Every time we judge a school on the basis of standardized test score—indeed, every time we permit our children to participate in these mass testing programs—we unwittingly help to make our schools just a little bit worse.
Alfie Kohn, The Schools Our Children Deserve (1999)

learning by doing

Hands-on Trades Courses Get Students Out of Class and On the Job

In an effort to expand upon opportunities for students, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has introduced a new approach called Focus Programs. Focus Programs are designed to provide students with the opportunity to experience a ‘hands-on’ program for one semester. The programs concentrate on a specific trade in a setting that feature in-class and practical on-site experience.

Programs currently offered are:

*…Cabinet-making

*…House-building

•…Landscape and Design

•…Manufacturing – Tool and Die

High School Students to Open Goat Farm

High school students who created a business plan detailing the market potential they see in the rising demand for goat meat in Indiana will get a $28,000 school district loan to open a goat farm. Spencer-Owen school board members voted 5-2 on Thursday to finance the 7-acre farm, which will be run by Owen Valley High School students about 15 miles northwest of Bloomington. The students will work together to raise and market Boer goats to Indiana’s growing number of ethnic groups that favor goat meat. They’ll pay back the loan through their meat sales.

Apprenticeship training in Canada

The apprenticeship system has a long history as an effective vehicle for work-based learning, but modern times have seen negative attitudes to apprenticeship and a poor image of trades, as well as a lack of information and awareness of apprenticeship. This is unfortunate because in the contemporary Canadian context, apprenticeship can help to address two distinct problems: labour shortages in the skilled trades and youth unemployment.
(Source: Canadian Council on Learning)

From Concept to Sale: Students Learn by Doing in Manufacturing Program

Earl of March Secondary School has been recognized many times for its innovated technological excellence. Recently, however the focus has been on its hands-on approach from everything from marketing, to design technology to product completion. Students and trades people alike are taking a second look at what is happening at the Kanata based high school.

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