Wikiversity

Elementary curriculum and training

Created: 2007 05 14

Perspective: Direct Instruction.
Its authors are committed to maintaining a high level of scholarly ethics.

Curriculum in Development

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What is Elementary Curriculum and Training

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Elementary Curriculum and Training is an electronic form of curriculum for parents and teachers in Science, Reading, and Math based on the teaching principles of explicit instruction. Depending on the use, it employs either a summary of what is to be taught or is a fully scripted curriculum that ensures an efficient teaching of skills and knowledge to mastery. Don't let the scripted option give you a sense of simplicity. There is much research and history in the principles of explicit instruction.

Currently there are no finished curriculum products. The starting points are Elementary Science K (Kindergarten Science), Elementary Math Facts, Elementary Math 3, and Elementary Writing & Logic 4. Once finished, next in line are Elementary Reading K and Elementary Math K (kindergarten level).

Benefits of wiki

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By placing curriculum into an electronic media format you gain the following benefits:

  • Adaptable - if a set of instructions is weak, a teacher using the curriculum or a field testing teacher might login and either add to the discussion for the module (see tabs) or make a change in the module for the section. Furthermore, a teacher can make their own copy and customize it for his or her own use.
  • Portable - curriculum and scripted teacher instruction can be placed on a laptop and/or printed out. No more lugging books around. Student booklets can be easily printed in black and white or color and easily replaced.
  • Reduced costs - Student books can currently cost $50-$80 each. Workbooks can currently cost $10 to $20 each. Printed teacher editions can cost $80 on up.
  • Durable - electronic media can often be put into various types of formats such as a database, web page, or even printed in sections. Currently, teacher editions are spiral bound which can compress and become difficult to turn pages.
  • Expandable - the use of hyperlinks to get more information on an idea or item can assist teachers in learning the curriculum more completely and quickly.
  • Format/media - using electronic media allows curriculum to be developed in a way that is quicker for the teacher to learn to efficacy, thereby, allowing the teacher more time to work on student errors or more time to "punch up" the curriculum to make more fun. The use of small icons as cues can assist teachers in learning the curriculum more quickly.
  • Multimedia - the ability for a teacher to use pictures and short videos to make a point. Also allows the multimedia to include current events thus making the lessons more timely and linked to the students point of view.
  • Helpful for parents - parents of students (especially students with disabilities) can help pre-teach or firm areas for students that need extra practice. A teacher can print the information/workbooks or direct the parent to the wikiversity website.
  • Transformable - can translate the curriculum to different languages and even communication style (i.e. from written to sign language).

Who Should Contribute

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NEEDED: Illustrator, copyright attorney, funding, and direct instruction curriculum expert

Anyone interested in explicit, direct instruction curriculum development and a belief that knowledge should be free (see GNU Free Documentation License)

The idea of providing schools with free, effective, field tested curriculum will save money and give us a more educated, competitive populace.

How to Prepare in order to Contribute

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To truly understand and participate in this community, it would be best to review the following sites & books:

Basic Definitions and Open Source

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Direct Instruction Methodology

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DI books  

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How to Contribute

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NEEDED: Illustrator, copyright attorney, funding, and direct instruction curriculum expert

  • If you wish to contribute please read the Direct Instruction links above and join us at the Contributors lounge.

OR

click on the discussion tab at the top of this page


  • DO NOT SUBMIT COPYRIGHTED WORK even with permission! We can most certainly reinvent this wheel with enough time and energy. Might as well get started now - the sooner we get started the sooner schools can use this curriculum.

Authors and contributors

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This Wikicurriculum has been written by (please add your name here if you are a contributor in order to comply with licensing):

  Completion status: About halfway there. You may help to clarify and expand it.
  Educational level: this is a primary education resource.
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