In course design, topic outline organization encompasses the structuring and sequencing of topics to be delivered in a learning environment. Recent studies in topic outline optimization revolve around massive open online courses (MOOCs) due to their abundance but not much has been studied on the traditional courses. This study investigates the…

Studies have shown that students' positive experience during their first year in college plays a significant role in their success in terms of persistence and satisfaction. That premise has been the motivation for the development of a first-year connection course by the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tennessee Tech University. Recent…

Best practice in curriculum development and implementation requires that discipline-based standards or requirements embody both curricular and programme scopes and sequences. Ensuring these are present and aligned in course/programme content, activities and assessments to support student success requires formalised and systematised review and…

Examines continuity in curricular aims, content, teaching, and assessment as found in the geography programs of a single secondary school and its feeder primary schools. Places emphasis on pupils aged 8 to 13. Finds little agreement in any of the areas investigated. Proposes that structures are needed to develop productive dialogue. (KO)

Examines the historical development of the expanding environments sequence in the elementary social studies curriculum. Concludes that the sequence is obsolete because it is based on the discredited idea that children relive the cultural history of their race as they develop. Argues for abandonment of expanding environments sequence because of its…

Describes the evolution and growth in popularity of the expanding environments framework for elementary social studies. Its reliance on developmental psychology and its portrayal of an artificial, conflict-free world suggest flaws of major dimensions. Concludes that the near-universal adoption of the expanding environments approach may sustain its…

Benjamin Bloom's "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" can be used effectively to develop and evaluate a sequential secondary-school curriculum in literature, regardless of the school's content emphasis or curricular philosophy. The two available volumes of the "Taxonomy"--dealing with the cognitive domain of knowledge, skills,…

A project to develop a sequential and cumulative social studies curriculum for able students in grades 9-12 was carried out by Carnegie-Mellon University in partnership with the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The general goal of the curriculum--to help each student develop to the limit of his ability into an independent thinker and an informed,…

Two major tasks of the K-12 project described in this experimental guide are: 1) present teachers with a proposed inservice program designed to give them an understanding of the subject matter and methods needed to present effective lessons at their grade levels; and, 2) develop an effective K-12 curriculum in civic and legal education. Teachers…

The guiding principles incorporated into this program are: 1) to develop a kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum in a logical sequence to provide continuity and progression in the program; 2) to have the program enhance the instructional goals of the school system; 3) to link the subject areas that relate most closely to conservation,…

The material in this K-8 curriculum guide is designed to help local Georgia school systems integrate objective knowledge and skills in the social studies curriculum. Two chapters cover scope and sequence and instructional strategies. In chapter 1, 4 main curriculum components (knowledge, values and attitudes, skills, and social participation) are…