VICTORIA - Public school students in British Columbia are about to experience a new way of learning.
The B.C. government says a new curriculum is being launched, and the first phase of a three-year transition begins this fall for students in kindergarten to Grade 9.
A Ministry of Education release says 100 teachers worked together for three years to create the flexible learning curriculum to help students understand core subjects through projects related to their interests, such as music, hockey or dinosaurs.
Students will continue to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic, but the new curriculum is also aimed at building the critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills vital for higher education and the work force.
It also offers aboriginal perspectives at all grade levels, an examination of the residential school system, new content on the history of East and South Asian immigrants and a renewed emphasis on environmental sciences.
Teachers in kindergarten to Grade 9 have the option of using the new programs this year before full implementation across B.C. next fall, while a draft curriculum for Grades 10 to 12 has been developed and will be finalized during the upcoming school year.
