Teach the Way the Brain Learns discusses organizing learning experiences under themes. Once the brain has stored basic concepts in the curriculum, the storing-by-association system of the brain attaches new information to those basic concepts, building new ones as students have learning experiences that involve them in integrated subject matter. Thematic teaching has been around for quite a while, stemming from John Dewey and "learning by doing." Teachers need to return to it in view of the effects of narrowed curricula resulting from nationwide emphasis on testing and on rating schools based on student achievement. This book provides ways for teachers to link subjects and areas of learning for various teaching situations and takes readers from simple correlation through using published thematic units now available and on to developing their own interdisciplinary themes or in team efforts with other colleagues.

This book is a field guide on how to implement game-based learning and "gamification" techniques to the everyday teaching. It is a survey of best practices aggregated from interviews with experts in the field, including: James Paul Gee (Author, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy); Henry Jenkins (Provost Professor at University of Southern California); Katie Salen (Founder, Institute of Play); Bernie DeKoven (Author, A Playful Path); Richard Bartle (Bartle's Player Type Theory); Kurt Squire (Games + Learning + Society Center); Jessica Millstone (Joan Ganz Cooney Center), Dan White (Filament Games); Erin Hoffman (GlassLab Games); Jesse Schell (Schell Games/Professor at Carnegie Mellon); Tracy Fullerton (University of Southern California Game Innovation Lab); Alan Gershenfeld (E-Line Media); Noah Falstein (Chief Game Designer, Google); Valerie Shute (Professor at Florida State University); Lee Sheldon (Author, The Multiplayer Classroom); Robert J. Torres (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Asi Burak (President, Games for Change); Toby Rowland (MangaHigh); Jocelyn Leavitt (Hopscotch); Krishna Vedati (Tynker); and researchers at BrainPOP and designers from Electric Funstuff (Mission U.S. games). Each chapter concludes with practical lesson plan ideas, games to play (both digital and tabletop), and links to research further. Much of the book draws on the author's experiences implementing games with his middle school students. Regardless of your teaching discipline or grade level, whether you are a pre-service teacher or veteran educator, this book will engage and reinvigorate the way you teach and how your students learn!

This book responds to challenging questions about curricular realignment, especially how a more porous approach to higher education reduces the impact of a "siloed" curriculum, lessens the tendency toward the fragmentation of knowledge, allows for the development of cross-disciplinary explorations, and promotes new approaches to knowledge and creativity through interdisciplinary integrative learning. This volume demonstrates how combining two seemingly disparate cultures helps undergraduate students develop creative mindsets needed for addressing challenging open-ended questions, complex social issues, and non-routine problem-solving. In doing so, this book aims to stimulate discussions about integrative interdisciplinary education between STEM and other fields of performance and performance technologies that have been either overlooked or underdeveloped.

This book is a field guide on how to implement game-based learning and "gamification" techniques to the everyday teaching. It is a survey of best practices aggregated from interviews with experts in the field, including: James Paul Gee (Author, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy); Henry Jenkins (Provost Professor at University of Southern California); Katie Salen (Founder, Institute of Play); Bernie DeKoven (Author, A Playful Path); Richard Bartle (Bartle's Player Type Theory); Kurt Squire (Games + Learning + Society Center); Jessica Millstone (Joan Ganz Cooney Center), Dan White (Filament Games); Erin Hoffman (GlassLab Games); Jesse Schell (Schell Games/Professor at Carnegie Mellon); Tracy Fullerton (University of Southern California Game Innovation Lab); Alan Gershenfeld (E-Line Media); Noah Falstein (Chief Game Designer, Google); Valerie Shute (Professor at Florida State University); Lee Sheldon (Author, The Multiplayer Classroom); Robert J. Torres (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Asi Burak (President, Games for Change); Toby Rowland (MangaHigh); Jocelyn Leavitt (Hopscotch); Krishna Vedati (Tynker); and researchers at BrainPOP and designers from Electric Funstuff (Mission U.S. games). Each chapter concludes with practical lesson plan ideas, games to play (both digital and tabletop), and links to research further. Much of the book draws on the author's experiences implementing games with his middle school students. Regardless of your teaching discipline or grade level, whether you are a pre-service teacher or veteran educator, this book will engage and reinvigorate the way you teach and how your students learn!

