Workshop on effective curriculum design (Approx 2 hours)

1. Workshop on effective curriculum design (Approx 2 hours)

2. Objectives • This workshop will help you to consider • the characteristics of curricula that provide effective learning experiences for pupils • the relationship between CPD and curriculum development

3. Key areas examined in this workshop • Context-based learning and linking learning at school and in the home • Building on pupils’ existing knowledge, understandings and skills and engaging pupils in assessment • Structured group work and talk • Fostering a cross-curricular approach to promote conceptual development • Challenge • The importance of excellence in subject knowledge and CPD for curriculum change

4. Research evidence Learners are more likely to engage in learning if it is put in context* When physics teachers, for example, constructed study units around themes such as ‘traffic and safety’ and ‘energy at home’ the students achieved more and enjoyed the subject more** *Bell, M. et al (2008) Review of individual studies from systematic research reviews. CUREE ** Wierstra, R.F.A. (1984) A study on classroom environment and on cognitive and affective outcomes of the PLON curriculum. Studies in Educational Evaluation 10 pp.273-282

5. Activity 1 How can you increase your plans for contextualising ideas and concepts? Share some examples of where you contextualise learning by illustrating concepts in practical ways or pointing to real world examples in lessons and schemes of work (SoW) first with a colleague, then with the group In which part of the lesson or SoW did you make the connections? Where did connections work best for which purposes? Consider whether some connections were more successful than others with your pupils – and why Identify a partner and plan to try out one or two of your colleagues’ ideas to try to increase context-based learning activities and explore their effects on your learners

6. Research evidence Learning in the home and involving parents can support context-based learning by strengthening ‘real life’ connections* Strategies aimed at promoting conversations between learners and their parents are particularly effective** *Bell, M. et al (2008) Review of individual studies from systematic research reviews (CUREE) **Sheldon, S & Epstein, J. (2005) Involvement counts: Family and community partnerships and mathematics achievement. Journal of Educational Research 98 (4) 6

7. Activity 2 How do you/could you link school learning with learning in the home or community? In groups of 4 discuss interactive homework activities that you set or could set(for example a history assignment that requires students to interview parents, grandparents , carers or neighbours about changes they have witnessed over time) activities that you set up or could set up which enable learners to draw on their experiences outside of school, for example bringing in artefacts such as food packaging for a project on air miles activities going on in your local community that could strengthen links and create shared talking points about learning beyond school

8. Research evidence Starting from and continually revisiting what pupils know, believe and can do already is explicit or implicit in many approaches to learning highlighted as effective Bell, M. et al (2008) Review of individual studies from systematic research reviews (CUREE)

9. Activity 3 How can we find out pupils’ starting points? • One way of finding out pupils’ existing knowledge and level of understanding is through opening up thinking through enquiry questions that : • prompt a range of possible responses, • invite pupils to offer hypotheses and explain their thinking • open the conversation to as many pupils as possible • In pairs think about the next learning unit you will be working on and compose some open and/or probing enquiry questions you could ask at the start to find out what your pupils already know • What misconceptions or problem areas are you likely to find? • How could you plan to tackle these? • Explore with the group other approaches e.g. pupil surveys to finding out what pupils know, believe and can do already

10. Research evidence Assessment can raise achievement when it involves pupils in learning, thinking and talking about their learning and in having a role in its assessment* For example, in an experiment, classes that discussed how their work would be assessed and then self-assessed their work against the criteria they had created made considerably more progress than classes which simply discussed their likes and dislikes about the teaching** *Bell, M. et al (2008) Review of individual studies from systematic research reviews (CUREE) **Frederiksen, J. R. & White, B. Y. (1997). Reflective assessment of students’ research within an inquiry-based middle school science curriculum. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association

11. Activity 6 How much time do we give to our pupils for thinking and talking about assessing their learning? Copy and complete this grid to show some of the activities you recently organised for a class • Afterwards, discuss with a colleague • the tasks which engaged pupils in assessing and talking about their learning • the moments when more involvement in assessment would have been possible • whether you’d like to give more time to this kind of activity in future and if so how and when?

