Curriculum and Instructional Materials Development
By: Prince Lure Sy Stern de Real
1. They say childrens memory are kind of
tabula rasa “a blank tablet”. According to SVS, our brain needs knowledge
acquisition, challenges to enhance our memory, experiences to sustain
information and changes for realization and analization of things based from
the outside forces. When I was a young girl I am really fond of watching movies
with great heroes, something that is more likely to become adventurous for the
character that is playing the role, and definitely shows self-defense. I love
Bruce Lee as the old version and Jackie Chan for the young version. Both are
great martial artist and moving pictures character that made me think of
becoming an action star in the future, so I enrolled Mixed martial art. As time
pass by, my ideology started to fluctuate upon seeing a nurse in her perfect
white dress with matching white headress. Another thing, my father wanted me to
take up nursing as a career, so that was the time that I do wanted to become a
nurse not until I graduated in high school. My few close friends would like to
enroll in engineering courses so as my bestfriends. I wont enjoy my schooling
unless without them so I enrolled in that same course that my friends had
influence me. I was able to exercise my degree for few years before my
marriage. To cut the story short, I was stock as a housewife for 10 long years
without exercising my profession. I really believe that fate was created even
before we decide for our self, only that we need to choose among those ways
which we believe is exactly our own purpose in this world. It does mean that
since my entire career travel, I wasn’t exactly into teaching but come to think
of fate, so as teaching was not yet my bowl of fruits but indeed my son needed
a personal teacher and a look-out that drives me to enroll units in teaching to
get near the room he was in everyday, for he is not attending his classes if I
am out of his sight. It was not an easy task but definitely this decision
strikes two stone at the same time. I was able to constantly guide my son and I
was able to earn another degree. My son graduated in high school and that was
fine for me. I thought all of which were such an amazing experience but an
opportunity knocks once at my door, I saw an ad for vacancy, I apply then I was
hired. Hired as what? As a tutor for a newly established tutorial center. That
was the first time I realize that I was already a teacher. Sounds abrupt but that’s
the fact. Another challenge fall on my shoulder when my colleague and I decided
to put up our own tutorial center on which we are managing at the present
moment. Things are really unpredictable, even though we are great decision maker;
we sometimes fall into deciding what should be and not what’s necessarily right
for us. We became the developer, the scientist and specialist of our own future
that builds us into better persons. As I project our curriculum ideological development
in the future, referring to my present career, I project that it would involve
most technological advancement in educational support with its services fully
beneficial to student, parents, community and to the Department of Education
while serving the whole wide world.
2. The curriculum philosophy I wish its
mine was the school of thought that focuses on the principle that the society
is in need of a constant reconstruction or change. In this sense I am acquiring
Reconstructionism as a view in Education. Education is a means of redressing
social inequality: wealth, class, gender and ethnic background should be
immaterial in determining a child’s chances of success. Private education and other forms of
selection, streaming, etc, raise unwanted barriers. Not The curriculum should
be freed from particular cultural biases that privilege children from
particular backgrounds: subjects and activities should therefore be pluralist,
multicultural, and free from stereotypical assumptions. It is because all of us
have the chance and should be given a chance of being properly educated in the
sense of pure education and proactive learning. I believe that the main purpose
of schooling is to educate each of us with proper knowledge that would lift us
from the difficulty of living in materialistic sense of idea and to avoid being
hurt by anybody in illiteracy sense of idea. We believe that idiots are easily
fooled but illiterate are mostly taken advantage. So sad that we need to
emulate our every self with education that suits us some purpose in life. We
are living in this world that is full of innovation and surprises. We can’t
actually claim why these things happen and why are we suffering, enjoying and
thinking all over again. Doing our daily routine was such a boring and tiring
work if we ought not to enjoy the way it is. That’s because we are traveling a
cycle of life. Compare many other knowledge we should acquire, it’s in
Mathematics that the people of the world is really considering. Next in line
are those of other major and minor subjects that would definitely support the
usefulness of Mathematics in the human knowledge. The usefulness of Mathematics
to life of human being is the greatness of Science to people. Therefore I would
like to conceptualize that Science and Math are the most worthwhile school of
knowledge. I am a learner centered mentor; I believe that it is how the child understands
your teachings that he/she could definitely learn more than what is thought to
them. So there enters what we call experiential learning when they themselves
try to seek answer to their own questions by examining things personally based
on experience. This is because children are the survivor of knowledge, what