This book closely examines the pedagogical possibilities of integrating the arts into history curriculum at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Students encounter expressions of history every day in the form of fiction, paintings, and commemorative art, as well as other art forms. Research demonstrates it is often these more informal encounters with history that define students' knowledge and understandings rather than the official accounts present in school curricula. This volume will provide educators with tools to bring together these parallel tracks of history education to help enrich students' understandings and as a mechanism for students to present their own emerging historical perspectives.

A volume in Research in Curriculum and Instruction Series Editor: O. L. Davis, Jr. The University of Texas at Austin In many elementary classrooms, social studies has taken a back seat to English Language Arts and Mathematics in the wake of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top This volume is not another hand-wringing lament. On the contrary, the elementary educators who have contributed to this volume have a positive set of stories to tell about how social studies can play a central role in the elementary classroom, how teachers can integrate social studies knowledge and skills throughout the school day, and how this learning can carry over into children's homes and communities. The seven case studies in this book, one at each elementary grade level, highlight exemplary teachers in whose classrooms social studies is alive and well in this age of accountability. At the end of each case study, each teacher provides advice for elementary teachers of social studies. Our hope is that elementary teachers and prospective teachers, elementary principals, social studies supervisors, staff developers, and professors of elementary social studies methods who study the stories that we tell can be empowered to return social studies to its rightful place in the curriculum.

A volume in Research in Curriculum and Instruction Series Editor: O. L. Davis, Jr. The University of Texas at Austin In many elementary classrooms, social studies has taken a back seat to English Language Arts and Mathematics in the wake of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top This volume is not another hand-wringing lament. On the contrary, the elementary educators who have contributed to this volume have a positive set of stories to tell about how social studies can play a central role in the elementary classroom, how teachers can integrate social studies knowledge and skills throughout the school day, and how this learning can carry over into children's homes and communities. The seven case studies in this book, one at each elementary grade level, highlight exemplary teachers in whose classrooms social studies is alive and well in this age of accountability. At the end of each case study, each teacher provides advice for elementary teachers of social studies. Our hope is that elementary teachers and prospective teachers, elementary principals, social studies supervisors, staff developers, and professors of elementary social studies methods who study the stories that we tell can be empowered to return social studies to its rightful place in the curriculum.

The language of frames suggests the need to rethink self and other in fostering ethical relationships as a foundation for peaceful existence. Educational writers and practitioners from many parts of the world, including New York, Denver, Minneapolis, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Israel, and Canada offer their perspectives on peace as an aim of curriculum. Possibilities for learning about peace conceived in terms of Jonathan Lear's (2006) notion of "radical hope" are illustrated in the contexts of diverse settings and challenges: the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa, re-imagining post-colonial history curricula in Zimbabwe, exploring the meanings of truth and reconciliation and restorative justice in Canada, examining the quality of pedagogic relationships in elementary school classrooms, attending to experiences of gay and lesbian students in schools, experiences of marginalized students, children's experiences of civic engagement, Islamophobia in high schools and teacher education classes, fraught relationships between Palestinian and Jewish students in a teachers' college in Israel, and the inclusion of First Nations culture and knowledge in Canadian teacher education classes. As whole and in each of its parts, Framing Peace encourages us to think about peace as an urgent and fundamental responsibility of curriculum at all levels of education.

First published in 1994, Implementing the Whole Curriculum for Pupils with Learning Difficulties explores practical ways of addressing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties. It draws upon the experience of classroom teachers in developing their practice within and beyond the National Curriculum. It provides examples of ways in which pupil's personal and social development may be fostered through pupil self-advocacy, pupil participation, pupil directed learning and group work. This book is an essential read for teachers and educationists.

