Many existing standards documents do not encourage teaching for understanding… they outline hundreds of bits of information for students to acquire at various grades in each subject area, creating expectations for content coverage that render impossible the in-depth study students need to understand and apply ideas.
Linda Darling-Hammond, Educational Researcher

school design

Overschooled but Undereducated: How the crisis in education is jeopardizing our adolescents

Fri, 11/20/2009 - 15:33 -- admin

The basic function of education in all societies and at all times is to prepare the younger generation for the kind of adult life which that society values, and wishes to perpetuate.

By misunderstanding teenagers’ instinctive need to do things for themselves, isn’t society in danger of creating a system of schooling that so goes against the natural grain of the adolescent brain, that formal education ends up trivializing the very young people it claims to be supporting?

What Did You Do in School Today?: Transforming Canadian Classrooms Through Social, Academic and Intellectual Engagement

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

Consider the often-heard lament, “some students are just not cut out for school.” The statement -Michael Wesch

Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:11 -- admin
Consider the often-heard lament, “some students are just not cut out for school.” The statement passes without question or even a hint of protest, yet think about what the statement says when we replace “school” with what school should be all about: “learning.” Some students are just not cut out for learning?

Imagine a School: Students Describe What Schools Would Look Like If We Got It Right

Imagine a School was a dramatic performance created by high school students from Halifax, Toronto and Vancouver that opened CEA’s symposium “Getting it Right for Adolescent Learners” in 2006. Find out what adolescents are saying about their experiences in high schools and what schools would look like if we “got it right”.

Read more about/order the DVD of this student performance, or read an article by Kathy Gould Lundy exploring the creative process of the actors and teachers involved in the project

Heather MacTaggart Speaks About Students Losing the Love of Learning

Mon, 01/28/2008 - 17:57 -- admin

Heather McTaggart speaks about the fact that although human beings are inquisitive by nature, for many children learning becomes something that is viewed as ‘not fun’.

Featured in this video:
Heather MacTaggart is the Executive Director of [[http://classroomconnections.ca/|Classroom Connections]], a Canadian non-profit educational organization dedicated to optimizing student learning.

John Abbott Challenges Faulty Assumptions About Kids

Mon, 01/28/2008 - 17:02 -- admin

John Abbott speaks about the fact that children are innately inquisitive and insists that schools need to capitalize on this fact.

Featured in this video:
John Abbott is the President of the [[http://www.21learn.org/|21st Century Learning Initiative]], an initiative to facilitate the emergence of new approaches to learning in the United Kingdom.

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