Curriculum Encounters
A podcast about exploring knowledge wherever you find it, from the Black Paint Curriculum Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Curriculum is not just a set of prescribed knowledge, but a social, spatial, and sensory process. Learning happens everywhere, not just in formal educational settings. Hosts Jackie Simmons and Sarah Gerth van den Berg encourage listeners to recognize the importance of these informal, sensory, and embodied forms of knowing and to consider how they might be integrated into curriculum design to create more engaging and holistic learning experiences.
Season 2 is here!
In season 2 of Curriculum Encounters, hosts Jackie Simmons and Sarah Gerth take the practices of experiential learning out into the world. These encounters explore family history and culture at the grocery store, new perspectives at a ferry terminal, and feelings of belonging at a sidewalk stoop. Jackie and Sarah pose thought-provoking questions that will inspire educators, students, and just about anyone hoping to challenge conventional thinking about curriculum. At the same time they talk listeners through creative field activities and practices to rethink the spaces where education can thrive.
Grab a field journal and tune in — follow the show and be part of the conversation that explores knowledge, wherever you find it!
The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.
Jacqueline Simmons:
Curriculum Encounters is back with another season.
Sarah Gerth van den Berg:
We have been thrilled by the response to the podcast, so thank you for listening.
Jacqueline Simmons:
Yeah. We've had listeners from as far away as Australia and as near as the classroom down the hall.
Sarah Gerth van den Berg:
Which has been awesome. And to recap where we left off in our first season, we wanted to teach some vocabulary for thinking about curriculum more broadly.
Jacqueline Simmons:
Yeah. Let's pause and define curriculum here.
Sarah Gerth van den Berg:
Well, Jackie, how do you define curriculum?
Jacqueline Simmons:
Well, first off, there's the formal curriculum, and so I think of that as the written documents. I guess we call it the intentional instructional agenda. Usually, you find it in the lesson plans or the curriculum standards, or the textbook.
Sarah Gerth van den Berg:
And then there's the informal curriculum, which includes all of these engagements with knowledge and learning, not contained in those formal documents. That kind of learning might happen in the hallway, in the cafeteria, at the library, or in the spaces of our everyday lives. Like at the store or the kitchen table, or on the bus.
Jacqueline Simmons:
Yeah. And so in season one, we looked for curricular opportunities around us, and we modeled our practice for slowing down, making observations, and discovering overlooked knowledge like memories, emotions, and movement right here at our home on the Teachers College campus.
Sarah Gerth van den Berg:
This season, we take the same practices to common spaces in the city, the grocery store, a part of our commute, and a walk down a city street in the hopes that we might inspire others to encounter curriculum wherever you find yourself.
Jacqueline Simmons:
So over the next few episodes, we also share our practice of keeping a field guide.
Sarah Gerth van den Berg:
Basically, a place to take notes or a sketchbook.
Jacqueline Simmons:
And it really helps us as we pay attention. So at the end of every episode, we plan to leave a prompt for your field guide, and we hope that you share where your curricular explorations take you.
Sarah Gerth van den Berg:
So fun. Let's get started.
Jacqueline Simmons:
Curriculum Encounters is a part of the DFI Podcast Network at Teachers College, Columbia University. Listen to episodes of this podcast on our website or wherever you get your podcasts.
Meet Your Hosts
Program Director, Master of Arts and Master of Education in Curriculum & Teaching
Jacqueline Simmons is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University and Program Director for the masters programs in curriculum studies. Her research examines the design, theory, and critical analysis of curricula with particular attention to youth, media, sense-making, and conceptions of innovation. Learn more at: www.jaxsie.com
Program Director, Master of Arts and Master of Education in Curriculum & Teaching
Jacqueline Simmons is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University and Program Director for the masters programs in curriculum studies. Her research examines the design, theory, and critical analysis of curricula with particular attention to youth, media, sense-making, and conceptions of innovation. Learn more at: www.jaxsie.com
Sarah Gerth is a Visiting Researcher at the Digital Futures Institute, whose research involves the role of senses, affects, and materiality in ways of knowing. She is the Dean of the City Learning Ecology at City Seminary of New York, where she designs curriculum at the intersection of creative practice, place, and theology, and co-founder of Shapes of Knowledge, a curriculum design studio for creative engagements with learning. Learn more at: www.shapesofknowledge.studio
Jackie and Sarah collaboratively run the Black Paint Curriculum Lab,
a creative space for faculty, students, and alumni to reimagine
possibilities for curriculum making as a public endeavor.
Learn more about the Black Paint Curriculum Lab at www.tc.columbia.edu/black-paint-curriculum-lab
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