Summary
An introduction to and discussion of key attribute of Concept Based Curriculum and Instruction along with a brief discussion of a proposed Unit plan using CBCI.
What is CBCI?
As an educator interested in encouraging student depth of understanding and involvement in society, Concept Based Curriculum and Learning (CBCI) is a valuable strategy. CBCI is a three-dimensional approach to teaching that encourages growth of students’ thinking ability and grasp of concepts. CBCI measures student’s knowledge, skill, and understanding. Understanding is the key here, most teaching focuses on student knowledge and ability to do, but often does not ensure that students understand the concept deeply, ensuring a transfer of knowledge to other content areas. This portion is most important because in today’s technological age, traditional facts that used to fill students incorrectly seen as empty vessels, can be accessed with the click of a button. What students need to be successful in society today is deep conceptual knowledge and an understanding of how these concepts work interdisciplinarily. In the “real world” people are not constrained to content areas; ideas, concepts, and understandings are fluid and related across all areas of learning.
The above video offers a good introduction to CBCI if you would like to explore further
CBCI points of Influence
As I began exploring Concept Based Curriculum and Instruction (CBCI) I was first struck and inspired by the following integral aspects to the discipline:
Three-dimensional teaching. This is the idea that students, in order to succeed in this modern world, need more than to just know facts, and be able to perform a skill, but need to go a step further to understand things conceptually. This is the idea that they will be able to perform independently of their teacher and classroom, and, see the connections of concepts being taught between disciplines. When teaching in a three-dimensional model (or using a theory of KDU–Know, Do, Understand) students are not only developing a depth of knowledge, but also a breadth.
To extend upon the idea of teaching depth alongside breadth, the second concept I was struck by is the action of synergistic thinking. CBCI cannot exist independent of thinking, we must be actively involved in the action of thinking and synergistic thinking is a deep part of this concept as it ties together lower and higher levels of thinking and learning. This method of teaching and thinking helps encourage and develop intellect while simultaneously, or rather due to an increase in motivation. These deeper levels of thinking encourage students to make personal connections to the information being learned, thus increasing the desire for intellect so their engagement can deepen.
Finally, the practice of inquiry learning. The teacher provides guiding questions to accomplish understanding. While deductive inquiry is necessary and appropriate at times, CBCI encourages the practice of inductive inquiry learning. This important practice plays a pivotal role in student led (teacher guided) education. Inductive inquiry learning allows students to discover and acquire understanding independently and therefore maintain this understanding and depth. The visual aide included helps us understand how we can encourage students to think freely and deeply through the introduction and practice of inquiry thinking.
CBCI Fosters TCE Thresholds
In studying CBCI through a Teaching, Curriculum, and Education (TCE) lens I have noticed valuable connections between the values of CBCI and the TCE thresholds. Namely the following two:
Both teachers and students have empowerment/agency. Teachers have freedom in what they’re teaching. Sure they have to teach specific content standards, but their processes and concepts are chosen by them. In effective teaching and learning teachers will use methods that also promote student agency (in other words, student voice and choice). We want students to engage in lessons and have agency over the way they do this. This integrates well with CBCI as it encourages students to relate personally to the content as doing so will encourage deeper engagement and understanding. If students feel lessons are personally related to them they are more likely to find confidence and purpose in their voice, as their learning is relevant. Additionally, CBCI encourages students to “do skillfully” and “understand between content areas” in order to understand deeply how concepts integrate throughout content areas, students need to have the agency to choose how they demonstrate this understanding and skill as we all have different areas of strength and interest. For example if the concept is the idea of systems, this exists across all content areas, from mathematics, to science, to the humanities, to the arts. In CBCI, students should have the right to select the content they engage with.
In an extension of the idea that teachers and students have agency, another threshold of TCE says that teaching and learning honors people’s full humanity, which I believe cannot exist independently of empowerment and agency. If students are given agency to choose how they engage with concepts and content, then they should be able to choose something that deeply interests them; perhaps something that is intertwined with much of their life. If students are expected, in CBCI, to personally relate to the content and concepts, then CBCI cannot occur without recognition of the students full humanity and identity beyond being a student. We ought to understand that students come to us with prior knowledge and interests, all of which can deepen understanding and create deeper relationships with information.
As I think about these concepts of TCE and CBCI I am reminded of my school’s Project Based Learning (PBL) requirements and the cycle used to ensure it is an effective experience for our students. The “Gold Standard PBL” seems to go hand in hand with these disciplines.
CBCI Proposed Unit Plan and Challenges
Finally, in my own teaching, I have begun the process of developing a unit plan using CBCI.
- My working concept is: Injustices occur when fear is present
- While I am excited about this concept as I feel it is a deeply important concept that recurs throughout history and further, can be relevant in much of what is happening nationally and globally today, I have some concerns. Naturally, I am excited to begin using CBCI in a real way, but, along with this excitement I am nervous about my ability to execute this well, especially considering the scope of this unit.
- I am sure my largest challenge with developing this unit plan will be how to figure out how to incorporate so many instances in history into one unit that does not become too large or unmanageable. My suggested content for this unit included the first and second Red Scares, the deportation of Mexican-Americans during the Great Depression, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, all of which are important points in American History in which fear took hold, however, this presents a time period ranging for nearly 50 years! The understanding that surrounds these concepts that is necessary may be too much to realistically fit into one unit. My fear with this CBCI unit plan is that it will become too large to be effective.
I love the resources you linked, they seem so helpful! I feel like our unit plans are a bit similar, and so I definitely empathize with it feeling like a lot of information at once and can be a bit overwhelming. One suggestion I received was to try and keep each discussion and activity focused on one specific topic under the umbrella and as more topics gets discussed, drawing connections to all of them. That way, they can see how different aspects of prejudice and injustice all stem from different instances of fear.
I want to acknowledge your hesitancy in developing your unit plan, I am also nervous about getting it right. I think that’s a good thing though! I’d be more worried if you thought it would be easy. Its important to give ourselves some grace in these early planning stages as we are still figuring out how to use CBCI in our own classrooms. How do you think you will approach making connections to today’s instances of prejudice and fear (like what happened in Charlottesville in 2017) to the ones you called out in your post?
I really like your lesson. I think the information your students will get from it will be very important for students to understand. It’s completely understandable to feel both excited and nervous about executing it well, especially given the importance of the topic. One way to approach this challenge could be to focus on a specific theme or aspect that ties these historical events together. By focusing on a particular theme or aspect, you can provide a more in-depth understanding of the historical events and their impact on different communities.
Thank you! That is a really good point, I’m hopeful that as I begin to dive deeper into this unit themes will arise. I’m also wondering about when in the year I would teach this, perhaps there are different concepts to grasp aligning with periods in time, and then AFTER all that is understood we can use a different lens to look at all the different events.
Hi there! After reading over your proposed unit plan, I really think students would get into it. While I understand your hesitancy towards this being too large, I think your concept is more than enough. Even though your suggested content spans 50 years, I believe it is all relevant to the concept. I might suggest having students start with your content, and have students extend to something modern of their choice. The concept is still the same, but now there are modern examples that can lead to student led discovery.
Thank you for your comment, the idea of students stretching this into modern times is a great idea for student led discovery! I definitely thought it was easily modernly applicable, and I think it is important in history when we can draw connections as students should know about what is happening in the world around them, but hadn’t yet made the connection that this could be an impactful way for students to direct their own learning. Thank you for that idea! I’m excited to see how I can include it in my unit plan
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