Concept Based Curriculum and Instruction
Need for Concept-Based Curriculum
With the increase in the content educators are struggling with 'an inch deep and a mile wide curriculum'. Despite the number of assessments taken and the increasing drill practice for skills and content, we find our learners struggling to apply their knowledge in unfamiliar situations. This is due to the fact that they have not understood the underlying concepts.
A CBCI approach helps students construct their understanding based on the content and skills presented in the class.
How does the CBCI approach help?
A shift in designing the curriculum from 2 dimensional to 3 dimensional which will include concepts along with the knowledge (content) and the skills, will make a difference in the teaching-learning process. The primary focus will be the conceptual understanding in the curriculum design which will drive the teaching-learning process. Concepts are universal and transcend time, place, situation and people. Hence students can transfer their learning which is strengthened by conceptual understanding in new and unfamiliar situations. In a CBCI classroom, the teaching approach will be inductive, using the content (facts) to help students see patterns and connections and transfer their conceptual understanding to new and unfamiliar situations. Students will be engaged with the facts and skills at a deeper conceptual level thus ensuring better retention of these facts and skills.
What do you learn in the CBCI workshop?
- How to design a concept-based curriculum, unit plans and lesson plans?
- How to design concept-based instructions to achieve synergistic thinking in your classroom?
- How to use factual, conceptual and debatable questions effectively to encourage inductive learning?
- How to ensure that the curriculum covers necessary content, skills along with the conceptual understandings and maintain the rigour in the curriculum?
- How to design effective and authentic assessments which will assess students' conceptual understanding?