Knowledge‐rich teaching: A model of curriculum design coherence

Abstract

A theoretical model called ‘Curriculum Design Coherence’ (CDC) is described and justified. The model's purpose is to assist teachers in the compulsory and higher education sectors to design courses that can accommodate the complex and interdependent relationship between concepts and content and between knowledge and skills. Its intended usefulness as a curriculum design tool may also contribute to teachers’ pedagogical decision‐making. The model was initially developed in a New Zealand university Engineering study and is now being trialled in a study in the compulsory schooling sector with the ‘Knowledge‐Rich School Project’. The CDC model integrates concepts, content and competencies in a coherent way, thereby avoiding several tendencies which have affected curriculum studies in recent decades. These are: a ‘skills’ versus ‘concepts’ bifurcation; an over‐emphasis on fragmented content without conceptual integration; and a similar over‐emphasis on pedagogy (the ‘how’) at the expense of what is taught. The first sections of the article discuss the theories used to justify the model's connections between the elements of concepts, content and competencies. The theories concern (1) knowledge types (disciplinary and socio‐cultural) and (2) knowledge forms (propositional/conceptual and procedural/competencies). The justification is followed by a description of the CDC model itself.

Successful futures, successful curriculum: What can Wales learn from international curriculum reforms?

“…These curricula have been attacked for downgrading knowledge (see Young, ; Rata, ; Priestley & Sinnema, ), including blurring the well‐established boundaries between everyday knowledge and disciplinary knowledge (Young & Muller, ). Critics have derided their overemphasis on skills, along with a prevalent ‘skills versus concepts bifurcation’ (Rata, , p. 1), and child‐centred learning which overemphasizes the ‘how’ over the ‘what’ of education (see Biesta, ; Priestley & Sinnema, ; Rata, ; Young, , ). Successful Futures has elicited similar responses—ranging from scepticism to outright hostility—from within the profession in Wales (e.g.…”

How can video‐based assignments integrate practical and conceptual knowledge in summative assessment? Student experiences from a longitudinal experiment

“…Within educational course design, the relationships across different knowledge forms have been widely debated (Muller, 2009). An overarching issue pertaining to this discussion involves the relations and constraints between conceptual knowledge (concept and content) and procedural knowledge (competencies, techniques and skills) (Rata, 2019). In professional dental education, the impact of assessment must be taken seriously for several reasons.…”

Dyfodol llwyddiannus, cwricwlwm llwyddiannus: Beth all Cymru ei ddysgu o ddiwygio cwricwla mewn gwledydd eraill?

“…Beirniadwyd y cwricwla hyn am israddio gwybodaeth (gweler Young, 2008b; Rata, 2012; Priestley a Sinnema, 2014), yn cynnwys cymylu’r ffiniau sefydledig rhwng gwybodaeth bob dydd a gwybodaeth ddisgyblaethol (Young a Muller, 2010). Mae beirniaid wedi wfftio’r gorbwyslais sydd ynddynt ar sgiliau, ynghyd â’r ‘deufforchio rhwng sgiliau a chysyniadau’ sy’n gyffredin ynddynt (Rata, 2019, t. 1), a dysgu sy’n canolbwyntio ar y plentyn sy’n rhoi pwys ar ‘sut’ ar draul ‘beth’ mewn addysg (gweler Biesta, 2007; Priestley a Sinnema, 2014; Rata, 2012; Young, 2008a, 2008b). Mae Dyfodol Llwyddiannus wedi ennyn ymatebion tebyg—yn amrywio o amheuaeth i wrthwynebiad llwyr—gan rai o fewn y proffesiwn yng Nghymru (e.e.…”