they acquire will be useful in the future in which would be useful to the next
generation. That is why acquiring traditional knowledge is as good as learning
the modern knowledge because it is in past that we have acquired the present. I
view teaching as knowledge are developed and applied in more than one area of
study. I viewed learning and teaching in a holistic way that reflects the real
world, which is interactive. The most preferred instructional I am using is what
we call experiential learning and significant learning. These are few practices
that is really beneficial to many. Learning via hand on hand experience is
quiet an advantage and learning what is significantly important is a practical
way of learning. I am not closing doors to other learning opportunities, what I
want to point out here is the purposefulness of knowledge being acquired. Understanding
the culture and belief of each learner through written output about themselves
and a simple one on one talk would help a lot in knowing what’s and why’s about
the student. That’s how will I accommodate diverse learners. Let’s talk about
social justice, well, it is not actually my concerns but let me share some
factual ideas about it. When we say
social justice it speaks about socialization that involves legal worth. I might
not be a total kin observer but I am updated when it comes to socialization. Social
justice helps people understand their worth as a person. It helps them analyze
things related to their social capabilities and incapability’s. In our modern
society, there are lots of social injustices. Our society is full of moral
conflicts that degrade our human value as a person. That doesn’t count for
social justice but it should be given an attention for morality of a person
matters when social justice is spoken about. The present society is facing with
problems involving racial discriminations, poverty, war, ecological destruction
and ecological inhumanity. In this case we need to cure the illness that our
present society is now suffering and that we need to reconstruct our philosophy
and value system. Making the people ready for the future change. Ideas
presented by Karl Marx really inspired me a lot and influences me in the
formulation of my curriculum philosophy.
3. As a manager that manages a tutorial
center, we consider our services as a support in education. So as to help
lighten the academic burden to schools, teachers, parents and students, we are
helping by giving advance lecture and follow-up to lessons taught in each
school our tutee was enrolled. In the same case, we are teaching based on PELC
so we are not worried of being behind or be out of track when it comes to
teaching because we based it on standard teaching and learning. Going back to
what we are discussing, about its implementation, the main example I could have
given as an example is the module we are preparing for future use. The teaching
will be based on standard curriculum but is more updated, advance and enhance as
most technology will necessarily applies into it.
4. For me it should be developmental,
why? Come to think of it, when we say develop there is necessarily a change, so
If there is some change there is new knowledge acquisition. Let me remind that
our present society is full of change and surprises because of constant
innovation. Therefore things are considered innovative if it is developmental
because it suggests constant development. No matter how evident your ideals are
if it stays what it was for the 10 developing years then there must be missing
with your curriculum. According to Karl Marx, the curriculum will be clearly being
understood if a change is evident. I BELIEVE it is the most conventional way to
use.
5. My personal stand about curriculum
integration is a process by which one learns to make relationship and see relationships.
Skills and knowledge are developed and applied in more than one area of study. “The integrated curriculum is a great gift to
experienced teachers. It's like getting a new pair of lenses that make teaching
a lot more exciting and help us look forward into the next century. It is
helping students take control of their own learning.” (M. Markus, media specialist, quoted in Shoemaker, September 1991, p.
797) “I'm learning more in this course, and I'm doing better than I used
to do when social studies and English were taught separately.” (Student, quoted in Oster 1993, p. 28) This
teacher and student express an increasingly widespread enthusiasm for curriculum
integration. We better off now that we have integrated these subjects. While
not necessarily a new way of looking at teaching, curriculum integration has
received a great deal of attention in educational settings. Based both in
research and teachers' own anecdotal records of success, educational journals
are reporting many examples of teachers who link subject areas and provide
meaningful learning experiences that develop skills and knowledge, while
leading to an understanding of conceptual relationships. In keeping with this
thematic definition, Shoemaker defines an integrated curriculum as education
that is organized in such a way that it cuts across subject-matter lines,
bringing together various aspects of the curriculum into meaningful association
to focus upon broad areas of study. In the integrative curriculum, the planned
learning experiences not only provide the learners with a unified view of
commonly held knowledge (by learning the models, systems, and structures of the
culture) but also motivate and develop learners' power to perceive new
relationships and thus to create new models, systems, and structures. Another
term that is often used synonymously with integrated curriculum is interdisciplinary curriculum.
