CBCI for the Thinking Classroom

Ciara Miller

The Main Points…

The main points behind Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction that have influenced my thinking as an educator the most are the ideas of connecting learning across multiple areas/disciplines, making the learning meaningful and interdisciplinary will allow students to transfer their knowledge across different subject areas and gain a better understanding of the concept. The idea of uncovering the material for our students versus covering the material allows for exploration and inquiry of students no matter their grade or age. Students are able to engage with the materials that are placed in front of them as they are not being told the information/concept by the teacher, but rather allowing for self-discovery and curiosity to build over time asking more questions and developing a new understanding of the world around us. As teachers we have the flexibility to incorporate different strategies into our units and plans, therefore we can make changes to our classroom practices, which will in turn cultivate positive changes in our students learning experiences. For example some shifts that may take place are instead of focusing students on completing an assignment and getting it done just to say the task is complete, we would shift to the idea of students being focused and engaged with their peers on the assignment and work. If students do not finish in the allotted time period that the teacher thought it would take, but they are having great conversation and are on task, there should be no concern with allowing the students to continue their learning into the following day. It is not about completing the task, but rather developing a strong understanding about the concept and being engaged with the materials to better understand overall.

What is CBCI?

CBCI also known as Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction is an approach to designing curriculum through research based practices and pedagogy that allow students to:

• Investigate
• Build
• Share knowledge
• Gain a deeper understanding

This approach strays away from the surface level teaching that can sometimes take place in a classroom, and instead moves towards high order thinking and questioning to allow for discovery and curiosity from our students as they take ownership of their learning.  

YouTube video link about Learning Transfer https://youtu.be/jdXH53EorFo?si=VI8szh7yKIzFkq_h

My Unit Plan so far…

Unit Title- Powerful Forces: What is force and motion?

Conceptual Lens- Science- Push and Pull / Reading Integration- Connections between events

Unit Length- 10 days

Standards-

• 1.PS.2: Objects can be moved in a variety of ways, such as straight, zigzag, circular and back and forth.
• RI.1.3: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

Unit Overview- Did you know that the position of an object can be described by locating it relative to another object or to the object’s surroundings? An object is in motion when its position changes. This happens all the time throughout our day! The motion of an object can be affected by pushing or pulling. Objects can have change in their speed and direction. However, changes in motion are a result of changes in energy. What is energy exactly? Let’s work together to find out the connections between events.

Major Challenges- The biggest challenge that I think that I will face when teaching this unit is the vocabulary. There are so many different academic words that students may not be familiar with such as change in motion, force, direction, property, slope, ramp, push, pull, etc. Students may have heard some of these words in everyday conversations, but not in application to a science unit. Therefore, I will have to be intentional in teaching each word explicitly in order to maximize my students understanding of each vocabulary word. Another challenge that I will face when planning this unit is time. We have minimal time embedded into our daily schedules for science and social studies, therefore I want to be cognitive of the time durations that I plan each day’s lesson for, as the planned lessons will have to be broken up into multiple days when teaching this unit in my classroom to allow for enough time for students to get the most out of the unit.

TCE Connections

• TCE Threshold Concept #1- The curriculum is more than standards, textbooks, and courses of study.

• TCE Threshold Concept #2- Both teachers and students have empowerment/agency.

These concept connect to CBCI as the goal of Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction is not to just take out our textbooks to read about a concept and then later be quizzed about the facts that we read. CBCI is not about memorization of facts, but rather about the learning experiences that students are provided with to make the learning meaningful. Anyone can tell students to take out a textbook and turn to page 207 and read the page aloud to the class. That is not teaching, that is telling. That is not providing our students with inquiry based practices that allow students to develop curiosity about the topic when the book is telling them all the facts that they need to know. But rather, students should be learning through discovery where they are able to ask questions to develop a deeper understanding through the study of the concept. When the content is meaningful for the students, they are able to make the connections and learn from those teachable moments, not just sit and get because that is what the textbook and standard attributes tell us. As teachers are facilitating these learning experiences for our students, there is a sense of empowerment that takes place. As the teacher, it is our job to develop a learning community within our school and classrooms for our students. When students feel safe, and their voices can be heard, they will be more willing to take risk. Not just telling our students what to do and how to do it, will allow for meaningful learning experiences. Students that are willing to take risk without the fear of failing at a task will be able to cultivate new learning experiences for everyone around them. The empowerment that teachers give students through practice of these skills allows for a sense of confidence and ownership in students learning.

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Sources

Erickson, L, Lanning, L, & French, R. (2017). Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom End Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.