Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

Time to Reset the School Clock“Every kid is different. Why force each mind to fit the same timetable?” asks this article written by a British Columbia teacher. If individuals learn in a variety of styles and on different schedules, who benefits from the formal rigidity of current school timetable? And if we know that learning is not confined to the classroom, couldn’t we ‘do’ school differently?

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Youngsters who are empowered as adolescents to take charge of their own futures will make better cit-21st Century Learning InitiMon, 04/07/2008 - 18:54 -- adminYoungsters who are empowered as adolescents to take charge of their own futures will make better citizens in the future than did so many of their parents and their grandparents who suffered from being over-schooled, but under-educated in their own generations.

• read moreabout youngsters who are empowered as adolescents to take charge of their own futures will make better cit-21st century learning initi

Society as a whole (and certainly not simply schools on their own) has to rethink how to use the cre-21st Century Learning InitiMon, 04/07/2008 - 18:53 -- adminSociety as a whole (and certainly not simply schools on their own) has to rethink how to use the creative energy of adolescence to the overall good of the community.

• read moreabout society as a whole (and certainly not simply schools on their own) has to rethink how to use the cre-21st century learning initi

Society, going back to the stage of the diaspora out of Africa, needs both the impatience, and the e-21st Century Learning InitiMon, 04/07/2008 - 18:50 -- adminSociety, going back to the stage of the diaspora out of Africa, needs both the impatience, and the energy, of adolescents to keep it vital.

• read moreabout society, going back to the stage of the diaspora out of africa, needs both the impatience, and the e-21st century learning initi

When they’re young, we drive them to playdates, fill up their time with organized activity, and co-Michael UngarThu, 03/27/2008 - 13:35 -- adminWhen they’re young, we drive them to playdates, fill up their time with organized activity, and cocoon them from every imaginable peril. We think we are doing what’s best for them. But as they grow into young adults and we continue to manage their lives, running interference with teachers and coaches, we are, in fact, unwittingly stunting them. By continuing to protect them from failure and disappointment, many of our kids are missing out on the “risk-taker’s advantage,” the benefits that come from experiencing manageable amounts of danger.

• read moreabout when they’re young, we drive them to playdates, fill up their time with organized activity, and co-michael ungar

….In studying resilience-related themes.. I found was that opportunities to take chances, take res-Michael UngarThu, 03/27/2008 - 13:32 -- admin….In studying resilience-related themes.. I found was that opportunities to take chances, take responsibility for others and for yourself, were things that predict positive outcomes for kids growing up under very difficult circumstances. Yet I began to see the very same things that we know help kids get through tough situations, were actually being _denied_ kids who were in very, very good living situations, in very, very safe environments at home and in the community.

• read moreabout ….in studying resilience-related themes.. i found was that opportunities to take chances, take res-michael ungar

Inside the Teenage BrainDr. Jay Giedd is a neuroscientist at the National Institute of Mental Health. Recently, he spearheaded research showing for the first time that there is a wave of growth and change in the adolescent brain. He believes that what teens do during their adolescent years — whether it’s playing sports or playing video games — can affect how their brains develop.

(Source: Frontline Report, PBS.org)

Related Item: 
Audio interview – [[http://changelearning.trevortwining.com/audio/peering-teenage-skulls-mris|Peering into teenage skulls with MRIs]]

• read moreabout inside the teenage brain

Learning is not something which requires time out from productive activity; learning is the very hea-Shoshama ZuboffMon, 03/10/2008 - 16:53 -- adminLearning is not something which requires time out from productive activity; learning is the very heart of productive activity.

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The principle reason high schools now enroll nearly all teenagers is that we can't imagine what else-Thomas HineMon, 03/10/2008 - 16:51 -- adminThe principle reason high schools now enroll nearly all teenagers is that we can't imagine what else to do with them.

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"We might find out there are things we can do…(in adolescence)... to make a better brain (that) is-Jay GeiddFri, 03/07/2008 - 14:11 -- admin"We might find out there are things we can do…(in adolescence)... to make a better brain (that) is not through four hours a night of homework. What if we find that, in the end, what the brain of the adolescent wants is play, that is certainly possible. What if the brain grows best when it is allowed to play?"

• read moreabout "we might find out there are things we can do…(in adolescence)... to make a better brain (that) is-jay geidd
• The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries about the Teenage Brain Tell Us about Our KidsThu, 03/06/2008 - 17:49 -- adminWhile many members of the scientific community have long held that the growing pains of adolescence are primarily psychological, Barbara Strauch highlights the physical nature of the transformation, offering parents and educators a new perspective on erratic teenage behavior.
  
