Language, Race, Religion / Beliefs, Politics (924) Psychology, Mental Illness, Addiction data, Depression, Anxiety (199)

Quit-Smoking, Smoking, Smoke-free, Stop-smoking aids & methods (43) Science, Biotechnology, Disease & the World Around Us (955)

Primary Sites:
'We don't need people who can spit back facts. We've got Google' *
In one classroom they're sitting still, doing spelling drills and getting stomach aches. In another, they're on their feet, rushing to the board, doing city planning, debating wave-theory physics. The difference? It makes mainstream education look like fast food. [More]

A coast-to-coast cover-up *
The Britney generation refuses to be overdressed, but schools across Canada are drawing a line at the classroom door. CAROLINE ALPHONSO reports. [More]

A textbook case of success *
Throwing money at schools won't improve your child's education. Learning from one of the continent's best school systems is a better plan, says the C.D. Howe's JACK MINTZ [More]

Adventure with Posnayko *
Adventures with Posnayko is an online educational magazine for kids age four to seven. [More]

Baby boom meets baby bust *
Just as there are more postsecondary students than ever, says demographer DAVID FOOT, we're facing a shortage of professors [More]

Being an MBA doesn't mean you can manage *
Every decade, North American business schools churn out about one million new MBAs, ready to assume privileged positions in business. [More]

Beyond burgers and fries *
The food at a Fergus, Ont., high-school cafeteria is too good to fight with. But the chef who prepares this quality menu may soon be gone, writes CAROLINE ALPHONSO. [More]

Beyond the Mozart Effect *
Listening to Beethoven's Ninth won't make you smarter, writes SUSAN PINKER, but new research suggests music lessons help high-risk children in other ways. [More]

Bullies and the Bullied: Closer than they appear *
They are the kids the teachers tend to ignore because they don't make any noise. The ones you might see on the playground, hovering at the edge of the crowd, as if they wish they could join in but aren't sure how. They are easy pickings for the classroom bully. [More]

Campuses face huge repair bills *
Universities grapple with $3.6-billion cost to simply fix up and maintain buildings [More]

Classless, crass, deplorable and hairy *
I am sorry. Mea culpa. Me bad. By now, you've surely read about my inadvertent display of partial nudity in the history class that I teach on Wednesday afternoons. Before a roomful of impressionable undergraduates, I loosened my collar to expose a large, sweaty tuft of chest hair. [More]

Craig Newmark's Straw Poll gets the famous 'Colbert Bump' *****
Colbert is running for president -- just in South Carolina -- as a favourite son, on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. Send-up or not, one needy classroom will benefit. [More]

Craig's List Helps With Class Supplies *
In 2001, Craig's list launched a program aimed at giving teachers a break. . . [More]

Craig's List's DonorsChoose Program *
Here's the challenge issued by Stephen Colbert. . . [More]

Creatine helps brain, researchers discover *
Dietary additive used by athletes to build muscle may aid memory [More]

Dastardly Deeds: The Mis-adventures of Captain Copyright *
It's a bird, It's a plane...it's a conveniently censored, holier than thou, flying A-hole! [More]

Double cohort fret-a-thon not yet over *
Students at Ryerson University will be taking their lectures in a transformed cinema. At McMaster, they will be sitting in portables while at Waterloo they will be shoehorned into science labs. [More]

E-learning coming of age *
Firms increasingly adopt the easy-to-use, popular and flexible training method [More]

Educating Adna *
What happens when poor kids are given the kind of school support that most Canadians enjoy? A minor miracle, MICHAEL VALPY reports. [More]

Education: Back to basics *
This September, Edmonton public schools will be asking students to do math the old-fashioned way -- without a calculator, reports CAROLINE ALPHONSO. But some educators say the move doesn't add up [More]

Elementary, dear teacher *
Schools are discovering a new way to promote interest in history, writes ALANNA MITCHELL, by resurrecting cold cases from Canada's past -- and asking gumshoes across the country to crack them. [More]

Elimination of arts requirements harmful to BC students *
BC Art teachers are expressing concern and disappointment about the elimination of Fine Arts as a requirement in grades 10 through 12. [More]

Employee at UCC faces porn charges *
Police have laid child pornography charges against a 28-year-old teaching assistant at Upper Canada College, one of the country's elite private schools. [More]

