Designing Learning Landscapes: What Have We Learned From International Comparisons of Exemplary Primary Curriculum?

• In Event: Sourcing Ideas for Innovation in Education: Research-Based Curriculum Review at the International Baccalaureate

Abstract

Objectives: This session will share an analysis of innovations and successes within today’s influential elementary/primary curricula that responds to the question: What design features hold the greatest promise of informing an update of the constructivist curriculum of the IBO Primary Years Programme (PYP)?
Perspectives: The session will use representative illustrations and comparative samples of curriculum narratives in order to illustrate global movements, trends, and structures of research-based exemplary curriculum frameworks.
Methods: The session is an outgrowth of an international curriculum comparison review of the significant features of current leading-edge curricula. The study conducted multiple EBSCOhost searches to survey premier curricula suitable for comparison purposes. Curricula that were identified, explained, described or marketed as current, user-friendly, constructivist, and flexible were explored and summarized. The study surfaced a number of curricula containing one or more vetted innovations with potentially important contributions for the updating of the PYP curriculum framework.
Data sources and participants: The study surveyed over 20 curricula, analyzed 14 curricula, and culled 7 recommendations for refreshing and modernizing the PYP framework.
Conclusions: Among other findings, the session will highlight (1) curriculum features that enhance young children’s interaction with technologies; (2) curriculum trends that emerged from longitudinal analyses of children’s learning progressions; and (3) curriculum frameworks that include broadened perspectives.
Scholarly significance: The findings are intended to serve as a benchmark against which the distinctiveness, relevance and quality of the PYP curriculum can be assessed. The review delineates the tensions between the PYP curriculum with its whole child focus and the increasing pressures across nations toward academic attainment as measured through standardized tests. The study informs next steps by determining enhancements to the “usability” and the perceived value of PYP in today’s schools.

Author

• Jacqueline Grennon Brooks, Stony Brook University - SUNY