Jieni LIM (301167464)

Educ 471- Summer 2014

Prof. Rebecca Cox (Becky) Journal Entry Week 10 July 22, 2014

In Week 10 class on July 15, 2014, we had three groups presenting. One of these
groups was Team S, which presented on one of the notion from Josephs curricular cultures
Constructing Understanding. I consider this one of my favorite curricular values,
especially the beliefs of how students learn. In the curricular cultures, it states that student
learners learn best by interacting with ideas, utilizing their lived experiences to ideas that
introduced in the formal education and engaging with others. They do not encourage the idea
of memorization, textbook-dependent and isolated learning.
After reading the values and belief of this curricular culture, it reminded me of one of
the secondary schools I used to attend back in Malaysia. The first two years of my secondary
school life was an unpleasant schooling experience. In that institution, the teachers were
always the authoritative figure. Most of the school materials drove the learning process and
heavily relied on the textbooks. Teachers acquire the idea of absolution, making statements
such as you must not do this, you should do that. They tend to ignore the reasons and
responses of students, regardless of their validity. Making students memorize the entire
textbook was typical of these teachers. Students were expected to sit on their seats at all times,
except for break and lunch time. Students were not allowed to move around in the class
unless were given permission to do so. Thus, students have limited opportunity to engage and
interact with their peers. This educational system was polar opposite from the curricular
cultures of Constructing understanding. My parents decided to send me to another school
which contains different curricular culture from the previous school. I spent 4 years in my
new school, the later part of my life in secondary school..
The new school system adopts the similar concept as Josephs idea of constructing
understanding. The school system highly emphasizes on the idea of engagement,
collaboration and connection (ECC). Teachers were required to make different connections
Jieni LIM (301167464)
Educ 471- Summer 2014
Prof. Rebecca Cox (Becky) Journal Entry Week 10 July 22, 2014

between formal education knowledge and real-life experiences. I remember in one of my
Science class during my first year in my new school, students were asked to drop 3 different
colored ink into three glasses of water, and each glass contain a branch with few leaves on it.
Students were highly encouraged to work with other peers on this project.
After few hours, the leaves turned into the same color as the color of the water. After
the experiment section, our science teacher connected this experiment to some moral values,
and his own experiences during his early teen. He used the metaphor of that experiment, to
carry out the moral values of how an individual would be influenced by our surroundings in
an implicit form. And only if we take a closer look at the plant, we could see the color was
absorbed and embedded in the vein of the leaves. With this metaphor, he linked to the lived
experiences that, many times, human are unconscious of how much they have been absorbed
and influenced by their surrounding that they have been soaking in. He also used the 3
different colors to bring out three different living environments that he has experienced in his
youth, and how the different of his upbringing experiences had significantly shaped him into
different person at different point of his life. The story has been told to me more than 9 years
ago and I still remember it clearly, and it stimulates my thoughts even to this day. I told many
people about the learning experiences I encountered. The connections that made by this
Science teacher of mine achieves one of the Constructing understanding value, which
fosters a thinking about thinking environment for students to become critically conscious
and to understand about the world.
Another team, Team Stars demonstrated Josephs idea of curricular cultures of
Developing self and spirit, and this ideology focuses on cross-curricular experiences and
student-centered curriculum. In this curricular ideology, students get to choose the subject
matter that they are interested in, and blending them together. This may be one of the favorite
Jieni LIM (301167464)
Educ 471- Summer 2014
Prof. Rebecca Cox (Becky) Journal Entry Week 10 July 22, 2014

ideas for students because they do not need to the subject matters that they are not passionate
for or interested in. However, the most challenging part of this idea is the capability of the
teachers due to the overlapped areas of specialties. It is quite difficult to look for
teachers/educators who can fit into all the areas that are mix- and matched by the students,
because teacher are not all equally good in all disciplines or subject matters. If this is the case,
then the teaching quality and capability will be questioned. For example, if the teaching
ability of teaching Math and Science are not equally good, then the students may not have the
full access of the information to one of these areas.
Second challenge of this approach is the diversity of the interests of each student. It is
difficult to satisfy and meet every students needs due to the lack of qualified teachers in
cross-curricular teachable areas, moreover, the crosscurricular subjects are determined and
blended by the students. The values of Developing self and spirit may be very challenging
to achieve, if every student were to make their own decisions in determining their learning,
and at the same time requires teachers who have professional cross-curricular skills.