Sharing Ideas for the New Primary Curriculum - `The Curriculum Catalyst'

Tom Barrett has recently initiated a very interesting project which he calls `The Curriculum Catalyst'.  The idea is that interested teachers/ practioners (from around the world) collaborate via online voting and Google Docs to choose a particular `theme'.  The most popular idea is then chosen and everyone is invited to share their ideas. The first theme is `Sea Life' which has sparked quite a few ideas in my own head, though I found myself gravitating to the idea of `Oceans, seas and sea-life' as this lends itself much more to geographical (and historical) thinking too. I also wanted to encourage an `enquiry' approach to learning as I feel I'm seeing far too little of this in those schools where I have had recent contact.  The New Primary Curriculum emphasises `Learning and Thinking Skills' as making a significant contribution to `Essentials for learning and life' and geography can have a significant role to play in helping children to think through the issues that we face in the world today.  I also think that Philosophy for Children (P4C) has much to contribute to the development of thinking through issues and can encourage high levels of debate in the classroom.  This prompted me to come up with one of my ideas, i.e. `Is it right for us to eat wild fish caught in the ocean?'  What kind of ideas do you have for the New Primary Curriculum and how could you be involved in sharing them with others?

You can find out more and join in with the project by visiting Tom Barrett's Blog >>>>