Interdisciplinary curriculum is defined in the Dictionary of Education as "a curriculum organization which
cuts across subject-matter lines to focus upon comprehensive life problems or
broad based areas of study that brings together the various segments of the
curriculum into meaningful association" (Good 1973). The similarity
between this definition and those of integrated curriculum is clear. Jacobs defines
interdisciplinary as "a knowledge view and curricular approach that consciously
applies methodology and language from more than one discipline to examine a
central theme, issue, problem, topic, or experience" This view is
supported by Everett, who defines interdisciplinary curriculum as one that
"combines several school subjects into one active project since that is
how children encounter subjects in the real world combined in one
activity." These definitions support the view that integrated curriculum
is an educational approach that prepares children for lifelong learning. There
is a strong belief among those who support curriculum integration that schools must
look at education as a process for developing abilities required by life in the
twenty-first century, rather than discrete, departmentalized subject matter.
6. The organization of schooling and
further education has long been associated with the idea of a curriculum.
We explore curriculum theory and practice and its relation to informal
education. The
idea of curriculum is hardly new - but the way we understand and theorize it
has altered over the years - and there remains considerable dispute as to
meaning. It has its origins in the running/chariot tracks of Greece. It was,
literally, a course. In Latin curriculum was a racing chariot; currere
was to run. A useful starting point for us here might be the definition offered
by John Kerr and taken up by Vic Kelly in his standard work on the subject.
Kerr defines curriculum as, '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. This gives us some basis to move on - and for the moment
all we need to do is highlight two of the key features: Learning is planned and guided. We
have to specify in advance what we are seeking to achieve and how we are to go
about it. The definition refers to
schooling. We should recognize that our current appreciation of
curriculum theory and practice emerged in the school and in relation to other
schooling ideas such as subject and lesson. In what follows we are going to
look at four ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice: Curriculum as
a body of knowledge to be transmitted.
Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students - product. Curriculum as process. Curriculum as praxis. It is helpful to consider
these ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice in the light of Aristotle's
influential categorization of knowledge
into three
disciplines: the theoretical, the productive and the practical. It is the work of two American
writers Franklin Bobbitt (1918; 1928) and Ralph W. Tyler (1949) that dominate
theory and practice within this tradition. In The Curriculum Bobbitt
writes as follows: The central theory [of curriculum] is simple. Human
life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific activities.
Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately
for these specific activities. However numerous and diverse they may be
for any social class they can be discovered. This requires only that one
go out into the world of affairs and discover the particulars of which their
affairs consist. These will show the abilities, attitudes, habits,
appreciations and forms of knowledge that men need. These will be the
objectives of the curriculum. They will be numerous, definite and
particularized. The curriculum will then be that series of experiences
which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those
objectives. This way of thinking about curriculum theory and practice was
heavily influenced by the development of management thinking and
practice. The rise of 'scientific management' is often associated with
the name of its main advocate F. W. Taylor. Basically what he proposed
was greater division of labor with jobs being simplified; an extension of
managerial control over all elements of the workplace; and cost accounting
based on systematic time-and-motion study. All three elements were
involved in this conception of curriculum theory and practice. For
example, one of the attractions of this approach to curriculum theory was that
it involved detailed attention to what people needed to know in order to work,
live their lives and so on. A familiar, and more restricted, example of
this approach can be found in many training programmes, where particular tasks
or jobs have been analyzed - broken down into their component elements - and
lists of competencies drawn up. In other words, the curriculum was
not to be the result of 'armchair speculation' but the product of systematic
study. Bobbitt's work and theory met with mixed responses. As it
stands it is a technical exercise. However, it wasn't criticisms such as
this which initially limited the impact of such curriculum theory in the late
1920s and 1930s. Rather, the growing influence of 'progressive',
child-centred approaches shifted the ground to more romantic notions of
education. Bobbitt's long lists of objectives and his emphasis on order
and structure hardly sat comfortably with such forms. The Progressive movement
lost much of its momentum in the late 1940s in the United States and from that
period the work of Ralph W. Tyler, in particular, has made a lasting impression
on curriculum theory and practice. He shared Bobbitt's emphasis on
rationality and relative simplicity. His theory was based on four
fundamental questions: Like Bobbitt he also placed an emphasis on the
formulation of behavioral objectives. Since the real purpose of education
is not to have the instructor perform certain activities but to bring about
significant changes in the students' pattern of behavior, it becomes important
to recognize that any statements of objectives of the school should be a statement
of changes to take place in the students(Tyler 1949: 44). As what I have
observed its impact was that, Education sorts pupils into a large underclass
and an elite ruling class; the elite are given a suitable “high culture” that
distinguishes them from the rest, and are given suitable social and other
skills to manage and rule, while the underclasses have a compliant and
accepting attitude inculcated through school. Education is essentially a
utilitarian activity, and should be linked to the needs of the nation to
maintain and perpetuate itself. In the
current situation of relative economic decline, this requires a break with
traditional educational values. Education had reasserted the traditional
national values, and transmits the heritage of a golden age, when the nation
was homogeneous and values were not contested.
