EDEA 780F

1. EDEA 780F Curriculum content and purpose

2. Training and Education Although they’re often used synonymously, Posner believes there is a difference between training and education.

3. Training Training refers to contexts in which one can predict, with some confidence, the specific situations in which people will use what they learn. For example, chefs are trained to use knives for cutting different foods; hairdressers are trained to cut hair in a particular way; knitters are trained to cast on and execute various stitches.

4. Education Education, on the other hand, refers to situations in which one cannot predict with specificity or certainty the situations in which people will use their knowledge. For example, teaching students about reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases might help prepare them to use responsible behavior, but it doesn’t alter the fact that they must use their judgment in doing so.

5. Content v. process Some educators feel that by giving students heavy doses of subject matter…content…, they will be better prepared to deal with changing or ambiguous situations. Other educators feel that emphasizing thinking and problem solving skills over subject matter will do students more good.

6. The Questions Is knowledge only useful if it can be applied to something? How important is knowledge that doesn’t have a direct impact on one’s behavior, such as fine arts, literature, ancient languages, etc.? What should the balance be between education and training in schools?

7. Aims, Goals, Objectives Education generally is considered to start with a broad societal goal. What are societal goals driving education today in the United States? Other nations?

8. Administrative Goal Education that occurs en masse takes place primarily in schools. These are institutions that are generally affiliated with an organization that is usually a bureaucracy. This means that the organization, in order to function efficiently and to try to maximize effectiveness, needs to set and attempt to meet administrative goals.

9. Educational Aim Our text describes an educational aim as something that “describes expected life outcomes based on some value schema, either consciously or unconsciously chosen” (Broudy, 1971, p. 3 in Posner, 2004, p. 73). Four categories of educational aims listed in the text are personal development, socialization, economic productivity, and further learning.

10. Education v. training How might education and training play roles in each of these areas? Personal development Socialization Economic productivity Further learning

11. Societal Values National educational aims are built upon societal values. In Athens, the values of physical fitness, moral, intellectual, and aesthetic development employed the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, logic) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music) to attain the last two of these. In the Middle Ages, moral and religious development was emphasized and hermeneutics, catechism and psalmody were introduced.

12. Current societal trends in the U.S. What do you think the social agenda emphasized in: 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Now

13. Educational Goal Educational goals are characteristics that are supposed to result from learning over the years and across the subject matters of schooling.

14. Examples of Educational Goals Facility in using the English language Problem solving and critical thinking Good health habits Self-discipline Awareness of career opportunities Appreciation of cultural heritage of self and others Ability to make informed decisions about voting, environment, etc.

15. Learning Objective A learning objective is whatever people are intended to learn as a consequence of being students in educational institutions. Ideas about learning objectives have changed over the years, ranging from Bloom’s taxonomy (affective, cognitive, psychomotor domain) to Gagne (motor skills, verbal information, cognitive strategies, intellectual skills, attitudes).

16. Bloom’s Taxonomy: Cognitive Domain 1.00 Knowledge (Recall) 2.00 Comprehension (Understanding) 3.00 Application (When and how) 4.00 Analysis (Relationships) 5.00 Synthesis (Part to whole formation) 6.00 Evaluation (Making judgments)

17. Ryle’s Two Types of Knowledge Knowing that refers to propositional knowledge, or what we usually think of as subject matter. Knowing how refers to performance capabilities, or skills.

18. Tacit Knowledge Schooling goes beyond merely teaching one facts and skills. It also provides contextual knowledge that allows students to make decisions, to draw from at a later time in other situations and settings. Broudy calls this “knowing with”.

19. Content Pedagogical viewpoint: Subject matter, discipline Multicultural viewpoint: Accommodate diversity among students. Which perspective does Hawaiian immersion represent?

20. Standards Standards outline content to be learned, but they aren’t intended to be content. They incorporate both of Ryle’s types of knowledge, and it is up to the instructional program to develop the tacit knowledge.

21. Technology How has technology affected content in American classrooms?

22. Theoretical Perspectives Traditional Experiential Structure of the disciplines Behavioral Constructivist

23. Behaviorism v. Constructivism For years there has been a conflict between behavioristic approaches to content (E.g., Hooked on Phonics) versus constructivistic ones (E.g., Whole Language).

24. Distar v. Reading Recovery Distar is a behavioral program to teach children to read; Reading Recovery is a constructivistic program. Both were developed for children who, by the age of six or seven, are not reading independently, even at a low level.

25. Distar Distar is a very scripted program that uses specific materials and proceeds in a clearly outlined manner. No steps are skipped. It assumes that low income children have been deprived of the skills of advantaged children. The program is intensely teacher-directed and repetitive.

26. Reading Recovery Reading Recovery is individualized for every child. It is based on research and incorporates activities that are meaningful for the student. Students are encouraged to work independently in the first week of instruction, and the difficulty of work is consistently increased to keep the child in the “zone of proximal development”. Evaluation is constant and ongoing.

27. Hegemonic functions of objectives Hegemony is the control of one group by a dominant group. Curriculum can have a hegemonic function, especially in the areas of official, hidden, and null curriculum.

28. Official Curriculum Selection of curriculum, including textbooks, topics of study, and other materials can represent one group’s control over another. It can indicate religious domination, sexism, economic elitism, racial stereotyping, etc.

29. The Hidden Curriculum Curriculum can teach students a lot about how the world operates via the hidden curriculum; the value of competition vs. collaboration; sex roles and achievement; who has access to what knowledge; who gets selected for various activities, etc.

30. Null Curriculum The hegemonic function here in what certain students don’t get to learn. For example, elite private schools offer an array of advance placement courses, but also generally have very strong language and fine arts programs. Poor public schools may not even offer AP classes and focus so much on “basics” that they offer little in the way of fine arts.