This commentary is a response to Larsen and Harrington's article titled "Developing a Learning Progression for Place" (2018). Within the author focuses learning progressions, subject structure, and the challenge of place complexity. [For "Developing a Learning Progression for Place" by Thomas B. Larsen and John A. Harrington…

Rosemarie T. Truglio is the senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop, where she is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which "Sesame Street" is based, and oversees content development across platforms such as television, publishing, toys, home video, and theme park activities.…

The purpose of this short article is to offer a critical perspective on Larsen and Harrington's ambitious and stimulating review article. It does so by drawing a distinction between teaching and learning and discussing how progression metaphors for describing the latter can distort the moral purpose of the former. My response to the provocation…

The Black, Wilson, and Yao (this issue) provide a wide-ranging commentary and vision of the interrelationships among curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Specifically, they describe how the Berkeley Evaluation & Assessment Research (BEAR) Center Assessment System can be used to integrate and systematize these areas. This commentary focuses on…

This paper critically examines the application of research into cognitive neuroscience to educational contexts. It first considers recent warnings from within the neuroscientific community itself about the limitations of current neuroscientific knowledge and the urgent need to dispel popular "neuromyths" which have become accepted in…

There are some who believe that getting rid of the testing required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will solve current educational problems. In this article, the authors argue that, with or without NCLB, both students and teachers need spaces of liberty for meaningful learning. Teachers need spaces in which they can negotiate the curriculum in…

Examines ways of learning (association, correspondence, coherence, recognition) and lists three aspects of each (criterion, source of theory, nature of knower and known). Identifies each way's approach to curricular elements (education, curriculum, learner, teacher, society, and evaluation criterion). (SK)

In "The university of learning", John Bowden and Ference Marton explore the idea that being able to handle varying and unfamiliar conditions is fundamental to effective practice in "real-life". They suggest that in an age of rapid change and complexity, the challenge for educators and students is to "prepare for the unknown by means of the known",…

Although the natural sciences are dedicated to understanding the natural world, they are also dynamic and shaped by cultural values. The sciences and attendant technologies could be very responsive to a population that participates in and uses them responsibly. In this essay, Nancy Brickhouse and Julie Kittleson argue for re-visioning the sciences…

Examines the theory behind a classroom process for clarifying one's inner voice. Argues for helping students gain control of their lives by questioning and reacting to those controlling them. Concludes that teachers and students will discover that this type of inner voice orientation for teaching is ever-expanding. (FL)

A view of the nature of critical thinking contexts is outlined, and several levels of generality at which the principles and procedures of critical thinking might be addressed are identified. Mastery, assessment, and the curricular place of critical thinking are discussed. (IAH)

Concepts, propositions, proposition sets, and process patterns are discussed as elements of a model of language-related basic thinking skills. The term "concept" is defined and illustrated, and a model of concept attainment is briefly described. Illustrations are offered for a set of 430 basic concept clusters intended for use as a…

Describes constructivism as an educational theory promoted by the National Council of Teachers of Education (NCTM), the ideals of NCTM's standards, the validity of NCTM's approach, and the research behind NCTM's recommendations. Includes examples of what teachers can do to promote student construction of knowledge in the classroom and resources…

Of particular interest in the realm of curriculum theories is a new (or renewed) call for "integrated curriculum." In fact, in many educational circles, it appears to be an orthodox assumption that integrating the curriculum is what educators should be about. However, well-substantiated arguments against subject matter based curriculum…

Recent surveys reveal that writing assignments in most secondary schools are mechanical and trivial in nature. The fate of writing and of the total curriculum are intertwined. The mechanics of writing, writing and testing, writing across the curriculum, back to the basics, etc., are discussed. (MLW)