Some days, you just need a little bit of nature. Talk to any Finn, and they’d agree with me. And sometimes, you meet someone, and you know you can have meaningful conversation, brainstorm, and create. Well, today, I met three of those people, and spent the day playing (and learning, of course) in the forest.
The University of Eastern Finland has three campuses: one in Joensuu, where I live, one in Kuopio, which I visited back in February, and a third campus in Savonlinna, a small town about 120km southwest of Joensuu. Surrounded by the picturesque Lake Saimaa and two national parks, a visit to Savonlinna is a must for people traveling to Finland. It was on my list of places to see, however today my visit had a different agenda. Today I would have the opportunity to spend some time in nature learning about forestry and its educational connections.
Miikka, Saara, and Petteri are all involved in teacher education at UEF and the OpenForest program in Savonlinna. OpenForest is an online portal that gives its learners open access to forestry education from real-time data to classroom integration. It brings together various experts, from researchers to classroom teachers. For education, this is a great tool aimed at bringing learning outside of the classroom walls. Projects can be posted and shared at a global level.
Miikka, who lives just outside of Joensuu, picked me up Tuesday morning to make the 2 hour drive down to Savonlinna, where we would meet Saara and Petteri. We began our day at the Lusto museum. “Lusto”, I learned, means the annual ring found inside tree in Finnish. Clever name for the museum! The museum not only gives the history of forestry, but offers places for visitors to learn about tree and animal species, and see real machinery used in the forestry industry. A great place for kids and adults!
The museum also houses a learning lab, which brings students and teachers in to do hands-on learning. Students can look at tools used to take core samples of trees and use a high-powered microscope to see the annual rings. They can see how scientists collect data and measure the annual rings while graphing in on a computer.
One of my favorite activities was a way for students to look at patterns in core samples taken from trees in an area. Here an art teacher had painted sticks to simulate the core samples, allowing students to then move the sticks around and look for patterns and commonalities. This method, called cross dating, is one of the most simple techniques used in dendrochronology (tree-ring dating). You can see students using the resources in the learning lab here.
After a tour of the museum and learning lab, we headed out to the research forest in the Punkaharju Nature Reserve. Here we spent the next few hours outdoors in cold but beautiful weather. The research forest is home to 100 different species of trees, from various types of birch to spruce, as well as a place for many experimental projects.
There are several monitoring systems for measuring tree growth in the forest (which is also a set-up that has been replicated near the UEF campus for students and teachers to use). This set-up allows students, teachers, and researchers to access real-time data to incorporate in classroom projects- the possibilities are endless!
Next we headed to one of the shelters in the forest, which was set up with a fire pit for keeping warm, and more, importantly, cooking coffee and sausages. We enjoyed lunch here while talking about educational opportunities, and, most importantly, having a little fun. Petteri brought along a drone for us to use to see the forest and surrounding lake from an aerial view. Yet another tool with endless possibilities for students!
Miikka was even able to get some aerial footage from the drone as we flew it over the forest and lake. Now, I can’t wait to go back when the ice melts so we can test it out underwater too!! :)))
Finally, we ended our day with a quick stop for a view of the Ovalinlinna castle in Savonlinna, a must-see place in the summertime and home to the opera festival in July. I will definitely be back to visit when the summer hits Finland.
Olavinlinna castle in Savonlinna
I left Savonlinna today feeling inspired and armed with tools to work on my Fulbright inquiry project, the end product of my time here. Connecting globally was one of the key components of my project. How can we connect students across the world to tackle real-world, global problems? Or to collect and compare data from across the globe. The forestry industry offers opportunities to make many global connections- climate change, biodiversity, growth and decline of forests- the list could go on and on. We are excited to create these global partnerships. Stay tuned for project updates!