  
  
  • read moreabout the primal teen: what the new discoveries about the teenage brain tell us about our kids
  
  During adolescence, the part of the brain that helps with organization, planning and strategizing is-Jay GieddMon, 03/03/2008 - 15:28 -- adminDuring adolescence, the part of the brain that helps with organization, planning and strategizing is not yet finished being built.
  
  • read moreabout during adolescence, the part of the brain that helps with organization, planning and strategizing is-jay giedd
  
  Too Safe for Their Own Good: How Risk and Responsibility Help Teens ThriveMon, 03/03/2008 - 15:26 -- adminWhen they’re young, we drive them to playdates, fill up their time with organized activity, and cocoon them from every imaginable peril. We think we are doing what’s best for them. But as they grow into young adults and we continue to manage their lives, running interference with teachers and coaches, we are, in fact, unwittingly stunting them. By continuing to protect them from failure and disappointment, many of our kids are missing out on the “risk-taker’s advantage,” the benefits that come from experiencing manageable amounts of danger.
  
  
  
  • read moreabout too safe for their own good: how risk and responsibility help teens thrive
  
  Adolescents are capable of very strong emotions and very strong passions, but their prefrontal corte-Charles NelsonMon, 03/03/2008 - 15:25 -- adminAdolescents are capable of very strong emotions and very strong passions, but their prefrontal cortex hasn't caught up with them yet.
  
  • read moreabout adolescents are capable of very strong emotions and very strong passions, but their prefrontal corte-charles nelson
  
  cognitive apprenticeshipWe have all seen youth who can spend hours perfecting complicated skateboarding feats, learning new computer games or mastering animation techniques – it is impossible to stop them from learning. Yet these same teens may struggle with learning in a classroom setting. Part of the problem is that classroom learning is often abstract, disconnected from any real-life application or the natural context for using new information.
  
  
  
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  getting it wrongAbout one hundred years ago, American psychologists, observing the chaotic and dysfunctional life of adolescents with no purposeful work to do and no role models to follow, started to define adolescence as a kind of disease brought on, they assumed, by the rapid development of sex hormones. The “rebelliousness” of adolescence was seen as an aberration, something that had ‘gone wrong’; and something that meant that teenagers were becoming a threat to themselves.
  
  
  
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  a critical evolutionary adaptationWe have all witnessed the apparent ‘craziness’ of adolescence. Typically, the rebelliousness, risk-taking and contrary behaviour has been chalked up to raging hormones. It seems however, that there may be method in the madness – and that teenagers are, in fact ,‘crazy by design1’.
  
  
  
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  building the wrong skills?It’s no secret when we look at the [[http://changelearning.ca/get-informed/whats-problem/how-we-got-here|history of Western education]] that part of the purpose of secondary school was to make sure that adolescents learned the skills needed for the factory floor and the office desk – things like respecting authority, staying on task and an ability to follow instructions. Schools and learning activities were structured accordingly.
  
  
  
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  the teenage brainIt was only in 1991 that Dr. Jay Giedd started the first long-term, longitudinal study of the changes going on in the adolescent brain by using sequential functional MRI scans of some eighteen hundred teenagers over a number of years1.
  
  
  
  • read moreabout the teenage brain
  
  What we need most to improve the quality of our le-a group of teenagers in the UK, as quoted by John AbbottMon, 02/18/2008 - 17:06 -- adminWhat we need most to improve the quality of our learning is more contact with adults other than parents and teachers. We know what our parents think, because we’ve heard it every day for years. We’re slightly suspicious of what teachers say because they’re actually paid to say that. What we want to know is what do other adults think… and we don’t meet very many of those.
  
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  Those neurological changes in the young brain as i-John AbbottMon, 02/18/2008 - 17:01 -- adminThose neurological changes in the young brain as it transforms itself mean that adolescents have evolved to be apprentice-like learners, not pupils sitting at desks and waiting instruction. Youngsters who are empowered as adolescents to take charge of their own futures will make better citizens for the future.
  
  • read moreabout those neurological changes in the young brain as i-john abbott
  
  Adolescence appears to be a deep-seated biological adaptation that makes it essential for the young -John AbbottMon, 02/18/2008 - 16:54 -- adminAdolescence appears to be a deep-seated biological adaptation that makes it essential for the young to go off...to prove themselves, so as to start a life of their own. As such, it is adolescence that drives human development. It is adolescence which forces individuals in every generation to think beyond their own self-imposed limitations..
  
