Eight Types of Cirriculum

1. The recommended curriculum is the one developed by experts in the field. "Almost every discipline-based professional group has promulgated curriculum standards for its field," Glatthorn (2001a) writes. However, he adds, with a few exceptions this curriculum "has little impact on the written curriculum and perhaps less of an effect on the classroom teacher". Still, it's interesting to see what experts in the disciplines think are important understandings for students. 2. The written curri...

 Science Should Settle Policy

The most important scientific concept is that an assertion is often an empirical question, settled by collecting evidence. The plural of anecdote is not data, and the plural of opinion is not facts. Quality peer-reviewed scientific evidence accumulates into knowledge. People’s stories are stories, and fiction keeps us going. But science should settle policy.

 The Problem With Experimentation in the Real World

Government policies—from teaching methods in schools to prison sentencing to taxation —would also benefit from more use of controlled experiments. This is where many people start to get squeamish. To become the subject of an experiment in something as critical or controversial as our children’s education or the incarceration of criminals feels like an affront to our sense of fairness and our strongly held belief in the right to be treated exactly the same as everybody else. After all, i...

 Don't Descriminate Against Species Just Because They are ...

Most human and natural communities now consist both of long-term residents and of new arrivals, and ecosystems are emerging that never existed before. It is impractical to try to restore ecosystems to some ‘rightful' historical state. For example, of the 30 planned plant eradication efforts undertaken in the Galapagos Islands since 1996, only 4 have been successful. We must embrace the fact of ‘novel ecosystems' and incorporate many alien species into management plans, rather than try to ...