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
"Nordic.... countries have achieved global leadership in low-carbon technologies" while, at the same time, they have "strengthened their economic competitiveness." On October 21, 2010, the enormous impact of that finding was the subject of a briefing on Capitol Hill in a presentation sponsored by representatives of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Nordic Council. The significance of the report? Nordic nations — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden — have shown that a country can simultaneously "grow" its economy, improve its energy efficiency, and switch to renewable resources. The EESI website confirms, for example, that "Sweden has reduced emissions by 12 percent" since 1990 (while its GDP has risen 48 percent), "Iceland gets 82 percent of its primary energy from renewable resources," and Finland has set its eyes on a "goal of 60 percent renewable energy by 2050."

Green-energy policy is not the only field in which the Nordic Region makes headlines. Nordic nations pop up consistently at or near the top of lists ranging from the "most networked countries in the world," to the most generous donors of foreign assistance, to the "best places in which to be a new mother." How does a group of five neighboring countries with a combined population of only 25 million achieve all this? To help your class explore that question, Learning Enrichment (LE) offers this study unit. It will help students to examine the influence of the region's geography, history, and cultural traditions on its member nations and their people. It will throw light on the kinds of policies they now share and the goals they support. And It might even lead your class to explore other world regions — the Middle East, for example — in a new light.

This unit's three Student Text Pages — together with its Map Page and Data Page — should get your students off to a good start. And, 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: archaeologist, biofuels, broadband access, cultural tradition, economic measurements, environment, EU, foreign aid, geothermal energy, global marketplace, gross domestic product, information and communications technology (ICT), myth, NATO, rehabilitation (post-war), renewable energy, safety-net (welfare) laws, service industry, standard of living, stock market, 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 and opportunities 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 you may want to keep a few basic sources on tap for students seeking additional background information on these countries. For example, the CIA's World Factbook provides current statistical data on each nation's population, government, and economy — an especially useful source in an era when nations are striving to cope with the effects of the recent global recession. (Use the menu on the opening page to select entries for "Denmark," "Finland," "Iceland," "Norway," and/or "Sweden.") Similarly, students can use the search box on the main page of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia to access a fairly lengthy entry on any of the five countries. (You might also want to point students to the Wikipedia entry for "Scandinavian American", an interesting profile of four percent of the U.S. population.)

What follows here is a list of suggestions for expanding and extending some of the themes and topics in the student text pages in this unit:

1. Student Text Page No. 1: "Cultural Roots." 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 20th-century adoption of the term "Nordic."

1b.    Cultural identity. "Let silence, then, be granted, / While we sing the loss of thanes." This brief excerpt from "The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson," illustrates the Icelandic Eddas mentioned at the top of Student Text Page No. 1. They are one of the major sources for research into early Scandinavian culture, and a library or Internet search under 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.... [people throughout the region] spoke some version of the earliest Germanic language." Ask: "How might their use of the same — or similar — languages have helped the earliest Scandinavian settlers to develop similar traditions? How important is language in shaping a person's cultural identity 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. 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 page—may 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.

1d.    Pressing toward democracy. A central theme of this student page is the gradual development of the cultural and political identities of the five Nordic societies over the centuries. One of the strongest features of that development — summarized in the "Meeting challenges" segment — is their journey toward independence and democracy. A major step for each was the emergence of its political identity as an independent kingdom and/or nation (Denmark, a millennium ago, Sweden in the 16th century, Norway in 1905, Finland in 1917, and Iceland in 1944). Another step was the embodiment of democratic principles within a constitution — an achievement that each population realized, separately, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And today? Freedom House ranks all five Nordic countries among those nations that maintain the strongest political rights and civil liberties in the world (2010).

Suggestion: Remind students that the establishment of a democratic form of government is still a goal for many people around the world. Then ask: Is there a "best path" toward this goal? Does the process (optimally) include a series of gradual steps? Or is immediate, total change preferable? If convenient, you might want to break students into small groups to discuss — and then report on — such issues. Ask them, as they work, to consider this question, too: What does the history of the Nordic Region (or of the USA) contribute to our understanding of the way stable democracies evolve?

