CURRICULUM IN CONTEXT is a guidebook for teachers and curriculum designers who are preparing to write curricula for use in pre-K through 12 classrooms and post-secondary settings. This text focuses on contextual teaching and learning (CTL), a system of instruction that enables students to find meaning by connecting the content of the lesson with the context of their lives. The book's practical focus provides teachers and administrators with the concepts and skills they need to make curricular and instructional decisions appropriate for their schools and classrooms. Author Leigh Chiarelott presents some of the most popular models for curriculum development, beginning with the classic Tyler "4 questions," and leading into more contemporary models, such as Wiggins and McTighe's "Backward Design." Unlike other available texts, CURRICULUM IN CONTEXT treats the principles of contextual teaching and learning as an integral element of the curriculum design process.

Features

• This text focuses on designing curriculum and instruction in the context of "contextual teaching and learning" (CTL), which stems from a rich scientific foundation including brain-based research on learning and cognition, constructivism, and Howard Gardner's work on multiple modalities. Some well-known examples of CTL strategies, discussed in the book, are service learning and problem-based learning.
• Chiarelott presents his own step-by-step model for curriculum design in the first section of the book. This model is distinctively non-linear and, consequently, more flexible than other models.
• The second section of the book helps students connect the curriculum design product to the instructional design process.
• Chapter 5, "Knowledge: Concept and Facts in Context," provides the most complete coverage of concept mapping and concept learning of any text on the market.
• Chapter 6, "Connecting Outcomes and Assessment," includes an extensive discussion of three different categorization themes for identifying the balance among cognitive, affective, and psychomotor outcomes.
• Three chapters on instructional design (Chapters 8-10) emphasize the balance between behaviorist and constructivist approaches to planning and delivering instruction: a unique feature to this text.
• The text includes numerous examples of completed curriculum and instructional designs created by actual K-12 classroom teachers who use the Chiarelott model as their foundation. These examples span the gamut of grade levels and content areas.
• The text also includes numerous examples of designs created by actual teachers. More extensive versions of these examples are included in the text appendices.