|
Ø What
is content knowledge?
Content
knowledge is defined as the facts, events, and ideas
unique to each content discipline.
Ø Why
is content knowledge important in a
thinking-centered curriculum?
Critical
thinking is grounded in knowledge of facts, key
events, and ideas. In a thinking-centered
curriculum, students use content knowledge to
develop the reasoning processes of comparing,
classifying, abstracting, inductive/deductive
reasoning, analyzing perspective and errors, and
constructing logical support.
The New
York State Core Curriculum and Standards identify
the critical content that students need to know.
Links to these documents are listed below.
Ø What are the
characteristics of instruction that effectively
addresses content knowledge?
-
Teachers
clearly target for students the key facts and events
students need to know and why they are important to
know.
-
Assignments move students beyond memorization by
requiring students to use their content knowledge to
reason at higher levels.
-
Students
use graphic organizers or visual representations to
organize content into meaningful categories or
classifications and represent relationships and ‘big
ideas’.
-
Classroom
assessment tasks are designed so students use
content to compare, analyze, evaluate and synthesize
new learning with previous learning.
Ø
If you would like more
information…
Literature
and Research Base:
Marzano,
Robert, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollock. Dimensions
of Learning. Virginia: ASCD, 2001.
Perkins,
David. Smart Schools. New York: The Free
Press, 1992.
Tomlinson,
C.A. Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated
Classroom. Virginia : ASCD, 2003.
Wiggins,
Grant and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design.
Virginia: ASCD, 2004.
Related Links
New
York State Core Curriculum documents identify the
key content for required courses. See the links
below:
http://usny.nysed.gov/teachers/curriculum.html
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/corecurr.htm
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/msc/
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/ela/elacore.htm#24
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/math.html
To "Components of a Thinking Curriculum"
|
