Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next,reasoning about perennial questions, master the methods of scientific inquiry, cultivate the intellect, create positive change agents. The purpose and goal of the school is to teach pupils how to think.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults. A curriculum is prescriptive, and is based on a more general syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be understood and to what level to achieve a particular grade or standard.
An academic discipline is a branch of knowledge which is formally taught, either at the university–or via some other such method. Each discipline usually has several sub-disciplines or branches, and distinguishing lines are often both arbitrary and ambiguous. Examples of broad areas of academic disciplines include the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, humanities and applied sciences. Educational institutions may incorporate fine arts as part of K-12 grade curriculum or within majors at colleges and universities as electives. The various types of fine arts are music, dance, and theater.

Study guides can be broad based to facilitate learning in a number of areas, or be resources that foster comprehension of literature, research topics, history, and other subjects.

General topics include study and testing strategies; reading, writing, classroom, and project management skills; as well as techniques for learning as an adult, with disabilities, and online. Some will summarize chapters of novels or the important elements of the subject. Study guides for math and science often present problems (as in problem-based learning) and will offer techniques of resolution.