Curriculum Laboratory

Curriculum In A Nutshell

  Your first and foremost resources for Alberta Curriculum information should be:

• Alberta Education's Programs of Studies, found in the Curriculum Laboratory in the "375 General" section, outline what "students are expected to learn from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Each Program of Studies identifies the required expectations for the core and optional learning components for Kindergarten to Grade 12. Content is focused on what students are expected to know and be able to do."  The Programs of Studies outline what you must teach.
• The core curriculum documents (e.g. guides to implementation, illustrative examples, teacher resource manuals, curriculum guides, etc.), found in the 375 section of the Curriculum Laboratory under the specific subjects, give teachers ideas on how to teach the learning expectations and outcomes mandated in the Programs of Studies. "School organization and teacher methodology are not mandated at the provincial level and may vary from class to class and school to school in order to meet student needs."  The Alberta Education web site includes the Implementation Schedule, and the Quick Reference Implementation Dates chart.
• LearnAlberta.ca lists most online Program of Studies documents, including the recent Online Guides To Implementation for Social Studies for K-12, senior high English Language Arts, and Mathematics for some grades. Lesson plans and resources can be found on this site by searching the relevant Alberta Program of Studies objectives, OR by searching for keyword or specific topic and then further refining the search by grade, subject, audience, language, media format, or type of resource.
• Two curriculum implementation web sites have not been integrated yet into the LearnAlberta.ca web site: Knowledge and Employability Studio and Physical Education Online . You can go to them directly, or link to them by typing the title into the University of Lethbridge Library Catalogue.
• Alberta Education Authorized Resources Database -- Used for finding resources authorized by Alberta Education. To search for resources authorized by Alberta Education, select your "Curriculum Area," and "Grade Level." The resulting long list of resources will include items such as student textbooks, teacher's manuals, student workbooks, blackline masters, test banks, other books, CD-ROMs, DVDs, distance education resources, etc. If you only want to find out which resources are considered the basic textbooks for that grade and subject, do the same search as above, except choose "Student Basic " from the "Authorization Status" menu.
• Alberta Education's Connection newsletter will keep you up-to-date with "information on curriculum, resources, assessment, technology, new initiatives and projects." It is available online, and also in print in the Curriculum Laboratory. (Info Desk 370.5 Alb)
• Curriculum Summary "webs", from Alberta Education, provide "summaries at-a-glance." They are available online, as well as in the Curriculum Laboratory. (375 General Alta. Gr.EC-12)
• The Curriculum Handbook for Parents for each grade are available online.  They also will give a broad outline of the curriculum in jargon-free language and are specifically designed for parents.
• Alberta Education Publications Search -- This database contains publications from Alberta Education dating back to 1999. Links are made to any publication that is posted on the Alberta Education website, as well as to purchasing information for print copies through the Learning Resources Centre.
• Edmonton Public School's Planning For Success binders, available in print in the Curriculum Laboratory, contain curriculum templates useful for short & long range planning, and are accompanied by a CD-ROM with editable templates in Microsoft Word.
• For more details on how to find curriculum information in the Curriculum Laboratory, see the handout, "What are Curriculum Publications?
• Below is a table of very broad general objectives or strands in some the curriculum, used by Curriculum Laboratory staff for collection development purposes. It is not complete, but may be useful in giving you a broad snapshot of the Alberta curriculum. For the most up-to-date and accurate information, always refer to the Programs of Studies:

Prepared by: Bill Glaister and Margaret Rodermond, 2001.  Updated November 2009