Curriculum Matters (Education)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: Yes

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Curriculum Matters

WEB ADDRESS: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Curriculum Matters is a forum that examines the body and mind of K-12 academic lessons – what gets taught, in what order, at what grades, and the factors that drive those decisions. Popular discussions on this blog include efforts to improve math and science instruction, reading lessons and the federal reading agenda, and explorations of history, social studies, and the arts. Have schools found a way to excite students about these subjects, or are they turning students off? Longtime Education Week reporters Catherine Gewertz and Erik Robelen offer their expertise and insights and observations on these issues and many others.


MY REVIEW: This is an industry specific blog - US education and its teachers - but it should also be of interest to all parents. How is your child's education planned in the higher reaches of government, and why do some plans not come to fruition? This blog covers it all.

I highly recommend this blog for teachers, parents, and those interested in education generally.

Sample post:

Articles Examine Links Between Science Ed. and Literacy
The latest issue of the journal Science features a special section on the importance of linking science learning with language and communication skills. (If you click on the Science link, you cannot return immediately to this blog. Also, a subscription is required to view the articles online, or you can purchase individual ones.)

"By reconceptualizing science education through closely connecting literacy lessons with active inquiry learning in science class, one can make a strong argument for greatly expanding the time spent on science in primary school," writes Bruce Alberts, the editor-in-chief of Science, in an editorial. "This alone would carry tremendous benefit in places where, like the United States, science for young students has often become marginalized to less than an hour a week."

In one article, Catherine E. Snow, an education professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, notes that a "major challenge to students learning science is the academic language in which science is written. ... Students need help in learning academic vocabulary and how to process academic language if they are to become independent learners of science."

She adds: "[Students] must have access to the all-purpose academic vocabulary that is used to talk about knowledge and that they will need to use in making their own arguments and evaluating others' arguments. Mechanisms for teaching those words and the ways that scientists use them should be a part of the science curriculum."

Snow's article is titled "Academic Language and the Challenge of Reading for Learning About Science."

Jonathan Osborne, a professor of science education at Stanford University, writes in another article that while argument and debate are common in science, they are "virtually absent from science education." His article, "Arguing to Learn in Science: The Role of Collaborative, Critical Discourse," provides an overview of existing research on the contribution of collaborative discourse and argumentation to learning and discusses the implications for teaching and learning science.

"As one of the hallmarks of the scientist is critical, rational skepticism, the lack of opportunities to develop the ability to reason and argue scientifically would appear to be a significant weakness in contemporary educational practice," he writes. "In short, knowing what is wrong matters as much as knowing what is right."

One article, "Literacy and Science: Each in the Service of the Other," examines the "synergies" between inquiry science and literacy teaching in schools. It is coauthored by P. David Pearson, an education professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Elizabeth Moje, an education professor from the University of Michigan, and Cynthia Greenleaf, a researcher at WestEd.

It focuses on how reading and writing can be used as tools to support inquiry-based science, and how reading and writing benefit when embedded in an "inquiry-based science setting."

Finally, although not about the nexus of science and literacy, the April 23 issue of Science also includes a new study my colleague Debbie Viadero has written up about pairs of identical and fraternal twins in Florida schools that bolsters a growing body of evidence on the importance of good teachers.

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Ms. Cairo writes three blogs of her own:
Topical Murder and Dated Death
Winged Victory: Women in Aviation
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters