Conceptions of Curriculum

Contemporary Philosophy

Pragmatism

Progressivism

Child-Centered Designs

Child-Centered

-Design is based on lives, needs and interests of students
-Instruction draws on child’s innate tendency to engage in interesting things
-Students negotiate curriculum, materials, activities, focus

Developmental Curriculum: based on children's needs and interests. Developmental education is active learning, and genuine, first-hand experiences are the bases of children's knowledge. Children learn through subjects rather than learn subjects themselves to build competence.

Experience-Centered

-Curriculum framework can’t be planned as teacher reacts to child
-Child’s concerns, interests, concerns direct school
-Learning is social

Romantic (Radical)

-Current schools use curriculum to control and indoctrinate students.
-The “haves” are taught that what they learn and have is good; the “have-nots” are trained to accept subordinate position
-Education should enlighten the masses about their oppression, prompt them to feel dissatisfaction and give them competencies to correct inequities

Humanistic

-Emphasis on empowering individuals by involving them on their own growth/learning
-Teachers provide environment that encourages genuineness, empathy, respect for self + others

Organic Curriculum

Planned for 7- to 12-year-olds, the organic curriculum emphasizes child centeredness, experience-based learning, integrated content areas, and process-oriented instruction.

Pragmaticism

Reconstructionism

Problem-Centered Designs

Life-Situation

-Emphasizes worthy home membership, vocational training, citizenship, ethical character
-Links subject matter to real situations
-Strength is problem solving; students are able to analyze aspects of living

School to work curriculum: work-based learning for high school students
Core curriculum: experience curriculum-common things needed by all students –combines subject matter with content that is based on societal and personal needs

Skills students will need to learn for 21st century workforce and living

Reconstructionist

-Advance social justice; foster social action
-Involve students in analysis and creation of equitable society

Te Whãriki

program is influenced by the Maori human development theory. Deep respect for the life force of the universe-therefore, everything is connected. Focus is on working with parents to promote and extend learning, a curriculum that assists children to be confident learnings-healthy minds body and spirit.

Social Functions and Activities Designs

These designs include three organizational themes:
1. The social living or persistent life situation approaches based on the belief that the curriculum design should follow the persistent functions, or life situations
2. Approaches that organize the curriculum around aspects of problems of community life
3. The social action or reconstruction theories that hold the improvement of society through direct involvement of the schools and their students to be a major goal

Traditional Philosophy

Idealism

Essentialism

Subject-Centered Designs

Discipline

-Students understand concepts and process, thus have to use information
-No trades or environments studies
-Appropriate for all students as it equips them for effective living, not vocational training

Broad-Fields

-Strives to give students a sweeping understanding of all content areas
-Integrates content that fits together (ie. geography, economics, politics, history, etc are all in SS)

Correlation

-Identifies ways in which subjects are related, yet maintain separate identities (ie. Eng and History are linked as students read a novel from the period that is being studied in History)
-Requires an overarching theme and collaboration between teachers

Process

-Students learn procedures applicable to all disciplines (ie. critical thinking)
-Emphasize procedures that allow students to analyze reality and create frameworks

North American Curriculum

This tends to be a curriculum that is highly focused on subjects and grades - has less of a focus on the whole student. We o

This tends to be a curriculum that is highly focused on subjects and grades - has less of a focus on the whole student. We often fail to create individuals who are interested in learning and the betterment of society. North American curriculum often tries to focus on the interests of the student but the controlled subject areas makes this difficult.

Realism

Perennialism

Philosophical Base

Educational Philosophies

Major Curriculum Designs

-Focuses on the past
-Has fixed/absolute values and glorifies cultural heritage
-Trains the mind by emphasizing subject matter
-Teacher is the authority on a subject therefore learning is dominated by lectures and explanations
-Knowledge prepares students for life

-Emphasizes both the present and future
-Focus is on problem solving
-Student interests and needs are considered
-Subject matter is a medium for teaching skills and attitudes
-Teacher is a guide and agent for change
-Experience in democracy and political/social action prepares students for life

Design Dimensions

Scope: breadth and depth of content

Sequence: content builds on prior learning

Continuity: revisiting concepts with increasing depth

Integration: links knowledge cross subject area and to real life experiences

Articulation: interrelatedness of various aspects of curriculum.

Vertical articulation is sequencing from one grade level to the next.

Horizontal articulation blends content from similar subject areas.

Socialization of Learner

Plato
acquisition of knowledge and what should be taught

Rousseau
child development and optimal ages for learning material

Examples of the Curriculum

Reggio Emilia

centres on the child being competent active and critical. The child's rights rather then their needs are important. The child makes up questions, theories and meaning in interplay with surrounding environment.

They trust in child's own ability. Therefore the child is able to build on knowledge based on what they are working with and they develop their own thoughts. Teacher focus is on what the child is expressing-build on self-confidence

Swedish curriculum

The child is visible in the goals formulated as learning and development. Education is built on care, fostering and education. Activities simulate play, creativity and joyful learning. Here the child's own interests in learning and mastering knowledge and skills. Child should feel secure in mastering own identity-free to learn and explore. They look at everyday life skills that help build on things like cooperative skills, responsibility, initiative.

Reggio Emilia Curriculum

Piaget’s theory-related to the age of the child’s development

Descriptive Paragraph: Erin and Olivia. When coming up with our visual representation of the relationships of the curriculum we decided to break it down into 4 categories. This can be visualized as almost a pyramid like structure, starting with the philosophical base and connecting finally to examples of curriculum. The first section that you see colour coded in turquoise represents the philosophical base of curriculum. Here we looked at contemporary and traditional philosophies and broke those down in to pragmaticism, idealism and realism. These theories are ultimate influences by individuals like Rousseau, Plato and Piaget and their various theories of children, development and the acquisition of knowledge. The green categories discuss what different dimensions of design are with their definition. So that it is easier to understand

We then looked at educational philosophies as the next category. Here colour coded in purple you will find philosophies like: reconsturctionism, progressivism, essentialism and perrenialism. These categories break down to the major curricular designs that you will see colour coded in orange. The final category we decided connect to way to connect the philosophies to the examples of curricular designs. We focused on the Reggio Emilia approach, Te Whãriki, Swedish curriculum and North American curriculum. Each fall under one of the categories of major curriculum designs. In completing this task, we found it was quite interesting to see the relationship between the philosophies and the actual design that is influenced by that particular philosophy. What is also quite interesting to note here is how many types of curriculum designs there are and how they have evolved over time. Even though many are quite old they have been reformed and modified to fit modern day classrooms. When navigating through the mindomo, please start at the top and make your way down to understanding the connections and thinking. We decided to use the mindomo tool, because we feel that the connections and relationships between the various designs and philosophies are quite important, and this tools allows us to show those relationships. There are also video links below to help further your understanding about the various designs.

Ornstein, A. C. (1990/1991). Philosophy as a basis for curriculum decisions. The High School Journal, 74, 102-109.

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Read Chapter 6, pp. 149-173.

Samuelsson, I. P., Sheridan, S., & Williams, P. (2006). Five preschool curricula—comparative perspective. International Journal of Early Childhood, 38(1), 11.

Sowell, E. J. (2005). Curriculum: An integrative introduction (3rd ed., pp. 52-54, 55-61, 81-85,103-106). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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