Colloquium Provocation Paper: Student Engagement, Equity, and the Culture of Schooling

This paper is about student intellectual engagement, and uses as examples Eastside and Beachcroft Secondary Schools in Alberta, Canada. The schools have taken very different approaches to improvement: Both area schools where teachers and administrators are concerned about finding ways to intellectually engage students. Friesen examines these appraoches through the lenses of teaching and learning in a digital, knowledge or learning society; contemporary school structures, curriculum and assessment processes; the opportunity gap; teaching special needs and ELL students; and the relationships between knowledge and social justice; equity and difference; and the meaningful use of technology in schools.