In general, there is little research on Finnish classrooms. But, here some examples in the
context of science are presented here. Juuti, Lavonen, Uitto, Byman & Meisalo (2009)
asked students in 75 randomly selected Finnish comprehensive schools in the 9th grade
(aged 15-16) about how physics and chemistry are taught and how they would like it to be
taught. The most popular teaching methods in physics and chemistry were teacherdelivered
or directed instruction. Demonstrations and practical work were the second most
popular group of teaching methods. According to the survey, teaching methods
emphasising creative thinking are almost newer used in Finnish science classrooms.
Therefore, creative thinking and teaching methods which support collaboration and
generating of ideas are in future introduced more widely in teacher education. In general,
the students were quite satisfied with the teaching methods currently used. However,
students stated that they would prefer teachers to more frequently hold classroom
discussions concerning difficult concepts and problems. The students would like to do more
project work, discuss in small groups or participate in a teacher lead discussion.