Exploring
The NORDIC REGION...
Teacher Page
INTRODUCTION
CURRICULUM STANDARDS
CRITICAL TERMS
WHY REGIONS MATTER....
BACKGROUND ON STUDENT TEXT PAGES
Tips for Using the "Cultural
Roots" Page
Tips for Using the "Current
Patterns" Page
Tips for Using the "Tomorrow's
Challenge" Page
WRAP-UP!
SOCIAL STUDIES READING SKILLS
MORE RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION
At the beginning of this decade, Scandinavian Americans (Icelanders,
particularly) greeted the new millennium with special pride. After all,
it was their ancestors — Nordic explorers sailing under Leifur Eriksson
— who had reached this continent a full thousand years earlier!
Today's Scandinavian Americans (roughly five percent of the U.S. population)
don't trace their own family trees to that early adventure. (The earliest
Nordic settlements in North America did not survive.) But they did use
the arrival of the year 2000 CE to commemorate all that their own forebears
have contributed to American history.
This unit, "Exploring the Nordic Region,"
aims to help teachers and students in Grades 9-12 focus on the background
and current status of the region from which those immigrants came. In
doing so, the unit also explores a phenomenon that underlines many news
reports today the influence of a region's geography, history, and
cultural traditions on the nations, people, and events within its boundaries.
One has only to think of the Middle East today and the Balkans in recent
years, to know that "regions do matter" both as a significant
context for their peoples' internal relations and as a platform for their
nations' role in the world.
This unit's three Student Text Pages —
together with its Map Page and Data
Page — should get your students off to a good start in exploring
such topics.... Finally, if you want them to sharpen their Social
Studies Reading Skills while using this unit, see LE's new reading
skills segment near the end of this Teacher Page!
CURRICULUM STANDARDS
Each of the three student pages in this unit is self-contained, and
the pages can be duplicated and distributed in any sequence (though the
numbered "1-2-3" order makes good sense). As a whole, the unit
should be an excellent supplement to courses in Modern History, World
Regions, and Contemporary Issues (9-12). Among the learning goals it supports
are the following objectives, selected from Expectations of Excellence:
Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (EE), Geography for Life:
National Geography Standards (GL), and National Standards for History
(NSH). Thus, students should be better able to:
- "identify and explain the criteria
that give regions their identity in different periods of ... world
history." Standard 5E: "Places and Regions"
(GL, 9-12)
- "evaluate the role of institutions
in furthering both continuity and change." "Individuals,
Groups, & Institutions" (EE, High School)
- "explain conditions and motivations
that contribute to conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among
groups, societies, and nations." "Global Connections"
(EE, High School)
- "analyze connections between globalizing
trends in economy [and] technology ... and dynamic assertions of traditional
cultural identity and distinctiveness." "Era 9: Major
Global Trends Since World War II" (NSH)
- "... analyze ways in which trade
has contributed to economic and cultural change in particular societies
or civilizations." "World History Across the Eras"
(NSH)
CRITICAL TERMS
"Scandinavian?" "Nordic?" In earliest usage,
the geographic term "Scandia" ("Scandinavia,"
by the 17th century) applied only to the peninsula on which modern-day
Norway and Sweden are located. (Actually, early Romans thought of Sweden
as an island.) The early and frequent exchanges of people, goods, and
ideas between this peninsula and what is now called Denmark extended the
cultural meaning of "Scandinavian" to include Danes.
Historically, the term was later expanded to embrace Iceland and
Finland, too, given their role in the region's history (see Student
Text Page No. 1). But recent practice, underlined by the five countries'
own choice of name for their Nordic Council makes "Nordic" the
term of preference for many commentators today especially political
speakers (including many "Scandinavians"!). Students researching the region
should do searches under both labels.
Other terms you may want to preview include:
cultural tradition, economic measurements, environment, EU, euro, foreign
aid, information and communications technology (ICT), myth, NATO,
peace accord, private sector, productivity (national), renewable
energy, safety-net (welfare) laws, service industry, standard of
living, stock exchange, and urbanization. (You may also want
to point out this unit's use of BCE for "Before Common Era" and CE for
"Common Era.")
