CURRICULUM GUIDE AND ASSOCIATED

DOCUMENTS ASSIGNMENT
Lacey Banman

NEW CURRICULUM
The first step to understanding the new curriculum is to become familiar with the terminology
used. With this in mind, open the following pdf:
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/Curriculum_Brochure.pdf
Read the second page of this document. After you have read this page, open the following link:
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/tools On this page scroll down to the section titled Curriculum
Model and Its Components. In this section there are links to four roughly 2 minute videos
describing components of the new curriculum.
QUESTION #1
After you have read this page and viewed these videos, use the space below to describe what is
meant by the terms Core Competencies, Content, Curricular Competencies, and Big Ideas.
Core Competencies are the set of intellectual, social and personal competencies that
are embedded in every sense of learning that students need.
Content is the information that students are expected to know in relation to facts and
knowledge
Curricular Competencies what students are expected to be able to do in relation to
their learning.
Big Ideas are the concepts, principles and theories that students are expected to
understand.
Now that you are familiar with some of the major terminology used in the new curriculum open
the following link, which contains links to the new curriculum for most subjects for the
Kindergarten to Grade 9 levels https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum
Since we are in a high-school based program, we will not worry about the K-7 curriculum for
this assignment. Instead, we will focus on the Grade 8 and 9 curriculum.
On this website, find one of your teaching areas and click on either the 8 or 9 to open the
curriculum document for that particular grade level. For this assignment, it doesn’t matter what
level you choose; 8 or 9 both will work.
QUESTION #2
Once you have the document for a specific grade level open, scroll over the italicized, underlined
words/sentences in the Big Ideas, Curricular Competencies, and Content sections. What do you
notice when you do this and what do you think is the purpose of what you see?
In the big ideas, I notice a definition of the word, the importance of it in the curriculum,
and some sample problems.
In the curricular competencies I notice a list of things students should be able to do after
learning
In the content are some sample problems
I think the purpose is for teachers to quickly find information to make lesson plans, and
for parents to be able to understand this new education plan.

QUESTION #3
Keeping this document open, now look at the Big Ideas for your chosen grade and subject.
These are meant to be the broad, overarching themes/topics you are to teach students in this
course. Do you notice any patterns in terms of the Big Ideas breaking down into individual sub-
disciplines/topics of your subject area? If so, what sub-disciplines are represented in the Big
Ideas for your curricular document?
I’ve noticed that the big ideas represent topics in math, for example graphing, geometry,
algebra, measurement, probability

QUESTION #4
Now look in the Curricular Competencies and Content columns for your document. Randomly
choose ONE Curricular Competency and ONE Content item that seem to relate to each other and
briefly describe an assignment/activity you can do with a class that melds the chosen Curricular
Competency and Content with one of the Big Ideas. For example:
In Science 8 a Curricular Competency is “Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about
a scientific topic or problem of personal interest” while a Content item states “students are
expected to know the relationship of micro-organisms with living things: vaccinations and
antibiotics”. Meanwhile, a Big Idea in Science 8 is “Life processes are performed at the cellular
level”. We can combine all of these pieces of the curriculum in the following assignment: we can
have students conduct research into how the overuse of antibiotics can create resistant bacteria
and the potential effects these bacteria may have on us as humans.
Curricular Competency: connect mathematical concepts to each other and to other
areas and personal interests
Content: financial literacy - simple budgets and transactions.
Big Idea: Computational fluency and flexibility with numbers extend to operations with
rational numbers.
Activity: explain minimum wage, taxes, and give students a list of necessities. Then
have them fill in a budget sheet on excel with them calculating income, savings, bills,
etc.