2. Student Text Page No. 2: "Current Patterns." 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.    Comparing patterns. 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 other countries and/or world regions.) 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. Denmark's ratio is given. The 2009 ratios for the other four Nordic nations were: Finland 35:100, Iceland 33:100, Norway 46:100, Sweden 39:100. (By comparison, the ratio for the USA in the same period was 7:100. All GDP figures are based on purchasing power parity.)
  
• 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 2008 urban rates were: Denmark 87%, Finland 63%, Iceland 92%, Norway 77%, Sweden 85%.
  
• Workers in service industries. By 2009, the Nordic Council was reporting that roughly three-fourths of the Region's workforce are in service-sector occupations. Country-by-country approximations: Denmark 77%, Finland 70%, Iceland 73%, Norway 76%, Sweden 75%.
  
• 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. Another way of looking at it: Combined personal income taxes in the Nordic Region amounted to about 16 percent of the Region's GDP in 2006.
  
• Women's roles.... The "Current Patterns" Page mentions the percent of Swedish parliamentarians who are women. The Inter-Parliamentary Union reports comparable statistics for the other Nordic nations: Denmark 38%, Finland 40%, Iceland 43%, Norway 40%. Nordic women are well represented in most public arenas and 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, 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 150-word backgrounder on the Nordic Region, to introduce a feature story on "mixed economies" in the region today.

2b.    Cultural "exports"? Students interested in more details about trade in the Nordic Region can find lists of each nation's key "Exports" and "Imports" in the current edition of the CIA World Factbook. (Use the opening Search box to select a country's name, then select "Economy" and scroll for one or both trade-related labels.) However, 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 subject of headlines, you may want to alert students to the names of the current (2010) prime ministers in the Nordic Region: Denmark's Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Finland's Mari Kiviniemi, Iceland's Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Norway's Jens Stoltenberg, and Sweden's Fredrik Reinfeldt.

3. Student Text Page No. 2: "Tomorrow's Challenge." 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 relations, 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.    Caring for others. The five Nordic nations have long been active, staunch members of the United Nations. The "Reaching out" segment on the third student page mentions the region's financial support for the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — a set of agreements among 192 world nations that was endorsed in September 2000. Students interested in researching the goals will find a list of them — plus related links — in the Wikipedia's article on "MDGs". For a more detailed account of how the MDGs were developed (and for a 2007 progress chart evaluating efforts to reach these goals), they might try their local library for a copy of Don Hinrichsen's excellent article "2015: Less Than a Decade To Go" (Scandinavian Review, Autumn-Winter 2007). In summary terms, the MDGs include eight universal targets, usually presented in this order: (a) eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, (b) achievement of universal primary education, (c) promotion of gender equality, (d) reduction of child mortality, (e) improvement of maternal health, (f) containment (then reduction) of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, (g) achievement of environmental sustainability, and (h) evolution of a global partnership for human development.

Suggestion: Invite students to discuss the MDGs. Does the order in which these goals are listed seem to suggest any priorities among them? And — if so — do students agree with the prioritization? Remind your class that the Nordic nations have extremely high marks in achieving these same goals for their citizens; then ask: "Why might five highly advanced societies be so concerned to help other countries achieve these MDGs?" Perhaps a volunteer committee of students could take the topic from there, by watching for reports on matters related to the eight MDGs and keeping a scrapbook of news items that touch on them.

3b.    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 periods 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, addressing such issues as the following:

• Mutual economic goals. 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 (all data as of September 2010).... In addition to maintaining mutual trade links, Baltic Sea nations share new concerns raised by the recent global financial crisis. In August 2010, the governments and banks of the five Nordic countries and three Baltic States signed a cross-border agreement to exchange information and coordinate steps that would prevent — or at least manage and resolve — any future financial crisis that might threaten them.
  
• 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. Nuclear safety, human rights, educational enrichment, sustainable development of sea resources, climate change: 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.

