The links that appear in this section are meant to challenge
our conventional thinking about Community Education and community
engagement. That means the resource could offer a different
solution for schools, or it could say our thinking is flat-out
wrong. We include these resources because we want to know
about all the thinking in this field, not just from people
who agree with our view.
Teachers Guide: Environmental Concepts (Canada)
This guide
from the BC Ministry of Education aims to help teachers in British Columbia instruct their students
about the environment. It stresses the need for “integrated”
learning, in which students learn about civics, mathematics,
humanities, and society by studying the environment. That
integration, however, stops short of actual interaction with
the community and environment in which the students live.
SchoolNet - Network of Innovative
Schools (Canada)
This webpage
lists schools which Industry Canada has chosen as being particularly
innovative in brining technology into the classroom and finding
new uses for it. Some of the schools here, such as Willoughby
Elementary in Langley, BC, have used their new technical
expertise in community-engaging ways, such as creating a website
about the endangered salmon on which their community depends.
Others, however, have little interaction with their surrounding
communities.
Is Community Service a Waste of Time? This article
from Education
World is helpful because it makes the distinction between
“community service” and “service learning.”
Often, the two terms are used synonymously, but this article
points out the real differences between them. By their definition,
“Community Service” is an exploitive exercise,
while “Service Learning” is a valuable addition
to curriculum. This article clears up some concepts which
are sometimes difficult to tell apart.
Charity Begins at School (United
States)
 This opinion
paper from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation criticizes service learning for being too politicized,
and for displacing and weakening traditional academic instruction.
It also says—and isn’t the only one to say—that
making community service mandatory dilutes the importance
and value of true volunteerism.
Are
There National Patterns of Teaching? Why
do teachers today teach as they do, and why has teaching evolved
in the way that it has evolved? A study
pusblished in the August 2005 issue of Comparative Education
Review, seeks to answer these questions through an ananlysis
of the 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS) video archives. The study's authors present two possible
explanations for the general patterns that have developed
in school teaching. One explanation is that there are universal
elements in most schools today that shape teaching practice
(e.g. the physical environment, the social dynamics of classrooms,
and the content to be learned). A second explanation is that
countries have shaped teaching by evolving classroom methods
that are aligned with their national cultural beliefs, expectations,
and values. Read the full study here.
Have we missed something? Know a great resource
we should include here? Email us at tamarack@tamarackcommunity.ca.
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