PS News
Correction
The correct web
site address for the York University/Co-op model of
professional learning is http://www.edu.yorku.ca/fielddev/ An incorrect web site address
was published in the September issue of Professionally
Speaking.
Queen’s Moves to
"Revolutionize" Teacher Education
Queen’s
University is changing the way it trains its teacher
candidates. Beginning this fall, the faculty of
education is sending its first-year students out to
"associate schools" for 14-week periods.
Teacher candidates will
receive a mix of practical experience, theory and
field-based courses, coupled with meetings or e-mail
exchanges with a faculty supervisor during their
first term. Queen’s University says teacher
candidates will benefit from this new approach to
education because of its emphasis on interactive
learning methods over lectures and on-campus courses.
During the second term,
four-week stints are spent teaching in
"alternative settings," such as outdoor and
experiential education.
"Many of our
teacher candidates come to us with idealism in their
eyes," says Rena Uptis, dean of the faculty of
education at Queen’s, "and the best
teachers keep that idealism for the next 30
years."
For more information, contact Linda G. Ross,
Program Development, Faculty of Education,
Queen’s University,
tel: (613) 545-6224; fax: (613) 545-6307.
New Interdisciplinary Master’s Degree
from OISE/UT
Recognizing that
it’s never too late to go back to school, the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the
University of Toronto has developed an innovative and
broadly-based interdisciplinary Master’s degree
designed for mature life-long learners. The program,
set to begin in September 1998, is primarily aimed at
teachers.
It offers a flexible and
personally designed year-round timetable, including a
new summer institute that will bring students
together as a group to learn from one another while
they study with senior scholars.
The interdisciplinary
Master’s will give older students an opportunity
to build on their wealth of personal experience by
exploring issues of historical, philosophical,
artistic, political, social, economic, technical and
ecological importance in our ever-changing world.
The program organizers
are asking potential students to contact them before
February 1998 so planning for the September launch
can proceed.
For more information
please contact: Prof. Harold Troper, OISE/UT (416)
923-6641 ext. 2512; htroper@oise.utoronto.ca
Students, Teachers and Olympians
Connecting on the World Wide Web
The Canadian
Olympic Association and Canada’s telephone
companies have launched a web site to help children
learn about and appreciate the upcoming Winter
Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.
Called WOW! (Wired Olympic Winter), the site
features information, games, activities and forums
for students in Grades 4 to 6. There’s also an
on-line resource for teachers with a series of links
"to help teachers bring the Olympic spirit to
their classrooms."
"The Youth Olympic
Program is an exciting educational opportunity for
Canadian children to learn about the Nagano Olympic
Winter Games," said Carol Anne Letheren,
Secretary-General of the COA. "With WOW!,
we’re using the leading edge technology of the
Internet to allow Canadian youth to talk directly
with Canadian Olympic athletes and learn all about
Olympic values and ideals in the process."
Some of the site’s
highlights include:
- Snow Studio, where kids can enter a
drawing contest called the Postcard Picasso
Challenge, or play with the Polar Paint Box
- Arctic Circle, where students get to
know some of Canada’s Olympic hopefuls,
in the Ask-an-Athlete section
- Just 4 Fun – word games like
Wacky Wordsearch and Crazy Crossword
- Quest for the Gold features information on
Winter Olympic and paralympic sports, new
games and schedules.
As part of the
COA’s commitment to "promote the Olympic
movement and (its) ideals in Canada through cultural
and educational means," the Youth Olympic
Program is also distributing a package of educational
materials to elementary schools across the country.
For more information,
visit the Youth Olympic Program’s web site at www.youtholympic.coa.ca
New Imax Film to Take You Through Time and
Space
The Ontario
Science Centre
is presenting the Oscar-nominated film, Cosmic
Voyage, this fall at its Omnimax theatre in Toronto.
Using Canadian-based Imax technology, the film
presents the latest scientific information on the
formation and structure of the universe.
Computer-generated
images are combined with live action footage to take
viewers on a journey of the "known
dimensions" of our galaxy and beyond. It
promises theatre-goers the chance to "observe
stupendous events such as the explosion of the
‘big bang’, the collision of galaxies and
the development of our own solar system."
Narrated by actor Morgan
Freeman, the larger-than-life half-hour film explores
the science of nature from the tiniest building
blocks of matter to superclusters in outer space.
Omnimax technology uses
film frames 10 times the size of conventional 35mm
film and three times the size of 70mm. It is the
largest film frame ever used in motion picture
history. The wrap-around sound system and dome
theatre leaves viewers with the sensation of
"being there." Since its premiere in 1970,
more than 500 million people have experienced Imax
technology.
Cosmic Voyage opened
November 1. For more information about special class
rates, call the Ontario Science Centre at (416)
429-4100 and ask for the "school booking
line." The Science Centre’s web site is www.osc.on.ca
PS Calendar
If you would like to
list your conference or event in Professionally
Speaking or on the
conference listing on the Library page of the College
web site, please contact us with the information: fax
(416) 961-8822; phone (416) 961-8800 ext. 679 or
e-mail library@oct.ca
The calendar of
conferences resides at the College Library page.
