Learning in Depth is a program in which each child is given, during the first week of schooling, a particular topic to learn about through her or his whole school career, in addition to the usual curriculum. Topics might include such things as apples, ships, the circus, cats, the solar system, etc. Students will meet regularly with their supervising teachers, who will give guidance, suggestions, and help as students build personal portfolios on their topics. The aim is that each child, by the end of her or his schooling, will have built genuine expertise about that topic. The expectation is that this process will transform for most children their relationship to, and understanding of the nature of, knowledge. It should also transform for each child the experience of schooling. This web site is designed to help support and carry forward the project of introducing this program to schools
For a brief video introduction, click here.
Learning in Depth (LiD) is an unusual program and tends, after the first simple description, to elicit enthusiasm from some people and hostility from others. While the basic idea is quite simple, we think the potential implications of the program for students, teachers, and schools are profound.
Please explore this website to learn more about how the program works. You will find resource materials and texts designed to support teachers and administrators who wish to implement the program, teachers' accounts of the successes and problems they ran into and the effects the program has had on their professional lives, news about LiD's developments, theoretical discussions of the program's foundations, video and audio talks and discussions, downloadable brochures, etc.
You might like to get started by reading some Frequently asked questions and some brief responses: FAQ
LiD News
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Resource Materials
We have produced a set of resources to help anyone wanting to implement LiD in their school or classroom. Click here for details
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One of the teachers who has completed a first year of implementation has written an account of her experiences with LiD, which you can read by clicking here.
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Learning in Depth on CBC Radio
Linda Holmes, a teacher in Langly, B.C. and a graduate of the IERG M.Ed. program, has been implementing the LiD program in her classroom.
You can hear the news clip by clicking here
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You may read the Introduction to the book, Learning in Depth: A simple innovation that can transform schooling, by clicking here.
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You may read an Introduction t o the program by clicking here. (If you know someone who might be interested in this project you could refer them to this page, or you could photocopy it to hand to people who might be interested.)
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To listen to a YouTube video discussion about some features of the LiD project click here.
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You may be interested to find and read an article on “Learning In Depth” in the November 2008 issue of Educational Leadership.
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Our brochure about the LiD program can be downloaded by clicking here. If you wish to print it off you may do so and you may distribute it as you wish. Be, as they say, our guest.
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You may watch a video talk and discussion of the LiD program by clicking here. (Talk delivered by Kieran Egan at Texas Christian University in March 2009).
. (The auditorium is initially dark for the slide show, but brightens for the Q & A session later.)
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"The kids love it!"
(From David Futter, teacher in Victoria, B.C.)
"I have never experienced the kind of questions and interactions I now have with my students . . . I have never experienced these kinds of conversations with children."
(From Linda Holmes, teacher in Langley, B.C.)
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