Mapping the Curriculum: How Concept Maps can Improve the Effectiveness of Course Development

Every program of instruction taking place in schools, from French to physics, is the result of a complex process called “curriculum development.” It begins with the setting of high level goals and then proceeds through successive stages of elaboration of the concepts, scoping and sequencing content. The design must then be communicated and adopted by the teachers who will implement it. Historically, curriculum reform efforts have not been consistently effective in delivering the desired improvements in student understanding. This chapter discusses how the use of concept mapping could help curriculum developers and teachers at various stages of the process. The ability of maps to focus on key ideas and their connections may help curriculum designs to survive better the translation into classroom experience, and promote collaborative working methods.