The national (English) heritage has been unnecessarily diluted by moral
relativism and increasing social fragmentation and diversity. Education is a
commodity: if it has value, then a free
market will determine what is provided, at what price, and who will purchase
it. Freeing the organisation of colleges
and the content of the curriculum will ensure that what societies, individuals,
firms and families want will be provided more efficiently. Education provides a
ladder of opportunity by which bright working class children can aspire to move
up the occupational and social ladder away from their origins. Education has to
be a utilitarian activity, and should be linked to the needs of the society to
maintain and perpetuate itself, economically and socially. In the current situation of relative economic
decline and social change, this requires new educational values. Education is
to develop the whole student in a variety of areas of experience, at a pace and
in a direction that is governed by the learner’s predisposition, and harnessed
to the speed of their learning. As an educator, I believe that students learn
best when curriculum contents are related to each other and connected to
real-life experiences. As schools demand high standards for all students, it is
increasingly important that we engage students in real-world problem solving as
they gain the knowledge and skills required of them. I should also be well
aware of the myriad of external factors that influence and sometimes impair
student learning. Students are often unmotivated to become serious learners. In
many incidences, students do not seem to retain the knowledge and skills
presented to them in the classroom, and that seems be given importance. (Books
and articles read are listed on bibliography at the end pages.)
7. Although students may never meet
them or hear of them, but curriculum specialists play a vital role in shaping
the classroom. They may monitor the progress of students and teachers in order
to provide feedback and recommend improvements. They may be in charge of
choosing technology and books that belong in the classroom. Curriculum
specialists make decisions that affect learning throughout a school. Curriculum specialists are often unseen in the classroom, but play a
big role. According to the College Board, curriculum specialists help
develop programs and train instructors. They work on developing and ordering
materials, such as textbooks, for the classroom. They help schools meet
government standards. Specialists also measure student's learning and will
recommend improvements when necessary. They may specialize in a single school
subject. As technology becomes a dominant force within the classroom,
curriculum specialists decide what educational technology is most beneficial
for learning. They may also have frequent meetings with colleagues, instructors
and school administrators. According to the Occupational Information Network,
curriculum specialists are also known as instructional coordinators. The
curriculum-instructional specialist is defined as one whose primary concern is
the improvement of learning opportunities through the provision of
instructional leadership. The supervisor, as the instructional or program
specialist, has the role of decision-maker, consultant, and specialist in
advising administrators, teachers, and other professional personnel.
Responsibilities include curriculum development, instruction, and staff
development. The curriculum-instructional specialist serves as a member of a
management team charged with the responsibility for planning, implementing, and
evaluating an educational program relevant to the needs of the student
population in a school and/or school system.
8. I will try to explain first my stand
before ranking the four types of knowledge as it was defined. The first is that
the plan or programme assumes great importance. For example, we might
look at a more recent definition of curriculum as: ‘A programme of activities
(by teachers and pupils) designed so that pupils will attain so far as possible
certain educational and other schooling ends or objectives. The problem here is
that such programmes inevitably exist prior to and outside the learning
experiences. This takes much away from learners. They can end up
with little or no voice. They are told what they must learn and how they
will do it. The success or failure of both the programme and the
individual learners is judged on the basis of whether pre-specified changes
occur in the behavior and person of the learner (the meeting of behavioral
objectives). If the plan is tightly adhered to, there can only be limited
opportunity for educators to make use of the interactions that occur. It also
can deskill educators in another way. For example, a number of curriculum
programmes, particularly in the Philippines, have attempted to make the student
experience 'teacher proof'. The logic of this approach is for the
curriculum to be designed outside of the classroom or school, as is the case with
the National Curriculum in other country. Educators then apply programmes
and are judged by the products of their actions. It turns educators into
technicians. Second, there are questions around the nature of
objectives. This model is hot on measurability. It implies that behavior
can be objectively, mechanistically measured. There are obvious dangers
here - there always has to be some uncertainty about what is being
measured. We only have to reflect on questions of success in our
work. It is often very difficult to judge what the impact of particular
experiences has been. Sometimes it is years after the event that we come
to appreciate something of what has happened. For example, most informal
educators who have been around a few years will have had the experience of an
ex-participant telling them in great detail about how some forgotten event
brought about some fundamental change. Yet there is something
more. In order to measure, things have to be broken down into smaller and
smaller units. The result, as many of you will have experienced, can be
long lists of often trivial skills or competencies. This can lead to a
focus in this approach to curriculum theory and practice on the parts rather
than the whole; on the trivial, rather than the significant. It can lead
to an approach to education and assessment which resembles a shopping
list. When all the items are ticked, the person has passed the course or
has learnt something. The role of overall judgment is somehow sidelined. Third,
there is a real problem when we come to examine what educators actually do in
the classroom, for example. Much of the research concerning teacher
thinking and classroom interaction, and curriculum innovation has pointed to
the lack of impact on actual pedagogic practice of objectives. One way of
viewing this, is that teachers simply get it wrong - they ought to work with
objectives. I think we need to take this problem very seriously and not
dismiss it in this way. The difficulties that educators experience with
objectives in the classroom may point to something inherently wrong with the
approach - that it is not grounded in the study of educational exchanges.
