Curriculum

Part I.
Three Versions of Curriculum

Subject Centered
Teacher Centered
Student Centered
In my K-? Education, I have had.

1. All teacher-centered
experiences of curriculum
2. Some Subject-centered
experiences
3. Some student-centered
experiences
4. An optimal blend of these
varieties
5. A blend that had little
rhyme or reason to
recommend it
What is the nature of curriculum?

Curriculum is something determined by

experts and authorities.
There is no right curriculum.
Curriculum should reflect the real world, be
practical, of use.
There are many curricula we can learn and
negotiate
Please make your selection...

1. Authorities /Experts
Determine
2. There is no right
curriculum
3. Curriculum should be
the real world
4. There are many
curricula we can learn

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 Definitions of Curriculum
1. Curriculum is all of the
experiences children have
under the guidance of
teachers.
2. Curriculum encompasses all
learning opportunities provided
by school.
3. Curriculum is a plan for all
experiences which the learner
encounters in school.
4. Curriculum is subject to
perspectives, debate, change
Discipline, Discourse, & Theory

Discipline an area of study, with its own particular rules

and expectations.
E.G., the discipline of Economics, or History
Discourse a system of statements that provide rules of
information and sets of practices within a social milieu
(Grant & Gillette, 2006).
E.G. discourse of free-market capitalism.
Theory an argument about how to think about a discipline
or a discourse. Thinking about the
Nature of our thinking metacognition.
E.G. Theory of the novel, or Theory of Evolution, or Marxist
Theory of History
Who owns the curriculum?

A teacher in a public school is an employee

of the district, which is an educational entity
of the state.
It is the state, the governor, the legislature
(the state dept. of education or state board of
education) which has ultimate responsibility
over the curriculum.
CurriculumThomas Popkewitz
I view curriculum as a particular, historically formed
knowledge that inscribes rules and standards by
which we reason about the world and our self as a
productive member of that world.
Curriculum is a disciplining technology that directs
how the individual is to act, feel, talk, and see the
world and the self. As such, curriculum is a form of
social regulation.
Curriculum and Power Relationships

Expert knowledge shapes our thinking about

much in our daily life.
We think of it as natural but it is notit is
built from expert systems of thinking.
We assume expert knowledge to be true.
I know for certain that

1. The earth revolves

around the sun
2. My friend loves me
3. It is below zero outside
4. There is truth in the
world
5. My senses give me
factual information
Curriculum Standards
Nothing newin 1909 E.L. Thorndike developed handwriting
standards measuring students penmanship performance
Standards consider content and performance and remove the
need for teachers to guess or make inferences about what
students need to know
Content standards specify what students should know and be
able to do
Performance standards specify the evidence needed to
demonstrate achievement
Tendency toward conservative visions of back to basics since
1983 A Nation at Risk Report
Tendency toward internationalism in curricular thinking
Standards and Curriculum
Although most educatorsargue that these
standards are not the curriculum, standards do
suggest the learning experience and opportunities
that students should have under the guidance of the
teachers.
for many teachers, the standards have become
the fusion of teachers public, professional, and
personal knowledge that disciplines their choices
and possibilities, and must therefore be thought of as
the effects of power.
The Overt Curriculum

The overt curriculum is the open, or public,

dimension and includes current and historical
interpretations, learning experiences, and
learning outcomes.
Openly discussed, consciously planned,
usually written down, presented through the
instructional process
Textbooks, learning kits, lesson plans, school
plays etc.
Overt Curriculum

Provides students with science, history,

math, literature
Provides students with the knowledge society
wants them to havebeyond the academics
Social Responsibilitythe overt curriculum
should be societys messenger (Benjamin
Franklin)
Societys Messsenger
In the 1600sfor religious purposesOld Deluder
Satan laws (1642)
In order to organize what students should learn and
teachers should teach, The New England Primer
was published (1690)
In the late 1700s and 1800s, Americanization
1900s Progressivism for Democracy in reforms
founded on thinking of John Dewey
E.D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy
The Invisible (Hidden)Curriculum
The processesthe noise by which the overt
curriculum is transmitted
they are also learning and modifying attitudes,
motives, and values in relationship to the
experiencesin the classroom.
The nonacademic outcomes of formal education are
sometimes of greater consequencethan is learning
the subject matter.
Results of the Hidden Curriculum

Notions of truth, ways of thinking, unstated

implications
Appraisals of self-worth
Social Roles
Middle-Class Perspectives
Attitudes and Behavior Required for Work
I see myself

1. As an A kind of person
2. As a future leader in my field
3. As a hard worker
4. As a solid middle class member
The What Knowledge Debate

Colonial moral education

19th Century Americanization
Early 20th The Scopes trialbefore
Scopes, religious faith was the common, if
not universal, premise of American thought;
after Scopes, scientific skepticism prevailed.
A Nation at Risk (1983) return to the basics
The Null Curriculum

When a topic is never taught:

too unimportant
too controversial
too inappropriate
not worth the time
not essential
Extra or Co-curricula

Beneficial to self-esteem
Improved race relations
Higher SAT scores, grades
Better health for females, gender stereotypes
undermined
Higher career aspirations
The Whose Knowledge Debate

our arguments over curriculum are also our

arguments over who we are as Americans,
including how we wish to represent ourselves
to our children
The Canondefining what is central and
what is marginal
Curriculum Organization
Societal levelpoliticians, special committees,
experts
Institutional levelset at the school, district,
collegeusually set along subject matter disciplines
Instructional levelteacher planning and teaching
students
Ideological levellearning theorists and subject
matter specialists
The Reign of the Textbook

Textbook adoption states

Effects
Economies of scale
Censorship
Mentioning Effect
Inauthentic text
Timeliness
Standards Movement

Content Standards
Whose content?

Traditional versus Progressive

Todaydebate over Scientifically Based Practices

in education.
NCLB

Annual Testing
Academic Improvement
Report Cards
Faculty Qualifications
Adequate Yearly Progress

AYP
Underperforming by measurements
Students and parents offered options
Consequent Loss of Funding

Browse State Website?

State Standards and Test are

1. Desirable, as they create

accountability
2. A mistake, they dont
measure real learning
3. Positive for unifying
educational experience
4. Divisive and not
representative of different
groups experiences
Alfie Kohn

Individuals lost in sea of tests

Learning as exploration, creativity stifled
Use of threats and bribery counter to ethical
education.
Shifting emphasis from real issues to surface
issues
Detract from teacher autonomy
Topics in Curriculum / Know these in
terms of philosophy topics?

Creationism versus Evolution

Core Knowledge, the Canon, versus

Multiculturalism
Multiple Intelligences
Critical Thinking Skills
Metacognition
Critical Pedagogy (and literacy)