Teacher Erik Orre in Pirttijärvi, 1962. Image: Rafael Olin. SLS/Rafael Olins fotosamling

Educational resources

We offer educational resources for those who are looking for supplementary teaching material with ready-made assignments.
All our resources are based on archival material and are suitable for teaching subjects such as history, social studies, Swedish as mother tongue or as second language as well as heritage, archive knowledge and source criticism. Come and visit, borrow or download!

Practical archival knowledge for groups

The Arkiv i praktiken (Archives in practice) course is designed for secondary school and university students. We work in groups with original materials. During the course, we talk about the role and content of archives, how to use archives and source criticism. We also learn about the practicalities of visiting an archive and researching archival material. The course takes about 90 minutes and is free of charge. Limited number of places.

Skolväskan

Skolväskan (The school bag) highlights the development of society in the 20th century, reflected through realistic copies of archival material. The school is suitable for group work and the bag is lent free of charge to schools. Book the school bag at arkivet@sls.fi.

1918

918 – Jag var där (1918 – I was there) is a bilingual teaching aid based on unique archival material that highlights the impact of the Civil War on individuals and society.

The book is a collaboration between the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland and the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura).

In addition to archival material, it includes source criticism guidance and information.

The 1918 website consists of two entities that support each other: 

  • 1918 – I was there learning material, which can be downloaded as a PDF
  • More extensive archival material related to the events of 1918

Krigets barn (Children of war)

Krigets barn (Children of war) is a teaching aid that examines the war period 1939–1945 through the perspective of Finnish children. Children from the wartime period speak out through school essays, drawings, letters, diary entries and other documents from the archives. The archival material provides an authentic insight into everyday life during the war in Finland and in addition follows a wartime child sent to Sweden.

Namnen i våra städer (The names in our cities)

Here you can read about the unofficial place names in the cities of Kokkola, Loviisa, Vaasa, Turku, Maarianhamina, Tammisaari, Helsinki and Porvoo. You can also share other names you know.

The website can also be used as a starting point for discussion and work in the classroom. On the website you will find ready-made assignments for upper secondary school students.

Finna Classroom

Finna Classroom offers educational programmes from museums, archives and libraries. In Finna Classroom, teachers can choose material packages adapted to primary and secondary school curricula. The material packages can be used widely in several different subjects and modules.

SLS has contributed to the packages on Edith Södergran, the changing urban environment, places in our local environment, games from the past, the activities of the Finnish Defence Forces, the life of veterinarian Bernhard Åström in early 20th century Finland, and the audio package Lyssna på dialekter och talspråk (Listening to dialects and spoken language). Finna Classroom is continuously supplemented with new material packages.

Thematic areas on gratis.laromedel.fi

Are you interested in emigration, the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, recycling during the Second World War or perhaps the emergence of the welfare society? We have taken material from our archive and created twelve smaller thematic units with images, documents and information. The thematic units take a brief look at our history and provide an insight into what archival material looks like or what it can add.

The units can be used independently or as a complement to Schildt’s & Söderström’s educational series I tiden.

Zacharias Topelius on gratis.laromedel.fi

Topelius för lågstadiet (Topelius for Primary Schools) is based on texts by the author Zacharias Topelius and is especially aimed at pupils in grades 5 and 6. There are thematic units suitable for teaching Swedish language, but also history, music and visual arts.

Topelius för gymnasiet (Topelius for upper secondary school) is aimed at teachers of history or Swedish language in upper secondary school. The thematic units, based on Topelius’ texts, make the 19th century alive and relevant for students.

The teaching materials have been produced by Schildts & Söderströms Läromedel in co-operation with SLS.

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