Exam stress and the cruellest month of the year *
Exam stress is getting worse for students, writes CAROLINE ALPHONSO...but relief may be just a stick of gum away... [More]

Failing Our Kids: How We Are Ruining Our Public Schools -- Why Jonnee kant spel gud *
A major difficulty in giving prominence to education is that it is seldom newsworthy. Although everyone knows education is important, it never seems to attain the priority of a police search for a criminal or a health crisis such as the need to contain SARS. [More]

For whom Nobel tolls: Canada fails to teach the drama of science *
Britain, which outscores Canada in international science tests, is launching an innovative pilot project to help its students do even better. [More]

Goodbye, Mr. Chips *
The male teacher is a dying breed in Canada's classrooms, ALANNA MITCHELL reports, and by all indications the battle to save him is a lost cause. Which raises an interesting question: Does it really matter? [More]

Google advances online software crusade *
As it tries to usher in a new era in computing, Google is promoting its software applications in kindergarten through high school classrooms. [More]

Health funding top education *
University costs push private outlays up as more students seek degrees, diplomas. [More]

Healthy fare or field trips? *
Fast-food contracts bring extra revenue, but student health remains a concern for Canada's cash-strapped schools. [More]

Huge debt burdening graduates of medical schools *
When Benjamin Hoyt married a fellow medical resident last month, the joyous event was tempered ever so slightly by stark financial reality. "Between the two of us, we have $212,000 in debt," Dr. Hoyt said [More]

It's not what you give, it's whom you give it to *
Better student aid doesn't require more money -- just fairer delivery, say professors ROSS FINNIE and SAUL SCHWARTZ [More]

Kids use ring tone that adults can't hear *
Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class -- and many teachers can't even hear the ring. [More]

Like marching without a band *
The dreaded 'analogies' section of the American SAT exam has become the latest casualty in the war over standardized testing, reports ALANNA MITCHELL. Are students better or worse off by comparison? [More]

Master's in Digital Media program at GNWC -- Open House *
This intriguing program starts next September and is perfect for anyone involved in technology, gaming etc. Burnaby, BC -- Open House Saturday, November 25, 2006, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. [More]

Maternal care influences future stress levels, study shows *
The way a mother cares for her baby can determine how stressed out the child will be as an adult because maternal nurturing can permanently change the way an infant's genes operate, according to a new study on rats that was led by a professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal. [More]

Math Camp: Strength in numbers *
For most teenagers, being condemned to spend the summer doing math problems would be a special circle of hell. But for the gifted teens SIOBHAN ROBERTS meets at the Canada/USA Mathcamp, it's paradise -- five weeks with 110 other nerds who love math's 'elegance, its beauty, its innumerable coincidences' [More]

Mind over the money matter *
Raise taxes to fund higher education today, or debt-burdened grads won't be able to pull their weight tomorrow, says Rhodes scholar LUKE ERIC PETERSON [More]

MIT initiative could revolutionize learning *
As students across Canada trudge back to class, a U.S. initiative is taking flight that could revolutionize public and corporate education around the world. [More]

Music lessons help children's learning *
Parents take heart: While those hours of violin lessons may not transform your child into Itzhak Perlman, soldiering away at the squeaky tunes may pay off in unexpected ways. [More]

My mom, the site-seer *
Temperatures have been high in Alberta lately, but news from the Edmonton-area Parkland School Division must have sent a chill through every student's heart. Parents will soon be able to use the Internet to find out whether their children have handed in their homework, what their marks are, whether the kids were late for class and whether they got into trouble during recess. [More]

New a-b-See web site makes eye health fun for kids *
Educational games explore visual skills and ease first visit to the optometrist. [More]

New Canadian design history-theory online course planned *
A new Canadian design history-theory course, soon to be available from Emily Carr Institute. A fascinating trip through Canada's past. [More]

One more reason for a bedtime story *
Whether they realize it or not, most Canadian parents are already playing a crucial role in helping their children learn to read, judging from the results of a survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid for Fisher-Price. Ninety-five per cent of parents with children 12 and under read to them on a regular basis -- an activity many literacy experts say helps to boost literacy skills, particularly during a child's preschool years. [More]

PARENTING: Protecting or smothering? *
The start of the fall term marks an increasingly anxious debate: Is it risking disaster to let your child make their way to school alone -- or good parenting? ERIN ANDERSSEN reports [More]

