Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction: How to Bring Content and Process Together

A cutting-edge model for 21st century curriculum and instruction How can you spot a thinking child? Look at the eyes: they’ll light up, signaling that transformative moment when your student has finally grasped that big idea behind critical academic content. If experiences like this are all too rare in your school, then you need a curriculum and instruction model that’s more inquiry-driven and idea-centered. Now. H. Lynn Erickson and Lois Lanning demonstrate how, through concept-based curriculum, you can move beyond superficial coverage and lower-level skills practice to effect intellectually engaging pedagogy, where students engage in problem finding and problem solving. New insights include: How to design and implement concept-based curriculum and instruction across all subjects and grade levels. Why content and process are two different (but equally important) aspects of any effective concept-based curriculum. How to ensure students develop the all-important skill of synergistic thinking. We’re all looking for the best curriculum and instruction model to meet the changing demands of the 21st century. This is it. "With the onset of the Common Core and new national content standards, concept-based learning is now more crucial than ever. Erickson and Lanning are 'ahead of the curve' in providing teachers and curriculum leaders with rich instructional strategies to meet these challenging standards. This is an essential book for planning tomorrow’s curricula today." Douglas Llewellyn, Educational Consultant and Author of Inquire Within, Third Edition "Powerful teaching engages minds with powerful ideas. At its core, such transformative teaching is neither transmission of information nor practice with inert skills. Rather it is a careful choreography between a mind and an idea such that the mind comes to own the idea in a form that is true to the discipline and expansive for the learner. Erickson and Lanning teach teachers to be choreographers of learning—understanding both what makes content worth knowing and how to engage young minds with that content in ways that extend their capacities to understand it at a deeper level, use it, transfer it, and ultimately create with it." Carol Ann Tomlinson, Ed.D., Chair of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy Curry School of Education, University of Virginia

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Foreword by Malcolm Nicolson Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Purpose of the Book Audiences Chapter Overview Chapter 1. Curriculum Design: From an Objectives-Based to a Concept-Based Model A Short Retrospective, From the Authors, on Educational Swings The Value of Know, Understand, and Able to Do in Concept-Based Models Problems With Traditional Content Objectives Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 2. Two-Dimensional Versus Three-Dimensional Curriculum Models Contrasting the Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Models Introducing the Structures of Knowledge and Process The Interplay of Process and Knowledge Contrasting Instructional Descriptions Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 3. The Structure of Knowledge Understanding the Relationships in the Structure of Knowledge How the Structure of Knowledge Guides Curriculum Design Designing Disciplinary Curriculum Frameworks at the National, State, or Local Levels Mathematics as a Concept-Driven Discipline Examples of Concepts and Subject-Specific Generalizations Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 4. The Structure of Process The Structure of Process How the Structure of Process Guides Curriculum and Instruction Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 5. The Developing Concept-Based Teacher Bridging the Gaps Between Knowing, Doing, and Understanding Collaborative Concept-Based Lesson Planning Common Terminology Used to Describe Quality Instruction The Developing Concept-Based Teacher Do The Developing Concept-Based Teacher Rubrics Have a Place in Teacher Evaluation Plans? Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 6. The Developing Concept-Based Student What About Thinking? The Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Concept-Based Teaching and Learning Developing Critical Thinking The Developing Concept-Based Student Why These Categories? Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 7. What Do Teachers Need to Understand About Concept-Based Pedagogy? The What and Why of Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction The How of Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction Four Critical Aspects of Concept-Based Pedagogy Quality Pedagogy Concept-Based Classrooms Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 8. What Do Principals and Instructional Coaches Need to Understand? Implementing and Sustaining Concept-Based Curricular and Instructional Models in Schools Setting the Stage for Curriculum Implementation Staff Development Staff Support With Accountability: Building System-Wide Synergy The Collection and Analysis of the "Right" Data Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 9. What Do District Leaders Need to Understand About Concept-Based Curriculum Designs? District Leaders Discuss Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction Discussion Questions Summary Chapter 10. Summary and the Road Ahead Curriculum and Instruction: The Warp Concept-Based Learning: The Weft The Path Forward Discussion Questions Resources Resource A. Concept-Based Mathematics Unit Resource B. Concept-Based Science Unit Resource C. Concept-Based Art Unit Resource D. Concept-Based World Language Unit Resource E. Concept-Based Music Unit Resource F. Adapted Learning Activities for Chapter 7 References Index