The Two Million Minutes Blog

Students in Finland

The video clip below is an exerpt from The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World's Most Surprising School System.

In this video, Dr. Tony Wagner interviews a group of 8th and 9th grade Finnish students.

 

Chess In The Urban Core - Washington, DC

Recently, Anthony Priest, an engineering teacher at McKinley Technology Magnet High School in Washington, DC, held a small chess tournament for the students.

Inner city students do not typically play a lot of chess, so it was particularly interesting to me to see how they took to the game.

I shouldn't have been surprised. These kids, like kids in the wealthier suburbs, are every bit as smart and curious. They often simply lack the exposure to a broader range of intellectually stimulating activities.

Here is a short video about the first McKinley High Chess Tournament.

 

The International Exams: PISA & TIMSS

American media flashes images and plays sound bites bemoaning the U.S. ranking on a variety of international exams.

Not surprisingly, what the exams measure is rarely explained, much less understood.

In the video below, Dr. Tony Wagner, Harvard education researcher and author of The Global Achievement Gap, explains the differences in two of the primary tests - PISA and TIMSS.

This video clip is part of the docuemntary - The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World's Most Surprising School System