Social Foundations of Curriculum

What is the difference between education and schooling?

What is a developmental task?

Why is it important for kids to learn these tasks in our society?

How would you describe the rate and direction of change?

What knowledge is most worthwhile for learners? Why?

How are the national task forces influencing schools today?

Curriculum Development

Any discussion of curriculum development should consider the social setting, especially the relationship between education and society or education and the growth of the company.

What is Culture?

An accepted way of life.

It controls what we choose to teach.

Culture

It includes a vast array of easily observed facets of living, such as - o material products o political and social organizations o characteristic vocations o modes of dress, food, games, music o child rearing practices o religious and patriotic rituals

A kind of social cement that consists of the characteristic habits, ideals, attitudes, beliefs, and ways of thinking of a particular group of people.

Cultural Classification

Universals - generally held by the entire population.

Specialties - found within sub-groups of the society.

Alternatives - violate accepted norms.

Is culture value laden?

Culture shapes our personality!

The messages is in language and the media.

What is a heterogeneous culture?

Many differing people coming together.

Purpose of Education: A Cultural Need?

Purpose of Education: o Transition of culture (values, beliefs, and norms of a society)

Dewey said that education is the means of perpetuating and improving society. o Agree? o Disagree?

It is up to educators, particularly those in charge of subject matter, to judge which content and activities enhance individual and societal growth and overall improves society.

o Agree? o Disagree?

What is society?

A collection of individuals who have organized themselves into a distinct group, American, Mexican, Australian, etc.

American Society Types

Reich o Frontier Personality - "What's good for the individual is good for society." o Corporate Personality - "What is good for the organization is good for the individual." o Liberated Personality - "Be true to oneself, never judge anyone else, and be honest with others."

Core American Values

Compromise

Change

Material well-being

Conformity

Freedom, individual worth and dignity, democratic decision making

Social Foundations of Schooling

What are social astuteness factors that educators should keep in mind when planning the school's curriculum? o Social setting o Relationships between schools and society o Social implications of knowledge and change o Aims of education o Reform strategies

Society, Education, and Schooling

Schooling becomes more important as societies become more complex and as the frontiers of knowledge expand.

In technological societies people acquire different proficiencies and abilities; no individual can range over the entire body of complex knowledge or expect to be proficient in all areas of learning.

Whereas European parents usually raise their children to carry on family traditions, first-and second-generation American parents want their children to leave home for better lives.

Are Schools Feminizing Institutions?

Boys are at a particular disadvantage in elementary school because they tend to learn through active manipulation of their environment (which schools tend to discourage), whereas girls tend to learn through verbal communication (which schools tend to stress).

The Developmental Tasks

Havighurst o Early Childhood o Middle Childhood o Adolescence o Early Childhood

Forming concepts and learning language

Getting ready to read

Learning to distinguish right from wrong and beginning to develop a conscience o Middle Childhood

Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games

Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself

Learning to get along with age-mates

Learning appropriate male and female roles o Middle Childhood

Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing, mathematics

Developing concepts for everyday living

Developing morality and a set of values

Achieving personal independence

Developing democratic attitudes toward social groups and institutions o Adolescence

Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both sexes

Achieving a masculine or feminine social role

Accepting one's physique and using the body effectively

Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults

Preparing for marriage and family life

Preparing for an economic career

Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system to guide behavior

Achieving socially responsible behavior

Is it important to consider the whole child as opposed to only cognitive learning?

Change and the Curriculum

The curriculum can either reflect society or reflect upon and indirectly help shape society.

The first approach tends to coincide with the reality of schools; the second approach borders on the ideal.

Cultural Lag

Usually changes in the scientific, commercial, and industrial aspects of culture come first, followed by lags in the institutions of society, i.e., teachers using computers, updating technical curriculum, etc.

Contemporary society is changing so swiftly that we have difficulty coping with it and adjusting ourselves to the present and preparing for the future. We are forced to look to the schools/business for help in understanding and living with social change, but schools are conservative institutions that usually lag behind change.

Rate of Change

Divide the last 100,000 years of human existence into lifetimes of approximately 75 years each or 1,333 lifetimes

Only during the last 60 lifetimes have we been able to communicate effectively through writing

Only in the last 6 lifetimes did mankind see a printed word

Only in the last 2 has anyone anywhere used a motor

Only in the last 1 have we used electricity

The following has happened within the last 56 years: o Telecommunications is now instantaneous o Speed of information processing improved a millionfold o Rate of population increase went up more than a millionfold o Jet aircraft, radar, space missiles and satellites common o Major organs (heart, liver, kidneys) are routinely transplanted o Moon and Martian landings have been successful o Elvis has been seen many places since he reportedly died

Direction of Change

Population growth chart has shifted from the almost horizontal to vertical

The dramatic rate of change reaches geometric and exponential proportions, and causes a dramatic shift or change in direction

Our present century is the critical time period for change

What's effect on education -- lag time o What policies govern our society? o What should be our educational aims? o How do we identify the "good" life and what roles should schools play? o How do schools reduce the gap between the "haves" and "have nots?" o How do schools prepare students for the world of tomorrow with a knowledge base that is rapidly becoming dated?

What Knowledge is Worthwhile?

With the explosion of knowledge, the questions for curriculum specialists are: o What knowledge to select

o How to organize it

How do we organize knowledge? o body of knowledge, a discipline, a field of study, curriculum content -- all subject-centered o These follow subject-centered approaches vs a student-centered approach; and a cognitive approach rather than a humanistic

approach o It relies on logic and rational thinking to organize information, concepts, generations, and principles of subjects o Assumption is that the interconnection of information, concepts, and the like, constitutes bodies of information that have been

validated and are the result of seeking practical, social and educational ends -- the result is compartmentalization of subjects.

Change in Schooling

Had Rip Van Winkle been a teacher and slept for fifty years, he could return to the classroom and perform relatively well; the chalk, eraser, blackboard, textbook, and pen and parer are still, today, the main tools for most teachers, as they were half a century ago -- or longer.

The changes and improvements in science, technology, and medicine within the last 10 years have been impressive, and they have affected almost all of our lives.

The idea of literacy must also be expanded to include not only basic or functional literacy, but also cultural literacy, scientific literacy, computer literacy, technological literacy, electronic literacy, and research literacy.

There is more need than ever for schools to become caring, personal, and trusting institutions -- to replace the impersonal factory model that often characterizes most schools.

Considering that we live in a highly technological and scientific society, the enrollments in science and mathematics have serious implications for the future of our country.

What should be the core school subjects? o Japan - 1 1/4 science courses per year; 1 1/2 math courses.

The New Curriculum

Mid -1980s o Defined what is essential for all students in the US o Goodlad:

80-90% of curriculum for core rubrics

10-20% for individual talents and interests

Start school at age 4 and conclude at 16

Eliminate all vocational education

Years 16-20 devoted to vocational education and higher education o Boyer:

Core increased from 1/2 to 3/4 of courses

Stress the traditional courses for first two years

Increased emphasis on foreign language, the arts, civics, non- Western cultures, technology, the meaning of work and health

All students would complete an interdisciplinary senior-year project

first year -- single track, last two years a transition track

An Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Ornstein o Knowledge should:

comprise the basic tools

facilitate learning how to learn

be applicable to the real world

improve learner's self-concepts, awareness skills, and senses of personal integrity

consist of many forms and methods

prepare the individual for the world of technology

prepare individuals for the world of bureaucracy

permit the individual to retrieve old information

prepare learners for a lifetime of acquiring knowledge

be taught in context with values

Establishing Social Priorities -- Education

Pre 1900s -- Education for all students

Post WW2 -- Focus shifted to academically talented

Late 1950s -- Shifted to subject matter

1960s -70s -- Shifted to disadvantaged students

Today -- Reform at the school level o Adaptive problem-solving o School-level focus o Top-down and bottom-up approaches o Accountability o School-business cooperation

Education Reform Today Involves

Curriculum change -- ongoing

Adoption of technology

Research and evaluation is prized; data seriously considered

Assessment/Instruction is emphasized

the tendency to be driven by test data or statewide assessments

National Reports Stress

Common curriculum

Need to strengthen the core curriculum

Computers and/or technology

Excellence over equity

Tougher standards

Colleges raise admissions standards

Increasing homework

Overall they stress:

Excellence not equity

Academic achievement not the whole child

Increased productivity not relevancy or humanism

Society and Culture

Are the shapers of the curriculum.

