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Chapter 2 - The Field of Curriculum

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26 views

Chapter 2 - The Field of Curriculum

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Field of Curriculum

CHAPTER 2
HED3123
1.
What is curriculum?
4 Basic definitions of curriculum
A. Curriculum as a plan for achieving goals
✘ A linear view of curriculum
✘ Involves a sequence of steps

✘ J. Galen Saylor, William Alexander, and Arthur Lewis define curriculum as “a


plan for providing sets of learning opportunities for persons to be educated.”

✘ David Pratt writes, “Curriculum is an organized set of formal education and/or


training intentions.”
B. Curriculum defined broadly as dealing with learner’s
experiences
✘ almost anything planned in or outside school is part of curriculum

✘ Hollis Caswell and Doak Campbell’s (1930s) that curriculum is “all the
experiences children have under the guidance of teachers.

✘ Elliot Eisner describes the curriculum as a “program” that a school “offers to its
students,” a “preplanned series of educational hurdles and an entire range of
experiences a child has within the school.
C. Curriculum as a field of study with its own foundations,
knowledge domains, research, theory, principles, and specialists

✘ Those who adopt this definition tend to discuss curriculum in theoretical


rather than practical terms.

✘ They are concerned with broad historical, philosophical, or social issues


D. Curriculum defined in terms of subject matter/content

✘ People who adopt this definition emphasize the facts and concepts of
particular subject areas.
Definition through the
lens of scholars
✘Glatthorn et. al (2012) noted that definitions
in curriculum are varied because there are
either descriptive, prescriptive or both
Prescriptive Descriptive

✘ provide us with what “ought” to ✘ go beyond the prescriptive terms as


happen, and they more often than they force thought about curriculum
not take the form of a plan, an nor merely in terms of how things
intended programme, or some kind ought to be in real classrooms or
of expert opinion about what needs any other educational situations
to take place in the course of study
✘ From the varying definitions, there are underlying elements that are
commonly agreed as constituent of a good definition of a curriculum

✘ Ughamadu (2006) listed the elements as


1. Goals and objectives (curriculum intent)
2. Content / subject & subject matter
3. Learning experiences
4. Evaluation

The curriculum components / the pillars of curriculum


Definition of curriculum
✘ Tanner & Tanner (1980:25)

“Curriculum is the planned and guided learning experiences and


intended learning outcomes, formulated through the systematic
reconstruction of knowledge and experience, under the auspices
of the school, for the learner’s continuous and willful growth in
personal-social competence.”
✘ learning experiences - what curriculum is meant to achieve
✘ intended learning outcomes – objective
✘ Role of school/learning institution  the systematic reconstruction of
knowledge and experience
Curriculum dimensions
✘ formal – learning experiences and activities that learners undertake
formally in a school

✘ non-formal – co-curricular activities – planned learning experiences with


less formalities

✘ informal – unintended/emerging curriculum – learners pick up from ‘junk


yard’
2.
Foundations of Curriculum
Foundations of Curriculum

Historical Psychological Social


Philosophical
Curriculum Foundations

✘ set the external boundaries of the knowledge of curriculum and define


what constitutes valid sources from which to derive the field’s theories,
principles, and ideas
PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS
Philosophy, The main Curriculum Source
✘ In order to develop curriculum, one must begin with a basic philosophy or
set of beliefs in which to govern curricular decisions

✘ Dewey – one’s idea is the starting point in curriculum development


✘ Tyler – refers to philosophy as ‘the first screen’ in curriculum development
4 Major Philosophies
Paradigms on the basis of which we interpret and
understand the world

✘ Idealism
✘ Realism
✘ Pragmatism
✘ Existentialism
Major Philosophies
✘ shape and influence educational philosophies
✘ How/what we believe about what is real and valuable/ the meaning of life
shapes who we are as teachers
✘ How/what we believe about knowledge is acquired shapes our approach
to teaching
✘ Our beliefs about what is right/good/valuable impact the learning in our
classroom
Idealism
Plato believes that

✘ the highest aim is the search for truth and enduring values
✘ ideas could be integrated into universal concepts and a meaningful whole. Truth
can be found through reasoning, intuition, and religious revelation

✘ To idealists, learning is a primarily intellectual process that involves recalling and


working with ideas; education is properly concerned with conceptual matters
✘ The curriculum is hierarchical – on the top, philosophy & theology, mathematics,
Language
Realism
✘ Realists view the world in terms of objects and matter. People can come to know
the world through their senses and their reason.

✘ Aristotle believed that everything had a purpose and that humans’ purpose is to
think

✘ Realists stress a curriculum comprising separate content areas, such as history and
zoology.

✘ Lessons that cultivate logic and abstract thought are stressed


Pragmatism
✘ Pragmatism construes knowledge as a process in which reality is constantly
changing.

✘ Learning occurs as the person engages in problem solving, which is transferable to


a wide variety of subjects and situations

✘ To pragmatists, teaching should focus on critical thinking. Teaching is more


exploratory than explanatory.

✘ Ideally, curriculum was based on a child’s experiences and interests and prepared
the child for life’s affairs.
Existentialism
✘ According to existentialist philosophy, people continually make choices and
thereby define themselves. We are what we choose to be; in doing so, we make
our own essence, or self-identity.

✘ Existentialists believe that the most important knowledge is knowledge of the


human condition. Education should develop consciousness of choices and their
significance

✘ An existentialist curriculum consists of experiences and subjects that lend


themselves to individual freedom and choice. For example, the arts are stressed
because they cultivate self-expression and portray the human condition and
situations involving choices
Educational Philosophies
✘ Emerge from one or more of the four major philosophies
✘ Range from traditional and conservative to contemporary and liberal

✘ Perennialism
✘ Essentialism
✘ Progressivism
✘ Reconstructionism
Perennialism – stems from realism
Content Method

✘ Universal curriculum ✘ Socratic method : explicit teaching, oral


✘ One for all students exposition, explication
✘ Subject-based: language, literature, ✘ Teacher-centered
mathematics,; science are the context for
developing intellectual skills
✘ Stress on 3 Rs ; reading, writing,
arithmetic
Essentialism – stems from idealism & realism
Content Method

✘ Core skills, essential facts and concepts ✘ Socratic dialogue


✘ Solid subjects aligned with high-stake tests ✘ Discussion
✘ Subject-centered: English, mathematics, ✘ Lecture
history, science ✘ Recitation
✘ Stress the 3Rs
✘ Clear measurable goals
Progressivism – stems from pragmatism
Content Method

✘ Need-based and relevant ✘ Problem solving


✘ Relates to student’ lives and experience ✘ Scientific method
✘ Skills to cope with change ✘ Cooperative learning
✘ Interdisciplinary and interactive ✘ Projects; student interact with nature and
✘ Emphasis on how to think (affective society
outcomes), not what to think (cognitive ✘ Experiential methods
outcomes)
Reconstructionism – stems from pragmatism with some views from
existentialism
Content Method

✘ Focus on present and future trends & ✘ Discovery


issues of national and international ✘ Community-based learning
interests ✘ Critical thinking
✘ Global ✘ Research
✘ Skills needed to identify and ameliorate
society’s problems
✘ Emphasis on personal expression and
reflection
thanks!
Any questions?
Extra graphics

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