Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present principles from the complex approach in education and describe some practical pedagogic experiences enhancing how "real world" perspectives have influenced and contributed to curriculum development. Design/methodology/approach: Necessity of integration in terms of knowledge modeling is an…

The reforms of middle and primary school teaching that have been launched in mainland China over the past thirty years have been manifested in different ways and in different periods of time. The first to appear were localized and scattered teaching reforms oriented toward efficiency, after which commenced explorative teaching experiments in…

The history of curriculum reform from 1978 to 2008 in mainland China may be divided into three phases, each--respectively--committed to the recovery of the curriculum system ruined by the Cultural revolution, construction of a curriculum system in concert with the nine-year compulsory education, and pursuit of quality education under the changed…

This paper brings a sociology of knowledge lens to the practice of school history. It is set against a backdrop of curriculum reform in post-apartheid South Africa, which has embraced a competence curriculum with a strong focus on the generic skills (outcomes) that learners should develop at school. This study argues that history as a discipline…

Stepping into a modern day classroom, one will find that it is filled with a ubiquitous array of multimodal and digital resources, yet a majority of these revolutionary resources are likely not school issued, rather they were brought by the young people themselves. Digital mediums for communication, expression and multimodally engaging in one's…

This article investigates the role of information communication technologies (ICTs) in establishing a well-aligned, authentic learning environment for a diverse cohort of non-cognate and cognate students studying event management in a higher education context. Based on a case study which examined the way ICTs assisted in accommodating diverse…

Last month, Rodger Bybee's article, "Scientific and Engineering Practices in K-12 Classrooms," provided an overview of Chapter 3 in "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC 2011). Chapter 3 describes the practices of science and engineering that students are expected to develop during 13 years…

If educators want students to practice and prepare for challenges they might eventually face, there are a number of useful strategies to connect academic learning to the "real world." One is to ask students to complete what are variously called "performance tasks," "case studies," "simulations," or "project- or problem-based learning units."…

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is swiftly emerging as an integral part of corporate culture and discourse. Associated with notions of responsibility, accountability and community involvement, it remains privileged with concerns that increasingly define the new millennium. Less developed, however, is the relevance of CSR ideas to academic…

Early learning standards have been articulated in an effort to improve and create cohesion between and within informal and formal learning environments for young children. To fulfill these goals, early learning standards need to be implemented in a manner that is: (1) tailored to the variable nature of early childhood development, (2) adapted for…

In Britain, and across the world, the traditional secondary school curriculum of discrete academic subjects has long been under fire. What are the rights and wrongs here? How far does an investigation of its origins throw light on the topic? In telling the remarkable story of its development from 1550 to our times, this book describes the shifting…

A program's development and implementation in a higher education institution is usually launched with great fanfare, goodwill and a huge effort on the part of the whole development team to ensure a worthwhile cohesive set of learning experiences aligned to the desired course learning outcomes. It is often not long before the glue starts to come…

The following reflections relate to the reasons for and an approach to an autobiographic task, the notions that underpin it, and some thoughts about the quality and value of such a project. The focus was on the ways one views curriculum change over time; and the intention was to provide an example that others may sense as either familiar or at…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how a consortium of universities in the Asia Pacific region are endeavouring to make a contribution to the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) through their participation with and the operation of the Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research Net…

It is difficult to say exactly when or how ideas originate and if and why they earn acceptance, but this author believes his theories evolved because of his background as an educator and a pragmatist who believes "validating" an idea through practical implementation is as important as the idea itself. For the author, there are considerable…