The traditional MD curriculum covers basic medical sciences in the first two years through lectures, labs, and discussion groups. It also incorporates newer methods like problem-based learning and clinical skills training. Students work with physicians in their first year to integrate basic sciences with clinical practice. The second year focuses on advanced clinical topics and skills. Progressive education at Global Village School emphasizes experience-based, student-centered learning grounded in peace, justice, diversity, and sustainability. A progressive curriculum is based on student interests and involves them in designing lessons around problems and active learning. Assessment includes portfolios and presentations beyond just tests. The curriculum varies each year based on the specific students.

1. Traditional Curriculum
The basic science portion of the MD program is taught during the first two years and covers the fundamental
body of basic medical science knowledge which is the foundation of medical practice. The learning activities
of the first two years are a mix of traditional curriculum formats (lectures, labs, dissection and discussion
groups) and newer educational methods—computer-aided instruction (CAI), problem-based learning (PBL),
and objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs). As part of the Clinical Continuum, exposure to patients
occurs as students work with physicians in the office setting during the Mentor course allowing students to
integrate their basic-science knowledge with the clinical practice of medicine early in their medical training.
Instruction in human behavior including a section on medical interviewing and evidence-based medicine
completes the M-1 Clinical Continuum course. Academic Enrichment Electives, including Medical Spanish,
Injury Prevention and Control, and Healer’s Art, among others, are available for students in their first or
second year who wish to pursue interests beyond the required curriculum.
During the M-2 year, students complete the basic science curriculum and transition to advanced topics in the
Clinical Continuum, including the acquisition of history and physical exam skills, clinical reasoning, ethics
and health policy.
Progressive Education
Global Village School offers progressive curriculum
Global Village School was founded to address deep progressive concerns about violence, discrimination,
and our endangered environment. We are an international K-12 homeschool program that empowers
students to cultivate their gifts and passions by engaging them in a creative, flexible educational process
grounded in the progressive principles of peace, justice, diversity, and sustainability. We partner with
schools, groups, and individual families to provide the kind of education that prepares students to be wise
and capable stewards of the planet.
A Progressive Curriculum
A Progressive Curriculum is based on the students’ interests. Teachers have themes and
objectives, but they do not just design a course of study for their students; they design it
with them, and they have to be prepared to welcome unexpected detours. The learning
sessions have to be organized around problems and questions that allow students to explore
difficult issues in theory and practice; and that engage students in active learning, inquiry,
and problem solving.
Progressive Education focuses on experienced-based learning. That is, much of what
children learn is attained through experience-based activities related to a study which is
developmentally appropriate for them. At the end of a particular unit of study, children
present a culmination that portrays the information they learned in the unit.
Teachers should devise assessment techniques that include elements beyond homework and
testing (i.e. portafolios, group presentations, etc)
Because the curriculum is based on a specific group of students, a fourth-grade teacher's
curriculum won't be the same as that of the teacher next door, nor will her/his curriculum
be the same this year as it was for the children she/he taught last year. Progressive
educators realize that the students must help to formulate not only the course of study, but
also the outcomes or standards that inform those lessons.