What is Curriculum? A variety of definitions

But I don’t work in a

classroom, what does

curriculum have to do with me?

What is a curriculum? What is a program?• A set of materials• A sequence of courses/projects• A set of performance objectives• A course of study• That which is taught in school/org• Content• Everything that goes on within the school/org including extra-class

activities, guidance, and interpersonal relationships• Everything that is planned by school/org personnel• A series of experiences undergone by learners in school/org• That which an individual learner experiences as a result of schooling/org

participation

How do the two differ? How are they the same?

According to Google.com define: program,

Programs are:• a system of projects or services intended to meet a public need;

"he proposed an elaborate program of public works"; "working mothers rely on the day care program”

• course of study: an integrated course of academic studies; "he was admitted to a new program at the university"

• (computer science) a sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute; "the program required several hundred lines of code”

• A program or programme (in management) has at least two senses: 1) A collection of projects that are directed toward a common goal, e.g., the NASA space program; 2) A broad framework of goals to be achieved, serving as a basis to define and plan specific projects, e.g. the EU's SAPARD Programme. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Program_(management)

• Generally defined as an organized set of activities directed toward a common purpose or goal, undertaken or proposed by an agency in order to carry out its responsibilities. In practice, however, the term program has many uses and is used to describe an agency's mission, programs, functions, activities, services, projects, and processes.data2.itc.nps.gov/budget2/glossary.htm

More definitions of program….

Curriculum is:Albert Oliver…Curriculum is an educational program with four basic elements

1. The program of studies2. The program of experiences3. The program of services4. The hidden curriculum

Robert Gagne…Curriculum encompasses

1. Subject matter (content)2. Statement of ends (end objectives)3. The sequencing of content4. Preassessment of entry skills

Hass… the curriculum is all of the experiences that individual learners have in a program of education whose purpose is to achieve broad goals and related specific objectives, which is planned in terms of a framework of theory and research or past and present professional practice.

Kerr… All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school.

How does curriculum/program apply to:• The university (athletics, student services, etc.)

• Business/Industry Training

• Other settings

How do you define curriculum/program in your preferred setting?

But wait, there are other types of curriculum.

What are they?

Curriculum Definitions

Curriculum Planning VS Planned Curriculum (what’s the difference???)

• Tested curriculum

• Experienced curriculum

• Hidden curriculum

• Learned curriculum

• Core curriculum

• Written curriculum

• Planned curriculum

• Taught curriculum

• Supported curriculum

How do these terms apply to programs?

Glatthorn’s Four Curriculums

Basic Enrichment

Structured Mastery Team Planned

Nonstructured Organic Student Determined

Thought question...

What types of curriculum do you value most? Why?

What does your organization advocate?

How do these terms apply to programs?

Now for a bit of history vis-à-vis curriculum and schools ….

http://clarke.cmich.edu/schoolhouse/clark6.jpg

How did schooling in the US evolve? How has that shaped the curriculum?

How has that shaped educational access? •1600’s Pre-US…. Historically, in England, there was a two tiered educational system. For the wealthy a tutorial system existed with classical training. For the poor, an apprenticeship system. Politically it was believed that the great body of the people were to obey and not to govern, and that the social status of unborn generations was already fixed. This was the tradition brought to the colonies.1

•Massachusetts Laws of 1647, Deluder Satan Act, ….Ordered that every township… after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders,… shall… appoint one within their town to teach all children as shall resort to him to read and write. It is further ordered, that where any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families… they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university. 2

Note: This Act recognizes the importance of education but did not require attendance by all students nor was it necessarily paid for with public funds. •1776 – Thomas Jefferson, in a report to the Virginia legislature, called for a public school system. Its purpose was to develop an intelligent citizenry and to provide educational opportunities that guarantee each individual the chance for optimal development. It was turned down.3

Elementary Schools• The graded elementary school with eight levels was established in 1818. 4

• Until the 1840s -- The education system was highly localized and available only to wealthy people. 4

• By 1850, 45% of children attended school and direct tax support for elementary education was a generally accepted practice. 5

• Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school attendance laws in 1852, followed by New York in 1853. 6

• By 1918 all states had passed laws requiring children to attend at least elementary school. 6

• In the South public schools were much slower to emerge. “With agriculture as the mainstay of the Southern colonists and with the large plantations in great measure self-sustaining communities, the planters soon became economically independent. The reciprocity of needs and services, so essential to the development of community enterprises, was not widely known. With the industrial system of the South resting on the institution of slavery, political power was for the most part in the hands of the planters, sharp social distinctions were inevitable, and the South naturally became aristocratic. This condition tended to retard the growth of a strong middle class, with which free public-school systems always originate. … delayed also the [belief that] education as [is] a vital community interest.” 7

