Behind the Scenes: How K¹² Curriculum is Created

Something is happening here...

K¹² is changing things. Changing what educators can expect from curriculum. Changing the notion that curriculum must be flat, linear and undynamic. Changing how kids feel about learning math, science, and lessons of history—indeed how they feel about learning in general. Changing how many kids can grasp even the most difficult concepts. Changing outcomes.

Rather than just tell you how, we want to show you part of how we are doing this that is difficult to capture just in words. To that end, we’re pleased to present four behind-the-scenes videos that feature K12 curriculum development staff explaining what they do and why they do it. These videos offer tastes of how K¹² curriculum reflects a very unique combination of deep educational experience inside the classroom; deep experience and skill sets in educational research, cognitive science, interactive design and more; and a unique level of passion for making even the hardest concepts come alive in children’s minds.

What we do here is quite remarkable and not like anything else in the educational market.

Take a Look!

The Science Team
Making Science Concepts Come Alive — Take a look at how Dr. Dan Franck (Senior Science Content Specialist), Ralf Provant (Manager of the 6-12 Learning Environment), and David Shives (Art Director) combined their diverse backgrounds and skill sets to create a science program that effectively teaches even intimidating concepts through online simulations and dynamic interactive content.

The Remedial Reading Team
Adaptive, Remedial Reading Program Ensures No Student Gets Left Behind — Kristin Kinney, K¹²’s Senior Content Specialist for Remedial Reading, is not just an expert. She’s also deeply passionate about making sure kids can read.

The Animation Team
Using Interactive “Sizzle” to Make Concepts Stick — K¹² lessons incorporate animation to help illustrate concepts. Art Director David Shives and Senior Director of Product Planning and Design Tom DiGiovanni explain how—and why—these decisions are made, and how animation is implemented strategically where it is most impactful to the learning objective.

The History Team
Bringing the Story of History Alive — Amelia Jackson Zaremba, Senior Instructional Designer, and David Pelizzari, Vice President of Content and Curriculum, discuss how K¹² presents the compelling stories behind the world’s historical events, both in online and in beautiful, printed textbooks

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K¹²'s Approach to Learning

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K¹²’s Courses, K to 12

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