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Switched On to Learning
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Switched On to Learning:
A Student Initiatives in School Engagement
By: Student Action Teams at Pender's Grove and Preston South Primary Schools
Switched On to Learning is a new resource for teachers and others, written by Grade 4, 5 and 6 members of the Student Action Teams at Pender's Grove and Preston South Primary Schools in Melbourne.
The students from these schools have been working for three years to investigate student engagement with school. They've now written about their work and their learning in a 52-page cartoon-style book. The book covers ideas about what engagement is, how it can be 'measured', and why it is important. Then it goes on to look at the factors that influence engagement with school and what can be done to improve student engagement. In the final chapter, the students describe their journey - and how this approach was itself an engaging one.
Switched On to Learning is an outcome of the Student Initiatives in School Engagement (SISE) project at these two schools, funded by a School Engagement Grant (2007-2009) from The CASS Foundation Limited.
This book is essential reading for teachers, students, principals, consultants, parents and others, who want to learn how schools can become more engaging, who want to hear what experts (students from Grades 4, 5 and 6) have to say, and who want to consider how to develop their own approaches to engagement.
Students from these schools 'launched' it in early December 2009, and presented their work to their local Member of Parliament, to officers of the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, to the Directors of The CASS Foundation, and to a meeting of teachers and principals from other schools. Further copies are being distributed by the schools, the Foundation and through Connect.
With support from The CASS Foundation through the project, Connect is able to make a limited number of copies of this book available for $5 (including postage and handling). There is a limit of 10 copies per order.
First published November 2009 (reprinted 2012)
by Connect Publications
ISBN 978-0-9803133-3-8