IB-graduation party 4.9.2009
After three years of hard studying the IB grads got their diplomas and certificates on the 4th of September. IB-coordinator Satu Kemppainen started the graduation party with her speech where she reminded the amount of tears and sweat that have poured during the IB and it was now time for celebration. After the grads got their diplomas and certificates, Ari Kontro, the principal of the school, spoke about the importance of the IB not only for school but also for the grads. The present IB students sang a sensitive song which brought tears to graduates’ eyes. Hanna-Elina Tervo and Hanna Komulainen made a speech of a grads’ point of view. They were proud that they survived through the IB and were thankful for the school, teachers, classmates and everyone who had supported them during their journey. At the end of the celebration the guests saw a video made of photographs about the grads’ school years.
IB=INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE
Since 2005 there has been an opportunity to study in English in the upper secondary school of Sotkamo. Nowadays there are students from 11 different countries. This IB-programme is known worldwide and it gives a good chance to study abroad after graduation. In Finland there is one preliminary year that prepares for two proper IB-years. Those two years consist of studying six different subjects. A little amount of subjects makes it possible to study those in detail. To obtain the IB diploma, students must also, besides the six subjects, take part in TOK (= theory of knowledge) which purpose is to develop critical thinking. Students have to write an Extended Essay (EE), a research report of 4000 words about one of the subjects. During their free time pupils are doing CAS (=creativity, activity & service) which meaning is to learn by doing and develop the student’s personality. After two years students have to complete at least 150 hours of CAS (50hours/each area). Students who don’t complete TOK, EE, CAS will only receive certificates and not a full diploma. Although studying in the IB is challenging it is also very rewarding.
Sini Lotvonen and Suvi Vänninen
Amazing Campus 090909
The 9-th of september of 2009 was not only a good looking date in calendar, but also it was a day of Amazing campus, where students from all over the Kainuu region came to Sotkamo/ Vuokatti. Amazing Campus is an education fair where all students could learn more about various studying possibilities in Vuokatti region. There were many schools such as Sotkamo lukio, KAO tourism field, Vuokatti sports institute, Kajaani university centre and Kajaani AMK (Kajaani University of Applied Sciences), which tried not only to tell the students about benefits of studying in their schools, but also entertained them with various games and lotteries. In order to make it more comfortable for the students to stay, there was Sotkamon lukio band playing and singing their songs. The sport students of Kajaani AMK had organised some activities for the last year students of the different organisations. For the other students there was Jani Komulainen telling about the combination about studying and sport, motivation and a healthy lifestyle. Organisations of the Amazing Campus hope that in future this education fair will attract even more students and will be interesting not only for students of Kainuu but also for students from all over Finland.
Juho Nokelainen and Arnold Kovalenok
Students from all around the world
The IB school in Sotkamo is a opportunity for people from all around the world to share their culture and of course learn something about Finland as well. We are from two opposite ends of the world but with an opportunity offered by the local ski club Sotkamon Jymy, we have found a way to use our knowledge of skiing to try and help other skiers appreciate sport like we do. One of us is from Muhos, north of Sotkamo and the other is from Minnesota, U.S.A. We both found support in Sotkamon Jymy and a great way to give something back to them is by working with young athletes (ages 6- 16) twice a week, helping them gain general fitness and appreciation for it. The importance is that they maintain a healthy lifestyle and even put them on track to become competitive elite athletes. Thanks to the IB school we have found a perfect solution to pass on our love of sport!
Joseph Dubay and Samuli Huusko
Snowboarding in Vuokatti
“Sports town” Vuokatti is well known for its superior winter sport facilities. A lot of athletes from Finland and around world come here to ski in the indoor ski tunnel or, in this month of year, on early season snow(which was made prior to this season).
Vuokatti also has excellent training facilities for snowboarders. Here there is a rather long winter season and well groomed slopes, very well built snowboarding park with different kind of special made handrails and jumps. Vuokatti slopes staff is waiting for constant minus degrees to start making snow, but meanwhile it is possible to go snowboarding in the indoor pipe. The temperature inside is -8 degrees (to maintain the shape of the pipe and of course prevent snow from melting). It is open throughout the whole year from 12 am to 6 pm every day and thanks to the new shaping machine called “pipe dragon”, pipe walls are much smoother than before and not so icy as they used to be. Also it is possible to but up, to the bottom of the pipe, a special made rail and a jump for it, to ride that.
Siim Aunison
Practical at Snowpolis
Autumn in high school has gone well and people came back from holiday energized. During the holidays and free time, IB-students also have some exceptional hobbies. Some of the free time has to be used by producing different kinds of texts. Most of the texts are practical reports which need to be written for science subjects.
Evaluation in IB-programme is divided into two parts. External Assessment (EA) is done by an organ independent from school. About a quarter of the final grade comes from Internal Assessment (IA), meaning evaluation that has been done in school. In science subjects IA means different kind of practicals. Every student must have at least 40 or 60 hours of practical work during the two IB years. The hours depend on the chosen subject level: Standard Level (SL) or Higher Level (HL). From every practical work students have collected all necessary data to prove some hypothesis and they need to write a practical report about it. In practical reports students process the data, draw a conclusion and make an evaluation about the data and the whole practical.
During the IB-programme every student produces a big pile of texts. Basically writing the reports is not so hard, after few reports it feels like routine. After all the hardness, it is just a question of attitude.
The practical works in science subjects create a totally new dimension to studying. For example the phenomenon of osmosis can be studied by creating a practical work that examines the rate of osmosis in different concentrated solutions and potato chips. Then the work is analyzed and students can conclude that osmosis exists. This is a much more practical way to learn than to just copy from the board what osmosis is.
The Friday after autumn holiday we got an extraordinary chance to perform a science practical. The practical was held at Snowpolis, Vuokatti where the University of Jyväskylä has a unit belonging to the Department of Sports Technology. There we learned how the human body and sports can be combined with the science subjects. The teaching was arranged by lecturer Jarmo Piirainen from Jyväskylä University. Mr. Piirainen introduced us to the different equipments used to study sports technology. At the end of the visit some students then performed the practical work by using a special contact board that measures different variables from a person’s jump. A special thanks to the people of Snowpolis and teachers who arranged this visit.
It is important that we students get to study outside the classroom occasionally. Sotkamo has good conditions to perform these kinds of practicals. These visits can mainly be arranged by working adults; therefore we students are glad if the company has a positive attitude towards students visiting. Finally we would like to remind you that if your company has some kind of knowledge and conditions in accordance to science subjects, please do not hesitate to contact our school and help us to arrange interesting experiences. All in all knowledge is put into practice outside the school.
SL= Standard level
HL= Higher level
Mikko Moilanen and Paavo Nokelainen
|
