Ed 6602 Curriculum

January 6 – April 3, 2020

Instructor: Barbara Gilbert Mulcahy
Office: ED 3016
Email: bmulcahy@mun.ca
Course designed and developed by Dennis Mulcahy and Clar Doyle

Please note: ED 6602 Curriculum Studies also exists as an online course. I have created a D2L
shell for the campus version that enables you to access the learning materials Clar and Dennis
have created for the online version. You can do this by simply signing into your D2L home page.
What is there will complement what we are doing in class.

Introduction
This course deals with the study of curriculum theory as it relates to the total process of public
education, definitions of curriculum, curriculum orientations, and the place of philosophy,
sociology, culture and ideology as they affect the total curriculum development and
implementation process. Discussion will be linked with research approaches to curriculum,
current curriculum agendas and participant's curriculum interests. The course will be a
combination of readings, student and instructor interactions, assignments, presentations and
informed discussion.

It will provide an opportunity to explore and critically reflect on issues and questions that
transcend individual academic disciplines and should precede the practical tasks associated with
program development. As the esteemed Dr. Doyle once said to me, “Graduate school is a time to
step off the merry-go-round and imagine, what if?” So, this is your opportunity, however brief it
may be, to step off the reality merry-go-round of life and work and simply play imaginatively with
ideas and concepts.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the theories, issues and questions that constitute the
field of curriculum studies. It is not a course in curriculum development; you will not learn how to
create a new program or to how to develop a curriculum guide as such. The focus of this course
is on the kinds of thinking and investigation that needs to precede the practical tasks involved in
creating a particular school program. It will also provide you with a set of critical concepts that
will serve in an analysis of any curricula you are working with in your educational setting.

This is the kind of thinking and inquiry that often does not get done, unfortunately, in our day-to-
day work as practicing educators. Too often, the practical work of curriculum development is
completed under the, often intense, pressure of time. Sufficient time is seldom provided to be as
thoughtful and reflective as one would like or to do the detailed analysis that would be desirable.
(This is an issue that we will explore generally.) Some of you may have experienced this form of
curriculum development while working on provincial projects. You will be invited to share this
experience with the class.

Graduate education should provide students with the opportunity to think and reflect in a critical
fashion on significant educational issues. It should be an occasion that allows teachers to step
back from the "daily grind" as Philip Jackson (1968) refers to it and inquire into the nature of
what we do and why we do it in the way we do. Equally important it is a chance to imagine what
we might do, to imagine new possibilities and directions for education and schooling. The “what
if” Dr. Doyle mentioned. I can think of no more important aspect of education that requires this
kind of thoughtful reflection than curriculum.

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Education 6602 is designed to be interactive. The intention is for us to read, react, and have
thoughtful and stimulating discussion about curriculum matters. To stimulate our discussions a
book of readings has been selected. This particular text has been selected because it provides an
excellent introduction and overview of the field of curriculum studies. Equally important all of the
articles are quite accessible to students; they are for the most part free from jargon and esoteric
references.

The primary readings from our text for this course are listed below. You will be expected to do
the required readings and be prepared to discuss and debate the particular issues and questions
raised in each week's reading assignments. The success of our collective learning experience is
very much dependent on each of us being fully engaged in the course.

In responding to the readings and in our discussions I would also like to you to draw on your
experiences as educators. The curriculum is something you work with every day. I am sure you
have views as to the quality of the curriculum used in our schools, how it might be changed to
make it better. You may have a view as to areas of study that are missing from the present
curriculum that should be there. You may feel there is too much or too little emphasis in one area
or another. Some of you may have curricular concerns that relate to a very particular school or
district; others may have more provincial, national, or worldwide issues that you are interested
in. Many of you may have concerns as to the degree the current “testing mania” and increased
accountability related to outcomes is dictated what is actually being taught in school. Or not
being taught!

As you go through the course you should contextualize the readings and discussions. It is a good
idea to approach each of the readings from a Newfoundland and Labrador perspective. I want us
to constantly ask, "How does this author or article help us understand and make sense of
curriculum issues in this province?" Most curriculum issues tend to be universal but there will still
be the need to relate them to your local situation.

Text Book

Flinders and Thornton (2017) The Curriculum Studies Reader 5th Edition. New York: Routledge

Other resources

Canadian Journal of Education http://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce

Curriculum Theory and Practice http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm

Curriculum Inquiry https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcui20
Critical Pedagogy & Freire Project http://www.freireproject.org/

Requirements and Evaluation

1. Student Lead Seminars (50%)

2. Final Assignment: Making Sense of Curriculum Studies or The Historical Development of a
Selected Subject (50%)

1. Seminar Presentation and Discussion Leaders

Students (group of two) will be responsible for developing a seminar on a reading assigned from
the text. Students lead seminars will begin Tuesday, February 4. (See Contents and Schedule

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below). All of these readings are recognized as having made a significant contribution to the field
of curriculum studies; hence all are worthy of our close scrutiny and study.

The seminar will consist of three parts:

1. Slide Presentation

Together, students will create a Power Point presentation overview of the selected reading. This
overview will identify the key concepts, ideas, and issues raised and discussed in the reading.
Where appropriate students will reproduce direct quotations from the text to illustrate points
made. The format of the presentation should be point form.

The slide presentation will be evaluated on its comprehensiveness.

Please keep your presentation to about 30 minutes.

2. Response Paper (8-10 pages – 2500-3000 words)

Each student must also produce her/his own response paper.

