We started our day just like yesterday, at the Filosofiska school. This time, we had the opportunity to participate fully in a fifth-grade social sciences lesson. The topic discussed was the legal system in Sweden, and the teachers chose to conduct the class in the form of a team exercise. We were invited to join the groups of children, and together with them, we discussed different cases of several briefly described crimes, trying to decide what the most appropriate punishment would be in each respective situation.
It was a very pleasant experience; the children communicated with us with ease, and we were happy to see how advanced their level of knowledge is. We also had a moment of socialization with these children who showed themselves eager to talk to us and ask us questions, and the fact that the teachers were open to this made us feel very welcome.
Before heading to our next destination alongside Violeta, who accompanied us today as well, we spent a bit of time in the schoolyard, a space that fascinates us: an unfenced forest where teachers and parents trust the children to be left free to play and spend time as they wish.
Next, we met with a class of ninth-grade children who were in the middle of a rather special program, specific to the month of May, when children from all schools conduct lessons outdoors or closely connected with sustainability. These children were out in nature, on the bank of a river surrounded by miles of forest, in the middle of which those from the Filosofiska school set up a space with a workshop. There, the students were learning to work with wood (a skill that schools begin to develop from the second grade), having to create a design and build a table from scratch over the course of the week.
In addition to admiring their work and spending time in nature, we had a delicious lunch with them (a lunch cooked by their chef and brought there, which is also free in all schools in Sweden). Then, two of our colleagues organized a speed-dating type activity in which we learned a lot of fascinating information about their educational system, what sustainability means to them, as well as their lifestyle in general.
After parting ways with Lisa and Violeta, we had our traditional reflection circle of the day, and then a few of us went to an escape room at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. It was a pleasant experience that tested our critical thinking and teamwork skills, and at the same time brought us moments of learning, since the game was built around one of the museum’s exhibitions about fauna.
In conclusion, it was a day full of diversity, new things, and valuable moments that we fully enjoyed.