12. Research evidence There is strong evidence that collaborative group work is an effective strategy for securing access to the curriculum for all pupils, but its effectiveness depends on teachers modelling and providing clear guidance for group working and designing tasks and activities that require pupils to work collaboratively For example Wegerif, R. et al. (2004) Widening access to educational opportunities through teaching children how to reason together. Westminster Studies in Education 27 pp.143-156 Swan, M. (2006) Collaborative learning in mathematics: a challenge to our beliefs and practices. National Research and Development Centre for adult literacy and numeracy (NRDC) and the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE)

13. Activity 4 How can you improve your pupils’ group working skills? • In pairs, think about what makes for unproductive and productive group work, Create two lists (e.g. pupils talk over each other – pupils take turns) you could use to identify your own pupils’ strengths and skills they need to develop • Does this change for different types of tasks? If so how? • Work with a colleague to plan a more ambitious task than pupils have achieved alone for a future learning unit by, e.g. using tight time limits, involving a range of different resources and tasks or providing different team members with only part of the picture. • How will you know if it’s been successful?

14. Research evidence Planned curriculum experiences, which make connections between subjects through cross-curricular strategies or thematic approaches, are important for overcoming the difficulty learners sometimes have in transferring thinking and learning from one subject to another* For example, in one study, drama was used to convey science content about genetics and ethical questions. Taking on character roles helped the students relate more easily to the different elements of the debate** *Bell, M. et al (2008) Review of individual studies from systematic research reviews (CUREE) ** Black, D.R. & Goldowsky, A. (1999) Science theater as an interpretive technique in a science museum. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Boston,

15. Activity 5 How could you help your learners make connections between different curriculum areas? Working in pairs that bring together confidence in different subject areas (such as English and mathematics, science and art) • Describe the key contours of a forthcoming unit of learning • Identify areas where you want to deepen pupils’ understanding • What cross curricular links could be made that would help achieve this? • Where you could offer each other support in using each others’ subject to meet your aspirations for your pupils? • How will you make this happen and know you have succeeded?

16. Research evidence Planning from the start to challenge all pupils through both content and process makes a difference. How pupils are challenged is important too. For example, pupils are often more motivated by the challenge of open-ended investigational tasks in mathematics than exercises selected from text books designed for older pupils Koshy,V. et al. (2009) Mathematically gifted and talented learners: theory and practice. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology 40 (2) pp. 213–228

17. Activity 7 How can we plan challenge into our curriculum? • Work in pairs or trios to design some open-ended activities for a forthcoming unit of learning that will require pupils to solve a problem together • For example • in MFL, pupils could be asked to work together to find examples of words which look familiar, but mean something different (e.g. l’histoire means story not history) • in music, pupils could be asked to work together to perform a well known piece of music using different styles • in English, pupils could be asked to work together on writing a story, discussing the plot, setting, characters etc

18. Research evidence • CPD and depth in subject knowledge are essential components of effective curriculum development, and curriculum development is a strong driver for high quality CPD and developing subject knowledge • Schools that manage to set up a virtuous circle between the two do so through careful alignment of CPD, curriculum development and informal accountability systems CUREE and QCDA (2010) Monitoring the curriculum: evidence from research, practice and learners(unpublished report)

19. Activity 8 What kind of support would enable us to develop our curriculum effectively? Working with colleagues in your department or phase, could you • note down some changes to the curriculum you have thought about making, but have so far failed to make • identify how those changes align with school priorities and spot opportunities for offering or securing support for the change by tying the two together • list reasons why you haven’t been able to make the changes • identify sources of support that might help you overcome the obstacles, for example a workshop during an INSET day participating in some coaching by a specialist or participating in a task group developing curriculum resources or a scheme of work • make a proposal for taking the curriculum and your personal development forwards in an integrated way

20. Follow up • The research resource pack from which this workshop has been taken contains a series of research summaries and micro enquiry tools. You could: • look at one of research resources using the links provided on the accompanying PowerPoint • examine one in detail and try outsome of the practical strategies that it describes with a colleague • plan to meet again to give a briefing on the research you examined and/or exchange your experiences of the strategies you tried