Commentary: Innovative Curriculum Materials: Development, Pilot-Testing, and Scaling-Up

Abstract

This summary reviews the four chapters dealing with the development and implementation of innovative curriculum materials. These chapters provide a snapshot of diverse innovative curriculum materials to promote student teaching and learning in Science in Asia. Education for sustainable development (ESD) has been the central theme of two closely related curriculum reform movements in the history of Science education: Environmental education and Science-Technology-Society (STS) education. Innovative education resources, particularly digital ones, are becoming available at an unprecedented pace; one essential issue is integration of digital recourses into teachers’ current curriculum. Teacher professional development courses must consider the process of innovation adoption. In addition, the effect of integrating digital recourses must be evaluated. No matter how effective innovative curriculum materials may prove to be during its development and evaluation stages, scaling up innovative curriculum materials is a totally different and new challenge. In Asia, countries have a history of placing strong emphasis on disciplinary structures and cross-grade progression, while Western countries have a history of placing strong emphasis on cross-disciplinary nature of Science; there is much to be learned between the Asia countries and Western countries themselves.