The Arc of Learning framework: An ergonomic resource for design and enactment of problem-based curriculum

This article explores students' development of deep, connected mathematical understanding through the lens of curriculum design and teacher enactment of problem-based curriculum materials. Rather than emphasizing student learning as passively watching and imitating a set of isolated skills, the Arc of Learning framework highlights ways that student learning can evolve from informal knowledge to more sophisticated reasoning over time. It is an ergonomic resource for curriculum design and use that makes explicit the intentions of the curriculum designers about how students engage in the learning of mathematics over time. Using examples from a problem-centered curriculum, we report on the student learning opportunities provided by connected sequences of problems. We also discuss how it can be used by various stakeholders.