ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on how patterns apply in the design of units or topics, but patterns can also be scaled down to individual lessons and up to whole courses or even to an entire curriculum. It draws on well-demarcated boundaries, as well as the kinds of boundary activities that help students connect the unit they are in to the whole course and to their lives outside school. The book argues that simple, elegant instructional designs increase students’ sense of self-efficacy, and thereby the depth and quality of their learning, by offering them clear and simple ways to scaffold and organize the curriculum materials. A century of continued efforts to move toward integrated curriculum may bear out the truth of Robert Frost claim in educational circles. If school were characterized only by endless variety, students’ heads would spin, and their education would be harmed.
