Curriculum Foundations - Research Paper Example

Curriculum Foundations Barbara Colon Strayer EDU-555 Specific Curriculum Area Curriculum foundation encompasses a consideration of all important aspects regarding the society including their historical background, psychological, philosophical as well as the social context. It considers the various issues influencing the curriculum as well as a consideration of the manner new thinkings affect the deliberation, the development and the implementation of the curriculum. In this context, the designation of the curriculum aims at covering American history right from the time of birth and the path followed to arrive at where we are at the moment. The first part is to cover all the important events up to the end of the civil war while the second part to proceed with all the reconstructions through to the present. It aims and overcoming all the shortcomings of the old curriculum and ensure that students can effectively, understand and appreciate our heritage and the manner the country evolved. In this way, they will gain a better understanding of the current problems we face and develop a good strategy on how we should move to make the most desirable changes. This will be targeting all the elementary schools, the junior high schools and the high schools of Mesa Unified School District, Arizona. Instructional Goals Firstly, the new curriculum aims at aligning with the standards set by the state, which is one of the major requirements since the curriculum must be compatible with the guidelines set by both the state and the federal government. Each instructor will be capable of measuring the standards of their lessons to ensure that the students get the right content effectively. Secondly, the curriculum aims at providing a detailed explanation of the significance of one historical occasion relative to the other events. This is to enlighten them to understand how one event contributed and shaped the occurrence of the other. Thirdly, it also intends to impart the required critical as well as creative thinking abilities as the students move to college to critically anslyse the events and make meaningful judgements. Lastly, the curriculum aims at ensuring that students can clearly understand how the past events shaped our present status and make excellent plans for our future. Approach to the Curriculum Development Although it is the oldest approach of all the existing approaches to curiculum development, the behavioral approach is the most relevant one to employ. The approach, according to Ornstein and Hunkins (2009) will pave the way for the specification of the goals as well as the objectives of the curriculum that we clearly, understand. The approach also allows for the proper arrangement of the contents and the activities to match the objectives of learning. This is a time to make everything clear to every instuctor of what we want the student to know and what we want in the future to cultivate the desirable cultures beneficial for the country. It will provide a measure of what we have achieved and where we have failed and what should come next. Through this, the goals and objectives of learning will acquire priority and the change in behavior will be an indicator for successful implementation of the curriculum. There will be no confusion of what the curriculum wants to achieve and the standardization of the means of implementation is possible to make the entire process simple and easy to adopt. The Philosophical Approach The philosophical idea of idealism is the most relevant in order to achieve the set goals intended in the curriculum. In this case, we have to agree with the view that reality is completely, mental as well as spritual rather than physical. This is because; nothing can be real without existing in our minds and the actions taken are dependent on the manner we think and finally decide. This will drive us to the final answer that we need to change the manner we think if we are to achieve the best outcomes, we want. In this case, the implementation of the curriculum will directly, aim at the mental development of the learner to impart the thinking skills required. The overall outcome will be to enable the learner to see a whole thing rather than just a portion of it to draw the required meaning out of it. The instructor is not only supposed to understand the several learning stages but also maintain consistent concern regarding the final objectives of the learning process. The lectures are not means of conveying information but meant to stimulate thinking and a reflection to the reality. The process of questioning and discussing will help the learner to identify alternatives that he would have lost. The core purpose of lecturing will be to help the learner understand ideas. In this manner, the learners will be capable of shaping the future for the benefit of the country. Psychological motivational approach The cognitive approach is the best in ensuring that the curriculum aligns well with the set goals and objectives. In this case, learning is purely a mental or neurological activity (Reigeluth, 2013). The curriculum should assist the learner to comprehend the historical events that occurred as well as the major concepts. This will base on the belief that if the learner is capable of understanding the links between the events, breakdown the events and reconstruct them logically, the power of retention and thinking will rise. The implementation of the curriculum should consider the fact that learning is a recognition process. The learner must finally have the power of perceiving new relationships amongst the various parts of the problem. In addition, the curriculum should consider the fact that the manner an individual thinking determines the manner he feels or behaves. This will relate or include the various means of knowing such as the memory, thinking, motivation, perception and comprehension (Shanahan and Shanahan, 2008). The power of retention, which the approach insist on will be an important consideration in the curriculum since the understanding