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Curiosity as the engine of learning In today's school, it is easy to get caught up in standardized methods, ready-made answers and measurable performance. Students are often given assignments where the goal has already been set, and the teaching is guided by the results rather than questions. But what happens if we instead turn the perspective around? If students are allowed to discover, investigate and create their own solution strategies , the result is something more than

In today’s rapidly changing world, Science and Maths are more important than ever—but too often, students find these subjects intimidating, abstract, or disconnected from their everyday lives. Traditional teaching methods that rely heavily on lectures and memorization fail to engage many learners, leading to disinterest and even anxiety. The Humanistic and Investigative Learning Environment (HILE) offers a solution. HILE emphasizes student-centered, curiosity-driven learning

In modern pedagogy, the terms evidence-based  and evidence-informed  teaching are often used, but they are not synonymous. Understanding the difference is crucial for a teacher’s ability to genuinely improve classroom practice. While both aim to connect teaching to research-based knowledge, their approaches and practical effects differ significantly. Evidence-informed teaching  refers to the practice of taking research-based knowledge as a source of inspiration and then adapt

When we talk about Girls Spark STEAM , we are not only presenting a new initiative — we are continuing a long tradition of educational innovation and inclusion that started many years ago in classrooms across Finland. The roots of this project go back to the early 2000s, when we began developing learning environments that encouraged curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. In Finland, I had the privilege to teach a course called Interdisciplinary Science , an optional subjec

A little while back, I posed a straightforward question to my friend, who happens to be a school principal: “Does your school have an AI working group, or is there any team exploring the best ways to incorporate AI into learning?” The answer was short and surprising: No. Not only does the school lack such a group, but the entire district—the one ranked among the best in the state—has no formal initiative addressing AI in education. This district has excellent teachers, engage

In the 1960s, a behaviorist view of learning dominated. Learning was defined as measurable changes in student behavior, and teaching focused on facts, repetition, and exams . This phenomenon can be called the “1960s behaviorist resurgence” , or the classical knowledge-rich curriculum. Many curricula worldwide still have roots in these structures. Modern terms such as competency-based learning  or 21st century skills  attempt to move toward interdisciplinary and student-cente

How fear of “foreign” educational ideas is holding back schools—and what we can learn from Belgium’s HILE experiment. Imagine rejecting a...

The Limits of a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum As educators, we cannot ignore the appeal of a knowledge-rich curriculum: it promises access to...

Across Europe, one country after another is choosing the “easy solution” to the challenge of digital distraction: banning mobile phones,...

What does it really mean to be “intelligent”? For decades, education has measured intellect with grades, IQ tests, and standardized...

Meanwhile, there have always been small numbers of highly innovative schools. Such schools are often inspired by new insights into child...

Here is a definition of individualized learning: “The diverse variety of instruction programs, learning experiences, didactic approaches,...