It is a model of curriculum theory and practice largely imported from
technological and industrial settings. Fourth, there is the problem of
unanticipated results. The focus on pre-specified goals may lead both
educators and learners to overlook learning that is occurring as a result of
their interactions, but which is not listed as an objective. The apparent
simplicity and rationality of this approach to curriculum theory and practice,
and the way in which it mimics industrial management have been powerful factors
in its success. A further appeal has been the ability of academics to use
the model to attack teachers. I believe
there is a tendency, recurrent enough to suggest that it may be endemic in the
approach, for academics in education to use the objectives model as a stick
with which to beat teachers. 'What are your objectives?' is more often
asked in a tone of challenge than one of interested and helpful inquiry.
The demand for objectives is a demand for justification rather than a
description of ends. It is not about curriculum design, but rather an
expression of irritation in the problems of accountability in education (Stenhouse
1974: 77). I have decided that the following ideals should rank accordingly
like this; (1) learning experience, (2) content, (3) values, (4) skills.
Bibliography
Books
Brandt, Ron. "On Interdisciplinary Curriculum: A
Conversation with Heidi Hayes Jacobs", Educational Leadership 49:2, 1991.
Brophy, J. and Alleman, J. "A Caveat: Curriculum
Integration Isn't Always a Good Idea", Educational Leadership 49:2, 1991.
Fogarty, Robin. "Ten Ways to Integrate
Curriculum", Educational
Leadership 49:2, 1991.
Gardner, Howard. The
Disciplined Mind, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1999.
Jacobs, H.H. "Planning for Curriculum
Integration", Educational
Leadership 49:2, 1991.
Perkins, D.N. and Salomon, G. "Teaching for
Transfer", Educational Leadership
46:1, 1988.
Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum
Research and Development, London: Heinemann. 248 pg.
Online Sources
Website:
Online Articles:
Aschbacher, P. "Humanitas: A Thematic
Curriculum." Educational Leadership 49/2 (1991): 16-19.
Benjamin, S. "An Ideascope for Education: What
Futurists Recommend." Educational Leadership 47/1 (1989): 8-16.
Bonds, C.; Cox, C., III; and Gantt-Bonds, L.
"Curriculum Wholeness through Synergistic Teaching." The Clearing
House 66/4 (1993): 252-254.
Brandt, R. "On Interdisciplinary Curriculum: A
Conversation with Heidi Hayes Jacobs." Educational Leadership 49/2
(1991): 24-26.
Brophy, J., and Alleman, J. "A Caveat: Curriculum
Integration Isn't Always a Good Idea." Educational Leadership 49/2
(1991): 66.
Caine, R., and Caine, G. Making Connections: Teaching
and the Human Brain. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development, 1991.
Cromwell, S. "A New Way of Thinking: The Challenge
of the Future." Educational Leadership 49/1 (1989): 60-64.
Fogarty, R. The Mindful School: How to Integrate the
Curricula. Palatine, IL: Skylight Publishing, Inc., 1991.
Humphreys, A.; Post, T.; and Ellis, A. Interdisciplinary
Methods: A Thematic Approach. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear Publishing
Company,1981.
Jacobs, H. H. Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Design and
Implementation. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development,1989.
Palmer, J. "Planning Wheels Turn Curriculum
Around." Educational Leadership 49/2 (1991): 57-60.
Perkins, D. N. "Educating for Insight." Educational
Leadership 49/2 (1991): 4-8.
Shoemaker, B. "Integrative Education: A Curriculum
for the Twenty-FirstCentury." Oregon School Study Council 33/2
(1989).
Tyler, R. W. (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and
Instruction, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