3c.    Nordic Region and the Arctic Ocean. The "frozen North" into which so many brave Nordic explorers have ventured over the centuries is on the verge of becoming a new frontier for human activity. The shrinking of the polar ice cap has already opened Arctic Ocean shipping lanes, thus cutting time and costs for exporters. And those in the business of mineral extraction see opportunity in the Ocean's bed, which is said to hold more than 25 percent of Earth's oil and gas deposits. Two Nordic nations — Norway and Denmark (through Greenland, part of the Danish Kingdom) — have expressed proprietary claims to those deposits. So have Canada, Russia, and the USA (through Alaska). And the other three Nordic nations — Finland, Iceland, and Sweden — are equally concerned about the impact of such activity on their own region: How might the extraction of Arctic seabed minerals affect the polar environment? How — and by whom — would any conflicting claims to these deposits be resolved?

Suggestion: Tell students that they may be witnessing the start of a new and important episode in human history — and invite them to become its "chroniclers"! Propose that they work together to prepare the first segment of a classroom scrapbook titled "New Age in the Arctic Region," with the idea of then passing the scrapbook along to future classes for continuing additions to its pages. Urge your students to start the scrapbook with a good polar map. (See, for example, "Norway's Northern Neighbors" in the LE study unit "Norway: Exploring New Horizons.") And prompt them to keep watching for news stories and photos related to the Arctic Region's environment and development. You might also encourage students to include occasional essays of their own on questions such as these: What principles and policies should nations adopt, to guarantee that their activities in the Arctic Region will not threaten the Region — or one another?

3d.    "Join NATO, the EU and the Eurozone?" Under this provocative title, a January 2010 report by the Nordic Council addressed an even more fundamental question: Should the five Nordic nations form a joint federal state? To do so, argued the report, all five nations would have to be members of NATO and the EU. But, as the "Tomorrow's Challenge" page makes clear, (a) Norway and Iceland are not members of the EU, and (b) neither Finland nor Sweden is part of NATO (though Sweden has been operating under a NATO command in Afghanistan). Thus, to help students explore the "provocative" proposal for a Nordic federation, you may first want them to review the current size of NATO and the EU — and their eastward expansion over the years. Here's some basic information:

* NATO    Founding members (1949): Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, UK, USA.... Additional NATO members, as of October 2010: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey.... Countries interested in NATO membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Montenegro.

* EU    Founding members (European Coal and Steel Community, 1951): Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, West Germany (today, Germany).... Additional EU members, as of October 2010: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK.... Countries interested in EU membership: Croatia, Iceland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey.

Suggestion: Using a classroom map of Europe, help students to identify the locations of the original — and then, the current — members of NATO and the EU. Be sure that they recognize the decades-long pattern of eastward expansion by both organizations. Then point out the countries now seeking EU and/or NATO membership. Ask: "What impact (if any) might the continued expansion of NATO and the EU have on those Nordic nations that do not belong to both organizations? And: Even if they did join, what impact (if any) might membership in both groups eventually have on the independent character of the Nordic Region?" At the start of the "Alone, or together?" segment in the "Tomorrow's Challenge" page, students read that the peoples of the Nordic Region understand the adage "in unity lies strength." Does that principle apply equally to the concept of continental unity, or global unity? In your students' experience, does there seem to be a trend in today's world toward such forms of "unification"?

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: Multiple daily information exchanges, global trade, diplomacy, and other types of interaction bind the Nordic nations to one another and to the rest of the global community.

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: Examples indicating the importance of ICT technologies to everyday activities within the region — and of widespread access to ICT; recognition of the five nations as being among the top 12 networked economies; the region's global leadership in per-capita income and in economic competitiveness; its members' commitment to developing clean energy as a way of reducing air pollution; the region's leadership in donating foreign aid (official development assistance) and in funding efforts to achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goals; Nordic leaders' involvement in both peacemaking and rehabilitation efforts in war-torn countries; Nordic nations' participation in various regional and international organizations (Nordic Council, NATO, EU, UN).

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," near the beginning of this guide.) 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.

