As the landscape of higher education gets more complex, there is a need to increase engagement and student reflection on their academic experiences. This research explores whether a threshold concept framework (TCF) can be used in an interdisciplinary social science culminating course as a tool for students to consider the transformative nature of…

Public health has constituted itself as a distinct academic discipline. The present paper attempts to understand ontology of this discipline. A study has recently been carried out which concerns, first, conceptualization of ontology of public health, secondly, nature of public health, and thirdly, curriculum development. Ontology is a…

Approaching curriculum theory from an historical-hermeneutic approach, the author draws analogies from theology in urging: (1) no new orthodoxies; (2) a syncretic approach to curriculum theory; (3) community and dialectical interaction between theorists and practitioners; and (4) a sense of humor. (MJB)

The curriculum field must regain its lost synoptic functions and clarify the distortions created by an overweening and uncritical acceptance of scientific approaches. It should not undertake more and more discrete functions but, through synopsis, bring together conflicting points of view and promote balance. (Author)

The anthropological perspective, one that makes the economic environmental-social relationships explicit, may provide the best vehicle for helping to understand problems confronting man in his technical, industrial society. (Author)

Reports on Education For Survival, a project designed to develop curriculum guides for grades K-12. Educating children in terms of their interdependence with the environment as the key to survival is its philosophy. Examples of concepts and activities from the various curriculum units are quoted to show how the theme is implemented. (BL)

Based on a state requirement that all elementary and secondary schools provide instruction in the wise use of natural resources and protection of the environment, the California State Department of Education has developed this guide to assist local educational agencies in translating legislative mandates into action. It offers a structure and…

Sixty priority informational areas identified by the editors of the Journal of Marine Education as suitable for K-12 marine instruction are presented. These areas have been grouped into seventeen major curriculum clusters, related on a conceptual basis, that can provide a full year's study. (BT)

Six global objectives--energy, earth resources, waste disposal, population, interdependence, and quality of life--are used as a framework in preparing this open design for environmental education, one which emphasizes behavioral change in the affective domain. To aid classroom teachers in achieving these goals, the guide is divided into five…

After reviewing (1) the causes of the energy crisis, (2) the goals of the National energy plan developed by ERDA, and (3) three routes to bring about energy conservation; the authors present the fundamental concepts (MAIN IDEAS) from a conservation-oriented energy education curriculum developed at Florida State University. (BT)

Traces, through an autobiographical format, the development of a model for teaching urban studies in the primary grades which addresses eight different features including cognitive development, first hand experience, key concepts, and multidisciplinarity. Provides concrete examples of how the model may be used in practice. (DC)

Presented are the state guidelines and framework for the infusion of energy education into the Texas public school curriculum. Designed to assist teachers, administrators, and other school personnel in the process of infusing energy education concepts, this guide focuses on the basic concerns and needs of the people as related to energy and…

The goals of population education are to help children understand, and act in accordance with, the impact of population characteristics on an international, national, and individual plane. It has been only within the last ten years that countries have paid systematic attention to the development of educational programs. The specific form of these…

Can a structure be created that provides a broader and more valid base for the general education curriculum in the social studies than would the structure of social science disciplines? One alternative would be to focus on the making of decisions about public issues as the crucial element of citizenship behavior in a democracy. Using the common…

Presented is an overview and model of the proposed curriculum development process in environmental education in Connecticut. Concepts and competencies are identified at each grade level and are designed to facilitate the infusion of environmental education activities within the existing curricula using existing learning resources such as…