Curriculum and Instruction
The study of the design, implementation, and assessment of educational curricula and instructional strategies to enhance teaching and learning.

Education is the study of learning and teaching processes. It aims to understand how individuals acquire knowledge and skills. It also examines the roles of teachers, schools, and educational policies in shaping these processes. It is the academic field that studies how people learn and how teaching happens.
The field of education examines the methods, theories, and systems used in schools and other learning environments, as well as the social, cultural, and psychological factors that shape learning and instruction.
Education is among the most widely studied disciplines worldwide, with research spanning classrooms, universities, workplaces, online learning, and national education systems—making it both a social science and an applied profession.
For an in-depth description of the field of education, see the article on education from the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Education studies cover a wide range of topical areas. However, most universities traditionally divide these topical areas into the following main areas of study:
Education is an interdisciplinary field drawing from various academic disciplines, including:
If you’re thinking about majoring in education, these resources can provide useful background information and help guide your next steps. They explain what to expect from the major and the wide variety of career paths available to you.
Dictionaries are important for understanding and contextualizing words, concepts, and terminology. Various education dictionaries provide clarity when exploring complex concepts, systems, and theories, offering clear definitions of key education-related terms.
Subject encyclopedias are specialized reference works providing in-depth information on specific discipline topics. Unlike general encyclopedias that cover a wide range of topics, subject encyclopedias focus exclusively on one discipline, offering detailed and comprehensive entries written by experts. For a list of general and specialized encyclopedia databases, go to Getting Started – Reference Resources.
Handbooks provide authoritative overviews, in-depth analyses, and critical discussions of a particular academic field, discipline, or topic. The following are important general education handbooks.
Most education textbooks are structured for academic courses. The following "non-textbook" companions and introductions provide comprehensive yet understandable introductions to education studies. Written by experts, they present key ideas, theories, and debates in an understandable way that is ideal for readers new to the field of education, providing foundational knowledge without requiring prior expertise.
EBSCOhost is a major research database platform that allows users to search multiple EBSCO databases simultaneously. The difference between EBSCOhost and Academic Search is that Academic Search can be searched as part of the EBSCOhost platform or searched separately if your institution has a subscription. To check if your institution subscribes to EBSCOhost, use EBSCO’s Find your institution page.
ProQuest is a major database vendor and platform that provides access to hundreds of database collections. The ProQuest platform provides a multidisciplinary search with access to scholarly ebooks, journals, video and audio, newspapers, and more, all searchable simultaneously. ProQuest is unique in providing dissertations and theses, historical newspapers, and other primary sources.
Google Scholar is a free academic search engine that helps researchers and studentsfind scholarly literature across disciplines. It indexes journal articles, books, conference papers, theses, patents, and other resources from academic publishers, universities, and professional organizations.
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), compiled by the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics, provides access to a vast collection of scholarly literature in the social sciences. Covering multiple disciplines, IBSS includes references to journal articles, books, newspapers, and dissertations, with records dating back to 1951.
JSTOR is an important scholarly research database for the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. It provides the full text of articles from thousands of influential academic journals. In addition to journal articles, users can access eBooks, book chapters, images, and primary source documents. JSTOR also provides an AI research tool that provides key points and arguments of articles.
JSTOR contains the full text of more than 2,000 journals from 1,000 publishers, with publication dates ranging from 1665 to 2015 (for certain titles). JSTOR also provides:
Project MUSE offers online access to a vast collection of scholarly journals, books, and academic resources in the humanities, social sciences, and arts. As a leading provider of digital humanities content, it features high-quality, peer-reviewed publications from prestigious university presses, scholarly societies, and academic publishers.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses is a database of dissertations and theses from universities worldwide. It provides access to millions of full-text works across many disciplines, including the social sciences, humanities, sciences, and business. Each dissertation includes an abstract or summary that provides a concise overview of the research, its methodology, and key findings.
ScienceDirect is a leading full-text scholarly scientific database that provides journal articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and more than 11,000 books. It covers over 24 major subjects in the physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, health sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.
Social Sciences Full Text provides access to a wide range of scholarly literature in the social sciences. It covers many disciplines, including sociology, psychology, international relations, political science, anthropology, economics, and education.
Web of Science is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research and citation index that provides access to a wide range of scientific, technical, social science, and humanities research. It maintains rigorous criteria for the journals and publications it indexes, ensuring that only high-quality, peer-reviewed content is included. Web of Science includes 98 million papers dating back to 1900.
Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies is an online subscription-based education database that focuses on how education systems and childhood experiences differ around the world. It organizes over 800 peer-reviewed articles, academic ebooks, policy reports, and country profiles around six stages of education and childhood, from early childhood through higher education. It also provides an interactive world map that lets users explore and compare education systems country by country.