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. According to the OECD's Factbook 2010, only Iceland earmarked less than 20 percent of its GDP for public social expenditures in 2005. (At 29 percent, Sweden was in the lead.) But five years later, in the wake of a global recession and with a steadily aging population, promising a safety net to all Nordic citizens seems more challenging. The debate over this issue touches a variety of topics — tax policy and retirement-investment opinions, as well as public transfer of 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. It's a huge topic! So you might want to group students into committees, to research, compare, and report on various aspects of social welfare programs in the USA and the Nordic Region. (See, for example, the U.S. Social Security Administration's online comparison of "Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Europe, 2008.") After reports and discussion, invite essays on: "Caring for Those in Need Within the Modern Nation-State."

MORE RESOURCES
The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an excellent source of information on grants, awards, and cultural events in both the USA and the Nordic Region. Plus: While you're at the ASF Site, look for the latest reprints from the Foundation's terrific publication, Scandinavian Review (select "Publications" on the ASF Home Page).... If you prefer to reach official sites for the Nordic nations, try these links: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden. And for a resource that will keep you up-to-date on events and trends within the Nordic Region, see the Web Site 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 data for each country on such topics as education, health, income, etc. (Select "Statistical data" 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 Summit in Moscow Hears Rival Claims." BBC. September 22, 2010. See map. (STP3)

Du Bois, Tom, and Mellor, Scott. "The Nordic Roots of Tolkien's Middle Earth." Scandinavian Review. Summer 2002. (STP1)

Gibbs, Walter. "Discovering Who's Buried in Halvdan's Tomb." The New York Times. September 29, 1998. Page F4. (STP1)

Hinrichsen, Don. "Nordic Influence at the United Nations." Scandinavian Review. Spring-Summer 2007. (STP3)

-------. "2015: Less Than a Decade To Go." Scandinavian Review. Autumn-Winter 2007. Millennium Development Goals. (STP3)

Jones, Alison. Larousse Dictionary of World Folklore. Edinburgh: Larousse. 1995. (STP1)

Leiren, Terje. "A Century of Norwegian Independence." Scandinavian Review. Spring 2005. (STP1)

"Norden News." Straight from the source! (STP1, 2, 3)

"Nordic and Baltic Central Banks Sign Agreement on Financial Stability." Government Offices Of Sweden. August 19, 2010. (STP3)

OECD. "Net Official Development Assistance in 2009." Aid to developing nations. (STP3)

-------. "Revenue Statistics 1965-2008...." Scroll for chart on "Total tax ratio as percentage of GDP...." (STP2)

Powers, Michael. "In the Wake of the Vikings...." Scandinavian Review. Spring/Summer 1998. (STP1)

Ravila, Paavo. "Who Are the Finns?" Scandinavian Review. Spring-Summer 2007. Republication of 1961 article by a renowned linguist. (STP1)

Rosenthal, Elizabeth. "Arctic Seed Vault Is a Ft. Knox of Food." The New York Times. February 29, 2008. Norway's plan "to store and protect samples of every type of seed from every seed collection in the world"! (STP1,3)

Sachs, Jeffrey D. "The Social Welfare State, Beyond Ideology." Scientific American. October 2006. (STP2)

"Social Expenditure." OECD Factbook 2010: Economic ... and Social Statistics. See graph. (STP2)

Tarjanne, Pekka. "Is the Networked Economy Truly Global?" International Telecommunication Union. 1997. Despite the date, a still-excellent, accessible examination of the topic — with an eye on the role of ICT in communications history. (STP3)

U.S. Department of State. "Background Notes." Check list of links on opening page for detailed, current profile of each Nordic nation. (STP2)

Wallensteen, Peter. "War and Peace: Lessons from the 20th Century." Scandinavian Review. September 2001. Page 5. (Read this!!!)

"Women In National Parliaments." Inter-Parliamentary Union. Sept. 30, 2010. (STP2)

World Economic Forum. "The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011: Highlights." See Page 13, following. (STP3)

-------. "The Global Gender Gap Report 2010." (STP2)

-------. "The Networked Readiness Index 2009-2010." (STP3)

Nordic Student Text Page No. 1 | Nordic Student Text Page No. 2 | Nordic Student Text Page No. 3 | Nordic Map Page | Nordic Data 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: October 2010. Page last reviewed: February 2011.