of the present will largely depend on what the learner knows and can remember about the past. In addition, the memory lays the foundation upon which the thinking process begins in the case of a problem. Cultural Influence Most schools are now experiencing a rapid increase in students of color hence increasing the demographic differences. This continues to impart some negative feelings amongst the various individuals involved in the day-to-day running of these schools. A good number of parrents and instructors are viewing this rapid increase in demographic differences as a drawback instead of an opportunity. In addition, most of the instructors in these schools do not have the proper knowledge and experience for dealing with these demographic differences. The new curriculum should therefore be capable of adderessing the issue and provide the required guidance to all the parties involved. Integrating the Culture The new curriculum should be capable of training both instructors and all the other parties that these diversities are not because of discriminination in the international arena. In this way, it is possible to understand and appreciate the condition as an opportunity rather than a move meant to undermine others. This will have an effect of eliminating all the negative perceptions regarding the matter. The curriculum should also pave the way for instructors from all the various races and cultures to acquire new competencies as well as pedagogies that can greatly, assist them in engaging the varying populations of learners. Perhaps the negative perceptions are coming because of the absence of guidance in the old curriculum in addressing the matter, which makes the matter to appear as a problem and an obstacle to the process of learning. The curriculum should also provide models for instructors to be capable of reflecting and engaging strategies that can help them construct desirable learning groups in their schools. The overall objective is to help instructors to boost their competencies in handling multicultural communities in ther schools. This encompasses their abilities in establishing authentic as well as effective relations across variations. The curriculum will thus encourage them to confront social domination and justice as well as transforming instructional practices. Bloom’s Taxonomy for incorporating critical thinking skills Level of Expertise Description of Level Measurable Student Outcome Knowledge Recalling the sequence of events and the effects on each other. Defining, describing, identifying, recognizing, labelling, naming, analyzing and narrating. Comprehension Translating and interpreting. Summarizing, restating, paraphrazing, illustrating, matching, explaining, defending, relating, comparing, contrasting and generalizing. Application Application of the concepts to real situations. Applying, changing, putting together, constructing, discovering, producing, making, reporting, showing, collecting preparing and solving. Analysis Separating a complex event into its constituent parts and drawing a general understanding from the various parts. Examining, classifying, categorizing, researching, contrasting, comparing, disassembling, differentiating, separating, investigating and subdividing. Synthesis Creativity and mental construction of the ideas drawn from the various events into concrete conclusions. Combining, hypothesizing, constructing, creating, formulating and developing. Evaluation Making judgements out of the events learnt using other examples. Comparing, recommending, assessing, valuing, solving, critisizing, weighing, considering and debating. Rationale for the strategy The strategy aims at enabling learners to interpret or have the ability of understanding and expressing the meaning associated with the sequence of historical events, experiences as well as the beliefs held. This will enable an analysis of the various events and the acquizition of the abilities of identifying relationships among the events. Evaluation of the events will enable the learner to assess the power of the relationships between the events. It also aims at enabling the learner to draw meaningful conclussions out of the events learnt and has the ability of stating and justifying personal ideas. It also aims at enabling the learner to evaluate his personal reasoning process and utilizing analytical skills in correcting and approving his own results. Conclussion The new curriculum aims at overcoming the shortcomings of the old curriculum in teaching American history right from the beginning upto the moment. The curriculum aims at ensuring that the learner can effectively, understand the events that took place in the past, the factors that influenced the events and the relationships between the events together with their effects. We need a curriculum that is not only going to help learners understand the past but also enable them to be informed about the current situation and what we should do to make things better. This is only possible if we can learn from our own mistakes, appreciate the reality and think appropriately. References Diamond, R. M (2012).Designing and assessing course and curricula (2nded.). San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass. Gordon, S. P. (2014). Professional development for school improvement: Empowering learning Communities. Boston: Pearson. Marsh, C.J., & Willis, G. (2013).Curriculum: Alternative approaches, ongoing issues (3rded.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. Nussbaum, Martha. (2011). The enduring significance of John Rawls. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 21(7), 7. Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2009). Curriculum: Foundation, principles and issues (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Reigeluth, C. M. (Ed.). (2013). Instructional design theories and models: An overview of their current status. Routledge. Rocca, Al, and Zachlod, Michelle. (2014). The changing classroom world. Social Studies Review, 44 (1), p. 5-8. Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40-59. Read More