As early as the mid-1970s, William H. McNeill, the father of modern world history scholarship, warned that the pervasive tendency for faculty to pursue ever-narrowing specializations, combined with a widespread distaste for teaching survey courses, will be history's undoing. In his mind, without concerted pedagogical attention aimed at both…

In 2006 the Catholic Education Commission, Victoria, Australia, entered into an agreement with the Centre for Academic Teacher Training of the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, to conduct research which would frame the identity structure of Victorian Catholic schools (Pollefeyt and Bouwens in Int Stud Cathol Educ…

In this paper we perform text analysis on the new Cross Thematic Curriculum Framework Syllabus Design for compulsory education, which was constructed by the Hellenic Pedagogical Institute and is soon going to be applied in Greek schools. This curriculum text is treated as a policy text which introduces important changes in Greek school practice,…

Theme studies are worth doing if they support the study of universal ideas, broaden students' understanding of their world and human experience, are interdisciplinary, reflect students' genuine interests, and lead to student inquiry. Themes can be developed from students' common interests, adolescent literature, textbook topics, current events,…

Compulsory Greek education has long shown its need for revision. The Greek Pedagogical Institute (GPI) has presented the cross-thematic approach as a panacea, yet further changes are necessary in terms of experiential learning, school subject demarcation, teaching time management, teaching material, and the student/educator role. This article…

This paper discusses two pitfalls in designing project work. The first is a tendency to design projects with little emphasis on how the subject matter might connect to future studies. The second involves processes and goals of project work: all too often the processes proposed for project work serve goals that are nonexistent, weak, or unrelated…

Representing English, history, geography, science, graphic arts, intermediate special education, physical and health education, and environmental studies, six Ontario (Canada) teachers cooperating on an integrated curriculum project found that their "separate" subject areas came together naturally in a theme approach to teaching. Success…

A study, considering the needs of both classroom teachers and university-based instructors, examined how teachers delineated thematic instruction and translated that conception into practice. A total of 20 teachers, representing 17 classrooms, were observed as they implemented thematic instruction. Team-teaching was observed in two classrooms with…

This document proposes the project approach as one element of early childhood education that can function in a complementary relationship to other aspects of the early childhood curriculum. The term "project" is defined as an extended investigation of a topic that is of interest to participating children and judged worthy of attention by…

Established in 1973, a progressive Charlotte, North Carolina, elementary school has been subjected to trends and pressures (particularly the back-to-basics and direct- instruction movements) that threatened its integrity and survival. Irwin Avenue must cover citywide academic objectives, but organizes its curriculum around themes and active,…

The GALAXY Language Arts Demonstration Program is a package of integrated curricular and instructional approaches that features the organization of instruction around themes presented through television broadcasts, children's literature, classroom activities, and the use of interactive technology. During the GALAXY Project demonstration phase for…