Curriculum developers needs to be students of social change.

Curriculum Development or an instrument of education is based on philosophy which has man as its local point. Philosophy studies man not only in himself but also in his relations with reality and his relation to God.

With regards to his relations to reality, philosophy is concerned with man’s body, mind, passions and emotions, intellect, will and freedom, immortality, values and behavior patterns, culture, history and science.. It is also concerned with the nature of reality, what man can know. With regard to man’s relations to God, philosophy is concerned with God’s existence, plan and providence.

Two main approaches in Curriculum Development

1. Essentialist Approach 2. Progressivist Approach

Features of Essentialist Approach

1. Subject centered, also known as Traditional approach 2. Considers the curriculum as something to be learned in a dualistic point of view.

LESSON 1. Philosophical Dimensions in Curriculum Development

VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES

It takes the mind and the matter as between the child and curriculum, particular and general, individual and society.

3. When there is a conflict between the two, the curriculum is always favored over the learner, because the learner is considered as ordinarily self-centered and impulsive.

4. The learner is fitted into the curriculum – a subject matter curriculum. Facts and skills are grouped homogeneously into subject fields (e.g. history, science, arithmetic) for the mind can not group the

curriculum as a whole.

Essentialism is based on the fact that school has always been somewhat rooted in human need. The application of essentialism out of proportion tends to stack the educational cards toward conservatism, discourage experimentation, and progress, obstruct development of other legitimate functions of the school, and thus, diminish the school’s net utility and consequence to society.

Features of Progressivist Approach

1. The learner is viewed in relation to another. 2. Although, dualitic in approach, when there is conflict, the child’s experience is favored over the curriculum.

In this point of view, the child’s experience and curriculum differ more in degree rather than in kind. It is seen as continuity. The learner as starting point and the curriculum as terminal aspect of one reality in the educative process of living being.

Other Approaches in Curriculum Development

1. Reconstructionism – a philosophy of ends attainable through the development of powerful means possessed by the learner. To learn how to exercise that power for there ends is the first priority of an educational curriculum. The main thesis of reconstructionist position is somewhat as follows:

1. The transformation of society by technological and scientific revolution is so radical as to require a new moral and intellectual consensus capable of molding and directing this transformation.

2. It is the task of educators to analyze the social trends, to discern the problems society is being, to speculate on the consequences of the current social dynamics, and to project the values and the goals which need to be sought to maintain a democratic way of life.

3. A continuous critical reexamination of the meaning of the democratic way of life under the altered social conditions is needed.

4. Critical examinations and reconstruction of the current problem and conditions, rather than inculcation of traditional ideas, most constitute the cores of the educational program of today.

2. Existentialism – is a philosophical view which may b defined in various ways, but it does have three basic approaches which characterize the central features:

1. As a new attempt to deal with some old persistent ethico – religious problems. 2. As a group of revolts against the traditional way of thinking. 3. As a historical movement.

With regard to education, existentialism holds that it is better to work together on the great fronts of human necessity than to divide an abstract issues. Curriculum needs a philosophical undergirding that stresses these elements:

1. A development of both the intellectual and affective potential of man 2. An attempt to strengthen the conscious control of choice, through the willed intelligence. 3. The close interrelationship of means and ends (as with method and content). 4. A recognition of social and cultural forces as well as responsible individualism. 5. The necessity for education to furnish “binders” and “linkages” (respect, communication, love, etc.) to establish

community, to rescue man from his loneliness, and to prevent social breakdown. 6. The need to bring man’s values and value sources to the school.

Since the Trinitarian search for the truth, the good and the beautiful is basically the aim of education, the curriculum which is its tool must be necessarily be treated in the same manner.

Hence, the Trinity scheme of curriculum:

1. The search for truth: Theory of Knowledge 2. The search for the Good: Theory of Value 3. The search for Beauty: Aesthetic Value

The Search for Truth: Theory of Knowledge

The beginning point of truth in a curriculum depends on two categories:

TRINITARIAN SCHEME OF THE CURRICULUM

1. “Knowing that” or proposition knowledge 2. “Knowing how” or cognition action “Knowing that” is derived from the knowledge of the First Principles and from the questions which the educators put. Knowledge from the

First Principle is guided by the ascending hierarchy of the subject matter classified from Physical Sciences to Mathematics, Logic to Metaphysics.

The Cognitive action in a curriculum pertains to the learning skills. It is obtained in two ways:

1. Emperical Approach – the truth is discovered by noting what activities a person usually engages in and is later arranged to produce the learner’s cognitive experience in each of them.

2. Conceptual Approach – the activities of one student are grouped under conceptual heads rather than touching the details. This is a more practical approach.

Ways in the treatment of Subject Matter of the Curriculum as Knowledge

a. Reading-to-Wear In this aspect, the subject matter is found collected, systematized and printed in textbooks, encyclopedias and dictionaries so

that the teacher will only make the appropriate selection in advance from this wardrobe of knowledge assigned to a student to acquire and make his own.

b. Custom-made This is centered more in the pupil’s problem. The curriculum is made in terms of the pupil’s need. Hence, there is no ready answer for any problem. No precise formulation is made in the curriculum in advance of the emergence of the problem. The curriculum is unfolded by making a selection for the Store-house of culture. The selection of the subject matter is termed knowledge in the form adopted for use and is used to the extent warranted by its outcome.

Most educators view the subject matter in a curriculum as ready-to-wear knowledge, that is, already the status of knowledge. The subject matter is held as a truth tempered and hammered on the anvil of experience to as nea perfect shape as human effort can bring it. Thus, the function of the school is to teach theory rather than to teach to a learner what to do in a particular and concrete situation. Pure theory is important because it gives the principles and frame of reference by which to organizes the particular of experience.

The curriculum is considered as the funded capital of truth when it takes from the repository of social heritage.

Three Philosophical Doctrines – The truth of Knowledge in the curriculum

1. Idealist Knowledge in the curriculum is true if it achieves consistency among observers. To researchers, a test is reliable and objective if

the successive impression of a single investigator tend to be consistent with each other and with those of other investigators operating under the same experimental conditions.

2. Realists Knowledge is true if men’s ideas correspond to his external reality. This proceeds from the metaphysical theory that there is an

objective world independent of a human knower. The person engaged in education research literally finds the truth. The researcher discovers it in cutting through the cover of ignorance or misunderstanding during the period of search. Truth is not temporal but eternal and inimitable.

3. Pragmatist Knowledge if true if it is workable. Ideas are true or false only in as much as they clear up some confusions that obstruct

educational practice. Truth does not exist, it happens. The test of truth is in its workability.

The Search for the Good: Theory of Value

The curriculum should also be shaped according to values as required by the needs of the individual and the social culture. The needs of the individual can be prescriptive and motivational. The needs of society are also considered because education occurs in the social matrix.

Flexibility in the curriculum must be held in meeting the individual differences of learners since individuality is the ultimate nature of reality. The curriculum should be broad enough to cater to every learner.

Doctrines in Value Theory

1. Value are internal and subjective These theories are biological and psychological in origin. The value of textbooks, curriculum or laboratories depends on how they

satisfy wants and fulfill the needs of the students. Their value is precisely when learners and teachers project their feelings into them.

