{"id":1046,"date":"2024-09-28T15:33:27","date_gmt":"2024-09-28T19:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-teaching-practices\/?p=1046"},"modified":"2024-09-29T10:12:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T14:12:40","slug":"cbci-for-thinking-understanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-teaching-practices\/2024\/09\/cbci-for-thinking-understanding\/","title":{"rendered":"CBCI for Thinking & Understanding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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CBCI is not a just an acronym for “Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction” but it is a mindset that can help students and adults alike in learning and growing. CBCI is a wholistic strategy on education that focuses on learning universal concepts that cover many bases with while using specific examples and facts to support each concept. With information being available at the touch of a button (or a screen), the stereotypical dates and events that are taught are not engaging, but also aren’t practical. Through CBCI, there are variety of ways to engage students for a more purposeful sense of learning and activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are looking for more information on CBCI, and why it just makes sense, please click here<\/a> or follow this blogs author, Rachel French, on X (formerly twitter) @ProLearnInt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main Points of CBCI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  • 3 Dimensional Learning: <\/strong>CBCI has a large focus on synergy (synergistic thinking) between low level facts and high level concepts in order to form a more practical understanding. Why memorize information to spit it back up and forget it after a test, when you could take overarching concepts and adapt them to everyday life? The choice is simple. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    • Integration of Thinking:<\/strong> Students, at times, think of subjects one dimensionally, as in if they are in Language Arts class, they see no reason why any type of math should be done. We as adults know that reasoning, logic, and life in general, is not one dimensional. CBCI promotes the integration of thinking to allow for a more interdisciplinary view of what we learn. This promotes collaboration between teachers of different content in the pursuit of a common goal; a better understanding for the student. To see concepts addressed in different perspectives can bring students to a more well rounded education.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Real Life Questions: <\/strong>At some point in most educators careers they will hear the phrase “when will I ever use this in real life?”, and frankly, the students make a good point here. Education should be practical, and that is why CBCI pushes questions that relate to real world events in an effort to better understand them. With large overarching concepts and questions, students can learn from the past to better understand the present, and adapt to the future. Through these connections, students can become more engaged as they see events happening in real life, while still getting the content, skills, and facts. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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      Influence on my Teaching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      As I have read and studied CBCI, I have made a shift in how I plan for my next unit, and next year of teaching. Here are few ways that this has made my life easier, and my teaching stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      1. Simple Planning and Student Choice: <\/strong>Planning can always be hard for a teacher, especially one with students with varying accommodations and level education. With CBCI, the concept itself is the main point. As I lead students through the concept, I can provide students an array of examples that they can learn from in which they choose what they want to learn about. With some pre-planning and student buy in, class becomes simpler when each student or small group is working towards their own goal, that still envelopes the concept at hand.
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      2. Collaboration and Skill Sets: <\/strong>Students are naturally hesitant to go outside their comfort zone with topics and peers. When students have a choice in what they learn however, that resistance may find itself waning. With each student bringing their own background information, interests, and skill sets, concept based classrooms become more student led. Students who may not typically pair up are now able to learn off each other in both the concept, and how they present their findings.
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      3. Questioning: <\/strong>As a teacher, we all ask questions, but are they the right kind of questions? With a broader set of questions, I have not only been able to gain more informative data, but I have brought more students into the realm of participation. When being very specific about questions, especially those with one right answers, I have found that students can check out through boredom, or just not knowing the answer. While I am not perfect by any means, I have opened up my questions to more open ended answers, and that has resulted in a variety of evidence based opinions. For more help with asking better questions, and the importance of a question, please view the video below!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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