During a pandemic, remote learning is one way to ensure kids and teachers avoid COVID-19 exposure while continuing some dimension of learning. But online learning doesn’t replace what happens for children in classrooms, among peers and in school communities.
Today in The Conversation Canada, Lana Parker of the University of Windsor writes that “despite the lack of data documenting benefits to children, and emerging evidence of several drawbacks and harms, the Ontario government is discussing making full-time online schooling a permanent ‘choice’ in public education.”
Parker finds that the province is pushing to create revenue streams through international student tuition and sales of curriculum to international schools.
Also today:
Regards,
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Students arrive at Dartmouth High School in Dartmouth, N.S., on Sept. 8, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Lana Parker, University of Windsor
A policy of “choice” for full-time online schooling would weaken public education, erode funding for in-classroom supports and drive those who can afford it to private education.
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Humans are constantly changing our languages in terms of sounds, words, meanings, and grammar, so much so that it becomes increasingly difficult to understand our own distant relatives across time and space.
(Unsplash/Lucrezia Carnelos)
Darin Flynn, University of Calgary
A young reader asks: How are languages formed?
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A teepee outside the women’s unit of the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert, Sask., Jan., 2001.
CP PHOTO/Thomas Porter
Tenzin Butsang, University of Toronto; Karen Lawford, Queen's University, Ontario
To release anyone, particularly Indigenous women, transgender and Two-Spirit individuals without a plan is irresponsible and dangerous and does not demonstrate a commitment to reconciliation.
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Toronto Raptors forward Chris Boucher fouls Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard during the first half of an NBA basketball game on March 28, 2021 in Tampa, Fla.
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Arif Jetha, University of Toronto; Brendan T. Smith, University of Toronto
The NBA has largely managed to keep COVID-19 under control. Its success offers four important lessons for organizations on how to return employees to the workplace during and after COVID-19.
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Élèves du Pensionnat indien de Metlakatla, en Colombie-Britannique.
(William James Topley. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, C-015037)
Cindy Hanson, University of Regina; Curtis J Shuba, University of Regina; Sidey Deska-Gauthier, University of Guelph
Les archives publiques sont précieuses pour comprendre comment se crée la mémoire collective. Si l’on ne prête pas attention aux voix et aux expériences autochtones, le regard colonial perdurera.
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Arts
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Nick Lehr, The Conversation
Photojournalist Ron Tarver spent years photographing people largely ignored in mythic depictions of white cowboys and the American West.
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Environment + Energy
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Melissa Parsons, University of New England; Martin Thoms, University of New England
Floodplains are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet – they are biodiversity hotspots. That's in large part due to periodic flooding between different parts of a river-floodplain system.
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Science + Technology
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Stuart McFarlane, RMIT University; Adrian Dyer, RMIT University; Jair Garcia, RMIT University
Waking up to a tuneful melody or favourite song can make us feel more alert than the traditional high-pitched ringing or buzzing of an alarm clock.
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