2. Values resident in the curriculum are external and objective There is entology of value with real existence in the laws of nature because everything has form and purpose.

For example; the computer shapes the wood into a table. The value of the table is in its form and purpose. The value is inherent in human desire, it antedates it.

3. Value is both external and internal like a product of the relations between them Value is made of environment and organism. The nature of interaction is in “interest”, meaning “to be between” as the word

suggests.

According to the first doctrine, values in a curriculum are consummatory when they involve simple and immediate likings. Further, values are consummatory when they satisfy unique wants which can not be satisfied by any other thing. Satisfying all desires which are consummatory is not enough. There is no time to realize all worthy desires. Hence, there is a need to choose between desires.

To elucidate the matter, let us look on the two kinds of educational values:

1. Extrinsic or instrumental values are such when they are adjudged as good for something depending on their consequences. 2. Intrinsic values are adjudged good when their goodness is self-contained, inherent and not contingent. In choosing what is the good thing among desires, the hierarchies of values must be considered. They are as follows:

1. Those with external values. The lowest of which is simple, immediate desire or animal desire, e.g. spontaneous joy in play, song. The higher values are those rationally adjudged valuable in the light of their consequences and in harmony with the cosmic designs.

2. Those whose intrinsic values are self-contained and not inherent 3. Temporal values must give way to external values. 4. More inclusive takes priority over the exclusive and many-sided over less-varied. 5. More intellectual content over physical content, or for example, Science has more value than Physical Education.

Aesthetic Dimension of Curriculum

The beautiful occupies a great deal in curriculum making. As art occupies a leisure part of life, so the beautiful must occupy a leisure part of education. The beautiful can always enrich the aims of the curricular, make them better understood and increase potentiality.

In truth and in fact all subjects have aesthetic values but unfortunately many educators limit aesthetic values to fine arts. Through the joy of polished performance, a teacher could actually bring the subject matter to such a fine point of perfection that could enhance its appreciative values. Routine, is the enemy of artistic teaching. By failing to recognize the uniqueness of the moment of teaching when there is a new set of learners, although with the same subject matter, the teacher could really paralyze the curriculum.

Man is a single unitary being with a duality of composition, a trinity of powers and a suprasensuous destiny. Since the subject of education, and of curriculum development is man, theological consideration is a must during the process of curriculum process.

Theological Foundations of Curriculum Development

1. God-centeredness In man, body and soul are substantially united, they interact and are interdependent. The soul which is a spirit is immortal and

continues to live. A curriculum developed for the perfection of the whole man lacks a strong foundation if it puts aside this theological considerations.

2. Christ-centeredness God’s plan and providence can be understood only in the context of time and space. For this reason, He revealed Himself in the

person of Christ, His model incarnated in a tangible Personality. Christ Himself said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”.

3. Community-centeredness The community or the people of God is the extension of God and Christ through space and time. He continues to be present in

the community which is connecting link between Him and man. The experience of the community leads naturally to service. God gives his people different gifts not only for themselves but for others. Each must serve the other for the good of all.

The curriculum must have for its aim the building and experiencing of the community, and service to others. A true education aims at the formation of the human person to the good of those societies of which as a man, he is a member and in whose responsibilities as an adult, he will share.

THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

2.1 What is Philosophy?

Let’s begin with philosophy. The word philosophy is a combination of the Greek word “philos” (love) and “sophia” (wisdom) which translated means “love of wisdom”. Philosophers are people who seek after wisdom and curious about the world seeking to understand the nature of things. Oftentimes, the result of philosophy is not so much putting forward new philosophies or propositions but making existing philosophies or propositions clearer. Philosophers study the works of other philosophers and state anew what others have put forward as well as proposing new philosophies. A philosopher can be a person who knows philosophy even though he or she engages in little or no philosophising. Philosophy also refers to the collective works of other philosophers. It can mean the academic exploration of various questions raised by philosophers.

For centuries philosophers have been interested with such concepts as morality, goodness, knowledge, truth, beauty and our very existence. Among the questions philosophers ask are:

What is truth? Why do we say a statement is correct or false?

How do we know what we know?

What is reality? What things can be describe as real?

What is the nature of thought and thinking?

What is special about being a human being?

Is there anything special about being alive at all?

What is ethics?

What does it mean when something is right or wrong; good or bad?

What is beauty?

How do beautiful things differ from others?

Philosophers use certain methods of inquiry. They often frame their questions as problems or puzzles about subjects they find interesting and confusing. Popularly, the word philosophy may also refer to someone’s perspective on life (philosophy of life) or the underlying principles or method of achieving something.

Now, let’s examine a branch of philosophy, namely; philosophy of

education. What is philosophy of education? Philosophy of education is the study of questions such as ‘What is education?’ ‘What is the purpose of education?’, ‘What does it mean to know something?’ ‘What is the relationship between education and society?’ The philosophy of education recognises that the development of a civil society depends on the education of the young as responsible, thoughtful and enterprising citizens which is a challenging task requiring deep understanding of ethical principles, moral values, political theory, aesthetics and economics; not to mention an understanding of children themselves.

Most of the prominent philosophers in the last 2000 years were not philosophers of education but have at some point considered and written on the philosophy of education. Among them are Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Dewey, Adler, Confucius, Al Farabi, Tagore and many others [we will discuss their contributions to education later in the chapter]. These philosophers have been key voices in philosophy of education and have contributed to our basic understanding of what education is and can be. They have also provided powerful critical perspectives revealing the problems

in education.

What is the connection between philosophy and curriculum? For example, when you propose the teaching of a particular body of knowledge, course or subject, you will be asked, “What is your philosophy for introducing that content?” If you are unable to answer the question, you may not be able to convince others to accept your proposal. Philosophy is the starting point in any curriculum decision making and is the basis for all subsequent decisions regarding curriculum. Philosophy becomes the criteria for determining the aims, selection, organisation and implementation of the curriculum in the classroom.

Philosophy helps us answer general questions such as: ‘What are schools for?’ ‘What subjects are of value?’, ‘How should students learn the content?’ It also helps us to answer more precise tasks such as deciding what textbooks to use, how to use them, what homework to assign and how much of it, how to test and use the results.

Would you believe that the above statement was written more that 2000 years ago by the Greek philosopher Aristotle and we are still debating the same issues today. Sometimes one wonders whether we know what we want! We lament about the poor level of basic skills of students and call for a return to the basics. At the same time we want students to develop critical thinking skills and call for lesser emphasis on rote learning. Through the centuries, many philosophies of education have emerged, each with their own beliefs about education. In this chapter, we will discuss four philosophies, namely; perennialism, essentialism, progressivism and reconstructionism proposed by Western philosophers. Also, discussed are the viewpoints of three Eastern philosophers; namely, al-Farabi, Tagore and Confucius. Each of these educational philosophies is examined to see what

curriculum is proposed and how teaching and learning should be conducted.

2.4.1 What is Perennialism?

Perennial means "everlasting," like a perennial flower that blooms year after year.

2.2 Philosophy of Education

2.3 Philosophy and Curriculum

2.4 Perennialism

Perennialism, the oldest and most conservative educational philosophy has its roots in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Two modern day proponents of perennialism are Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler. The perennialists believed that humans are rational and the aim of education is “to improve man as man” (Hutchins, 1953). The answers to all educational questions derive from the answer to one question: What is human nature? According to them, human nature is constant and humans have the ability to understand the universal truths of nature. Thus, the aim of education is to develop the rational person and to uncover universal truths by training the intellect. Towards developing one’s moral and spiritual being, character education should be emphasised.

