About Learning Progression Pathways
Central outcomes of a successful STEM education are to build
- strong understanding of a range of core concepts (often referred to as "big ideas")
- secure capability in applying key STEM skills in both familiar and new contexts
The education process at any given stage in each science or technology discipline area involves exploring a suitably chosen range of specific application topics, to give an engaging and informative understanding of relevant areas which are accessible at the stage concerned.
The central core concepts and key STEM skills are typically touched on many times, at different year stages and in different subject contexts. They are in essence emergent learning built up in the whole process. The challenge is to take full advantage of all opportunities to reinforce, deepen and extend, the learner's understanding consistently, ie to ensure that the education process is linked-up. to ensure that "the course" at any stage is not viewed simply as self contained and independent, but that ideas developed in any one context are relevant, and can be applied and developed further in other contexts explored elsewhere.
A Learning Progression Pathway is a planning tool to support such "joined-up" learning. Based on an analysis of the full curriculum, it aims to articulate the level of understanding that should be achieved at each given stage, and to draw attention to the different subject contexts which could be explicitly cross-referenced to reinforce and deepen understanding and skill.
For a short introduction to the origins and rationale of Progression Pathways see Learning Progression Pathways - an introduction.pdf