WHY REGIONS MATTER....
In this unit, the Nordic Region is explored under three key questions,
which (in effect) comprise a "yesterday-today-tomorrow" approach:
What are the cultural roots of the people in the Nordic Region?
(See Student Text Page No. 1)
What values and institutions are shared by the nations and people
in this region today? (Student
Text Page No. 2) What challenges does the region, as a whole,
face in the 21st century? (Student
Text Page No. 3) Threaded throughout the entire unit are two other
questions: How have the peoples/nations of this region influenced
one another? How does this region influence the world? You may
find it useful to employ those questions as well as questions in
the "Regional Matters" segment at the end of each student page
to evaluate student understanding, promote seminar discussions,
and prompt research.
BACKGROUND ON STUDENT TEXT
PAGES
An effective use of this unit's materials does not require in-depth
studies of individual nations within the Nordic Region. But students interested
in learning more about any of the five countries including the European
wars in which they were involved after the Kalmar Union could hardly
do better than look into articles on "Denmark," "Finland,"
"Iceland," "Norway," or "Sweden" in a current
edition of the Microsoft® Encarta® encyclopedia. The 2005 version
of the Encyclopedia also includes articles on: "Germanic Languages,"
"Vikings," "Saamiland" (region where descendants of
the earliest known people in Scandinavia now live), and "Scandinavian
Americans." And it provides a related map graphic on "Ethnic
Groups Within the United States."
What follows here is a list of suggestions
for expanding and extending the material in the student pages and the
other two pages in this unit:
Tips for Using the "Cultural
Roots" Page.
This page traces the development of the Nordic Region, including major
environmental and cultural influences on its identity. Students using
this page should have access to a regional map (see the Nordic
Region Map Page). A map showing the region in relationship to Europe
and North America would also be useful. Here are just a few tips for extending
the use of this page:
1a. What's in a
name? The "naming" of this region is a thread that runs
throughout the "Cultural Roots" page, and it provides one option
for helping students review and evaluate how the region developed its
special identity.
Suggestion: Ask students
to plot a timeline marking the approximate eras when the application
of the term "Scandinavia(n)" changed or expanded. Be sure
they include the adoption, in the 20th century, of the term "Nordic."
1b. Cultural identity.
The Icelandic Eddas mentioned at the top of Student
Text Page No. 1 are one of the major sources for anyone researching
early Scandinavian culture. A library or Internet search including the
term "Saga" will turn up others. The Sagas, written in the 12th and 13th
centuries, are considered part of the shared heritage of today's Nordic
peoples and are evidence of the powerful, unifying effect that shared
linguistic traditions had in shaping their region's culture. Students
reading this page learn that "by 500 BCE.... [most peoples throughout
the Region] used a local version of ... 'Old German.' " Ask:
"How might similar languages have served as a bond among early peoples
who sailed and fished in the same northern seas? How might language ties
influence Nordic relations today?"
Suggestion:
For a change of pace in their study of how language preserves and reflects
culture, invite students to research and examine the lyrics of "Oceania,"
written by Iceland's pop-culture star Björk Guðmundsdóttir
for the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. In
her song, Björk (the only name she uses professionally) becomes
the voice of the ocean, reminding humans of their profound links to
it: "Your sweat is salty / I am why...." How
might these and other lines in "Oceania" reflect the Nordic
peoples' millennia-old relationship with the seas around their homelands?
1c. Modern-day
governments, Part I. Tell students that Iceland (geographically the
youngest Nordic nation, since its volcanic terrain is of more recent origin
than the Scandinavian Peninsula), has the region's and the world's
oldest parliament: In 930 CE, its chiefs established a republican
constitution and an assembly called the Althingi. Today's Nordic
governments a topic addressed near the end of this student pagemay
differ from one another in some respects (see the Nordic
Region Data Page), but all have unicameral parliaments, in which political
parties are represented on the basis of universal elections.
Suggestion: Urge students
to research how these parliaments work (Denmark's Folketing,
Finland's Eduskunta, Iceland's Althingi, Norway's Storting,
Sweden's Riksdag), then discuss the pros and cons of having a
unicameral legislature.
