Comprehensive resources for parents and professionals in play-based early childhood education

Sharon Friesen


Dr. Sharon Friesen is a founding partner and president of Galileo Educational Network, at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta. She is also the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Education.

Sharon’s experience as a teacher includes kindergarten, elementary, junior high, high school and post secondary. Her research interests include the ways in which K-12 educational structures, curriculum, learning and leading need to be reinvented for a knowledge/learning society.   She has specific interests in:

  • the promotion of deep intellectual engagement,
  • the ability to create learning environments that require sustained work with ideas and
  • the pervasiveness of networked digital technologies that open up new ways of thinking, ways of working and tools for working and living in the world.

As an extension of her academic research interests, Dr. Friesen has co-authored three books. She has also received numerous awards for her research and teaching practice.

Publications
  • 21st Century Learning

    Friesen, S. 21st Century Learning In this short article, Dr. Friesen notes the classroom structures, curricula and practices we take for granted were developed in the early 20th century in order to meet the needs of a society transformed by technology. At that time, children of migrants from radically diverse backgrounds were transformed first into students and then into workers with remarkable efficiency. So, as Dr. Friesen writes, when we describe the transformations required in today’s classrooms, once again changed by global conditions and technology, we can make one sure claim: Educators have to invent new learning environments to address the findings from the learning sciences and that encompass the digital world emerging around us.

  • What did you do in school today? Transforming classrooms through social, academic, and intellectual engagement

    Willms, J. D., Friesen, S. & Milton, P. (2009). What did you do in school today? Transforming classrooms through social, academic, and intellectual engagement. (First National Report) Toronto: Canadian Education Association.

  • Curriculum in Abundance

    Jardine, D., Friesen, S., Clifford, P. (2006) Curriculum in Abundance. Mahwah, New Jersey. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

  • Back to the Basics of Teaching and Learning: Thinking the World Together

    Jardine, D., Friesen, S., Clifford, P. (2003) Back to the Basics of Teaching and Learning: Thinking the World Together. Mahwah, New Jersey. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

  • Preparing teachers for technology integration: Creating a culture of inquiry in the context of use

    Jacobsen, M. Clifford, P. & Friesen, S. (2002). Preparing teachers for technology integration: Creating a culture of inquiry in the context of use. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher. This article outlines how new ways of learning in this online age demand new ways of teaching. In the fall of 2000, Alberta teachers embarked on a three-year implementation of an innovative curriculum, the Information and Communications Technology Program of Studies. Designed for kindergarten to Grade 12 students, the curriculum was at the forefront in terms of what in means for students to think and learn with the full range of digital technologies that are so much a part of today’s changing world.

  • What did you do in school today? Teaching Effectiveness: A Framework and Rubric

    Friesen, S. (2009) What did you do in school today? Teaching Effectiveness: A Framework and Rubric. Toronto: Canadian Education Association.

    Preparing teachers for today’s world requires a close look at what it means to teach and learn in increasingly networked, information-rich, digital classrooms. This framework, published by the Canadian Education Association, puts forward a set of five principles to guide educators in teaching for today’s realities. The five core principles provide a framework for effective teaching:

    1. Effective teaching practice begins with the thoughtful and intentional design of learning that engages students intellectually and academically.
    2. The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live.
    3. Assessment practices are clearly focused on improving student learning and guiding teaching decisions.
    4. Teachers foster a variety of interdependent relationships in classrooms that promote learning and create a strong culture around learning.
    5. Teachers improve their practice in the company of others.

    Implicit in these five core principles is the understanding technology is an integral feature of todays learning environments and is therefore inextricably woven into the teaching and learning fabric of each setting.

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