Education Magazine Archive is a historical periodical collection published by ProQuest that brings together backfile issues of 26 education trade magazines and journals, spanning from 1910 through the mid-2010s. It is a digital archive of historical education magazines that lets you explore how teaching, policy, and schools have changed over time and how educational practice, policy, and culture have evolved over more than a century.
Educational Administration Abstracts is a database focused on education leadership and management, providing bibliographic records covering all areas of educational administration. It provides articles on school administration, higher education leadership, and research on how educational institutions are organized and run.
ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) is an internet-based digital library of education research and information sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, providing access to journal and non-journal literature from 1966 to the present. It provides articles, reports, and other materials on topics like teaching, learning, policy, and schools from early childhood through higher education, written by educators and researchers. We link to the free public version; however, subscription versions are available through EBSCO (EBSCOhost), ProQuest, and Ovid.
The Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) is a subscription-based online database focused on books and media for children and young adults, from pre-K through grade 12. It brings together over one million fiction and nonfiction titles along with professional reviews from more than 50 review sources, book award data spanning over 1,000 national and international programs, reading level indicators (such as Lexile and Accelerated Reader), and links to author/illustrator information and teaching guides.
Children’s Literature and Culture is a digital primary source collection published by Adam Matthew Digital that focuses on the history of children’s publishing and print culture from roughly the 1810s to the 1920s. It is a historical archive, containing over 8,600 digitized items, including rare books, illustrated stories, games, paper dolls, sheet music, ephemera, and artwork produced for or about children during this period.
LearnTechLib (The Learning and Technology Library) is a nonprofit, subscription-based digital library focused specifically on the intersection of technology and education. It brings together over 130,000 peer-reviewed documents — including journal articles, conference papers, ebooks, dissertations, reports, videos, and presentation slides — all centered on educational technology and e-learning.
ATLAS (Accomplished Teaching, Learning and Schools) is a unique online library of video case studies showing real National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) at work in their classrooms. It features expert teachers, along with their reflections, lesson materials, and explanations of their teaching strategies. Each case includes a classroom video, the teacher’s written commentary, instructional materials, and indexing to teaching and learning frameworks. ATLAS was created by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).
Videatives is a streaming video library focused on early childhood education and child development. Founded in 2003, it offers a collection of over 360 short video clips and written commentary that show young children engaged in play, problem-solving, and learning in real classroom and care settings. The videos are designed to help teachers, students, and researchers observe and interpret how children think and learn, grounding the footage in constructivist child development theory.
To review the JCR list of highly cited educational journals, go to Journal Citation Reports and choose Categories > Social Sciences, General > Education. Listed below are the top ten education journals that receive the highest number of citations from other scholars in 2024.
Computers & Education is a peer-reviewed journal that explores how technology shapes teaching and learning and the pedagogical uses of digital technology. It publishes research on digital tools, online learning, artificial intelligence, and classroom innovation.
BMC Medical Education is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on how doctors and other health professionals are trained. It publishes research on teaching methods, curriculum design, assessment, and clinical training. The journal highlights practical ways to improve medical education and prepare healthcare providers for real-world practice.
Teaching and Teacher Education is a peer-reviewed international journal dedicated to advancing knowledge on teaching as a professional practice, teacher education, and teachers’ development across all educational stages. It examines how teachers are prepared, supported, and developed throughout their careers. It publishes research on teacher training, classroom practice, professional growth, and education policy.
Review of Educational Research is a peer-reviewed journal that provides studies on different aspects of education. Published since 1931, it features interdisciplinary articles on educational issues and related fields, such as economics, psychology, sociology, history, philosophy, political science, computer science, statistics, anthropology, and biology.
Education Sciences is a monthly, peer-reviewed, open-access education journal that publishes research on all aspects of learning, teaching, and educational systems. It covers topics like curriculum, policy, technology in education, teacher education, and how schools and programs work.
Higher Education is a peer-reviewed, international journal that publishes research on colleges and universities around the world. It covers developments in teaching, learning, policy, governance, and institutional change in both public and private higher education.
Studies in Higher Education is a peer-reviewed education journal that publishes research on how colleges and universities operate. It covers teaching and learning, student experiences, leadership, funding, and policy. The journal focuses on evidence-based insights that help improve higher education systems around the world.
System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics is a peer-reviewed education journal that publishes research on language learning and teaching, especially in second and foreign language contexts. It explores classroom practice, teacher development, learner motivation, and the use of technology in language education.
The British Journal of Educational Technology is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research on how digital tools and media are used in teaching and learning. It examines online learning, classroom technology, instructional design, and emerging innovations.
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The following resources provide in-depth information on various research design concepts, methodologies, and techniques specific to education.