Perennialism is based on the belief that some ideas have lasted over centuries and are as relevant today as when they were first conceived. These ideas should be studied in school. A list of the ‘Great Books’ was proposed covering topics in literature, art, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, science, economics, politics and so forth. Examples of such books are: Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe, War and Peace written by Leo Tolstoy, Moby Dick written by Herman Melville, Euclid’s book Elements on geometry, Newton’s book on Optics, The Sexual Enlightenment of Children written by Sigmund Freud, An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and many others. The book selected had to have contemporary significance, that is, it should be relevant to the problems and issues of present times. The book should espouse ideas and issues that have occupied the minds of thinking individuals in the last 2000 years. The book should attract people to read it again and again and benefit from it. The perennialists believed that these are history's finest thinkers and writers. Their ideas are profound and meaningful even today as when they were written. When students are immersed in the study of these profound and enduring ideas, they will appreciate learning for its own sake as well as develop their intellectual powers and moral qualities.

2.4.2 The Perennialist Curriculum

Based on the beliefs of perennialism, the curriculum proposed had the following characteristics:

The ‘Great Books’ programme or more commonly called the liberal arts will discipline the mind and cultivate the intellect. To read the book in its original language, students must learn Latin and Greek. Students also had to learn grammar, rhetoric, logic, advanced mathematics and philosophy (Hutchins, 1936).

The study of philosophy is a crucial part of the perennialist curriculum. This was because they wanted students to discover those ideas that are most insightful and timeless in understanding the human condition.

At a much later time, Mortimer Adler (1982) in his book the Paideia Proposal, recommended a single elementary and secondary curriculum for all students. The educationally disadvantaged had to spend some time in pre-schools.

Perennialists were not keen on allowing students to take electives (except second languages) such as vocational and life-adjustment subjects. They argued that these subjects denied students the opportunity to fully develop their rational powers.

The perennialists criticised the vast amount of disjointed factual information that educators have required students to absorb. They urge that teachers should spend more time teaching concepts and explaining how these concepts are meaningful to students.

Since, enormous amount of scientific knowledge has been produced, teaching should focus on the processes by which scientific truths have been discovered. However, the perennialists advise that students should not be taught information that may soon be obsolete or found to be incorrect because of future scientific and technological findings.

At the secondary and university level, perennialists were against reliance on textbooks and lectures in communicating ideas. Emphasis should be on teacher-guided seminars, where students and teachers engage in dialogue; and mutual inquiry sessions to enhance understanding of the great ideas and concepts that have stood the test to time. Student should learns to learn, and not to be evaluated

Universities should not only prepare students for specific careers but to pursue knowledge for its own sake. “University students may learn a few trees, perennialists claim, but many will be quite ignorant about the forests: the timeless philosophical questions “ (Hutchins, 1936)

Teaching reasoning using the ‘Great Books’ of Western writers is advocated using the Socratic method to discipline the minds of students. Emphasis should be on scientific reasoning rather than mere acquisition of facts. Teach science but not technology, great ideas rather than vocational topics.

Perennialists argue that the topics of the great books describe any society, at any time, and thus the books are appropriate for American society. Students must learn to recognise controversy and disagreement in these books because they reflect real disagreements between persons. Students must think about the disagreements and reach a reasoned, defensible conclusion.

School should teach religious values or ethics. The difference between right and wrong should be emphasized so that students will have definite rules that they must follow.

The Great Books

The Great Books refer to a curriculum and a book list that came about as the result of a discussion among American academics and educators, starting in the 1920s and 1930s. It was initiated by John Erskine on how to improve higher education by returning to the western liberal arts tradition of broad cross-disciplinary learning. Notable among the academics and educators was Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler.

They felt that the emphasis on narrow specialisation in American universities and colleges had harmed the quality of higher education by failing to expose students to the important products of Western civilization and thought.

The Great Books started out as a list of 100 essential texts which were selected based on the criteria that it had relevance to present problems and issues and it is relevant to a large number of the great ideas and great issues that have occupied the minds of thinking individuals.

The Great Books covered topics including fiction, history, poetry, natural science, mathematics, philosophy, drama, politics, religion, economics and ethics. Examples of the books are:

Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey

Works of Aristotle and Plato

Archimedes Measurement of a circle, On Spirals, Treating Mechanical Problems

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

Shakespeare’s complete works

Descartes The Geometry

Isaac Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

Karl Marx’s Das Kapital

Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace

William James’ The Principle of Psychology

The Great Books was criticised as being elitist and giving importance to ‘dead white males’, while ignoring the contributions of females and minorities (such as Afro-Americans). Another harmful criticism was that the books were more to create the illusion of being cultured without any real substance behind it.

2.5.1 What is Essentialism?

Essentialism comes from the word ‘essential’ which means the main things or the basics. As an educational philosophy, it advocates instilling in students with the "essentials" or “basics” of academic knowledge and character development. The term essentialism as an educational philosophy was originally popularised in the 1930s by William Bagley and later in the 1950s by Arthur Bestor and Admiral Rickover. When it was first introduced as an educational philosophy in American schools, it was criticised as being too rigid. In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik which caused a panic in educational circles as Americans felt they had fallen behind the Soviet Union technologically. A rethinking of education followed that led to interest in essentialism.

Essentialism was grounded in a conservative philosophy that argues that schools should not try to radically reshape society. Rather, they should transmit traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens. Essentialists believe that teachers should instill traditional virtues such as respect for authority, fidelity to duty, consideration for others and practicality. Essentialism placed importance on science and understanding the world through scientific experimentation. To convey important knowledge about the world, essentialist educators emphasised instruction in natural science rather than non-scientific disciplines such as philosophy or comparative religion.

2.5.2 The Essentialist Curriculum

Based on the beliefs of essentialism, the curriculum proposed has the following characteristics:

The ‘basics’ of the essentialist curriculum are mathematics, natural science, history, foreign language, and literature. Essentialists disapprove of vocational, life-adjustment, or other courses with "watered down" academic content.

Elementary students receive instruction in skills such as writing, reading, and measurement. Even while learning art and music (subjects most often associated with the development of creativity) students are required to master a body of information and basic techniques, gradually moving from less to more complex skills and detailed knowledge. Only by mastering the required material for their grade level are students promoted to the next higher grade.

Essentialist programs are academically rigorous, for both slow and fast learners. Common subjects for all students regardless of abilities and interests. But, how much is to be learned is adjusted according to student ability.

It advocates a longer school day, a longer academic year, and more challenging textbooks. Essentialists maintain that classrooms should be oriented around the teacher, who serves as the intellectual and moral role model for students.

Teaching is teacher-centred and teachers decide what is most important for students to learn with little emphasis on student interests because it will divert time and attention from learning the academic subjects. Essentialist teachers focus heavily on achievement test scores as a means of evaluating progress.

In an essentialist classroom, students are taught to be "culturally literate," that is, to possess a working knowledge about the people, events, ideas, and institutions that have shaped society. Essentialists hope that when students leave school, they will possess not only basic skills and extensive knowledge, but also disciplined and practical minds, capable of applying their knowledge in real world settings.

Discipline is necessary for systematic learning in a school situation. Students learn to respect authority in both school and society.

Teachers need to be mature and well educated, who know their subjects well and can transmit their knowledge to students.

2.6.1 What is Progressivism?

Progressivism is a philosophical belief that argues that education must be based on the fact that humans are by nature social and learn best in real-life activities with other people. The person most responsible for progressivism was John Dewey (1859-1952). The progressive movement stimulated American schools to broaden their curriculum, making education more relevant to the needs and interests of students. Dewey wrote extensively on psychology, epistemology (the origin of knowledge), ethics and democracy. But, his philosophy of education laid the foundation for

2.5 Essentialism

2.6 Progressivism

progressivism. In 1896, while a professor at the University of Chicago, Dewey founded the famous Laboratory School to test his educational ideas. His writings and work with the Laboratory School set the stage for the progressive education movement.