• While the concept of public education gained momentum and popularity, what was to be taught in schools and who would attend them was heavily debated starting in the 1820’s. The question was: Would there be “a common (public) school system with a common curriculum for rich or poor alike or a special system for poor children”? 8

• The concern was “that the free schools might degenerate into, as Carter put it, ‘mechanized seminaries,’ such as those seen in Europe, for educating the poor, while private institutions would provide an improved curriculum for the well-to-do (1824b, p. 20)” 8

• Arguing against such divisions were Ward (1883, Dynamic Sociology), Parker (1894, Talks on Pedagogics), and Dewey (1910, Democracy and Education). According to Ward, “unless the curriculum fostered the development of intelligence, education could not be a means of social reform” 9

• Parker built on this thought writing that “more important even than the formalized curriculum was the social power of the school to break down the clannishness and prejudices of people from all parts of the world who were learning together in school” 10

• Dewey echoes these ideas saying “educational opportunity is shared knowledge and concerns, and progress is achieved through breaking the class barriers to sharing. Thus, the problem was one of learning together as well as what is to be learned” 11

Have these debates been solved today?

John Franklin Bobbitt• 1918 (wrote first textbook on curriculum)

• Belief: Curriculum is an arena for social engineering.

• Assumption: “Scientific” experts are qualified and justified in designing curricula based on expert knowledge of what qualities are desirable in adult members of society and it can be know what experiences would produce those qualities. Thus, curriculum is defined as the experiences that someone ought to have in order to become the kind of adult they ought to become. Curriculum is an ideal rather than reality of what will actually happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum

Do you agree with Bobbitt?How do his writings influence curriculum today?

Secondary Schools• 1635 -- Boston Latin School, the first publicly

supported secondary school in the US. 12

• 1751 -- Benjamin Franklin’s American Academy, Philadelphia, a new kind of secondary school to serve the demand for skilled workers. 12

• 1892 – NEA Committee of 10 Purpose of American high schools debated College preparatory OR a people’s school offering a range of practical courses? 13

• Establishment of a standard curriculum and liberalizing the high school by offering alternatives to the Latin and Greek classic curricula. 13

• Goal of high school was to prepare all students to do well in life, contributing to their own well-being and society’s good, and to prepare some students for college. 13

• From 1900 to 1996 the percentage of teenagers who graduated from high school increased from about 6 percent to about 85 percent. 14

• In the 1920s and 30s, “progressive education” was the word of the day; the focus then shifted to intellectual discipline and curriculum development projects in the later decades. 14

http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/06mar/images/wein2.jpg

Have these debates been solved today?

Post Secondary Schools • 1636 – Harvard University established 15

• 20th century participation in higher or postsecondary education in the United States increased tremendously. At the beginning of the century about 2 percent of Americans from the ages of 18 to 24 were enrolled in a college. Near the end of the century more than 60 percent of this age group, or over 14 million students, were enrolled in about 3500 four-year and two-year colleges. 16

• We will discuss post secondary schools more in subsequent classes…

1. Knight, 1922, p. 212. Pulliam & Van Patten, 2007, p. 81-82.3. Tanner and Tanner, p. 44. Thattai5. Pulliam & Van Patten, 2007, p. 1406. Thattai7. Knight, 1922, p. 268. Tanner & Tanner, 2007, p. 79. Tanner & Tanner, 2007, p. 5610. Tanner & Tanner, 2007, p. 58 11. Tanner & Tanner, 2007, p. 5712. Thattai13. Weidner14. Thattai15. Harvard University16. Thattai

• Harvard University. http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance• Knight, E.W. (1922). Public education in the South. Chicago: Ginn

and Company.• Pulliam, J. D. & Van Patten, J. J. (2007). History of education in

America, 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.• Tanner, D. & Tanner, L. (2007). Curriculum development: Theory

into practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.• Thattai, D. (n.d.) A history of public education in the United States.

http://www.servintfree.net/~aidmn-ejournal/publications/2001-11/PublicEducationInTheUnitedStates.html

• Weidner, L. The N.E.A. Committee of Ten. http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/neacom10.html

References

Bonus Section ---Review if you wish, we will not be discussing this in class unless you ask questions.

Explore the research paradigm you most affiliate with and then select a curriculum development model. If you agree with Bobbit you are Technical-Scientific in nature, if not, then naturalistic is probably more your style.

