Online Middle and High School: Learning should be meaningful... The Minister of Education in Finland --- so, find a topic and go deep

Students should work together in school.
The learning should be meaningful to the students

This is the TEDx talk by Marjo Kylloenen

LINK to the TEDx talk

She is quoted here

“There are schools that are teaching in the old-fashioned way which was of benefit in the beginning of the 1900s — but the needs are not the same, and we need something fit for the 21st century.“

Instead of individual subjects, students will study events and phenomena in an interdisciplinary format. For example, the Second World War will be examined from the perspective of history, geography, and math. And by taking the course ”Working in a Cafe," students will absorb a whole body of knowledge about the English language, economics, and communication skills.

This system will be introduced for senior students, beginning at the age of 16. The general idea is that the students ought to choose for themselves which topic or phenomenon they want to study, bearing in mind their ambitions for the future and their capabilities. In this way, no student will have to pass through an entire course on physics or chemistry while all the time thinking to themselves “What do I need to know this for?”

See this link
www.tinyurl.com/finlandnosubjects

At 21Century.education, students are asked to select internships and to choose what they want to observe closely.

If the students are interested in animals, let's ask the questions from the LEARNING GOALS of Big Picture Learning.
History of animals
When did the first veterinarians start calling themselves "vets"?
How were animals used in war?

The Science of Animals

There are TV shows that compare the bite strength of jaws. Do alligators or Tigers have a stronger bite?
What are trends in numbers? Percent of cat owners vs. dog owners?

Animals in other languages
What do dogs say in Spanish?
perro (dog): guau guau, guau (ladrar) — bark, bow-wow, arf, ruff

The math of animals