According to Dewey, the role of education is to transmit society’s identity by preparing young people for adult life. He was a keen advocate of democracy and for it to flourish, he felt that education should allow learners to realise their interests and potential. Learners should learn to work with others because learning in isolation separates the mind from action. According to him certain abilities and skills can only be learned in a group. Social and intellectual interaction dissolves the artificial barriers of race and class by encouraging communication between various social groups (Dewey, 1920). He described education as a process of growth and experimentation in which thought and reason are applied to the solution of problems. Children should learn as if they were scientists using the scientific method proposed by Dewey (1920):

1. To be aware of the problem (eg. plants need sunlight to grow) 2. Define the problem (eg. can plants grow without sunlight) 3. Propose hypotheses to solve it 4. Test the hypotheses 5. Evaluate the best solution to the problem

Students should be constantly experimenting and solving problems; reconstructing their experiences and creating new knowledge using the proposed five steps. Teachers should not only emphasise drill and practice, but should expose learners to activities that relate to he real life situations of students, emphasising ‘Learning by doing’.

2.6.2 The Progressive Curriculum

Progressivists emphasise the study of the natural and social sciences. Teacher should introduce students to new scientific, technological, and social developments. To expand the personal experience of learners, learning should be related to present community life. Believing that people learn best from what they consider most relevant to their lives, the curriculum should centre on the experiences, interests, and abilities of students.

Teachers should plan lessons that arouse curiosity and push students towards higher order thinking and knowledge construction. For example, in addition to reading textbooks, students must learn by doing such as fieldtrips where they can interact with nature and society.

Students are encouraged to interact with one another and develop social virtues such as cooperation and tolerance for different points of view.

Teachers should not be confined to focusing on one discrete discipline at a time but should introduce lessons that combine several different subjects.

Students are to be exposed to a more democratic curriculum that recognises accomplishments of all citizens regardless of race, cultural background or gender. addition,

By including instruction in industrial arts and home economics, progressivists strive to make schooling both interesting and useful. Ideally, the home, workplace, and schoolhouse blend together to generate a continuous, fulfilling learning experience in life. It is the progressivist dream that the dreary, seemingly irrelevant classroom exercises that so many adults recall from childhood will someday become a thing of the past. Students solve problems in the classroom similar to those they will encounter outside school.

2.7.1 What is Reconstructionism?

Reconstructionism was a philosophy uniquely popular in the U.S. during the 1930's through the 1960's. It was largely the brain child of Theodore Brameld from Columbia Teachers College. He began as a communist, but shifted to reconstructionism. Reconstructionists favor reform and argue that students must be taught how to bring about change. Reconstructionism is a philosophy that believes in the rebuilding of social and cultural infrastructures. Students are to study social problems and think of ways to improve society. Another proponent of reconstructionism was George Counts (1932) who in a speech titled Dare the School Build a New Social Order suggested that schools become the agent of social change and social reform. Students cannot afford to be neutral but must take a position.

Most advocates of reconstructionism are sensitive to race, gender, ethnicity and differences in socioeconomic status. Related to reconstructionism is another belief called critical pedagogy. It is primarily a teaching and curriculum theory, designed by Henry Giroux and Peter McLaren, which focuses upon the use of revolutionary literature in classrooms that is aimed at "liberation." Radical in its conception, critical pedagogy was based on Marxist ideology which advocates equality in the distribution of wealth and strongly against capitalism. More recent reconstructionists such as Paulo Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968) advocated a revolutionary pedagogy for poor students in which people can move through different stages to ultimately be able to take action and overcome oppression. He argued that people must become active participants in changing their own status through social action to change bring about social justice.

2.7.2 The Reconstructionist Curriculum

In the reconstructionist curriculum, it was not enough for students to just analyse interpret and evaluate social problems. They had to be committed to the issues discussed and encouraged to take action to bring about constructive change.

The curriculum is to be based on social and economic issues as well as social service. The curriculum should engage students in critical analysis of the local, national and international community. Examples of issues are poverty, environment degradation, unemployment, crime, war, political oppression, hunger, etc.

2.7 Reconstructionism

There are many injustices in society and inequalities in terms of race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Schools are obliged to educate children towards resolution of these injustices and students should not be afraid to examine controversial issues. Students should learn to come to a consensus on issues and so group work was encouraged.

The curriculum should be constantly changing to meet the changes in society. Students be aware of global issues and the interdependence between nations. Enhancing mutual understanding and global cooperation should be the focus of the curriculum.

Teachers are considered the prime agents of social change, cultural renewal and internationalism. They are encouraged to challenge outdated structures and entrusted with the task of bringing about a new social order which may be utopian in nature.

In general, the curriculum emphasised the social sciences (such as history, political science, economics, sociology, religion, ethics, poetry, and philosophy), rather than the sciences.

Al-Farabi (872-950 AD) was born in Wasij, in the province of Farab in Turkestan, of a noble family. To understand the universe and humankind he undertook the meticulous study of ancient philosophy (particularly Plato and Aristotle) which he integrated into his own Islamic-Arabic civilization whose chief source was the Qur’an. Al-Farabi used a number of terms to describe education: discipline (ta’dib), training (tahdhib), guidance (tasdid), instruction (ta’lim), exercise or learning (irtiyad) and upbringing (tarbiya) (quoted in Ammar al-Talbi, 1993). He believed that the first aim of knowledge was knowledge of God and His attributes. He emphasised the need for unity of society and the State to be achieved by unity of thought, wisdom and religion.

2.8.1 Al-Farabi on Education

According to him the whole activity of education is the acquisition of values, knowledge and practical skills leading to perfection and the attainment of happiness. The perfect human being (al insan al kamil) is one who has acquired

o theoretical virtue (intellectual knowledge) and o practical moral virtues (moral behaviour).

Virtue is the state of mind in which the human being carries out good and kind deeds such as wisdom, common sense, inventiveness, cleverness, temperance, courage, generosity and justice (Al-Farabi, Talkhis, cited in Ammar al-Talbi, 1993).

Theoretical and practical virtue can only be obtained within society, for it is society that nurtures the individual and prepares him or her to be free. Thus, one of the goals of education is the creation of the ideal community, ‘the one whose cities all work together in order to attain happiness’ (Al-Farabi, Mabadi ahl al-madina al-fadila, cited in Ammar al-Talbi, 1993).

Another aim of education is to educate political leaders, because ignorance among them is more harmful than it is in the common person.

He considered the method of dialogue or debate as important in instruction. The method of argument and the method of discourse which can be used orally or in writing. For the common people, the methods used must be closely related to what they can grasp and understand.

He also emphasised on the need for scientific discourse; that by which the knowledge of something is obtained either through asking questions about the thing, or from the replies obtained, or by resolving a scientific problem (Al-Farabi, Kitab al-huraf, cited in Ammar al-Talbi, 1993).

In this book Al-Alfaz, Farabi argues that there are two types of learning: learning through speech and learning by imitation (observing other people’s actions with the intention of imitating or applying them).

The method of instruction must be appropriate to the level of learners. For example, the method of imagination is encouraged for teaching the hard to grasp concepts to common people. The educator resorts to metaphors and illustrations in teaching especially for people who are reluctant to learn (Al-Farabi, Tahsil, cited in Ammar al-Talbi, 1993).

According to Al-Farabi, understanding is better than memorization because the former deals mainly with details which could go on forever and hardly useful. But the action of understanding concerns meanings, universals and laws which are valid for all.

2.8.2 Al-Farabi on Curriculum

Al-Farabi classified the sciences and learning not just for the sake of listing them, but with an educational objective in mind.

