Innovative curriculum materials
Curriculum innovation starts with a new idea. The following curriculum development projects were undertaken in collaboration with Jon Ogborn between 1988-1995. They illustrate a variety of ‘new ideas’, and the ways in which traditionally difficult areas were made accessible to learners using innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
Making sense of data: This project took a new approach to understanding data, with an emphasis on exploratory analysis using visual techniques rather than traditional confirmatory statistics. The pack included nine ‘mini-courses’, and were based on the novel approaches developed by the statistician and mathematician, John Tukey.
Worldmaker: This project aimed to make computer modelling accessible to a wide range of pupils. Models involving variables and equations are difficult for younger children. This software, based on the concept of a cellular automaton, enabled models to be created from the behaviours of objects and their interactions.
Energy and change: This set of curriculum materials took a ‘differences’ approach to the teaching of thermodynamics. It combined visual representations of change with a scientifically coherent and consistent way of talking about energy.