The language of frames suggests the need to rethink self and other in fostering ethical relationships as a foundation for peaceful existence. Educational writers and practitioners from many parts of the world, including New York, Denver, Minneapolis, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Israel, and Canada offer their perspectives on peace as an aim of curriculum. Possibilities for learning about peace conceived in terms of Jonathan Lear's (2006) notion of "radical hope" are illustrated in the contexts of diverse settings and challenges: the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa, re-imagining post-colonial history curricula in Zimbabwe, exploring the meanings of truth and reconciliation and restorative justice in Canada, examining the quality of pedagogic relationships in elementary school classrooms, attending to experiences of gay and lesbian students in schools, experiences of marginalized students, children's experiences of civic engagement, Islamophobia in high schools and teacher education classes, fraught relationships between Palestinian and Jewish students in a teachers' college in Israel, and the inclusion of First Nations culture and knowledge in Canadian teacher education classes. As whole and in each of its parts, Framing Peace encourages us to think about peace as an urgent and fundamental responsibility of curriculum at all levels of education.

This volume is an outgrowth of the Conference on Research on the Enacted Mathematics Curriculum, funded by the National Science Foundation and held in Tampa, Florida in November 2010. The volume has the potential to be useful to a range of researchers, from established veterans in curriculum research to new researchers in this area of mathematics education. The chapters can be used to generate conversation about researching the enacted mathematics curriculum, including similarities and differences in the variables that can and should be studied across various curricula. As such, it might be used by a curriculum project team as it outlines a research agenda for curriculum or program evaluation. It might also be used as a text in a university graduate course on curriculum research and design. The chapters in this volume are a natural complement to those in Approaches to Studying the Enacted Mathematics Curriculum (Heck, Chval, Weiss, & Ziebarth, 2012), also published by Information Age Publishing. While the present volume focuses on a range of issues related to researching the enacted mathematics curriculum, including theoretical and conceptual issues, the volume by Heck et al. provides insights into different instrumentations used by groups of researchers to study curriculum enactment.

A rich, comparative case study systematically exploring two program approaches for preparing teachers of color, Gist's work explores culturally responsive pedagogy as a strategy for organizing teacher education.

This volume explores two radical shifts in history and subsequent responses in curricular spaces: the move from oral to print culture during the transition between the 15th and 16th centuries and the rise of the Jesuits, and the move from print to digital culture during the transition between the 20th and 21st centuries and the rise of what the philosopher Jean Baudrillard called "hyperreality." The curricular innovation that accompanied the first shift is considered through the rise of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). These men created the first "global network" of education, and developed a humanistic curriculum designed to help students navigate a complicated era of the known (human-centered) and unknown (God-centered) universe. The curricular innovation that is proposed for the current shift is guided by the question: What should be the role of undergraduate education become in the 21st century? Today, the tension between the known and unknown universe is concentrated on the interrelationships between our embodied spaces and our digitally mediated ones. As a result, today's undergraduate students should be challenged to understand how-in the objectively focused, commodified, STEM-centric landscape of higher education-the human subject is decentered by the forces of hyperreality, and in turn, how the human subject might be recentered to balance our humanness with the new realities of digital living. Therein, one finds the possibility of posthumanistic education.

Problematizing the reason of schooling as historical and political, leading international and interdisciplinary scholars bring together theory and practice to challenge the assumed common sense of schooling and the relation of society, education, and curriculum studies. Examining the limits of contemporary notions of power and schooling, the argument in this book is that the principles that order school subjects, the curriculum, and teaching reforms are historical practices that govern what is thought, acted on, and talked about. Highlighting the dynamics of social exclusion and normalizing curriculum and exploring questions of social inclusion, The Reason of Schooling underscores the urgency for rethinking curriculum research.

In a time of unprecedented transformation as society seeks to build a more sustainable future, education plays an increasingly central role in training key agents of change. This book asks how we can equip students and scholars with the capabilities to promote sustainability and how the higher education curriculum can be changed to facilitate the paradigm shift needed. Across the globe, a rising number of higher education institutions and academics are responding to these questions by transforming their own teaching and learning and their institutions' curricula. This book contributes to that development by examining in-depth case studies of innovative approaches and curriculum changes at multiple levels of the education sector. Elaborating key principles of higher education for sustainable development and identifying drivers and barriers to implementing sustainability in the curriculum, the book provides a comprehensive overview of what makes higher education for sustainable development a unique field of research and practice, as well as offering a coherent narrative of how change can be effected in it. This much-needed book is a valuable resource to inform, guide and inspire students, academics, administrators and community partners, whether experienced or new to the field, whether already committed or not to higher education for sustainable development in an age of transformation.