  • read moreabout adolescence appears to be a deep-seated biological adaptation that makes it essential for the young -john abbott
  
  Imagine a School: Students Describe What Schools Would Look Like If We Got It RightImagine 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
  
  
  
  • read moreabout imagine a school: students describe what schools would look like if we got it right
  
  Making Life Part of the CurriculumHow does a 19th Century Maori war chant figure into the college aspirations of a bunch of student athletes in El Segundo? Just another means of preparing students — not just for college, but for life, suggests Dan Golden, who was recently hired for the new position of director of life planning and experiential learning at the private Vistamar School in El Segundo.
  
  
  
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  The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every TeenMon, 02/11/2008 - 12:10 -- adminRobert Epstein, former editor in chief of Psychology Today, shows that teen turmoil is caused by outmoded systems put in place a century ago which destroyed the continuum between childhood and adulthood. Where this continuum still exists in other countries, there is no adolescence.
  
  
  
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  The Self-Directed Learning Handbook: Challenging Adolescent Students to ExcelThu, 01/31/2008 - 17:18 -- adminWhether the students are struggling or proficient, the program is designed to nurture their natural passion for learning and mastery, challenging them to go beyond the easy and familiar so they can truly excel. The program can be introduced in stages in any middle or high school classroom and enables students of diverse abilities to design and pursue independent course work, special projects, or even artistic presentations, community field work or apprenticeships.
  
  
  
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  Let Me Do and I Understand: John Abbott on Cognitive ApprenticeshipThu, 01/31/2008 - 12:02 -- admin
  John Abbott speaks about how an expert can lead the novice (student) through the stages of learning.
  
  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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  Supporting or Breaking-in Our Youth? : John Abbott Looks at SchoolsWed, 01/30/2008 - 19:17 -- admin
  John Abbott explores the difference between an education that supports students or one that tries to make them fit the system.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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  Battery Hens or Free-range Chickens?: John Abbott on the Goals of EducationWed, 01/30/2008 - 19:11 -- admin
  John Abbott asks what kind of people our education system is aiming to produce.
  
  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.
  
  The changelearning website project emerged from the collaboration of John Abbott and Heather MacTaggart, the Executive Director of [[http://classroomconnections.ca/|Classroom Connections]], a Canadian non-profit educational organization dedicated to optimizing student learning.
  
  
  
  • read moreabout battery hens or free-range chickens?: john abbott on the goals of education
  
  Are Teenagers Key to Human Progress?: John Abbott Re-examines AdolescenceWed, 01/30/2008 - 18:54 -- admin
  John Abbott explores the idea that the stage of adolescence may be one of the core driving forces of human evolution.
  
  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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  John Abbott on Critical Periods of Brain DevelopmentMon, 01/28/2008 - 19:23 -- admin
  John Abbott discusses the need for us to understand critical ‘windows of opportunity’ in human development in order to maximize learning. In particular, he discusses very key – and very different – opportunities afforded by the early years and the period of adolescence.
  
  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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  Building on Strengths Through CollaborationThe Learning and Development Initiative (also known as the Learning Inquiry Initiative) is an ongoing initiative in operation at various sites throughout the Vancouver School District. It’s purpose is to uncover and celebrate the knowledge, understandings, principles and skills fundamental to learning. This process includes all associated employee groups, parents, students, and community groups.
  
  
  
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  adolescenceAlthough many people have begun to understand the importance of the [[early years]] to human development, achievement and lifelong success, we have been slow to recognize the elephant in our midst—the adolescent learner. Dropout statistics, plummeting rates of school connectedness, declining academic performance and an increased dislike of school are [[signs of trouble]] underlining a disturbing pattern of disengagement as youth enter their teens. It seems that we may be [[getting it wrong]] for adolescents learners more than anyone in our schools.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  timing is everythingEvidence is mounting that we arrive into the world with a genetically pre-set timetable for how we go about growing that remaining 60% of our brains – complete with sensitive or critical periods when specific parts of the brain are primed to grow and develop. For example, researchers at McMaster University have found that babies with cataracts who miss fine visual input for the first two months, never develop the ability to recognize faces at a distance1.
  
  
  
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  Hands-on Trades Courses Get Students Out of Class and On the JobIn 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
  
  
  
  • read moreabout hands-on trades courses get students out of class and on the job
  
  Small is Beautiful: Relationships are Central to Program for Young OffendersSince closing its large juvenile training schools 20 years ago, Missouri has become a model for the nation in juvenile corrections. The small scale and therapeutic, family-oriented atmosphere distinguish Missouri’s juvenile facilities from the training schools common throughout most of America.
  
