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Through What did you do in school today?: Transforming Classrooms through Social, Academic and Intellectual Engagement , the Canadian Education Association, in partnership with the Canadian Council on Learning and school districts across Canada, are bringing life to the idea of student engagement in the classroom, and exploring its powerful relationship with adolescent learning, student achievement, and effective teaching.

A first look at the initiative’s results are presented in the initiative’s first national report – _What did you do in school today?: Transforming Classrooms thro

“Enriching Communities” was the theme of the first International Baccalaureate Organization Worldwide Electronic Conference in 2004. John Abbott, as a contributor/leader, noted that the theme suggested that “right now, many people fear that communities are not what they once were, or indeed might be in the future, and that somehow they have to be enriched.” He contributed four papers to the conference, all on the topic of community (attached as one document, below).

Rather than thinking of the brain as a computer, cognitive scientists now utilize a far more flexible, biological analogy, where the brain is seen as a unique, ever-changing organism that grows and reshapes itself in response to use. In this article, John Abbott and Terence Ryan discuss how emerging brain research that supports constructivist learning collides head-on with many of our institutional arrangements for learning.
The article first appeared in the November 1999 issue of Educational Leadership.

Education critic John Abbott quotes Bill Gates who states unequivocally; “High schools are obsolete… by that, I mean that even when they are working exactly as designed (they) cannot teach our kids what they need to know today”. Abbott explores what we know about our species that might help us understand better how humans learn and how to provide young people with the learning experiences they need.
(This paper was delivered to The Campaign for Learning, 10th June 2005, Kensington Town Hall, UK.)

The latest research and theories from evolutionary psychology, neurobiology and cognitive science demonstrate the various ways that humans have evolved over time to be extremely effective learners. John Abbott discusses what current research from various fields can tell us about how the adolescent brain works and how educators can work with adolescent learners to maximize their potential.

There is more material now about the nature of human learning than at any previous time in history. Why, therefore, do we have a “crisis” in education? John Abbott, discusses what is known about how humans learn and develop from birth through adulthood and how our education systems have it “inside out and upside down”.

Few topics generate as much vigorous debate as class size; the debate has raged for more than a half century. While it is unlikely to quell the passions the topic has engendered, research can shed some light on the controversy and inform the decisions that school officials and policy makers must make.
(Source: Canadian Council on Learning)