Reconceptualizing Curriculum Development provides accessible, clear guidance on curriculum problem solving and educational leadership through the practice of a synoptic curriculum study. This practice integrates three influential interpretations of curriculum curriculum as deliberative artistry, curriculum as complicated conversation, and curriculum as "currere" with John Dewey s lifetime work on reflective inquiry. At its heart, the book advances "a way of studying "as "a way of living "with reference to the question: How might I live as a democratic educator?

The study guidance is organized as an open-ended scaffolding of three embedded reflective inquiries informed by four deliberative conversations. Study recommendations are provided by a carefully selected team. The field-tested study-based approach is illustrated through a multi-layered, multi-voiced narrative collage of four experienced teachers personal journeys of understanding in a collegial study context. Applying William Pinar s argument that a "conceptual montage" enabling teachers to lead complicated conversations should be the focus for curriculum development in the field s current post-reconceptualist moment, the book moves forward the educational aim of facilitating a holistic subject/self/social understanding through the practice of a balanced hermeneutics of suspicion and trust. It closes with a discussion of cross-cultural collaboration and advocacy, reflecting the interest of curriculum scholars in a wide range of countries in this study-based, lead-learning approach to curriculum development."

This book discusses topics concerning digital game-based learning focusing on learning-by-game-building and Web 2.0. Grounded in the new theoretical perspective of enactivism, this book shows how such an approach can help students gain deep understanding of subjects such as mathematics and history, as well as undergraduate or graduate students' learning of pedagogy and also adult driver's learning of road safety rules. Written for undergraduate students in teacher education, experienced teachers, and graduate students, this book is an ideal text for courses related to technology integration and digital game-based learning. It is also beneficial for researchers, educators, parents, school administrators, game designers, and anyone who is interested in new ways of learning and digital games.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of selected research concerning global and comparative trends in dominant discourses on human rights education. Using diverse paradigms, ranging from critical theory to historical-comparative research, the book examines major human rights education reforms and policy issues in a global culture with a focus on the ambivalent and problematic relationship between human rights education discourses, ideology and the state. Further, it discusses democracy, national identity, and social justice, which are among the most critical and significant factors defining and contextualising the processes surrounding nation-building, identity politics and human rights education globally, and also critiques current human rights education practices and policy reforms, illustrating the shifts in the relationship between the state and human rights education policy. Written by authors from diverse backgrounds and regions, the book examines current developments in research concerning human rights education, and citizenship education globally. As such it enables readers to gain a more holistic understanding of the nexus between nation-state, national identity and human rights education both locally and globally. It also provides an easily accessible, practical yet scholarly insights into international concerns in the field of human rights education in the context of global culture.

-Offers a cutting-edge introduction to current interdisciplinary studies of teaching and learning to teach-does not prescribe teaching, but rather invites readers into nuanced understandings of the current range of beliefs and cultural understandings of teaching, along with an overview of the historical and conceptual influences on educational practice. -Structured around four prominent "moments" in formal education: Standardized Education; Authentic Education; Democratic Citizenship Education; and Systemic Sustainability Education. -Draws readers into new ways of thinking about and responding to the ideas and information presented through a variety of sophisticated, interactive pedagogical features and graphic displays.

Problem-based, student-centred learning is the key to implementation of the national standards for science education in the United States. Students learn science best by doing' science, by identifying real-world problems and designing projects that lead to possible solutions.

Based on extensive experience in an award-winning US high school science programme, this book provides a step-by-step guide for designing problem-based learning in the life sciences.