Content to be taught as suggested by Al-Farabi o Language and its structure (to express oneself and understand others) o Logic (mantiq) which includes verbal expression and intellectual procedures o Mathematics (he divided into 7 parts)

- arithmetic (begin with numbers and proceeding to measures) - geometry (use of geometric shapes to stimulate imagination) - the science of optics - astronomy (study of instruments and observation skills) - music (making and listening to musical instruments) - dynamics (eg. momentum) - science of machines

o Natural sciences o Religion and scholastic theology (kalam) o Political science/civics o Jurisprudence (fiqh) and law (qanun)

Mathematics called ‘the teachings’ (ta’alim) was given importance because it trains students toward the path of precision and clarity. The student is to begin with studying arithmetic (numbers) followed by geometry, optics, astronomy, music, dynamics and last of all mechanics. The

2.8 Abu Nasr al-Farabi

student moves in stages from the immaterial and the immeasurable to what needs some matter. (Al-Farabi, Ihsa’ al-‘ulum, cited in Ammar al-Talbi, 1993).

On evaluation, Al-Farabi emphasised that the aim of an examination is to find out a learner’s level in the field being studied. He believed that the questions students ask could have either an educational or an experimental character. Educational is when students demonstrate that they have mastered something. Experimental is when students test themselves using instruments (such as compass, abacus, ruler, tables) to determine whether they know the rules.

Al-Farabi drew attention to the purpose of educational games and the role of play in human activity. He recommended games that stimulate creativity. Play should be used appropriately to restore the learner’s strength to undertake more serious activity.

Confucius (551-479 BC), born in Quyi in the principality of Lu, is one of China’s most famous philosophers. He spent a lifetime learning as well as teaching. He stated that education plays a fundamental role in the development of society and of individuals alike. Education should seek to produce virtuous individuals which will alter human nature. By raising individual moral standard, society will become more virtuous and the country will be well-governed and its citizens law-abiding. He rejected feudalism in which the status of an individual was passed from one generation to the next based on birth which was prevalent during his time. His recommendations are in the Analects (Lun Yu) which is a record of his speeches and his disciples, as well as the discussions they had. It literally means “discussions over words”. Confucian thought was not confined to China. It spread to Japan, Vietnam, North and South Korea, and parts of Southeast Asia.

2.9.1 Confucius and Education

According to Confucius, education is to produce capable individuals (ziancai) whom he called shi (gentlemen) or junzi (men of quality) who combined competence with virtue. They would serve the government and bring about an ideal managed by men of virtue. The cultivation of virtue was to be through observation, study and reflective thought.

Among the virtues given priority are: filial piety (xiao), respect for the elderly (ti), loyalty (zhong), respectfulness (gong), magnanimity (kuan); fidelity (xin), diligence (min), altruism (hui), kindness (liang), frugality (jian), tolerance (rang), wisdom (zhi) and courage (yong).

Education was to be made available to all, regardless of socioeconomic status or social standing. He denounced favouritism and the passing of office from one generation of nobles to the next (Yang Huanyin, 1993).

According to Confucius, ‘Study without thought is labour lost; thought without study is dangerous’. He saw learning as a process of observation of some type of subject matter, whether it be books, objects or people, followed by reflection.

He saw learning as a highly personal and individual activity but when awakened by real learning would be repeated by the student. Teachers should be committed to their work and have good mastery of the knowledge to be imparted.

A good teacher must love his students, know them well, understand their psychological uniqueness, give thought to ways and means of facilitating their access to knowledge (Yang Huanyin, 1993).

A mistake is acting on premature knowledge based on insufficient observation and insufficient processing. A lie is having full knowledge and deliberately misrepresenting that knowledge.

2.9.2 Confucius on Curriculum

Confucius stipulated that the main emphasis of the curriculum should be moral instruction and the imparting of knowledge. Moral education was thus for Confucius the means whereby his ideas concerning virtue might be realised.

Content to be taught as proposed by Confucius o His six books; the Book of Odes, the Book of History, the Book of Rites, the Book of Music, the Book of Changes and the Spring and

Autumn Annals – which dealt with subjects such as philosophy, politics, economics, culture and musicianship. o Music, o The Code and Manner of Proper Conduct (Li), o Poetry, o Literature o History.

His emphasis on political and moral principles led to ignoring the natural sciences, trade and agriculture.

His curriculum served as the curriculum for 2000 years in feudal China and the following pedagogical strategies were proposed: o to match learning with the aptitudes of students (consider the age of learners) o to inspire and guide learners by stages o to instruct oneself while teaching others o to explain the present in the light of the past o to combine theory with practice o to encourage independent thought o to set a good example o to correct one’s errors and improve oneself

2.9 Confucius

o to welcome criticism o to curb evil and exalt the good.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) born in Calcutta, India was known for his socio-religious and cultural innovations. In 1901 he founded a school at Santiniketan (that developed into a university) based on the ancient forest schools which emphasised three basic elements of Indian culture, namely Advaita (non-duality) in the field of knowledge, friendship for all in the field of feeling, and fulfillment of one’s duties without concern for the outcomes in the field of action (Narmadeshwar Jha, 1994).

2.10.1 Tagore and Education.

Education should aim for the all-round development of the individual personality through interaction and union with the environment. Education should provide the individual with a satisfactory means of livelihood followed by fulfillment and completeness. Schools should be made more lively and enjoyable. They should be more attractive and productive.

The ideal school should be established away from the turmoil of human habitation under an open sky and surrounded by the fields, trees and plants. Classes were held outdoor (whenever the weather permitted) so that students gained from being in a natural setting while learning (Tagore, Siksha cited in Narmadeshwar Jha, 1994)

He was against bookish learning because it deprieves one of learning from the real-world. Students should gather knowledge and materials from different sources of nature through their own efforts.

On university education he suggested that it should be based on knowledge of economics, agriculture, health, medicine and other subjects that reflects life in the surrounding villages. Universities should attempt to push for the growth of rural areas (Narmadeshwar Jha, 1994)

Emphasis should be more on self-motivation rather than on discipline, and on fostering intellectual curiosity rather than competitive excellence.

He insisted on open debate on every issue and distrusted conclusions based on a mechanical formula, no matter how attractive that formula might seem in isolation.

2.10.2 Tagore and Curriculum

He put great emphasis on the use of the national language as the medium of instruction at all stages of education. The younger generation should be aware of their

cultural heritage but at the same time they should be exposed to the cultures of other countries and learn from them.

He wanted women and men to be offered similar theoretical courses with separate practical courses for women, since their roles in life differed from those of men.

In his view, education was not intellectual development alone. It should also develop a student’s aesthetic nature and creativity. The quest for knowledge and physical activity in an agreeable environment were integral parts of the process.

Nature walks and excursions were part of the curriculum and students were encouraged to follow the life cycle of insects, birds and plants.

Aesthetic development was important as intellectual development; if not more so. This would include music, art, literature, drama and dance which should be given prominence in the daily life of the school (O’Connell, 2003).l

He advocated a teaching system that analysed history and culture for the progress that had been made in breaking down social and religious barriers. Such an approach will integrate individuals of diverse backgrounds and narrow the gap between rich and poor (Narmadeshwar Jha, 1994).

The curriculum was flexible. Class discussion would move from Indian traditional literature to contemporary as well as classical Western thought, and then to the culture of China or Japan or elsewhere.

