Exploring Child Development & Education in Denmark

I never planned on studying abroad, but spending 5 months in Denmark turned out to be an amazing decision. 

I never planned on studying abroad because I was under the impression that STEM majors “don’t have time.” A few weeks after the deadline to apply to study abroad passed, I realized that one of the biggest points of creating my own major was so that I could do college academics on my own terms. If I wanted to study abroad, I absolutely should. 

So I made a meeting with Barnard’s study abroad coordinator and tried my luck. In my meeting, I first asked if it was possible for me to still study abroad. She said that it was. Then I asked where she thought I should go. She said “Denmark.” I asked why. She said “they’re happy and they bike a lot.” And I was sold. 

Truly, on the spot I made my decision that I was going to Denmark. As I started doing research on DIS Child Development and Education, I realized I couldn’t have made a better choice. 

Denmark was famous for its pedagogy. It was the country where LEGO was founded after all—Danish for “play well.” In my program, I learned all about Denmark’s approach to education. One of my favorite philosophies that I have incorporated into my teaching practice today is “walking behind and alongside the child”. In America, so much of schooling—and the way we treat children in general—is with adults leading the way. In Denmark, education is much more child-centered. The educator is seen as the facilitator of the child’s education, there to guide the children on their own educational journey. Another Danish pedagogical philosophy I loved is the notion that “the child will do well if they can.” This is hugely important, as there is often a deficient mindset associated with children—”Oh he just can’t do that.”  In Danish schools, children have so much agency and independence. They have the trust and support of their teachers.

One of the most incredible parts of my time in Denmark was working at a local primary school in a classroom of 7 and 8 year olds right outside of Copenhagen through my practicum course. There, I got to teach my very own curriculum each week. I created a curriculum called Programming Without Computers, where I taught children the foundations of computational thinking through an embodied approach. With the language barrier, I had to get creative with how I was going to teach computer science basics. I developed a set of “action cards” that illustrated different widely-recognized actions, such as “jump,” “walk,” “sit,” “spin,” etc. Children partnered up, and one became the robot and the other the programmer. The programmer got to create an order for the action cards and the robot had to act them out. Throughout my 5 months as a practicum student, I slowly added on more lessons. To walk beside and behind the children, I tried to let the learning be directed by them, and always asked them what action cards they wanted to include in our work. We added “dab,” naturally. I also taught lessons with Scratch and taught kids how to create their own mini video games.

Working with these children meant so much to me. In many ways, they were my first class! I carry all the many lessons that I gained in Denmark into all of my work with children today, always striving to believe that children do well if they can.