Learning That Transfers

Learning That Transfers: Designing Curriculum for a Changing World

Julie Stern
Krista Ferraro
Kayla Duncan
Trevor Aleo

Teach students to use their learning to unlock new situations.

How do you prepare your students for a future that you can’t see? And how do you do it without exhausting yourself? Teachers need a framework that allows them to keep pace with our rapidly changing world without having to overhaul everything they do.

Learning That Transfers empowers teachers and curriculum designers alike to harness the critical concepts of traditional disciplines while building students’ capacity to navigate, interpret, and transfer their learning to solve novel and complex modern problems. Using a backwards design approach, this hands-on guide walks teachers step-by-step through the process of identifying curricular goals, establishing assessment targets, and planning curriculum and instruction that facilitates the transfer of learning to new and challenging situations. Key features include

Thinking prompts to spur reflection and inform curricular planning and design.
Next-day strategies that offer tips for practical, immediate action in the classroom.
Design steps that outline critical moments in creating curriculum for learning that transfers.
Links to case studies, discipline-specific examples, and podcast interviews with educators.
A companion website that hosts templates, planning guides, and flexible options for adapting current curriculum documents.
Using a framework that combines standards and the best available research on how we learn, design curriculum and instruction that prepares your students to meet the challenges of an uncertain future, while addressing the unique needs of your school community.