we can solve the problem. Then we would use all the tools, ideas, subject knowledge we have to learn from that phenomenon or solve the problem we've encountered.
Where we differ with PBL (or some interpretations of PBL) is that we believe the motivation can be provoked by a teacher or facilitator. In an ideal world, a child would ask a question, and a teacher would be able to instantly recognize the motivation and facilitate an ideal learning environment for the child to explore and answer their question. In a more practical world, especially with young learners, we believe in a socio-cultural learning approach. The teacher provokes some curiosity in the children with a story, and then facilitates the learning.
The important parts for the teachers are HOW they facilitate: Do you give space for children's ideas? Do you listen to the children? Do you give opportunities to try various methods in solving the problem or learning from the situation? Is the learning situation as open as possible, without the teacher disturbing and cutting out children's ongoing learning process?
The learning is still very child-focused — the most rewarding moments for us are when we see children teaching other children. We just help teachers and facilitators provide the spark.
Interesting! What's the connection or differences between Kide Science's Story Theme Base and the typical Finnish Phenomenon Based Learning?
Wonderful question, Emma, and thanks for asking it! It provoked some internal discussion here.
We’re very similar to a general phenomenon-based learning (PBL) philosophy. In a classroom or communal-based learning environment, we always begin with a real problem, a phenomenon, an idea - and ideally, it would start from the child's own curiosity. We start with storytelling to spark curiosity and engage children into thinking about how we can solve the problem. Then we would use all the tools, ideas, subject knowledge we have to learn from that phenomenon or solve the problem we've encountered.
Where we differ with PBL (or some interpretations of PBL) is that we believe the motivation can be provoked by a teacher or facilitator. In an ideal world, a child would ask a question, and a teacher would be able to instantly recognize the motivation and facilitate an ideal learning environment for the child to explore and answer their question. In a more practical world, especially with young learners, we believe in a socio-cultural learning approach. The teacher provokes some curiosity in the children with a story, and then facilitates the learning.
The important parts for the teachers are HOW they facilitate: Do you give space for children's ideas? Do you listen to the children? Do you give opportunities to try various methods in solving the problem or learning from the situation? Is the learning situation as open as possible, without the teacher disturbing and cutting out children's ongoing learning process?
The learning is still very child-focused — the most rewarding moments for us are when we see children teaching other children. We just help teachers and facilitators provide the spark.