Japanese students held workshop
QR codes, holograms and cultural exchange were in focus when 20 students from the Institute of Science in Tokyo met upper secondary school students at the House of Science (Vetenskapens Hus). Through hands-on workshops, the students explored technical principles while also gaining insights into Japanese perspectives on learning, collaboration and problem-solving.
For several years, students from Institute of Science Tokyo have visited KTH and Linköping University. This year, the programme was expanded to include a visit to the House of Science. On Tuesday, 8 September, the students led two workshops for 27 third-year students from Viktor Rydberg Gymnasium, located in Djursholm just outside Stockholm.
In one of the activities, the students explored how information is encoded and read through the black-and-white patterns of QR codes. In another, they investigated how light and reflections can be used to create a three-dimensional holographic effect.
The workshops combined technology and Japanese culture with an exploratory approach in which the students were encouraged to test ideas, reason together and collaborate. English became the common working language as the Swedish upper secondary students and Japanese university students solved the tasks together.
The visit ended with a session of refreshments, giving the participants an opportunity to continue their conversations, get to know one another and exchange experiences beyond the workshops.
"It was a genuine cultural exchange day. The Japanese students did not come here simply to tell us about Japan, but to do something together with Swedish students. It is through collaboration that both differences and similarities in teaching become visible", says Anders Blomqvist, Educational Developer and Deputy Director at the House of Science.
The idea for the visit emerged during a course at the Institute of Science in Tokyo. Anders Blomqvist, who spent nearly three months in Japan during the summer studying Japanese schools and teaching, participated in the course as a teacher. Together with the student group and the Japanese teachers, he further developed the material and prepared the workshops at the House of Science.
In this way, the ideas from the course could be put into practice as a new and tangible element of the House of Science activities.
Text: Rita Nõu, photos: House of Science