First published in 1978, this book looks at the 'curriculum crisis' of the 1970s, examining the effect it has had for Curriculum Studies and curriculum policy making. It focuses on a time when long-established structures and procedures were challenged and schools were accused of having lost touch with the wants and needs of communities. The author argues that the curriculum should become part of community interest and be led by this, rather than by professionals and initiates. Indeed, he feels that the curriculum must have an identity which avoids alliances with technocrats, bureaucrats or ideologues, but yet has a positive philosophy and a commitment to good values.

"Curriculum, Plans, and Processes in Instructional Design: International Perspectives" presents perspectives on the relationship between curriculum research and instructional design, as well as new developments in the use of information and communication technology. In their introductory chapter, the editors provide an overview of the volume and introduce the discussions found in three sections:
*The chapters in Part I "(Theoretical Foundations and Innovations)" describe and discuss new theoretical and innovative approaches to instructional design that integrate curriculum development with information and communication technologies.
*Part II "(Curriculum Development, Instructional Design, and Information Technology)" focuses on curriculum development and its impact on models of instructional design.
*Part III "(Information and Communication Technology and Instructional Design)" addresses the challenge of advancing information and communication technologies for instructional planning and curriculum development.
Prominent researchers and practitioners from instructional design, as well as the learning sciences--from both the U.S. and around the world--have contributed to this volume. This volume is a valuable resource for graduate students, scholars, and researchers in the fields of instructional design and educational technology, as well as for those who wish to develop expertise in training in industrial, military, public and academic organizations.

This volume is an outgrowth of the Conference on Research on the Enacted Mathematics Curriculum, funded by the National Science Foundation and held in Tampa, Florida in November 2010. The volume has the potential to be useful to a range of researchers, from established veterans in curriculum research to new researchers in this area of mathematics education. The chapters can be used to generate conversation about researching the enacted mathematics curriculum, including similarities and differences in the variables that can and should be studied across various curricula. As such, it might be used by a curriculum project team as it outlines a research agenda for curriculum or program evaluation. It might also be used as a text in a university graduate course on curriculum research and design. The chapters in this volume are a natural complement to those in Approaches to Studying the Enacted Mathematics Curriculum (Heck, Chval, Weiss, & Ziebarth, 2012), also published by Information Age Publishing. While the present volume focuses on a range of issues related to researching the enacted mathematics curriculum, including theoretical and conceptual issues, the volume by Heck et al. provides insights into different instrumentations used by groups of researchers to study curriculum enactment.

Slovak education, including foreign language education, is going through curricular reform. Even though the development of intercultural communicative competences is claimed to be one of the key aims of foreign language teaching, recent research suggests that most teaching time is devoted to the development of grammatical and vocabulary skills, and that it is often difficult to convince English teachers that the teaching of culture ought to be a primary goal. From her own first hand experience of living in foreign countries and through teaching, the author has learned the importance of intercultural competence for communicating successfully in a foreign language with speakers from cultures different to one's own. This study features a qualitative approach to the intercultural dimensions of English language teaching in Slovak primary schools, including observations and interviews, along with analysis of relevant policy and curricular materials.

Creative form drawing is a fascinating and meaningful artistic activity for health and well-being. It is focusing and fun. It engages the right brain, by getting into the flow of colour, form and movement. It offers the space for personal creativity, with stunning colourful forms to stimulate originality. Creative form drawing can be both energising and relaxing, calming and enlivening, a valuable aid to harmonising body and soul. This first creative form drawing book for adults features fourfold patterns of increasing challenge. It references Celtic, Moorish, Native American and Buddhist patterns, and encourages the development of new forms. The forms have symmetry, a balance between left and right, above and below, connecting the centre with the periphery, providing stability and harmony. Some forms are rhythmical, having a pattern that moves in flowing rhythms and lines. Other forms are organic, as drawing organically inspired forms such as flowers helps experience nature's colours, and designs. Flowers provide inspiring ideas for colour combinations and for new forms. Drawing with line, form, colour and beauty is a balancing, healing and enlivening process. Originally developed by the educator Rudolf Steiner, creative form drawing is used widely in Steiner/Waldorf education to support healthy child development and learning.