Richardson: Here's what real-world learning looks like in Eastern Ontario

You’d be hard-pressed to find a school board more driven by innovation than UCDSB. And it’s not the kind of trendy, fleeting change that drives parents and educators nuts.

Published Jan 15, 2024 • Last updated 9 hours ago • 3 minute read

The Upper Canada District School Board is working hard to make education relevant to students. Postmeda

Interested in a good news story during these troubling times? Check out what’s happening right here in Eastern Ontario, at the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB).

One of Ontario’s largest geographical school boards, it extends around the City of Ottawa in a giant horseshoe to encompass such far-flung towns as Pakenham, Smiths Falls, Gananoque, Brockville, Cornwall and Rockland. It includes 79 schools and has 27,000 students and a budget of $418 million.

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You’d be hard-pressed to find a school board more driven by innovation than UCDSB. And it’s not the kind of trendy, fleeting change that drives parents and educators nuts. It’s a deeply committed, common-sense approach to pedagogy inspired by what works best for kids.

The program is based on executive superintendent Eric Hardie’s book, The Relevant Classroom: Six Steps to Foster Real-World Learning. Hardie argues that successful teaching and learning start with projects that connect students to the “real world” beyond the classroom.

Led by director of education Ron Ferguson, Hardie, and a committed board of trustees, UCDSB educators are trained in the Real-World Learning (RWL) approach and supported by principals and a dedicated support team to create projects that “start with meaning.” That translates into teaching the Ontario curriculum while doing meaningful work with the community at large.

For example, grade 5 students at Pakenham Public School worked with High Lonesome Reserve to create interactive educational content for the trail. They developed QR codes on laser-cut plaques to provide information, and built weather-proof shadow boxes to display 3D-printed artifacts such as a beaver skull.

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Students at North Grenville District High School launched a media marketing company, NG Knights Media Marketing, to bridge the gap between traditional businesses and modern digital media marketing practices such as video production, photography and graphic design. They pitched their start-up to Mayor Nancy Peckford and started work for Ben’s BS Barbecue Sauce and Lockwood Brothers Construction.

Eric Hardie, executive superintendent of student achievement and innovation for the Upper Canada District School Board, speaks to trustees about student success rates. SunMedia

What do such projects have to do with the curriculum? Plenty. First, Hardie points out that Ontario’s Education Act states that the “purpose of education is to provide students with the opportunity to realize their potential and develop into highly skilled, knowledgeable, caring citizens who contribute to their society.” That doesn’t tend to happen in schools where teachers act as “sage on the stage” and bored kids merely regurgitate content on tests.

Second, UCDSB teachers weave subjects such as English, science and math throughout. For example, grade 4 students at Almonte’s Naismith Memorial Public School designed and built urgently needed “story boxes” for visually impaired students. These include a book and carefully curated objects for children to feel while reading.

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Students developed all seven of Ontario’s “transferable skills,” such as problem-solving, creativity and collaboration. They built “foundational language skills” while reading and selecting books, improved their written communication by drafting and editing persuasive letters to the mayor and local businesses asking for support, and learned about “the practical applications for science and technology” by employing 3-D printers to create impossible-to-find artefacts like “spilled milk”. All while helping blind and low-vision children, including grateful Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) March break campers.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Oh, so you don’t actually teach any more?’” Hardie told me. “We tell them, we still teach, but we teach the kids the skills they need, to do the important things they need to do, when they need to learn it. That’s very different than the teacher saying “I need to teach you this because I need you to write a quiz to go on the report card I have to write.”

For some rare good news, check out the projects on the Real-World Learning Facebook page or hear directly from inspired, joyful kids on the UCDSB’s Real-World Learning podcast. Yes, they even produce podcasts.

John M. Richardson teaches at the uOttawa faculty of education.

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