Video: K¹²'s Approach to Learning, Part 5

Summary:   All experts wind up with key, subconscious frameworks of understanding within their discipline. These frameworks are usually common to folks in the same discipline, who are trained in the same way. And these frameworks really do become subconscious—experts are often no longer even aware that their expertise is organized along these lines, just as you may no longer know how to describe "how to ride a bike," or "how to read" in words.

For most people, these frameworks will not emerge without systematic teaching and practice over time. It's incredibly important to us to understand what these frameworks look like, so that we (and you) can make the right down-payments on future expertise.

We call these frameworks the "Big Ideas" in a subject area, and we use them to help organize the content and provide the focus for every new course we build.

For example, quantum mechanics is a core Big Idea in physics. But we haven't found any way to teach quantum mechanics to anyone under 18! What we have done is make a down payment on something that can be a stumbling block: waves. Waves are wet and fun and engaging. And while we have our students' minds engaged in thinking about and making waves, we are actually making the first down payment—in elementary school—on quantum theory! Imagine! We don't know of any other curriculum that has taken this approach.

Next video: Avoiding Misconceptions: Fractions and other train wrecks