Parallel Curriculum Model

Theoretical Underpinnings

The model derives from the work of important theorists in the fields of psychology and curriculum and instruction to develop a rich and flexible approach to exploring and understanding the disciplines. Among the model's theoretical underpinnings are the following:

• 1.
  The key concepts and principles of a discipline represent the enduring knowledge of humankind. They are powerful in helping students understand what they study and in helping them organize, retrieve, transfer, and apply information. Concept-based curriculum leads to a depth of knowledge that is more powerful than the breadth without depth typified by a fact-based or coverage-based approach to curriculum.
• 2.
  Representative topics are those facets of a discipline that are highly reflective of other topics in the discipline. They are economical in helping students see how a discipline works and what it means. Representative topics enable students to study fewer topics in a discipline at much greater depth in order to see how the key concepts and principles make sense and how they govern the discipline as a whole. It is then possible for students to study subsequent topics with greater efficiency and effectiveness.
• 3.
  Process skills are central in powerful curriculum. Students learn more by doing than by listening and memorizing. Thus it is essential in curriculum design to engage learners' minds in a variety of kinds of thinking.
• 4.
  Knowledge is most useful when students can use what they learn to extend current knowledge and produce new knowledge. It is therefore important to teach students to work as much as possible like practitioners and problem solvers in a field would work.
• 5.
  Product-oriented curriculum enables students to draw on essential information, processes, and methodologies in a discipline in order to grapple with and ultimately address important issues and [Page 666]problems. When students view themselves as producers of knowledge, they are more engaged in learning, find more satisfaction in their work, and have a more realistic opportunity to consider a range of possible futures for themselves.
• 6.
  Curriculum that serves as a catalyst for persistent movement toward expertise is necessarily concept based, process and method driven, and product oriented. To guide students toward increasing levels of expertise is to provide them with dynamic learning experiences and access to a promising future.

Curricular Parallels

PCM proposes four curricular parallels or ways of thinking about content. Each parallel can be used individually or in some combination with other parallels, and is unique in its intent and purpose. The four parallels are as follows: (1) The Core Parallel, which emphasizes the key concepts, principles, skills, information, and attitudes that shape a discipline; (2) the Connections Parallel, which helps students use the key concepts and principles of a discipline to make connections among and between various disciplines, time periods, places, and topics; (3) the Practice Parallel, which affords students opportunities to use the key concepts, principles, and methods of a discipline to engage in practitioner- and expert-like experiences that address key issues of a discipline; and (4) the Identity Parallel, which guides students in relating the key concepts and principles of a discipline to their own experiences, strengths, and goals.

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