242570-228600004831080-8382000Far Eastern UniversityInstitute of EducationJESTONI C.
AQUINO Dr. Maria Eliza P. CruzEd. D.-LLE Student ProfessorEDUC 371-Advanced Studies in CurriculumSynthesis Paper 1: Introduction to Studies in CurriculumThe curriculum represents the expression of educational ideas in practice. The word curriculum has its roots in the Latin word for track or race course.
From there it came to mean course of study or syllabus. Today the definition is much wider and includes all the planned learning experiences of a school or educational institution. The curriculum must be in a form that can be communicated to those associated with the learning institution, should be open to critique, and should be able to be readily transformed into practice. The curriculum exists at three levels: what is planned for the students, what is delivered to the students, and what the students experience.
A curriculum is the result of human agency. It is underpinned by a set of values and beliefs about what students should know and how they come to know it. The curriculum of any institution is often contested and problematic. Some people may support a set of underlying values that are no longer relevant. The Tyler Model, developed by Ralph Tyler in the 1940’s, is the quintessential prototype of curriculum development in the scientific approach. One could almost dare to say that every certified teacher in America and maybe beyond has developed curriculum either directly or indirectly using this model or one of the many variations. Tyler did not intend for his contribution to curriculum to be a lockstep model for development. Originally, he wrote down his ideas in a book Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction for his students to give them an idea about principles for to making curriculum.
The brilliance of Tyler’s model is that it was one of the first models and it was and still is a highly simple model consisting of four steps.The Tyler model is used for having a process for what you want to put into a curriculum. This means that anybody can follow this model and put whatever they want into their curriculum. There is no right or wrong content in a Tyler curriculum.
Tyler believed that the structure of the school curriculum also had to be responsive to three central factors that represent the main elements of an educative experience:(1) the nature of the learner (developmental factors, learner interests and needs, life experiences, etc.);(2) the values and aims of society (democratizing principles, values and attitudes); and(3) knowledge of subject matter (what is believed to be worthy and usable knowledge). Tyler was interested in how learning related to the issues of society, and believed studies of contemporary life provided information for learning objectives.
He defines the learning objectives in terms of knowledge, communication skills, social and ethical perspective, quantitative and analytical skills, and cognitive/taxonomy. He proposes that educational objectives originate from three sources: studies of society, studies of learners, and subject-matter specialists. These data systematically collected and analyzed form the basis of initial objectives to be tested for their attainability and their efforts in real curriculum situations. The tentative objectives from the three sources are filtered through two screens: the school’s educational philosophy and knowledge of the psychology of learning, which results in a final set of educational objectives. Tyler’s model for curriculum designing is based on the following questions:What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?What educational experiences can be provided that is likely to attain these purposes? How can these educational experiences be effectively organized? How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?The Taba Model was developed by Hilda Taba, an architect, a curriculum theorist, a curriculum reformer, and a teacher educator. Taba believed that there has to be a definite order in creating a curriculum. She advocated that teachers take an inductive approach to curriculum development which meant starting with the specifics and building toward a general design, rather than the traditional deductive approach starts with the general design and work towards the specifics which was rooted in Tyler’s model.
Hilda Taba followed the grass-roots approach in developing curriculum. For her, it should be the teachers who should design the curriculum rather than the higher authorities. More specifically stated, the Taba approach believes in allowing the curriculum to be developed and/or authored by the users . Under the Taba Model teachers are expected to begin each curriculum by creating specific teaching-learning units and building to a general design. An example of how the Taba model works: 1. Students receive an article, and are told to note all examples they can find in the article of “change”. 2.
These ideas are presented to the class, all ideas are expressed on the boardStudents then group these ideas in a method of their choice 3. These groups are then labeled, with an explanation provided by the student 4. Students are next challenged to regroup their ideas based on a different question posed to the class by the teacher “Who had the greatest need for change” 4. Finally, students synthesize their information, provide summaries of the data and form generalizations. 5he believed that students make generalizations only after data are organized. She believed that students can be led toward making generalizations through concept development and concept attainment strategies.
According to Taba, the best way to deal with increase in knowledge is to emphasize the acquisition, understanding, and use of ideas and concepts rather than facts alone.Cyclical models lie along with the continuum between the extremes of rational and dynamic models, incorporating elements of both to provide a different approach to devising curricula. Basically, these models are extension of rational models in that they are essentially logical and sequential in approach. A former member of the University of Western Australia, Wheeler developed and extended the ideas forwarded by Tyler and particularly Taba. He suggested five inter-related phases in the curriculum process which logically would produce an effective curriculum. The strengths of this are logical sequential structure, situational analysis as a starting point, model is flexible and less rigid, more relevant.
Some of its weaknesses are logical and sequential nature and fundamental problem in utilizing such models is the amount of time required to undertake an effective situational analysis. Wheeler’s model for curriculum design is an improvement upon Tyler’s model instead of a linear model. Wheeler developed a cyclical model evaluation in Wheeler’s model is not terminal findings from the evaluation are fed back into the objectives and the goals which influence other stages. Wheeler contends that: Aims should be discussed as behaviours referring to the end product of learning which yields the ultimate goals one can think of these ultimate goals as outcomes. Aims are formulated from the general to the specific in curriculum planning.
This results in the formulation of objectives at both an enabling and a terminal level content is distinguished from the learning experiences which determine that content. Situational model is the way in which a curriculum is positioned relative to its surroundings. Focus on the cultural context of learning.
Use of this model happens naturally owing to the pressure from stakeholders, so is being implemented. Situation Analysis has these steps: Statement of Meaning, Program Content, Program Teaching and Learning, Program Assessment, Organization and Implementation and Monitor and Evaluate. Curriculum development has a broad scope because it is not only about the school, the learners and the teachers. It is also about the development of a society in general. In today’s knowledge economy, curriculum development plays a vital role in improving the economy of a country.
It also provides answers or solutions to the world’s pressing conditions and problems, such as environment, politics, socio-economics, and other issues on poverty, climate change and sustainable development. There must be a chain of developmental process to develop a society. First, the school curriculum particularly in higher education must be developed to preserve the country’s national identity and to ensure its economy’s growth and stability. Thus, the president of a country must have a clear vision for his people and for the country as well.If universities have curricular programs that are innovative and in demand in the local or global markets, many students even from foreign countries will enroll.
Higher number of enrollees would mean income on the part of the universities. As a result, if the income is big, it can be used for teachers’ promotion, scholarship and remuneration. It can also be used in funding research and development endeavors, and in putting up school facilities, libraries, and laboratories.