Tips for Using the "Current
Patterns" Page.
On this page, students will find allusions to the contemporary economic
and social-welfare systems in the Nordic Region descriptions that
will expand in meaning if students are also given access to the Nordic
Region Data Page. The contents of this second student page can be
extended through these follow-up assignments:
2a. Filling in
the blanks... The "Current Patterns" page includes sample statistics
for topics (taxation, etc.) related to the Nordic economies. You may want
to send students to the UN and CIA sources listed in the "More
Resources" section below, to research comparable data for the
countries in the region that are not mentioned (see examples below) —
or for further related data. Note also that statistics on the Nordic
Region Data Page can be manipulated to yield further data. For example,
multiplying a nation's population total by its per-capita GDP will yield
its GDP.
- Export-to-GDP ratios.
Sweden's ratio is given. The 2004 ratios for the other four Nordic
nations were: Denmark 42:100, Finland 40:100, Iceland 31:100, Norway
42:100. (For the sake of comparison, the ratio for the USA in the
same period was 7:100.)
- Urbanization. Given the isolated
settlements in which the earliest Scandinavians lived, students may
also be interested to know how urbanized this region is today. The
2003 urban rates were: Denmark 85%, Finland 61%, Iceland 93%, Norway
79%, Sweden 83%.
- Workers in service industries.
By 2004, about 70 percent of the Nordic Region's workforce was employed
in the service sector — and 25 to 30 percent of all employees
in that category had government jobs. Here's the service-sector labor
force data for all five nations, as reported in the CIA's World
Factbook for 2005: Denmark 79%, Finland 64%, Iceland 71%, Norway
74%, Sweden 74%.
- Taxes ... and taxes.
The student page indicates the high tax rates that Nordic populations
bear as the price of a secure and universal welfare policy. However,
you may want to tell students that those rates are based on the combined
impact of a variety of tax types, including value-added taxes, etc.
Breaking out the categories, here's the average tax rate on income
and profits (for both people and companies): Denmark 30%, Finland
19%, Iceland 16%, Norway 20%, Sweden 19%.
- Women's roles.... The "Current
Patterns" Page mentions the percent of Swedish parliamentarians
who are women (UN Human Development Report, 2004). Comparable statistics
for other Nordic nations: Denmark 38%, Finland 38%, Iceland 30%, Norway
36%. Nordic women are well represented in most public arenas: Nordic
women are active in international organizations, too. Gro Harlem Brundtland,
former prime minister of Norway and an early champion of the "sustainable
development" theory for conserving Earth's resources, also completed
a five-year tenure (1998-2003) as head of the UN's World Health Organization.
Suggestion: After students
research and/or review the above data, ask them to imagine that they
are writers for a nightly TV news show, with an assignment to write
a 100-word, fact-packed "backgrounder" for a breaking news
story dealing with the Nordic Region.
2b. Cultural
"exports"? Countries export more than the products
of their economic activities and foreign policies. Ever since the days
of the Icelandic Sagas, Nordic peoples have shared their artistic achievements
with the rest of the world. In addition to researching the Sagas, students
may be interested in identifying more recent cultural "exports"
from the other four Nordic nations. Examples might include the works of
(a) Denmark's Isak Dinesen (penname of Karen Blixen) and philosopher Søren
Kierkegaard, (b) Finland's composer Jean Sibelius and its renowned architect
Alvar Aalto, (c) Norway's composer Edvard Grieg and writer Henrik Ibsen,
(d) Sweden's Selma Lagerlöf (the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize
in literature) and the world-renowned film director Ingmar Bergman.
Suggestion:
Invite students (perhaps working in groups) to research the contributions
of these and other cultural noteworthies from the Nordic Region. After
they report their findings, prompt students to reflect on and discuss
what they learned: "(How) Do the works of these noted Scandinavians
reflect the cultural traditions of their region?"
2c. Modern-day
governments, Part II. Students have many options today for keeping
in touch with news of nations they're studying. See, for example, "More
Resources" at the end of this Teacher Page.
