Playing with Possibilities: Creative Project Work in a Small Village School in Iceland

Abstract

The teachers in the small compulsory school (grades 1–10) in Bakkafjörður, a tiny fishing village in the North East of Iceland, have gone further than most other teachers in allowing their students to take responsibility over their own learning. In Icelandic and mathematics, the students adhere to individualized study plans which they participate in constructing. In social studies and sciences, the students work on diverse, independent projects, alone or in groups, and they can to a considerable degree, sometimes fully, decide which topics they investigate. In many cases, the students decide to link creative aspects to their projects through live performances, visual expression, drama, filmmaking and exhibitions. Their interest and engagement has gone far beyond expectations. The students are allowed to work on their projects spanning eleven lessons each week; about a third of their total school time. Students and teachers take turns in deciding the themes. The teachers selected the first topic, Earthquakes and Volcanos, but the students were allowed to decide how to approach it and spent four weeks on diverse geology studies. For the rest of the school year, teachers and students took turns in deciding the themes. Examples of topics, to name only a few, are Diabetes, The Life of a Fisherman, Manga Comics, The History of the Computer, The Highest Buildings in the World, Fashion Design, Cats, Vampires, Stone Collection, The Icelandic Horse, The Neanderthals, Cleopatra, Leonardo da Vinci, and The Bermuda Triangle. To mark the end of these projects, parents, siblings and members of the community were invited to an open house celebration were the students gave talks about their findings, staged their plays, showed their films and presented their posters and displays. The article tells the story behind the adoption of this creative approach, provides examples of the projects, and an overall evaluation of the outcomes.