Semantic Spaces
How similar and different are diverse disciplinary learning standards?
As part of our Computational Curriculum Studies (CCS) project, we are working to develop methodologies related to the analysis of curriculum policy texts as semantic spaces – spaces of related meaning – that can be analyzed computationally to reveal opportunities and challenges for interdisciplinary and locally relevant curriculum design processes.
Our first prototype
Below is a “UMAP Projection” – a 2-dimensional visualization of the “semantic space” – or space of meaning – calculated through machine learning methods based on the open source dataset of computer science and related learning standards from the Code.org GitHub repository (https://github.com/code-dot-org/code-dot-org/tree/staging/dashboard/config/standards). You can select specific frameworks to compare within the constructed space. In the context below, one can see the cluster of NGSS (Next Gen Science Standards) on the left side, with Common Core Math standards more in the lower right, while a majority of Computer Science standards fall between this conceptual space. The methods underlying this approach can be adapted to drive a wide range of basic and applied insights about the deeper structures of knowledge and competencies that schools aim to cultivate, also also potentially enabling teachers, students, and other stakeholders new tools for participatory improvement processes in local school curriculum design.
Learn more about Computational Curriculum Studies
Computational Curriculum Studies
OpenEvo aims to support the emergence of the nascent field of Computational Curriculum Studies, the interdisciplinary study of the use of information technologies to describe, analyze, represent, and improve the design of learning pathways in formal education contexts.
Interdisciplinary Structures of Knowledge
As part of our Computational Curriculum Studies (CCS) project, we are working to develop methodologies related to the analysis of curriculum policy texts as interdisciplinary structures of knowledge that can be productively analyzed using computational methods.
OpenEvo Network Explorer
As part of our Computational Curriculum Studies (CCS) project, we are working to develop tools to enable researchers, educators, and students to navigate the landscape of resources within our OpenEvo system for the design of educational innovations.