Suggestion: One way for them
to keep track of the nations in the Nordic Region would be to manage
a bulletin board on which they post a regional map, together with current
news stories about the five countries. Since heads of government are
often the subjects of headlines, you may want to alert students to the
names of the current (May 2006) prime ministers in the Nordic Region:
Denmark's Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Finland's Matti Vanhanen, Iceland's
Halldor Asgrimsson, Norway's Jens Stoltenberg, and Sweden's Goran
Persson.
Tips for Using the "Tomorrow's
Challenge" Page.
Here, students consider the numbers of ways by which the Nordic peoples
are linked to the global community: through information and communications
technology (ICT), trade agreements, international organizations, and various
outreach efforts. Since this is the page that would most likely trigger
students' ongoing attention to news reports about the region, you may
want to engage them in one or more of the following exercises:
3a. The future
of the welfare state. The imminent death of the "Scandinavian
welfare model" (see Student
Text Page No. 2) is regularly pronounced (urged?) within the American
media. Indeed, a final question on the "Tomorrow's Challenge"
page suggests that sustaining generous welfare programs in tomorrow's
world may prove difficult for Nordic governments. In Denmark alone, more
than 20 percent of working-age Danes live on some type of public transfer
income today. And, like Denmark, the other Nordic nations are grappling
with the challenge of how to guarantee a safety net for all members of
a population whose average age is steadily increasing. The debate over
this issue touches on a variety of topics — tax policy and retirement-investment
options, as well as public transfer income. It echoes similar debates
over health, education, and retirement benefits within the USA. And American
teenagers may benefit by having an opportunity to discuss the basic ingredients
common to both.
Suggestion: Group students
into committees, to research, compare, and report on various aspects
of social welfare programs in the USA and in the Nordic Region. (One
committee might focus on the principles underlying such programs; others
might concentrate on economic and/or demographic statistics, related
taxes, current legislation, and proposed changes.) After reports and
discussion, invite essays on: "Caring for Those in Need Within the Modern
Nation-State."
3b. NATO/EU watch.
Tell students that, although Sweden and Finland are not members of NATO,
a substantial number of Finns favor joining NATO, while a growing number
of Swedes think their traditionally neutral country should at least consider
the possibility of membership. Indeed, several factors throw new light
on the question of Nordic relations with that body. Perhaps most significant
is NATO's eastward expansion: (a) In 1999, Poland, the Czech Republic,
and Hungary joined NATO's ranks. (b) More recently (in 2004), NATO admitted
seven more members: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia,
and Slovenia. (c) And at least three other nations — Albania, Macedonia,
and Croatia — have been granted applicant status. Also shifting
the spotlight eastward: Finland and Russia (countries that share a strategic
border) announced a special partnership in May 2002.
Suggestion: Using a classroom
map of Europe, prompt students to identify the location of NATO's original
and current member nations — and of the applicant nations, too
(see "a," "b," and "c" above). Be sure
that students recognize NATO's eastward shift. Then turn their attention
to the EU (which Norwegians and Icelanders have thus far chosen not
to join). Have volunteers locate the 10 nations that were admitted to
the EU in 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Then point out countries
still actively seeking EU membership: Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and
Turkey. Ask: "What impact might the expansion of NATO and the EU
have on the Nordic nations that are not members of these two organizations?
And, even if they did join, what impact might membership in those larger
groups have upon the independence of the 'Nordic Five'?"
3c. Baltic
Sea neighbors. It's hard to tackle the study of European history
without discovering the role played by the Baltic Sea and its various
coastal populations in the development of the Nordic Region. This was
a sea plowed by Nordic Vikings (warriors and traders) from the 9th through
the 11th centuries. This was the Late Middle Ages setting for the Hanseatic
League, whose traders linked ports in the Nordic Region (among them, Norway's
Bremen) with outposts in Russia.
Suggestion:
Remind students of these historic episodes and of the economic and cultural
ties they produced among early peoples living in the Baltic Sea area.
