Dr. Lisa Trattner has co-authored a book, It鈥檚 Not Rocket Science! Designing Meaningful Learning Experiences in the Elementary Classroom. The book is a hands-on curriculum manual that streamlines curriculum design utilizing a four-stage design process: deconstruction, reconstruction, lesson planning, and assessment. The step-by-step approach allows teachers to create structured cohesive units of study that impact students鈥� learning and achievement while providing the opportunity to deeply analyze a content area before creating learning experiences. The process starts with five questions that center around making decisions about the content and processes, the instructional model used, and how to assess students鈥� understandings:
(1) What do I want the students to know?
(2) What do I want our students to do?
(3) Why am I teaching this?
(4) Why am I teaching it this way?
(5) How will I know they have learned it?
The goal is to provide teacher candidates and in-service teachers with a curriculum design framework that challenges their thinking in creating engaging meaningful instruction within the learning process. The systematic approach breaks the process into manageable workable steps that results in the facilitation of effective instruction that ultimately impacts the educational outcomes for students.