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 20 20
experiences % %
3. Some student-centered
experiences
20 20
4. An optimal blend of these
varieties % 20 %
5. A blend that had little %
rhyme or reason to
recommend it All teacher-cente... Some Subject-cent...
Some student-cent... An optimal blend ...
A blend that had ...
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...

48%
1. Authorities /Experts
Determine 30%
2. There is no “right”
curriculum
12%
3. Curriculum should 10%
be the “real world”
4. There are many
curricula we can

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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.
Curriculum…Thomas
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 not…it is built from
expert systems of thinking.
 We assume expert knowledge to be true.
I know for certain that…

36%
1. The earth revolves
around the sun
2. My friend loves me 18%
20%
16%
3. It is below zero outside
10%
4. There is truth in the
world
5. My senses give me

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Curriculum Standards

 Nothing new…in 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 educators…argue 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 have…beyond the academics
 Social Responsibility…the overt curriculum should be
“society’s messenger” (Benjamin Franklin)
Society’s Messsenger

 In the 1600s…for religious purposes…Old

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
 1900’s Progressivism for Democracy in
reforms founded on thinking of John Dewey
 E.D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy
The Invisible
(Hidden)Curriculum
 The processes…the “noise” by which the
overt curriculum is transmitted
 “they are also learning and modifying
attitudes, motives, and values in
relationship to the experiences…in the
classroom.”
 The nonacademic outcomes of formal
education are sometimes of greater
consequence…than 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 trial…before 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 Canon…defining what is central and what is
marginal
Curriculum Organization

 Societal level…politicians, special

committees, experts
 Institutional level…set at the school,
district, college…usually set along
subject matter disciplines
 Instructional level…teacher planning
and teaching students
 Ideological level…learning 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

 Today…debate 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 25 25

accountability
% %
2. A mistake, they don’t
measure real learning
3. Positive for unifying
educational experience 25 25
4. Divisive and not % %
representative of
different groups’
experiences Desirable, as the... A mistake, they d...
Positive for unif... Divisive and not ...
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)