Historical Foundations of Curriculum

Colonial Period

• New England- The first schools were linked to the Puritan church

• Their goals were:

– For students to be able to read scripture to propagate the religion

– For students to be able to read notices relate to civil affairs, laws, doctrines,

Massachusetts

• Had same goals as the early New England colonies

• Passed a law called the Old Deluder Satan Act

2.10 Rabindranath Tagore

– It required all towns of 50 or more families to a reading and writing teacher

– All towns of 100 or more had to have a Latin teacher as well

– Goal to prepare students to enter Harvard

– To make sure there was never an uneducated lower class like there was in Europe

Middle Atlantic Colonies

• Education was more difficult here because there were so many different languages

– German, English, Dutch

• As a result they ended up without one common system of education

• They ended up with many parochial Schools and independent schools related to the different ethnic groups

• Still in effect today to some extent

Southern Schools

• Did not have an formal system

• Wealthy landowner’s children had private tutors

• Later these same people were required to provide a basic education for poor children, orphans and illegitimate children

• But this system maintained the great inequity in the classes and remained that way long after the civil war

Basics of all Colonial Schools

• Taught mostly Reading and Writing with some arithmetic

• Taught some religion

• Teachers were to be strict disciplinarians

• Believed that:

– Children were born in sin

– Play was bad it was idleness

– Children‘s talk was gibberish

Types of Colonial Schools

• Town Schools

• Parochial Schools

• Private schools

• Latin Grammar Schools

• Academies

• Colleges

Town Schools

• Locally controlled public elementary schools

• One room, with a teacher pulpit

• Both boys and girls attended school

• Attendance was irregular depending if the children were needed to support the family

Parochial and Private Schools

• Established by different religious groups for children of their own kind

• Focused on reading, writing and religion

• The south also had a version of these,

• In the south poorer children attended “charity schools- less demanding and taught vocational skills

Latin Grammar Schools

• In the early 1600's Puritan families were concerned with the thoughts that someday their trained and learned leaders would be no more.

• As a result they established the Latin Grammar Schools.

• For boys only at first

• Major goal was to prepare them for entrance into Harvard

• In a further attempt to ease their fears of not having an educated ministry the Puritans founded Harvard College.

• In order to enter this college one has to pass an entrance exam which demanded that they knew how to read and speak Latin and Greek.

• The Latin Grammar school focused initially on English then on Latin and Greek

Colleges

• Initially most colleges were for the preparation of ministers, Harvard, Yale, Cornell Based on the puritan view that ministers had to demonstrate a mastery in Latin, Greek and the classics

• Other course included , logic, astronomy and math, natural sciences and metaphysics

• Every religion had its own college

• PA has one of the most

Academies

• Based on Ben Franklin’s Idea,

• Intended to offer a practical education for this not going to college

• Courses included- English, grammar, public speaking, classics, writing, Practical math, history as a study of ethics

• and many practical skills, including engraving, printing, painting, cabinet making, farming and bookkeeping

Textbook

• Textbooks were first introduced around 1690

• One of the first was The Hornbook Primer, included Westminster Catechism and old testament

• The book was made from flattened cattle horns, hence the horn book

• Most books of this time taught alphabet

• Focused on rote and drill

• Textbooks later written by Thomas Dillworth

• he wrote a variety of books

• Initially one book for all subjects

• Then the books became specialized as they are now

1176-1850

• With a new government came a new mission for schools

• At this time we saw the first laws to mandate the existences of schools in certain communities

• Did not mandate attendance

• Saw the beginning of removing religion from the schools a big push for secularism

Benjamin Rush

• Was one of the first to begin a push to remove the classics from education.

• He equated learning the classics, two dead languages, ( Greek and Latin) “To amusing ourselves catching Butterflies”

• Wanted school to advance democracy and explore our natural resources

• Was one of the first to outline a plan for PA to have a elementary school in every township of 100 or more families

• He wanted free academies at the county level and free colleges at the university level

• He wanted Tax dollars to pay for it all

• His elementary curriculum emphasized reading, math and writing, his secondary curriculum had English, German, the arts, science

Thomas Jefferson

• Was a farmer at heart and had faith in the agrarian society and distrusted the urban proletariats

• He proposed a plan for VA that would educate the common man and the gentry at “the expense of all”- public taxes

• Curriculum very similar to rush

• Felt schools were needed to support the democracy

Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Rush

• Both of their plans were never passed

• Although both concepts helped to shape the schools that would come

Webster

• Creating schools in the new country and agreeing on a curriculum was more of a problem because we had so many diverse cultures

• Noah Webster felt we needed our own language as well as our own government- we needed our own cultural independence as well

• He wrote several books in this effort

• Some of these books were grammar books spelling books

• The only book that lasted was his dictionary

• The American Dictionary- helped create a sense of a US language, identity and nationality

McGuffey’ Readers

• McGuffey was also a patriot and felt that although the young country owed a lot of its culture to other parts of the world, That the United States had also made some contribution to humankind

• He developed a set of readers, the best selling textbook for decades

• Extolled the patriotism heroism, hard work, diligence and virtuous living

European Influences

• Although there was a push from people like Webster and McGuffey to develop a nationalistic American way, education was highly influenced by people like

– Pestalozzi

– Froebel

– Herbart

– Spencer

Pestalozzi

• Was a Swiss Educator

• Is credited for laying the basics for today’s elementary school

• Wanted children to learn through their senses

• He deplored rote learning

• Proposed a general and special method

– General method- educators provided emotional security and affection for students

– Special method- dealt with dealing with senses like auditory and visual

Froebel

• Had a strong belief that early education was important

• Designed the concept for kindergarten

• Believed that learning should be organized around play and the student’s interests- use manipulative

• Provide a safe secure environment.

Herbart

• Believed in a balance curriculum

– Traditional curriculum to rigid

– Believe that there was two bodies of knowledge

• Ethical knowledge

• Empirical data, facts and theories

• Needed to develop the morality

• Wanted history, English, science and math integrated into all levels of education

• Believed learning was a psychological process that teachers needed students needs and interest through:

– Planning- considers students previous learning

– Presentation-introduce new lesson

– Association-tie new material to existing material

– Systemization- teach rules, principles or generalization

– Application-the new ideas are tested and applied to pertinent activities ( authentic assessment)

Spencer

• Opposed religion- The beginning of many

• Believed that traditional schools were impractical and a luxury of the upper class

• Advocated for a scientific, practical curriculum that would support an industrial society

• believed that students should be taught how to think, not what to think

• Was a believer in Darwin and felt that a school curriculum should advanced a societies ability to survive and progress

• Believed in a form of discovery learning and was an influence on the followers of john Dewey

What forces do you think was the greatest influence in changing the schools?

Universal schools

• Schools for everyone began to be adopted in all areas of the country

• The urban east, schools were always there for the upper class, but now available for the lower class as well and seen as an important opportunity

• Schools were also being established in the newly settled west

• Schools had many different looks and approaches

Monitorial Schools

• Were run on the premise of keeping them efficient ( sound familiar)

• The teacher taught the bright students and then they taught the other students

• Taught the three Rs and religion

Common Schools

• Forged by Horace Mann

• Was the precursor to our public schools

• Mann was a salesman- Sold each faction of society on how the common school would help everyone

– Told Puritans that it would promote a common culture

– Told business it would prepare workers

– Build a better society

– Told rich it was their obligation

Elementary Schools

• Were in full gear by 1900

• Religion was dropped from the curriculum

• Added morals/ manners instead

Secondary Schools

• Although many children attended elementary schools, the secondary schools were established were not well attended till the 1930s to 1970 range

Academies

• Replaced the Latin Grammar school

• Designed to provide a practical curriculum

• Similar to a secondary school, but had a much larger enrollment

• Prepared students for not just college ( but mostly), but also for vocational careers as well

• They eventually became High schools, what remained were mostly all girl schools

Secondary Schools

• In 1870 courts ruled that taxes could be used to fund schools

• Then state after state mandated attendance

• Unlike the European models, it served all classes of students under one roof

• Offered a full range curriculum

Secondary Schools (The curriculum offered)

