What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

The second edition of Early Childhood Curriculum provides a comprehensive and lively introduction to curriculum theories, approaches and issues in early childhood settings. Drawing on contemporary research and case studies, the book employs a cultural-historical framework to illustrate a variety of approaches to early childhood education. In this new edition there is an up-to-date coverage of national curriculum documents, including the Early Years Framework and Te Whariki, a glossary of key terms and learning intentions at the beginning of each chapter. There is also an updated companion website at www.cambridge.edu.au/academic/earlychildhood. In each chapter, hypothetical transcripts and real-world examples help bring theory to life. The book explores specific domain areas, including science and mathematics; literacy and language; information and communication technology; the arts; and health and well-being. Early Childhood Curriculum equips pre-service teachers with the practical skills and tools to promote young children's learning. It is an essential resource for pre-service teachers and practitioners alike.

This book "takes readers on a journey through many pathways to engaging and meaningful educational experiences. The text first discusses Perceptive Teaching and then explores five unique approaches to lesson planning: behaviorist, constructivist, aesthetic, ecological, and integrated social-emotional learning. Chapters end with a sample lesson that can be compared across approaches"--

Curriculum and curriculum issues are at the heart of current debates about schooling, pedagogy and learning. This book will enable practitioners, scholars and academics to understand how to re-design or to suggest changes to curriculum structure, shape and content. Grounded in theory and philosophy, the book also offers practical help in grasping this controversial area. Inside, the authors: provide practical planning templates support and provoke analysis, discussion and experimentation include definitions of key terms and reflective questions incorporate practical examples and case material based on their work worldwide on curriculum design and evaluation.

This updated third edition of Curriculum Planning and Instructional Design for Gifted Learners: