Foundations of Curriculum PDF

Preview

Summary

Course Title : The Teacher and the School Curriculum Course Code : Prof. Ed. 8 ============================================================= =======================Foundations of Curriculum1. Philosophical Foundations Educators, teachers, educational planners and policy makers must have a philosophy...

Description

Course Title : The Teacher and the School Curriculum Course Code : Prof. Ed. 8 ============================================================= ======================= Foundations of Curriculum 1. Philosophical Foundations Educators, teachers, educational planners and policy makers must have a philosophy or strong belief about education and schooling and the kind of curriculum in the teachers' classrooms or learning environment. Philosophy of the curriculum answers questions like: What are schools for? What subjects are important? How should students learn? What methods should be used? What outcomes should be achieved? Why? The various activities in school are influenced in one way or another by a philosophy. John Dewey influenced the use of learning by doing", he being a pragmatist. Or to an essentialist, the focus is on the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic, the essential subjects in the curriculum. There are many philosophies in education but we will illustrate only those as presented by Ornstein and Hunkins in 2004. Perennialism Plato, Aristotle or Thomas Aquinas) Essentialism Wiliam Bagley (1974-1946) Progressivism John Dewey (1859-1952) Reconstructioni sm Theodore Brameld (1904-1987)

Aim: To educate the rational person; cultivate intellect Role: Teachers assist students to think with reason (critical thinking: HOTS) Focus: Classical subjects, literary analysis, Curriculum is enduring Trends: Use of great books (Bible, Koran, Classics) and Liberal Arts Aim: To promote intellectual growth of learners to become competent Role: Teachers are sole authorities in the subject area. Focus: Essential skills of the 3Rs; essential subjects Trends: Back to basics, Excellence in education, cultural literacy Aim: Promote democratic social living Role: Teacher leads for growth and development of lifelong learners Focus: Interdisciplinary subjects. Learner-centered. Outcomes-based Trends: Equal opportunities for all, Contextualized curriculum, Humanistic education Aim: To improve and reconstruct society. Education for change Role: Teacher, acts as agent of change and reforms Focus: Present and future educational landscape Trends: School and curricular reform, Global education, Collaboration and Convergence, Standards and Competencies

2. Historical Foundations Where is curriculum development coming from? The historical foundations will show to us the chronological development along a time line. Reading materials would tell us that curriculum development started when Franklin Bobbit (1876-1956) wrote the book "The Curriculum." Let us see how each one contributed to curriculum development during his own time. Here are eight among the many whom we consider to have great contributions. Persons Franklin Bobbit (18761956) Werret Charters (1875-1952) William Kilpartick (1875-1952)

Harold Rugg (1886-1960)

           

Contributions/ Theories and Principles He started the curriculum development movement. Curriculum as a science that emphasizes students’ needs. Curriculum prepares learners for adult life. Objectives and activities should group together when tasks are clarified. Like Bobbit, he posited that curriculum is science and emphasizes students' needs. Objectives and activities should match. Subject matter or content relates to objectives. Curricula are purposeful activities which are child-centered. The purpose of the curriculum is child development and growth. He introduced this project method where teacher and student plan the activities. Curriculum develops social relationships and small group instruction. Curriculum should develop the whole child. It is child-centered. With the statement of objectives and related learning activities, curriculum should produce outcomes. He emphasized social studies and suggested that the teacher plans curriculum in advance.

Hollis Caswell (1901-1989)



Curriculum is organized around social functions of themes, organized knowledge and learner's interest.

   Ralph Tyler (1902-1994)

   

Hilda Taba (1902-1967)

Peter Oliva (1992-2012)

   

Curriculum, instruction and learning are interrelated. Curriculum is a set of experiences. Subject matter is developed around social functions and learners interests. Curriculum is a science and an extension of school's philosophy. It is based on students' needs and interest. Curriculum is always related to instruction. Subject matter is organized in terms of knowledge, skills and values. The process emphasizes problem solving. Curriculum aims to educate generalists and not specialists. She contributed to the theoretical and pedagogical foundations of concepts development and critical thinking in social studies curriculum. She helped lay the foundation for diverse student population. He described curriculum change as a cooperative endeavor. Teachers and curriculum specialist constitute the professional core of planners. Significant improvement is achieved through group activity.

3. Psychological Foundation of Curriculum Psychology provides a basis to understand the teaching and learning process. It unifies elements of the learning process. Questions which can be addressed by psychological foundations of education are: How should curriculum be organized to enhance learning? What is the optimal level of students’ participation in learning the various contents of the curriculum? In this lesson, we shall consider three groups of learning theories: behaviorism or association theories; cognitive-information processing theories and humanistic theories (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2004). 3.1 Association and Behaviorism Persons Contributions/ Theories and Principles  He is the father of the classical conditioning theory, the S-R theory Ivan Pavlov  The key to learning in early years of life is to train them what you (1849-1936) want them to become.  S-R Theory is a foundation of learning practice called indoctrination.  He championed the connectionism theory.  He proposed the three laws of learning: Edward - Law of readiness Thorndike - Law of exercise (1874-1949) - Law of effect  Specific stimulus has specific response.  He proposed the hierarchical learning theory. Learning follows a Robert Gagne hierarchy. (1916 - 2002)  Behavior is based on prerequisite conditions.  He introduced tasking in the formulation of objectives. 3.2 Cognitive Information Processing Theory Persons Contributions/ Theories and Principles  Theories of Jean Piaget  Cognitive development has stages from birth to maturity.  Sensorimotor stage (0-2), preoperational stage (2-7), concrete operations stage (7-11) and formal operations (11 - onwards). Jean Piaget  Keys to learning (1896-1980)  Assimilation (incorporation of new experience)  Accommodation (learning modification and adaptation)  Equilibration (balance between previous and  later learning)  Theories of Lev Vygotsky  Cultural transmission and development stage. Children could, as a result of their interaction with society, actually perform certain cognitive actions prior to arriving at developmental stage. Lev Vygotsky  Learning precedes development. (1896-1934)  Sociocultural development theory.  Keys to Learning  Pedagogy creates learning processes that lead to development.  The child is an active agent in his or her educational process.  Gardner's multiple intelligences  Humans have several different ways of processing information and these ways are relatively independent of one another. Howard  There are eight intelligences: linguistic, logico-mathematical, Gardner musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal,

and naturalistic...