Curriculum Design

Catalog description

Designing curriculum is a creative process, filled with dilemmas, uncertainties, excitement, and anticipation. Crafting what people do for an extended period of time, figuring out what we need to learn, how, and when, is a practical, political, philosophical, and theoretical experience. It’s demanding, time-consuming, and rewarding. You will have opportunities to craft an original 1-month curriculum (that explicitly addresses the NH DoE Science Teacher Licensure standards and requirements) for the context in which you plan to teach or for a practicing science teacher who has requested assistance in the development of an existing curricular unit; and to collaborate on each other’s science curriculum under development. We will experience first-hand, practically and theoretically ideas and approaches like critical exploration, experiential learning, authentic learning, constructivism, situated learning, problem-based and inquiry-based curriculum, standards-based and layered curriculum, embedded assessment, postmodern curriculum development, and the other curriculum design themes that you will bring to our attention. I think of curriculum design as jazz composition. We create frameworks, points of entry, and directions in which our students are invited to engage and improvise with the subject matter. I look forward to creating with you, opportunities to think critically and creatively in designing powerful science curriculum.