Passing the cap *
It's convocation season and time to hand out the degrees. Real grads earned theirs, but how often are universities trolling for cash and publicity when they choose those honorary recipients? Perhaps the award has lost some of its lustre, CAROLINE ALPHONSO reports -- just don't tell that to Robbie Robertson [More]

Police expect more arrests in UCC porn case *
Police say the arrest of an Upper Canada College teaching assistant is the first of many they expect to make, thanks to information they received after a major investigation by authorities in California. [More]

Practising the magical art of teaching the young *
Last week my 13-year-old daughter brought home her report card, an event always closely followed by parent/teacher meetings. I find these meetings extremely stressful. Expectations are so high: parents' expectations of teachers, teachers' expectations of parents. My daughter tried to get me to relax. She said, "Mom, this is not about you." She thought it was about her. [More]

Price drops good news for students *
A recent decline in laptop pricing means back to school can be affordable to parents while meeting the increasing demands of tech hungry students. [More]

Program teaches children Internet safety *
A new interactive computer program offers kids a way to protect themselves from Internet predators. [More]

SARS causes Toronto graders ban *
Concern about SARS has led the body that awards the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst designation to cancel invitations to 43 Torontonians who were set to go to the United States late next month to help mark exam papers would-be analysts around the world are writing today. [More]

Saying no to zero tolerance *
Educators are saying goodbye to 'one-size-fits-all' discipline, reports STEPHEN COLE. Instead of being expelled, students who bring toy guns to school this fall may face the prospect of delivering a public apology -- or dealing with a jury of their peers [More]

School Britannia *
Prime Minister Tony Blair has spent eight years applying shock therapy to state-run schools in England, relying on the skills of Canada's Michael Fullan to keep the massive changes from bringing the system to its knees. ALANNA MITCHELL crossed the Atlantic to watch the renowned educator in action. Now that he's a special adviser to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, she also enjoyed a preview of the overhaul Canadian classrooms can expect. [More]

School officials trade grease for granola *
Spurred by child-obesity data, a handful of cafeterias are taking junk off the menu [More]

Science savvy students Stump for Youth Science Month *
BC students vie for a chance at the Canada-Wide Science Fair. [More]

Shortage of residence rooms hitting Atlantic universities *
Double cohort means students must seek out alternatives [More]

Sleep deprivation leaves teens prone to depression, study says *
Sleep deprivation can compromise learning, affect memory and cause irritability among schoolchildren. [More]

Smoked meat, cigars and Richler's oeuvre *
Organizers of a conference at McGill steer clear of a love-in and create an atmosphere the author himself would have appreciated. [More]

Spider Robinson: School will end, next month *
Life's most essential skills are learned outside the classroom, usually by painful trial and error [More]

Stressed about university? Here's a radical solution *
One asked for the formula guaranteeing an A essay. No law school would look at him if his marks were Bs, and he could not conceive of any other destination after his bachelor of arts degree. Another, with four papers due on the same day, handed me a sheet of blank paper and asked that I make up a schedule to get her there. [More]

Student stress no higher than in 1995, study finds *
They've had to fight harder for a spot in university. Their tuition fees have escalated along with their personal debt with each passing year. So it would be expected that today's university student would be more stressed than ever before. [More]

Support where it's needed *
We hurl complaints at public schools and starve them for cash. Yet they work well -- and they're crucial to our future, says sociologist CHARLES UNGERLEIDER [More]

Surf is always up in management course *
A college in Wales is offering a bachelor's degree in surfing -- and it has already received a dozen applications for its Surf and Beach Management program. [More]

The boys are all right *
Worried about your son's reading skills after this week's discouraging OECD report? Experts say there's no need to panic, reports JOHN LORINC. You can even let him keep his comic books -- they're good for him [More]

The gap year: time out, not time wasted *
It's frowned upon in Canada, but a rite of passage in Europe. ALANNA MITCHELL looks at how doing civic service between high school and university may improve education. [More]

The missing link *
Studies show that an old-fashioned educational tool -- the school library -- affects students' marks more than we think, writes JOHN ALLEMANG [More]

The modern movie pitcher *
Bearded by a stranger, LIAM LACEY believes he is being ambushed by a wild-eyed film student with an idea. Then he learns the ugly truth. [More]