The response paper should achieve three objectives. Firstly, the paper should identify the ways in
which your reading connects with the other readings in the course. To what extent does it take
up previous ideas? How does it add to them? Does it contradict them? Does it make new points
in relation to these previous ideas? What new ideas in relation to curriculum are introduced?

Secondly, the paper should identify to what extent the paper provides answers to our key
questions: What do schools teach? What should they teach? Who should decide?

Thirdly, the paper should indicate the personal meaning and significance this article has for each
of the presenters. This part of the paper can be approached in a number of ways. For example I
would be very interested in students indicating how a particular idea encountered in a reading
challenged, extended or confirmed their existing ideas, assumptions or questions about matters
related to curriculum or education and schooling in general or their work in particular. Students
are also free to take issue with any aspect of the article. Please feel free to critique as, once
again to quote Dr. Doyle, “critique is not a dirty word”.

This section of the paper would also be the suitable place for students to relate curriculum theory
to practice with reference to their own experiences in the classroom.

3. Discussion Questions

The presenters will identify three questions emanating from their presentation/ papers that they
would like the class to discuss. These questions will be listed at the end of the slide presentation.
(For any given reading under discussion the instructor may also pose questions for discussion)
Time will be allotted in class to discus these questions and others that may emerge.

Role of Non-presenting members of the class

Each member of the class is expected to take an active role in each of these seminars. By an
active role I mean to engage with the presenters in a discussion of the issues that they raise.
Class members are also invited to raise other issues or questions based on the focused reading.

To be prepared for the seminar all students should have read the selected article. At the
end of each presentation the instructor will ask non-presenting members of the class for
their views regarding selected aspects of the article being focused on that day .

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Final Assignment 1: Making sense of Curriculum Studies - (50%: 3000-3500 words)

For your final assignment I would like you to answer this question:

How has your understanding of curriculum changed as a result of your

learning experiences in this course?

Learning experiences would include the readings, the presentations, small and whole group
discussions. Changed means new ideas encountered or old ideas modified or affirmed.

In answering this question, students must make reference to the readings focused on in
this course, the seminar presentations and discussions. I strongly recommend you write this
paper as we move through the course or at least make notes as we go. After each presentation
and reading reflect on the experience.

This paper is an opportunity to put forward your most informed and new thinking about
curriculum.

Final Assignment 2: The Historical Development of a Selected Subject. This is a

research assignment that requires you to trace how a selected subject (English, Math, Social
Studies etc.) has changed and evolved over the years. How has it changed, what prompted those
changes, who initiated those changes. Primary focus will be on the provincial curriculum, but
national and international influences will also come into play. Papers are due on the last day of
classes, April 3.

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Please note: This course syllabus was developed by Dr. Dennis Mulcahy, Faculty of Education,
Memorial University, St. John’s, NL. Some changes have been made from the original document .

Contents and Schedule

Phase One

Week 1 Tuesday, January 7

Introductions and Instructor Notes.
Introduction to the course

Week 2 Tuesday, January 14

Scientific Method in Curriculum
Making Franklin Bobbitt and lead into Dewey’s My Pedagogical
Creed

Week Tuesday, January 21

My Pedagogical Creed
3 John Dewey

Week 4 Tuesday, January 28

Dr. Dennis Mulcahy
Reflections on Curriculum Studies

Phase Two

Week 5 Tuesday, February 4

Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order?
George Counts
Presenters: Sadeea – Reyhaneh Balalaei Somehsaraei
Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction
Ralph Tyler
Presenters: Hussein Bani Asad – Benjamin Boison

Week 6 Tuesday, February 11

Man: A Course of Study
Jerome Bruner
Presenters: Xingbang Chen – Adrien Doucet

Educational Objectives Help or Hindrance Eliot Eisner

Presenters: Denise Falconer Nee Wedderburn – Zahra
Golmohammadi

Week 7 Mid-term Break February 18

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Week 8 Tuesday, February 25
“We Are the New Oppressed": Gender, Culture, and the Work of
Home-Schooling
Michael Apple
Presenters: Stephanie Granville-Natasha Hillier

How Schools Shortchange Girls: Three Perspectives on Curriculum

American Association of University Women
Presenters: Matthew Horan – Jonathan Hutchings

Week 9 Tuesday, March 3

Standardizing Knowledge in a Multicultural Society
Christine Sleeter and Jamy Stillman
Presenters: Min Lu – Crystal Miller

Week Tuesday, March 10

10 High Stakes testing
Wayne Au
Presenters: Faisal Mohammad Ali Abdalla – Mostaain Shahrzad

Week Tuesday, March 17

11 Teacher Experiences of Culture in the Curriculum
Elaine Chan
Presenters: Brent Power – Jessica Smith

Week Tuesday, March 25

12 The Common Core Standards
Nell Noddings
Presenters: Syeda, Talath Saba – Taneisha Wright-Cameron

Week Tuesday, March 31

13 Ms, Camille Fouillard
Curriculum Development Coordinator
Mamu Tshikutamashutau, Labrador Innu school board

Big Thinking - Justice Sinclair - What do we do about the legacy of

Indian residential schools? https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=YVFGj-nCUdU

Teachings about aboriginals 'simply wrong', says Murray Sinclair,

Mark Kennedy, Ottawa Citizen, May 29, 2015
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/teachings-about-aboriginals-
simply-wrong-says-murray-sinclair

For the record: Justice Murray Sinclair on residential schools

Justice Murray Sinclair tables the recommendations of the truth and
reconciliation commission on residential schools, Maclean’s, Jun 2,
2015
https://www.macleans.ca/politics/for-the-record-justice-murray-
sinclair-on-residential-schools/

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