QUESTION #5
Now go into the Content column on your curriculum page. Randomly choose four (4) different
bullet points from this column and match them with the Big Idea they correlate with. In the space
below, write out these four points and the Big Idea they correlate with. You do not have to have
all of your point correlate with the same Big Idea.
1) Content: operations with rational numbers (addition, subtraction, multiplication,
division, and order of operations)
Big Idea: The principles and processes underlying operations with numbers apply
equally to algebraic situations and can be described and analyzed
2) Content: two-variable linear relations, using graphing, interpolation, and extrapolation
Big Idea: Continuous linear relationships can be identified and represented in
many connected ways to identify regularities and make generalizations.
3) Content: operations with polynomials, of degree less than or equal to 2
Big Idea: The principles and processes underlying operations with numbers apply
equally to algebraic situations and can be described and analyzed
4) Content: spatial proportional reasoning
Big Idea: Similar shapes have proportional relationships that can be described,
measured, and compared.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
QUESTION #6
Click on the following link: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/graduation-info#graduation-
requirements Scroll down to the section titled For students entering Grades 10-12 in the
2017/2018 school year. Read through this section and in the space below, describe what a
student currently in Grade 12 will have to do in terms of exams to graduate compared to students
currently in Grades 10 and 11.
Grade 12 students will have to have completed grade 10 exams in Math, Language
Arts, Science, and will need to complete a grade 12 exam in Language Arts. No
Numeracy and Literacy exam is necessary
Grade 10 and 11 students will have to complete a Numeracy and Literacy exam.
QUESTION #7
Now scroll down to the section titled Graduation Requirements for 2018/2019. In the space
below describe/list the course requirements for graduation for a student entering Grade 12 in
2018.
Students graduating in 2018/2019 are required to complete at least 52 credits from the
following:
● Two Career Education courses (8 credits total) (replaces Planning 10 and
Graduation Transitions)
● Physical and Health Education 10 (4 credits)
● Science 10 (4 credits), and a Science 11 or 12 (4 credits)
● Social Studies 10 (4 credits), and a Social Studies 11 or 12 (4 credits)
● A Math 10 (4 credits), and a Math 11 or 12 (4 credits)
● A Language Arts 10, 11 & 12 (12 credits)
● An Arts Education 10, 11, or 12 and/or an Applied Design, Skills, and
Technologies 10, 11, or 12 (4 credits)

QUESTION #8
Now click on http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/administration/legislation-
policy/public-schools/graduation-requirements This link shows what courses students
CURRENTLY in Grade 12 are required to have to graduate.
Scroll down to the portion titled “Required Courses”. In terms of requirements, what is the
difference between this current program and the one that will take effect in 2018/2019? (see your
answer to the previous question to help with this)
a Language Arts 10 (4 credits)
a Language Arts 11 (4 credits)
a Language Arts 12 (4 credits)
a Social Studies 10 (4 credits)
a Social Studies 11 or 12 (4 credits)
a Mathematics 10 (4 credits)
a Mathematics 11 or 12 (4 credits)
a Science 10 (4 credits)
a Science 11 or 12 (4 credits)
Physical Education 10 (4 credits)
a Fine Arts and/or an Applied Skills 10, 11, or 12 (4 credits)
Planning 10 (4 credits)

Differences: Currently, the only difference between the two is that Planning 10 has been
replaced, and grade 12 students are required to take 2 career education courses.

OLD CURRICULUM COMPARED TO THE NEW CURRICULUM

In the following video a BC teacher compares the old British Columbia curriculum with the new
one. She makes this comparison using Science 8 as an example, but the points she makes are
applicable for all subjects and grade levels of the high school curriculum. Click on the video link,
view it, and use what you learn to answer the questions below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IJrriQfP3g

QUESTION #9
What do you notice about the size and detail of the old curriculum compared to the new one?
Why may a smaller, more general (vague) curriculum be more beneficial to a teacher and
students? On the other hand, why do you think some people would prefer a more detailed
curriculum, similar to the old one?
The new curriculum is much smaller and less detailed that the old one. A more vague
curriculum can be beneficial to teachers and students because they can spend more
time on a certain subject that they find interesting, they can make learning more
personalized, and the teacher has flexibility in lesson planning.
I think some people would prefer a more detailed curriculum because it leave less to the
imagination, it would help develop lesson plans if the teacher is told exactly what is
needed to be taught.