The Most Violent People on Earth *
Teenagers are the usual targets of efforts to prevent violence and delinquency. But as ERIN ANDERSSEN and ANNE McILROY report, science has discovered that human viciousness actually peaks in toddlers. Luckily, two-year-olds can't do much harm. But if you don't help the worst cases by then, you might never be able to help them at all. [More]

The Myth of Ability: John Mighton, educational alchemist *
Does this Toronto playwright have the secret to turning dunces into fraction-cracking mathletes? As TRALEE PEARCE reports, his new book uncloaks the mystery [More]

TV linked to attention problems. . .huh? *
Here's some news that will make parents think twice before using the television as a babysitter: A new study has found that the more time preschoolers spend in front of the tube, the greater their risk of having attention problems by school age. [More]

U of Saskatchewan chooses not to use Internet plagiarism service *
If University of Saskatchewan students believe the institution's reluctance to sign on to an Internet plagiarism service means they will get a free ride, their toughest lesson will come Friday. [More]

UCC appoints new principal for 2004 *
Upper Canada College, one of the country's elite private schools but one that has recently faced a series of sex scandals, yesterday appointed a new principal. [More]

University funding *
Stephanie Nolen reports from Nairobi that local scientists have what they believe is a treatment for AIDS, made from local herbs. Problem is, they can't interest large corporations in financing research to demonstrate that it works. [More]

Welcome to Canada's gay high school *
Despite this country's reputation for tolerance, young people still face discrimination for being gay, writes ALANNA MITCHELL. When school life becomes so hostile they can't face it any more, Toronto's Triangle program offers an educational refuge. [More]

Wikipedia co-founder wants to start over *
Co-founder of Wikipedia and former philosophy professor Larry Sanger has started a Wikipedia alternative, Citizendium.org. [More]

Secondary Sites:
BC optometrists launch province-wide preschool Initiative *
a-b-See program given near-perfect score by preschools in pilot run... [More]

Children's Course: Gingerbread Houses *
December 11, 2002, Vancouver, BC [More]

Children's Course: Gingerbread Houses (2) *
December 18, 2002, Vancouver, BC [More]

Children's Course: Gingerbread Houses (3) *
December 11, 2002, Vancouver, BC [More]

Dyslexia treatable, new program shows *
After three weeks, reading was improved, brain activity resembled usual patterns [More]

Foster children *
The residential schools for native children were set up to equip native children with one of the most important tools for attaining a successful life: an education. [More]

Garber Gastronomic: Improve your cooking skills *
By special request from international food expert, Irving Glassner...ever consider improving your culinary skills? Of course you have, or why else would you be reading this? [More]

How a brilliant kid in Moncton got a Stradivari *
It was a small and quiet crowd that gathered in the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto last Friday morning, but it was an extraordinary ceremony. Eight extremely rare and valuable antique instruments were given out, by a government agency funded by you, to young people, just as a loan, for free. [More]

Liberty, equality, fraternity . . . obesity? *
France is taking steps to curb the worrisome obesity epidemic among its youth. . . [More]

Lisa Rochon: Learning in light and living colour *
The Thorncliffe Park redevelopment establishes a new benchmark for school design in Canada, LISA ROCHON writes [More]

Robert Bateman claims kids are withdrawing from the real world *
Drawing on his personal observations, Canada's foremost wildlife artist insists something must be done to inspire children to return to some important touchstones of the natural world. [More]

Science to Parents: Chill Out *
ON THE OTHER HAND, Toss out the flashcards. While the research you hear about -- and the $500-million educational-toy industry -- might make it seem children need endless stimulation, experts say most parents instinctively provide enough already, reports ERIN ANDERSSEN. [More]

Spare the rod -- or face jail? *
A five-year campaign to see corporal punishment banned in Canada has finally reached the Supreme Court, reports MARGARET PHILP. The results could affect how you discipline your children [More]

Suicidal tendencies: Holden Caulfield was tougher than you think *
Young adults with suicidal tendencies may be stronger and much more resilient than most of us believe. [More]

The perils of school *
It is August, the time when students begin to agonize about returning to school. This year, the angst may have a more piquant flavour as recent studies have uncovered unexpected ways university students should be wary about how they lead their academic lives. [More]

UCC yearbook photo sullies school's image *
Jest angers parents at Bishop Strachan [More]

Upper Canada College Porn arrest *
Parents began the uncomfortable task Thursday of asking their sons -- current and former students of an elite boys school -- what they know about a staff member at Upper Canada College who has been charged with possessing child pornography. [More]