Defining curriculum is one thing,

Developing curriculum is another….

Research paradigms, value systems, and beliefs about the world in general will influence the model of curriculum planning you advocate.

Which “camp” do you most readily fall into?

OR

Applies scientific methods and principles to the task of curriculum development.

Assumptions:• Reality is definable• The goals of education are knowable• A linear, objective process will yield a useful

documents and high quality plans--->

Deductive Process• Top down

• Extensive administrator involvement

• Starts by examining broader questions/purposes of education and societal needs before addressing the classroom level

Key authors: Tyler, Hass, Hunkins, WIDS

--->

Inductive Process• Bottom up

• Curriculum development by classroom teachers

• Starts by developing individual units which will be assembled into a cohesive program

Key author: Taba

Tyler Model(Ornstein & Hunkins, 1993,j p. 267-8; Wiles & Bondi, 1989, p. 10)

1. Define purpose of schoolIdentify instructional objectives

2. Relate educational experiences to school purposes

3. Organize educational experiences4. Evaluate purposes for program effectiveness.

Hass & Parkay Model (Hass & Parkay, 1993, p. 294)

1. Identify context (gather data about intended learners and the human, social, and environmental variables within which learners interact)

2. Determine objectivesSet goals

3. Select , Prepare, & Implement ---->Strategies and Alternatives

4. Evaluate

Hunkins Model (Hass & Parkay, 1993, p. 329-32; Ornstein & Hunkins, 1993, p. 207-73)

1. Curr. conceptualization and legitimization• built on society’s values, beliefs,

knowledge bases, institutions, and artifacts• complete front end analysis:

� ask philosophical questions� debate purpose of schooling� debate curriculum designs� develop master curriculum plan

2. Curriculum diagnosis• Identify reasons for human performance

deficiencies• Translate needs into causes• Generate goals, objectives, expected

learner outcomes3. Content selection

• Identify criteria for content selection (ie. economy, significance, validity, interest, learnability, feasibility)

• Sequence content --->

4. Experiencs and material selection (by teacher)• Determine methods, strategies, activities,

incentives, materials, nature of educational environment

5. Implementation• Pilot curriculum (assess curriculum not

students)• Modify where necessary• Full implementation

--->

6. Evaluation

• Determine if curriculum is presented/taught as written and recommended (supervision function)

• Furnish data so decisions can be made to continue, modify or discontinue program

7. Maintenance

• Monitor and maintain

curriculum

Taba Course Development Model(Oliva, 1992, p. 160-2)

1. Produce pilot units (see next slide)

2. Test experimental units

3. Revise and consolidate units

4. Develop a framework

5. Install and disseminate new units

Taba Pilot Unit Development Model1. Diagnose needs - what are current gaps in

student learning2. Formulate objectives3. Select content4. Organize content5. Select learning experiences6. Organize learning activites7. Determine what to evaluate and ways and

means of evaluation8. Check for balance and sequence

9. SpecifyAssessmentStrategies

14. CreateA ClassSyllabus

13. LayoutLearning/Lesson Plans

12. Develop InstructionalMaterials

11. DesignLearning Activities

10. DevelopAssessment/Record Plan

7. SequenceCompetencies

8. Develop Course/goalDescription

6. DesignateCoreAbilities

5. DevelopPerformancestandards

1. Perform needs/task analysis

2. WriteCourseCompetencies

3. Analyze CourseCompetencies

4. DevelopLearningObjectives

Wisconsin Instructional Design System

Nontechnical-nonrational approachAssumptions:• Curriculum evolves as learners, teachers, and knowledge interact• All goals of education cannot be predefined• Content can only be tentatively selected• Learning will be based on the creation of knowledge, especially

self-knowledge• Curriculum development is highly political requiring

administrators and teachers to work together

Key author: Glatthorn (naturalistic model)

Glatthorn Naturalistic Model(Ornstein & Hunkins, 1993, p. 274; Glatthorn, 1987, p. 89+)

1. Assess the alternatives - evaluate current approaches

2. Stake out the territory• define course parameters• define learning audience• define learning activities

3. Develop a constituency--->

4. Build the knowledge base• identify content• gather data on faculty skill and support• gather data on student audience

5. Block the unit• select unit topics• write general objectives

6. Develop unit planning guide

--->

7. Plan quality learning experiences

• Select experiences not content to be learned

8. Develop course examination

• Tell how learning will be documented (not test development)

9. Develop learning scenarios

10. Package the product