Organizing Experiences

Organizing Learning Experiences

A scattered set of good experiences does not add up to learning. Tyler’s third question asks how experiences can be organized so they reinforce one another over time. This chapter covers the three criteria of good organization, continuity, sequence, and integration, the threads that carry organization through a curriculum, the principles that weave them, and the structures that hold it all.

The Meaning of Organization

Why organization matters, the cumulative effect of experiences that reinforce each other, and the vertical and horizontal relationships between them

Continuity, Sequence, Integration

The three criteria for effective organization: revisiting elements, deepening them each time, and linking them across subjects

Organizing Elements and Threads

The concepts, skills, and values that run through a curriculum as threads, shown through place value and the interdependence of people

Organizing Principles

The principles that weave the threads together, the logical and psychological views, and how to test a principle in practice

Three Levels of Structure

The largest, intermediate, and lowest levels at which a curriculum is structured, from broad fields down to a single lesson

Larger Structures

Why integration is hard with many small pieces, and how broad fields, core programs, and larger time blocks make it easier