Ask your class to speculate on the kinds of interests that link today's
Baltic Sea countries — members of the Nordic Region, plus Germany,
Poland, Russia, and the three so-called "Baltic States" (Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania). Then urge students to research and report on
that topic, consulting such Internet sources as the following:
- Economic
ties. Trade
is still a major link among Baltic Sea nations, as a quick search
of the CIA World
Factbook illustrates. Germany is the chief export partner of Finland,
for example; Finland is the chief export partner of Estonia; and the
largest single source of Norway's imports is Sweden.
- Shared
environmental goals. The stock of Baltic cod fish is rapidly
declining, a challenge that has prompted more than two dozen non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) in the Baltic Sea area to collaborate on promoting
the sustainable development of this great resource. Their Coalition
Clean Baltic is just one example of the cross-border projects
linking Baltic Sea scientists and other citizens.
- Inter-government
cooperation. The range of mutual interests that engage the
11 Baltic Sea nations is perhaps most clearly defined by the ongoing
agenda of the Council of the Baltic
Sea States, a forum for inter-governmental cooperation at the
ministerial level. Education, energy, finance, information technology,
youth affairs.... The list of mutual policy concerns discussed
at yearly CBSS meetings suggests that the Baltic Sea nations may now
form a geopolitical "region" in their own right! Do they?
As students report the results of their research, you might want to
steer them toward a discussion of that new geopolitical topic.
SOCIAL
STUDIES READING SKILLS
The U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has generated increased
attention to the development of student reading skills at all grade levels.
LE offers the following Tip for teachers wishing to focus on such skills
in connection with their students' use of this unit. (See also LE's Page
on Reading Skills in the Social Studies:
*Locate and interpret significant
details. In this age of sound-bite news delivery, it's tempting
to skim over the details and look just for the conclusion of a news
article, editorial, or other piece of writing that deals with current
issues. But that can be risky. The value of any piece of expository
or persuasive communication depends heavily upon the writer's selection
and/or omission of details. In most cases, if the writer hasn't provided
good verifiable details in support of an article's stated premise or
argument, its worth is diminished — maybe lost. And students need
to become aware of that implied "test," especially with regard
to materials they use in social studies classes. To help them develop
their ability to look for — and identify — such details
in assigned readings, you might want to take the following two steps
toward introducing (or reviewing) this unit's Student
Text Page No. 3: "Tomorrow's Challenge":
1. Ask students to identify
the main idea and major themes addressed on the "Tomorrow's
Challenge" Page. Answers could include variations on the following:
Main idea: The 5 Nordic nations are — and will continue to be
— deeply involved in international and global issues. Major themes:
This involvement does not necessarily take the same form, from one country
to another, but global trade is vital to all their economies, and the
region is known for its members' willingness to support global peace
and policies that nurture it.
2. Ask students
to identify details used by the writer to clarify the article's
main idea and major themes. Answers could include the following:
Data indicating the importance of ICT technologies to Nordic jobs and
Nordic nation expenditures; vulnerability of Nordic economies to economic
conditions in other parts of the world (examples of impacts on Norwegian
and Finnish exports); cooperation of Nordic and other Arctic nations
in monitoring the effects of climate warming; various examples of peacemaking
efforts (foreign aid, diplomacy) by individual Nordic nations; membership
of all 5 Nordic nations in the UN; participation by each nation in either
NATO or the EU (with Denmark belonging to both); shared efforts within
the region to help bring an end to global terrorism.
WRAP-UP!
This unit was designed to help readers draw inferences about (1)
how the cultural identity of the Nordic Region evolved, (2) how the legacy
of that culture influences Nordic nations today, and (3) how the values
and priorities of these nations might influence the world at large. (See
also the questions under "Why Regions Matter",
above.) With that goal in mind, you might want to suggest that students
hold a wrap-up seminar on the topic. As they review the three student
pages, the unit's data and map pages, and their own research, be sure
they touch on the roles played by: common linguistic roots, shared environmental
influences, dominant religions (first folklore, then Christianity), patterns
of industry and commerce, and changing interactions among themselves
ranging from warfare in the distant past, to common democratic aspirations
in the 19th century, to regional cooperation and shared world goals today.
