Curriculum

YBike programs utilize one of the most advanced and tested bicycle safety education curricula available in the United States today.  Our current curriculum offerings all have their origin in our After-school Bicycle Program Curriculum, which was originally written in 2004 and has been through several overhauls since.  Our curriculum development process continues to be guided by an emphasis on diverse and user-friendly educational access.  We want our students – whatever their age – to be able to easily relate to and learn from our lessons and achieve their best through joyful engagement in every one of our activities.  For our teachers, meanwhile, we want the lessons and goals set forth in our curriculum to be rigorous, based in the real world, simple and fun to teach, and effective.  When lessons in our curriculum don’t work as well as they could for our students or are too abstract or difficult for our teachers to implement, we improve what we have until it works better – or get creative and start over, if necessary. 

Lessons and activities in our curriculum have been refined through trial-and-error and careful observation; the design and interface have been brought up to professional standards; and educational methods and principles seek to exceed national standards and incorporate nationwide best practices. YBike Program Staff use its many lessons and activities daily here with our students in the San Francisco schools, and we continue to refine our curriculum with each passing program and year.  Each one of our curricula is a living document, refined every year, and we welcome your suggestions and feedback to help make them even better.  We share our curriculum with you in the hope that you will be able to use what we have developed over many years to make your youth and family bicycling and bicycle safety education programs the best that they can be.  Try them, use them, and tell us what works for you and what doesn’t.