Welcome to our concept-based theme park! The units associated with each conceptual lens were developed by the Jefferson County Board of Education gifted education teachers over a period of several years following encouragement by the State Department of Education to implement the Parallel Curriculum Model, concept-based instruction, and problem-based instruction. Dr. Carol Tieso from the University of Alabama, College of Interdisciplinary Teacher Education Programs in Gifted Education conducted many workshops on these models with the teachers over a two-year period. Teachers also attended sessions with Nina Pearson, Gifted Education Consultant with the State Department of Education, at the Alabama Association for Gifted Children (AAGC) Summer Conference and in Tuscaloosa. All of these workshops and the model developed by H. Lynn Erickson and published in her book Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction Teaching Beyond the Facts provided the framework for these units. Teachers designed their units using a conceptual lens or theme to focus and connect student learning experiences in order to deepen their level of understanding as they engage in meaningful instruction.

Many thanks to the teachers who spent numerous hours wrestling with innovative thinking as well as developing these concept-based units of study. Special thanks also for their willingness to share them with other teachers in an effort to deepen their level of understanding through instruction and make a positive difference in the lives of Jefferson County School System students.

The menu to the left contains a list of macroconcepts. These macroconcepts are very broad concepts that can be applied across the subject areas and a wide variety of topics. Included on each macroconcept page is a list of essential understandings (generalizations) and guiding questions. Again, these are broad generalizations that can be combined with each topic, or unit of study, to create generalizations and questions specific to your unit. Use the macroconcepts' generalizations and guiding questions to help you create ones specific to your units. For example, if Patterns is your macroconcept, one essential understanding is "Patterns allow for prediction" and the guiding question of "How do Patterns allow for predicton?" Combine them with your topic of Migration to create the specific essential understanding and guiding questions of "Patterns in migration allow for predictions of animal travel" and "How do patterns in animal migration allow for prediction?" or "In what ways do animal migration patterns allow for prediction?" Each macroconcept page includes a list of topics or units of study related to that concept. Not all the units will have the specific generalizations. This project is a work in progress. We will continue to add macroconcepts, units or topics, generalizations, and guiding questions.