Quick links
semestering
DCHP-2 (Jul 2016)
1v. — Education
dividing the academic year into two equal periods.
Type: 1. Origin — This meaning appears to be a Canadian innovation, judging by the considerable time gap between US (mid 1990s) and Canadian quotations (see below). Internet domain searches indicate that the term is most prevalent in Canada (see Chart 1).
See: spare
Quotations
1971
The public is demanding full use of our buildings by extending the school year and semestering the program and by making buildings available to the community at nominal costs.
1993
"Semestering" of the curriculum introduced discontinuity into the learning process. Taking Math 20 after a half-year break in math instruction upon completion of Math 10 certainly does not add much to the learning process.
1995
Wideman suggested the board consider semestering more schools if that is the main reason students switch schools.
2006
If de-semestering a school is better for the students, then I ask, why are we the only ones, and, if we move, can we continue our education elsewhere without the risk of losing credits?
2verbal n. — Education
a system of dividing the academic year into two equal periods.
Type: 1. Origin — The term appears to have been used first in Canada and seems to be most frequent there (see Chart 1).
See also COD-2, s.v. "semestering", which is marked "Cdn."
See also COD-2, s.v. "semestering", which is marked "Cdn."
Quotations
1979
A board report says that a number of schools in Toronto had proposed new courses and semestering to make their schools more attractive to students.
1988
Thompson also works as a volunteer teacher at Frontenac Secondary School, where he teaches English. As a result, "I know some of the difficulties with semestering," he says.
1992
With semestering, students can go for a whole year without a language course, making cumulative learning hard from year to year.
Many students said they felt like nobody asked them if they wanted semestering or not.
1998
Fewer and fewer schools have the traditional eight-period day, moving instead to a mixture of year-long courses and semestering.
2007
The Education Department brought in semestering five years ago, not to recommend year-long gaps in math, Blackwood said, but to make it possible for some students to take four and five math credits.
References
- COD-2
Images