  
  
  • read moreabout small is beautiful: relationships are central to program for young offenders
  
  -Eric JensonFri, 01/18/2008 - 11:10 -- adminWe even know that adolescent brains are not wired to function well early in the day, but we continue to force teens to sit (or sleep) through regularly scheduled morning classes.
  
  • read moreabout -eric jenson
  
  -Dr. Jay GieddFri, 01/18/2008 - 11:09 -- adminIf a teen is doing music or sports or academics, those are the cells and connections that will be hardwired. If they're lying on the couch or playing video games or MTV, those are the cells and connections that are going to survive.
  
  • read moreabout -dr. jay giedd
  
  What teens do—or do not do—during this stage o-Dr. Jay GieddFri, 01/18/2008 - 11:09 -- adminWhat teens do—or do not do—during this stage of development will affect them (and the very structure of their brain) for the rest of their lives.
  
  • read moreabout what teens do—or do not do—during this stage o-dr. jay giedd
  
  At age 11 or 12, the brain experiences a wave of s-Dr. Jay GieddFri, 01/18/2008 - 11:07 -- adminAt age 11 or 12, the brain experiences a wave of synapse formation (similar to the growth spurt seen in infants), followed in adolescence by a process of synaptic pruning (much like pruning the weaker branches of a tree). Consequently, the “use it or lose it” principle becomes critical in adolescence.
  
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  -Barbara StrauchFri, 01/18/2008 - 11:06 -- adminContrary to previous beliefs, adolescence is a period of profound structural change in the brain, rivalling early childhood as a critical period of development.
  
  • read moreabout -barbara strauch
  
  can the learning species fit into schools?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.)
  
  
  
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  Crazy By Design: Adolescence, a Critical Evolutionary AdaptationThe 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.
  
  
  
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  Apprenticeship training in CanadaThe 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)
  
  
  
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  Removing barriers to apprenticeship trainingAn important study in the area of apprenticeship training in Canada helps set the agenda for removing perceived employment barriers for skilled trade apprentices and to dispel some of the myths and reinforce the concept of apprenticeship training in the minds of the public. 
  (Source: Canadian Education Association)
  
  
  
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  Getting It Right for Adolescent Learners: A Call to ActionInspired by events and conversations at their 2006 symposium, theCanadian Education Association developed this site to create a meeting place for Canadians interested in exploring how we can get it right for adolescent learners. The site highlights principles that represent what we know about how best to meet the academic, social and emotional needs of adolescents in our schools and makes recommendations for action by educators, schools, government and education associations.
  
  
  
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  Evolutionary Principles of Human AdolescenceMon, 01/07/2008 - 14:46 -- adminAn exploration of human adolescence, unique due to its ethological perspective. Psychologist Glenn Weisfeld presents a comprehensive treatment of adolescent development from a functional, evolutionary point of view, providing a research-based description of human adolescence. He also offers a comparative perspective, describing adolescence in other species, human cultures, and historical periods.
  
  
  
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  Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents MatterMon, 01/07/2008 - 14:17 -- adminDr. Neufeld has dubbed this phenomenon peer orientation, which refers to the tendency of children and youth to look to their peers for direction: for a sense of right and wrong, for values, identity and codes of behaviour. But peer orientation undermines family cohesion, poisons the school atmosphere, and fosters an aggressively hostile and sexualized youth culture.
  
  
  
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  The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries about the Teenage Brain Tell Us about Our KidsMon, 01/07/2008 - 13:56 -- adminWhile many members of the scientific community have long held that the growing pains of adolescence are primarily psychological, Barbara Strauch highlights the physical nature of the transformation, offering parents and educators a new perspective on erratic teenage behavior.
  
  
  
  • read moreabout the primal teen: what the new discoveries about the teenage brain tell us about our kids
  
  making life part of the curriculumHow does a 19th Century Maori war chant figure into the college aspirations of a bunch of student athletes in California? Just another means of preparing students — not just for college, but for life, suggests Dan Golden, who was recently hired for the new position of director of life planning and experiential learning at the private Vistamar School in El Segundo.
  ( Los Angeles Times ) (02-Jan-2008)
  
  
  
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  The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the WorldThu, 12/27/2007 - 10:04 -- adminThe Freedom Writers Diary is the amazing true story of strength, courage, and achievement in the face of adversity. In the fall of 1994, in Room 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, an idealistic twenty-four-year-old teacher named Erin Gruwell faced her first group of students, dubbed by the administration as “unteachable, at-risk” teenagers. This group was unlike any she had ever interacted with.
  
  
  
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