Monday, January 16, 2012

Curriculum Through the Ages

Image: Edudemic, 2011

What are some of the societal forces that influence school curricula today?
How do curriculum definitions, curricular history, and theoretical approaches and policy progress relate to major societal forces such as technology and the world at large?
How might a school leader be proactive in the advent of these types of influences in terms of curricular offerings?


With little knowledge of curriculum prior to the beginning of this class, the readings have been an enlightening experience in the development of the role of curriculum in education. By and large, this development has been influenced by the forces in history such as war, unrest, depression, space exploration, and important figures such as Dewey, Piaget, Bloom, Banks, Eisner and Darling-Hammond to name a few. These historical influences have had a large influence on the schools through publications that helped define what happens in the curriculum in schools. For instance, the space race in the 1960s influenced the emphasis on science curriculum, which was developed by scholars and the inclusion of physics as an important science in school. The counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s influenced an experimentation of alternative schools and open classroom environments, which likely then led to a trend toward conservatism that reflected a yearning for stability that is still evident today (Glatthorn, Boschee, Whitehead & Boschee, 2011).

Growing up, I experienced school during the period called Privatistic Conservatism (1975 to 1989) that looked to increase rigor and back to basics in schools, and started the trend of accountability that is highly prevalent today. However, in 1982, when I graduated from high school, the goals of this period were not evident to me as a student. State exams or the ideas of multiculturalism by Banks were non-existent to me as a student. Teachers were the most important element when it came to curriculum and courses by teachers who were known to be “great,” were popular and influential. Has this really changed? Today, students at Greenwich High School (also my high school in 1982) flock to course taught by teachers who are dynamic whether or not they hold a strong interest in the course initially. Teachers remain the greatest determinant for students, especially at the high school level, of the impact of curriculum on a student. As such, the major challenge today for school leaders is to train their staff to teach at a very high level. Finland focused on this aspect in the development of their educational system, which today is considered one of the best in the world in part because of the high quality of their teaching staff. One axiom identifies “curriculum change depends on people to implement the changes,” (Oliva, n.d.) implying that teachers must be at the heart of the process and actively involved with working collaboratively to plan the best way to help students discover and be excited by the content.

The role of technology has always had an important part in history for students though I use this term in a broad sense. Technology includes: the development of the chalkboard (1890), pencil (1900) and ballpoint pen (1940), radio (1925) of which was used to broadcast lesson in New York City, slide rule (1950), photocopier (1959), or calculator (1970) (Dunne, 2011); each of these had a unique impact on education in the way that we might consider the computer in another 40 or 50 years. While I am a fan of the use of technology (in the current sense) and global learning, I’ve seen both applied poorly without context. Ultimately, the ability of the teacher to use the current technology with knowledge of the goals for learning and an understanding of the student’s needs, will best teach the curriculum. How the curriculum is defined and categorized in theoretical terms has expanded and become more complicated over time, but this doesn’t change the impact of teachers have on student learning. I found the extensive descriptions of the variety of curricular theories to be the type of learning that a student might experience in an AP class and one that is forgotten immediately after the exam. While I understand the need to organize the wide variety of theories identified, I think each idea could be used when needed. If properly trained, the teacher, knowing all of the ways to present curriculum and the content that needs to be taught, should be able to individualize the classroom experience so that each student learns to the best of their ability

Dunne, J. (2011, April 18). The evolution of classroom technology. Edudemic. Retrieved from: http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

Glatthorn, A., Boschee, F., Whitehead, B., Boschee, B. (2011). Curriculum leadership: Strategies for development and implementation, 3rd edition. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Oliva, P. (n.d.) 10 Axiom's for Curriculum Development. [Slides]. United States: Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved from: https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/curricwk2/

1 comment:

  1. I believe any type of differentiation was foreign to us as students. Now, as educators, we realize the benefits of helping students on their level!

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