List of suitable topics
Let's begin by stating the criteria we can use in order to select topics. These are taken from the book "learning in Depth" and to the degree that they aren't self-evident here are explained in Chapter 5:
1. sufficient width |
2. sufficient depth |
3. sufficient connections with the
self—cultural ties and imaginative and emotional ties |
4. not too contrainedly technical |
5. not too general nor too unconstrained
(animal/cats/tiger kinds of distinction) |
6. not concerned with material likely
to lead towards depression or constant attention to more degrading features
of human existence |
7. the array of topics must provide
an equivalently rich experience for all students |
Here is the initail list generated in the book finished up as a fairly ill-assorted lot. I concluded asking for further suggestions to be made through the Discussion section on this website. So, please make suggestions both for particular topics to be included, or excluded--it may look as though some of those suggested below are more "adult" than might be expected, given current assumptions about children's minds. But as I have argued the inappropriateness of current conceptions of children's minds and learning, they seem not so weird to me. So, here is an introductory set in no particular order:
| Apples | Dust | The wheel | Mollusks | Railroads/Railways | Leaves | Salerno | Spices | The circus | Theatre |
| Films | Sports | Sacred Building | Habitations | Water | Rivers | Oceans | Lakes and Ponds | Ships | Trains |
| Cars | Airplanes | Carriages | Bicycles | Teeth | Cooking | Buildings | Furniture | Decoration | Tools |
| The measurement of time | The measurement of space | Counting systems | Music | Trees | Grass | Flowering plants | Whales | Cats | Horses |
| Birds | Beetles | Insects | Ants | Maps | Wood | Clothing | Writing systems | Games | Special clothing |
| Flags, and heraldry | Volcanoes | The oceans | Courage | Compassion | Love | Safety | Trust | Fairy Tales | |
| Wheat | Rice | Water | Air | Sun | Wind | Waves | Police | Climate | Cities |
| Money | Myths | Legends | Fans | Angels | Dreamtime | Freedom |
Some people have written in to suggest some other topics, and some principles for selecting topics. One suggested that teachers might find topics like Dust and The circus odd because they are not connected with the curriculum, and she suggested that we should instead have topics like Flowering plants that are connected with things already in the curriculum. Another teachers wrote to suggest that the topics so far were rather material, and that it might be good to include such topics as Courage, Compassion, Love, Safety, Trust, Fairy Tales.
If you have ideas for topics, please add them here.