• Algebra

• Higher Arithmetic

• English Grammar

• Us History

• Latin

• Geometry

• Physiology

• natural philosophy

• Physical geography

• German

• General History

• Rhetoric

• Bookkeeping

• French

• Zoology

• Some vocational courses as well

School Continued to Change

• As school evolved there were many unsettled questions- European philosophies versus new psychology

• In 1983- The NEA formed Three committees to develop a philosophy that would guide schools

– The Committee of Fifteen- Elementary School

– The committee of Ten- Secondary Schools

– Committee on College Entrance

• This committee actually took a step back

• It did away with Kindergarten

• Thought that students needed strict discipline and strict teacher authority

• Made elementary schools k to 8

Elementary School

• Curriculum stayed the same, but they added four tracks

• 1. Classical College bound tracks

• 2. Latin Scientific

• 3. Modern Languages Not college bound

• 4. English

The committee of Ten Secondary Schools

The Committee was somewhat political, eight of the ten members were college representatives and stated what they wanted

Committee on College Entrance

• Defined what they expected students to have in High School

• They strengthen the program in High School

• The credits the students accumulated were measured in Carnegie Units, still used today

Harris and Eliot

• Were two conservative educational reformers

• Harris: Had a major impact on the schools for decades

• Limited any vocational

• Focused on

• Focused on

– work versus any play

– Order versus any freedom

– Effort rather than interest

• Harris focused so much on the classic, it discouraged working class students from attending school

Eliot

• Believed that elementary students could work on much higher subjects

• Also supported tracking , even in elementary school

• Wanted vocation al schools, but in a separate place

• Later this became a common belief

The Modern Curriculum

• Eventually educators could not ignore all of the information from Educational Psychologist and educators like Pestalozzi, Montessori, Froebel, Piaget, Dewey and Gestalt psychologist

• The end of the classical curriculum- they argued that there was no research that showed studying the classics hade greater benefit for developing mental capacity than other curriculums. Around 1917

• Had four basic areas

• Science

• Civics

• Industry- Trades

• Aesthetics

Dewey

• Pushed to have schools be a neutral institution

• Democracy was a social institution that could be enhanced by schools

• Democracy in Education

Judd

• Was the first to used statistical research to make decision about what was right to do in schools

• Looked at what was the best methods to use to teach children to solve problems

• Had two tracks of students

– Slower students

– Brighter and Average students

Secondary schools change again

• NEA in 1918 recommended that High schools serve everyone

– College prep

– Vocational tract

– Began to assume the modern curriculum patterns we see today

1920 to 1950

• Saw the first book written on curriculum by Charles and Bobbitt

– Many of the principles proposed are still used today

– First to propose evaluation of curriculum into process

• Written in the behaviorist approach we talked about last session

• Concerned with

– Objectives

– Efficiency

Kilpatrick

• Evolved the curriculum further , a discipline of Dewey

• Try to merge the behaviorist approach with the progressive approach the new approach was the project approach or the purposeful activity

• He advocated giving children input into the curriculum ( selecting the project)

Twenty-Sixth Year book

• Got together all of the power brokers in schools of the time ( 1930) from Bobbitt to Kilpatrick and they wrote two volumes on the direction schools should take

• Proposed and Ideal curriculum

• Later developed into four guiding principles

Four Guiding Principle Harold Rugg

• A statement of objectives

• Sequence of experiences-

• The subject matter that is best means for engaging the students

• Statement of outcomes

• Not bad for 1930

The Eight Year Study

• Was Another influential work

• It compared different types of curriculum and measured how students did using these different approaches

• Developed basic principles a best practices of sort

• Also called for evaluation of the curriculum

• First to develop that a single topic could achieve multiple objectives

• Had three categories of objectives

• Knowledge acquisition

• Intellectual Skills

• Attitudes and feelings

Goolad

• Although much had been written and research a study in 1969 found little had changed in schools, things like

– classrooms were teacher centered

– Emphasis on control ( not fair)

– No enthusiasm or excitement- teacher is flat

– Little media, little guest speakers

– Teachers had minimum expectations

– Good looking students and athletes were most popular kids in the schools

Psychological Foundations of Curriculum

Behavorist Theory- Overview

● Represent typical psychology

● Behavior is "conditioned"

● Altering the environment can elicit desired responses from the learner

● Predominant theory for most of 20th Century

● Thorndike

● Pavlov & Watson

● Skinner

● Bandura

● Gagne

Behaviorist Theory- Thorndike

● Considered the founder of Behavioral Psychology ● Classical conditioning-- relation between a stimulus and a response

● 3 Major Laws of Learning:

● Law of Readiness, Law of Exercise, and Law of Effect

Behaviorist Theory- Pavlov & Watson

● Classical Conditioning: Ring bell with food, remove bell= dog will drool

● James Watson expanded on Pavlov's research

● Believed theory worked best if a child was conditioned from a very young age.

● Watson believed environmental influences were more important than genetic influences

Behaviorist Theory- Skinner

● Operant Conditioning

● 2 kinds of response: elicited and emitted

o Elicited= Behavior was respondent from a specific stimulus

o Emitted= Behavior was operant, meaning there is less of an explainable reason for the response

● Looking at the picture, an elicit response might comment on his hair; an emmitted response might have nothing to do with it.

Behaviorist Theory- Bandura

● Behavior influenced by observation

● Includes movies/ TV/ Internet

● Think Military or Coaching

Behaviorist Theory- Gagne

● Hierarchial Learning

● Transition to Cognitive Theory

● 8 Steps: Signal Learning, Stimulus-Response, Motor Chains, Verbal Association, Multiple Discrimination, Concepts, Rules, Problem Solving

Cognitive Psychology- Overview

● Learning results from human interaction in the world/ brain processes

● Theories offer insight into the nature of learning

● Short-term and long-term memory

● Montessori

● Piaget

● Vygotsky

● Bruner

● Gardner

● Guilford

● Ennis, Lipman & Sternberg

Cognitive Psychology- Montessori

● Structured Play

● Emphasis on looking and listening

● Children develop at different rates

● Learning happens in a secure environment

Cognitive Psychology-Piaget

1. Sensorimotor (0-2)

2. Preoperational (2-7)

3. Concrete Operations (7-11)

4. Formal Operations (11+)

● Mental operations are sequential-- maturation

● Assimilation- Incorporate new experiences into old ones

● Accomodation- Handling new, unknown experiences

● Equilibration- balancing new with old

Cognitive Psychology- Vygotsky

● Developed in early 20th Century

● West only discovered his work in the late 20th Century

● Child development is shaped by interactions, not just time, like Piaget thought

● Language, counting systems, art, mechanical drawings, & mnemonic techniques are all "tools" used by humans to organize

● "Language Learning" & "Zone Of Proximal Development"

Cognitive Psychology- Bruner

● Learning how things are related

● What is learned must be related to what was learned previously-- Spiral learning

● Discovery Learning

Cognitive Psychology- Gardner

Cognitive Psychology- Guilford

● His work was the foundation for Gardner

● "Structure of Intellect"

● 6 products, 5 Operations & 4 Contents that comprised 120 distinct mental abilities.

● Intelligence consists of many cognitive processes

Cognitive Psychology- Ennis, Lipman & Sternberg

● Critical Thinking

● "Teaching someone to think is like teaching someone to swing a golf club; it involves a holistic approach, not a piecemeal effort" (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2009)

Humanistic Theory- Overview

● Traditional psychologists do not recognize this theory

● The way we look at ourselves is the basis for how we learn

● Look at the "whole person"

● Environment continually changes, so learner continuously re-organizes information

● Maslow

● Rogers

Humanistic Theory- Maslow

● Human Needs

Humanistic Theory- Rogers

● Established counseling procedures for facilitating learning

● Therapy is a learning method

● Teacher is a non-directive facilitator who has close professional relations with students as they guide student growth