Concept-based teaching is an inquiry-based learning practice. This approach allows instructors to move away from traditional subject-specific content and instead emphasizes the content's "big ideas". This provides for interdisciplinary connections which expand students' knowledge base. It breaks down the stages of learning for both the instructor and the student allowing for better planning, teaching, and learning across the board. As stated by Lynn Erickson, through concept-based teaching, students acquire and process factual information through the conceptual level of thinking.
As a project in EDUC 490, we were tasked with coming up with a concept-based teaching map for a specific unit in our teachable subject. As mine is chemistry, I decided to use the topic of green chemistry found in the grade 10 curriculum. I chose this topic initially because I figured it would translate well to interdisciplinary practices as the topic of environmentalism can be found in almost any topic.
The most challenging part of this assignment was writing a sufficient principle generalization. It's harder than you may think!