An introduction to thematic learning

Thematic learning also called thematic instruction, is a new teaching methodology in which, based on a central theme or idea, a series of concepts are worked on in one or more disciplines. This is roughly the definition of thematic learning. Read in this way, it seems a very vague concept, but the characteristics of this educational methodology will be explained thoroughly in the following sections.

In the following infographic you can see the objective of the thematic learning. Once the theme (DemeteR) has been chosen, a series of activities will be created which will try to improve certain skills in the students.

Emphasis will be placed on skills and then on creating activities that involve practice and development.

To give a simple example: if you want to work on creativity and the capacity for synthesis, you can create an activity that is the creation of an infographic for example.

We call this diagram “the onion layered structure” because, like an onion, in the projects we have created, we start from a central theme (DEMETER) to then define skills and create activities that enhance those skills.

In the previous figure you can see how we have created a subschema for the IT area. The connection between skills and activities that students will develop can be observed in the image above.