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An important part of the role of any educator is that of planning learning sequences. Perhaps you are tasked with designing curriculum or more likely you are translating a mandatory curriculum into workable units of learning. The task is complex and there are multiple arrangements. The goal is to design units that connect students with learning in ways that are meaningful and relevant. A well-designed unit of learning fits seamlessly alongside other learning opportunities and the overall sequence of learning should match the learners developing expertise. As we plan units of learning we must consider a great variety of factors which impact the learning we design. Our knowledge of our students and where they are with their learning is crucial and a strong place to start. We also need to know what it is we are required to teach and have a grab bag of pedagogical moves that bring this content alive.

a game and curriculum designed to educate preteen students about the forms and methods of advertising. Admongo's primary feature is a game in which students earn points by collecting advertisements as they move through a fictional city. As they advance through the game, students will see short videos that explain the type of advertisements they see and how those advertisements attempt to get them to take an action. Watch the video below to learn more. Applications for Education Admongo provides a curriculum for teachers to use with 5th and 6th grade students. The curriculum is designed to complement the lessons students learn by playing the game. On the Admongo curriculum page teachers will find posters, handouts, quizzes and other printable materials to use in their classrooms.

In the final weeks of 2017 a new Science & Technology Curriculum for Kindergarten to Year Six slipped into the schools of New South Wales. What does this new curriculum bring and what does it reveal about the nature of learning as we approach the year 2020?

Pedagogy and curriculum that engages students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and is deemed personally relevant to the lives they live, are seen as important factors towards equality of outcome by Wrench, Hammond, McCallum and Price (2012). Their research involved designing a curriculum and pedagogy that would be highly engaging to students of low-socioeconomic status. 'The interventions involved curriculum redesigns that set meaningful, challenging learning task(s) (culminating in high quality learning products); strong connection to student life-worlds; and a performative expectation for student learning.' (Wrench et al 2012 p934)

As we make plans for how we will engage our students in their learning the decisions we make become fundamental to how they will grow to understand the purposes of learning. How our learners approach the curriculum and the disciplines is fundamental to the outcomes we may achieve for them. One path will set them up to view learning as the acquisition of information the other to see it as a process of asking and exploring questions of significance through the many unique lenses.

Last week I spent three days thinking about curriculum and all that it means to teaching and learning thanks to the Australian Curriculum Studies Association's biannual conference. It was three days of deeply thoughtful conversation and learning with just the right mix of academic research and ideas for grounded practice straight out of innovative classrooms and schools. With keynotes by Alan Reid, Dan Haesler, Bob Lingard, Robert Randall and Jan Owen combined with Masterclasses from some of Australia's leading educators there was much on offer. The biggest challenge was deciding which workshop you would attend when every session offered such outstanding opportunities.

Welcome to Educaching, A GPS Based Curriculum In the spirit of Geocaching, Educaching is a curriculum that uses GPS technology to create an innovative learning atmosphere. Exciting lesson plans, unique ideas, and helpful strategies that incorporate the national teaching standards provide a road map to make education challenging, rewarding, and fun.

"Exploring Computer Science is a high school introduction to the world of computer science and problem solving. It is a yearlong course consisting of 6 units, approximately 6 weeks each. The curriculum package comes with daily instructional lesson plans for teachers, plus supplemental extension resources. Learn about our framework, context, alignment, and units below."

Our learners will never now a world where Digital Technologies are not the norm. Using solutions developed within this space and with this mindset is already their normal. Unless they are to be slaves to this technology we must also empower them to be creators of digital solutions. To do this we must begin with recognising the challenges that a curriculum built around mastery of Digital Technologies brings to our teachers and seek to understand the supports they require.

I would like to propose that one cause of curriculum overcrowding is a phenomenon I refer to as "Idea Creep".

Perhaps the disruption of a global pandemic will prompt a rethinking of how education might be framed to best serve the needs of those who rely on it most? Perhaps now is the time to rethink the curriculum?

SMART brain training can be used as a tutoring and homework aid as it works across school curriculum to make learning mathematics, languages,reading and science easier. SMART brain training acts like an online tutor, showing kids how to learn faster and easier no matter what the topic.

SMART brain training can be used as a tutoring and homework aid as it works across school curriculum to make learning mathematics, languages,reading and science easier. SMART brain training acts like an online tutor, showing kids how to learn faster and easier no matter what the topic.

This curriculum is designed to give teachers a comprehensive set of tools to educate students about copyright while incorporating activities that exercise a variety of learning skills. Lesson topics include: the history of copyright law; the relationship between copyright and innovation; fair use and its relationship to remix culture; peer-to-peer file sharing; and the interests of the stakeholders that ultimately affect how copyright is interpreted by copyright owners, consumers, courts, lawmakers, and technology innovators.

"Commencing Operation Play, a call-to-arms for all believers in the positive impact of game-based learning! From September 15th - 19th, we're celebrating educators that utilize game-based learning in their classrooms and the benefits games can have on student engagement and understanding. We've partnered with some of the most powerful forces in the industry to build a hub of teacher resources for adding game-based learning to your classroom curriculum. Check out the Resource Center for success stories, inspiring implementation ideas, cutting-edge research, and game-based learning tools. Together we can spread the word about #opPLAY14!"

Created though a partnership among the Media Education Lab at Temple University, the Center for Social Media at American University (AU), and AU's Washington College of Law, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the code identifies five principles of consensus about acceptable practices for the fair use of copyrighted materials, wherever and however it occurs: in K-12 schools, higher-education institutions, nonprofit groups that offer media-education programs for children and youth, and adult-education programs. 1. Employing copyrighted material in media-literacy lessons 2. Employing copyrighted material in preparing curriculum materials 3. Sharing media-literacy curriculum materials 4. Student use of copyrighted materials in their own academic and creative work 5. Developing audiences for student work

Primary teachers in New South Wales (NSW) are this year and next integrating a new Science & Technology Curriculum. It brings with it a number of challenges and opportunities and while it has much in common with the existing curriculum, it will require some significant changes.

There are terms within education that we use with reckless abandon and as a result cause great levels of confusion. Understanding is one such word and its usage and our 'understanding' of it can have a significant effect on the learning we plan, deliver and assess. With multiple definitions and its broad usage in curriculum documents, philosophies of teaching and learning and as an indicator of the quality or depth of student learning it is a word we should better understand. 

"Self-Directed Learning When students are motivated to create work that they share online, it ignites an independent learning cycle driven by their ideas and energized by responses from peers."

Self-Directed Learning "When students are motivated to create work that they share online, it ignites an independent learning cycle driven by their ideas and energized by responses from peers."