MORE RESOURCES
The American-Scandinavian Foundation
(ASF) is an excellent source of links to Web Sites dealing with each
of the five nations in the Nordic Region. You may want to bookmark the
ASF Site and use the clickable map on its Home Page to reach links to
the official Sites for individual Nordic nations. Or you may prefer to
reach those Sites directly by clicking on the following names: Denmark,
Finland, Iceland,
Norway, Sweden.
Note: While you're at the ASF Site, look for the latest reprints of articles
from the Foundation's terrific print publication, Scandinavian Review.
(Select "Publications" on the ASF Home Page, then scroll toward
the bottom of the page that opens.)
Another valuable resource — one that will
help you update your files on cooperative efforts within the region —
is the Site jointly maintained by the Nordic
Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
The UN's annual "Human
Development Report" on the relative status of world nations includes
tabular data on such topics as education, health, government spending,
etc. (Select "Human Development Indicators" on the page that
opens.) And, because of its structured approach to reporting on every
world nation (with comparable segments on "Geography," "Government,"
"Economy," etc.), the CIA's World
Factbook is a source you will probably want to consult, too.
LE also recommends the following print sources.
The parenthetical reference at the end of selected recommendations indicates
the Student Text Page (STP1, -2, or -3) in this unit with which the suggested
article or book could be useful:
Arctic Council. "Arctic
Climate Impact Assessment". Select "Impact of a Warming
Arctic...," then scroll to "Conclusions" and see Nordic
Region data on the first four pages. October 2004. (STP3. NOTE: "Conclusions"
requires Adobe® Reader®.)
Bakke, Marit. "Nordic Cultural Policy
in Transition." Journal of Arts Management, Law & Society.
Spring 2001. Page 5. (Worth trying to get through an inter-library loan.
STP1)
Becker, Elizabeth.
"Scandinavian economies thrive despite high taxes." The
New York Times. October 14, 2004. (STP2, STP3)
Du Bois, Tom, and Mellor, Scott. "The
Nordic Roots of Tolkien's Middle Earth." Scandinavian Review.
Summer 2002. (STP1)
Economist. June 14, 2003. See the
detailed survey of the Nordic countries today, beginning with "A
Midsummer
Elam, Ingrid. "Nordic
Writing Today." Scandinavian Review. Summer 2004. (STP1)Night's
Dream" (on Page 2) and including many other articles. (STP1,2,3)
Gibbs, Walter. "Discovering Who's Buried
in Halvdan's Tomb." The New York Times. September 29, 1998.
Page F4. (STP1)
Haworth, David. "Nordic ... Serenity."
Europe. February 2002. Page 16. (STP3)
Jones, Alison. Larousse Dictionary of
World Folklore. Edinburgh: Larousse. 1995. (STP1)
Leiren, Terje. "A
Century of Norwegian Independence." Scandinavian Review.
Spring 2005. (STP1)
Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Denmark, and Nordic Council of Ministers. "The
Nordic Region in a New Era...." (STP3)
Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of
Ministers. Politics
in the Nordic Region. March 2002. (The whole issue.)
Powers, Michael. "In the Wake of the
Vikings...." Scandinavian Review. Spring/Summer 1998. (STP1)
Richburg, Keith B.
"No Longer Just Nordic: Growing Role of Immigrant Communities...."
The Washington Post. October 22, 2004. (STP3)
Sachs, Jeffrey D.
"The Best Countries in the World." Newsweek. July 26,
2004. (STP2, STP3)
U.S. Department of
State. "Baltic
Region Security Challenges". Policy statement released by the
USDOS Director of Nordic and Baltic Affairs in 2003. (STP3)
Wallensteen, Peter. "War and Peace:
Lessons from the 20th Century." Scandinavian Review. September
2001. Page 5. (Read this!!!)
Nordic
Student Text Page No. 1 | Nordic
Student Text Page No. 2 | Nordic
Student Text Page No. 3 | Nordic Map
Page | Nordic Data Page
Would you like
to see other pages in this study unit?
Or visit LE's Home Page?
LE wishes to thank the American-Scandinavian
Foundation for underwriting the costs of developing this unit and making
it available to our electronic audience! We hope that the unit meets LE's
goal of serving the needs of teachers and students in Grades 7-12.
© Learning Enrichment,
Inc. Content last updated: July 2005. Page last
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