Whole Earth Curriculum WEC

Schema

How content files are structured: frontmatter fields and required body headings.

Every content file is Markdown with a YAML frontmatter block delimited by ---.

---
kind: lesson
id: L.00.001.01
# ... more fields ...
---

# Lesson title

## Procedure
...

## Assessment
...

The frontmatter is validated against JSON Schema in schema/. The kind field selects which schema applies.

Kinds

kind File location Purpose
domain curriculum/standards/domains/*/domain.md A domain: strands + grade-level objectives.
scope curriculum/k-12/grade-*/*/scope.md The year plan for a grade (≈180 days).
unit curriculum/k-12/grade-*/*/units/*/unit.md A multi-lesson block.
lesson curriculum/k-12/grade-*/*/units/*/lessons/*.md One day of instruction.
agent agents/definitions/agents.yaml A curriculum-building agent definition.
backlog agents/backlog/backlog.yaml The work backlog (list of items).

Field reference by kind

lesson

Field Type Required Notes
kind string yes must be lesson
id string yes L.gg.nnn.nn
title string yes
grade integer yes 0 (K) – 12
unit string yes owning unit ID U.gg.nnn
sequence_in_unit integer no position within the unit
domain array yes one or more Dxx
pillar array no one or more Px
strand array no one or more Dxx.Sn
objectives array yes one or more standard IDs
essential_question string no
key_vocabulary array no
materials array no standard classroom supplies { name, quantity, notes }
materials_low_tech array no no-cost/universal variant (paper, found objects, voice, body)
materials_enriched array no lab/device/field-trip variant
context_variants array no { context, note } for environment changes (forest vs lab, etc.)
assets array no { path, alt, kind, source } — path must resolve to a real file
duration_minutes integer yes
summary string no
cross_cutting_lenses array no from the allowed list
assessment_type array no formative/summative/etc.
status string yes draft | review | approved
author string no
last_updated string no

Recommended context_variants contexts: large-group (30+ learners), multi-age, self-directed (no facilitator), level-grouped (by mastery, not age), and outdoor-only. See docs/contexts.md.

unit

kind, id (U.gg.nnn), title, grade, domain, pillar, strand, objectives, essential_questions, big_ideas, duration_weeks, assessment_plan, status, author, last_updated.

scope

kind, grade, year_title, total_school_days (default 180), summary, units (array of { unit_id, title, domain, pillar, start_day, end_day, lesson_count }), domain_weighting (map Dxx → days/percent), assessment_plan, status.

Writing a scope

A grade page renders exactly two pieces of prose: summary as the lede paragraph at the top of the page, and the body’s ## Year at a glance section as the overview below the unit timeline. Both are read by parents, teachers, and curious visitors who want to understand the year, not to audit every standard. Keep them short, distinct, and non-overlapping.

Piece Target Job
summary 60–110 words, 3–5 sentences The page lede and the meta description. What the year is about and what the learner becomes. No unit list, no standard IDs, no enumeration.
## Year at a glance 350–650 words The narrative arc: how the year builds on the prior grade, how the units cluster into two to four movements, and the pillar balance.

Rules:

  • Never recite the standards. Do not walk through objectives one by one, with or without IDs, and do not string sentences together with “and … and … and”. Objective text already lives in curriculum/standards/domains/*/domain.md and on each unit page’s objectives list. The scope names each unit once, in the form *Unit Title* (U.gg.nnn, Dxx) — both domains for a two-domain unit, as (U.gg.nnn, Dxx + Dyy) — and says what the unit is for.
  • Do not repeat summary in the body. The lede and the overview sit inches apart on the same page; restating one in the other doubles the wall of text for no gain.
  • Keep the closing pillar paragraph (roughly 80–140 words) — it is the one place the page states how P1–P4 are weighted in the year.
  • Do not pad back up later. The year plan, units, domain_weighting, and assessment_plan carry the detail. npm run validate warns when a scope summary or body drifts past these targets.

Line-wrap body prose at ~88 characters, as elsewhere in the repository.

domain

kind, id (Dxx), title, pillar, description, rationale, strands (array of { id, title, description }), grade_objectives (map grade → list of { id, text }), cross_cutting_lenses, status.

agent / backlog

See agents/README.md and the machine-readable agents/definitions/agents.yaml.

Required body headings

In addition to valid frontmatter, the Markdown body must include certain headings.

  • lesson requires ## Procedure, ## Assessment, ## Facilitator note, and ## Connection (case-insensitive, ## level), and is strongly encouraged to include ## Summary, ## Objectives, ## Materials, ## Preparation, ## Differentiation, ## Resources, and ## Home connection.
  • scope requires # <Grade> Scope, ## How to read this scope, and ## Year at a glance.

The validator checks these. Content that fails frontmatter or heading checks will not pass CI.

Voice: learner-first

The ## Procedure is written to the learner (“you”), so a lesson works in a classroom and for a self-directed learner. Teacher guidance lives in ## Facilitator note. See docs/facilitation.md.

Connection: anchor to real life

Every lesson’s ## Connection (2–3 sentences) ties the concept to everyday life, written so it survives different lives:

  • Concrete before abstract — a real, recognizable example before the abstraction.
  • Faithful — the example illustrates the real concept, not a distorted cartoon.
  • Varied — offer more than one context (city and farm, sea and mountain) or keep it explicitly adaptable. Life differs everywhere; avoid one default.