THE BIG PICTURE MODEL
Summary
1 MAIN IDEA
Summarising the Main Idea
The Main Idea is what focuses and holds
together the unit. It is a single sentence the big
summary that captures the overall Main Idea.
2 BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
Articulating the biblical story
The Biblical Perspective is an articulation of
where the topic fits into the biblical story and
where the biblical story specifically speaks into
the topic area. The key framework of: creation,
fall, redemption, and renewal (CFRR) is a
helpful tool.
3 THREADS
Bringing the responses alive
Threads are the responses that we wish to
draw out after understanding God’s revelation
as articulated in the Biblical Perspective.
Threads assist in drawing the unit together and
provide students with opportunities to live out
their new learning.
4 ENDURING
UNDERSTANDINGS
Identifying the enduring understandings
This is an opportunity to identify those more
specific and Enduring Understandings that
flow out of the Main Idea and which we wish
students to grasp as a result of studying the
unit. Enduring Understandings shouldn’t be
confused with simply listing key knowledge
and content.
“Learning is learning only if it is remembered and
repeatable, if it leads to changes in the way we act”
(Stronks and Blomberg, 1993, p. 194)
18 A CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
5 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Shaping the essential questions
Essential Questions are questions that are
created to help focus and capture the Main
Idea of a unit and that stimulate deeper
student thinking about the topic.
6 KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS
Noting the key knowledge and skills
Teachers are all to familiar with the task of
compiling a list of Knowledge and Skills for
a unit. Careful consideration of prescribed
Knowledge and Skills should be merged with
an understanding of the thinking that has
already occurred in sections 1-5. This is not
simply a cut and paste of knowledge and
skills list. Teachers wisely choose and reframe
the list using clear, user-friendly language. It
is likely that extra knowledge and skills will
emerge from the overall process. This section
is a significant intersection/collision point
between what’s above and what’s below.
7 PRESCRIBED CURRICULUM
Listing the content and descriptors
The Prescribed Curricula section is a useful
reference point and audit tool. A critical review
of the Prescribed Curriculum’s list and a careful
selection from it is made in the light of all the
other design elements within the Big Picture.