Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Question #9 - To what degree does curriculum foster reciprocity?




While the efficiency movement viewed curriculum aims in a certain way, the movement was not without its detractors. (1) What sort of alternatives contrasted with the efficiency movement? (2) How do these alternatives view the aim of curriculum? (3) What do these alternatives mean for education today? (4) How did Dewey perceive objectivity & reciprocity? (5) How does Dewey view education as an active rather than a passive process & how do you feel about the application of this idea?

·       MY PEDAGOGIC CREED (1897) – JOHN DEWEY (The Curriculum Studies Reader #3)

Read one of the two below-articles by Pinar & Doll.  Pinar & Doll offer alternatives to the efficiency scientific curriculum-making views of education.  As you read the article of your choice articles (& reflect on Dewey), consider the following questions: (1) What is the social dimension of education/learning? (2) If schools are social institutions, what is their role? (3) How can schools contribute to the greater good? (4) If education is not about the acquisition of predetermined skills, what is it about? (5) Why should educators foster connections between prior experiences & new knowledge? (6) For this to happen, what do educators need to do? (7) To what degree should educators individualize & are there any problems with this? (8) What exactly is the role of an educator/teacher?

·       THE RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF CURRICULUM (1977) – WILLIAM F. PINAR (The Curriculum Studies Reader #15)

·       THE FOUR R’S – AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE TYLER RATIONAL (1993) – WILLIAM E. DOLL JR. – (The Curriculum Studies Reader #22)

Additional books/articles on the subject of reciprocity include:

·       The School & Society (1900) – JOHN DEWEY
·       The Child & the Curriculum (1902) – JOHN DEWEY
·       Democracy & Education (1916) – JOHN DEWEY
·       Experience & Education (1938) – JOHN DEWEY
·       Curriculum & Consciousness (1971) – MAXINE GREENE – (The Curriculum Studies Reader #14)
·       Frames of Mind (1983)HOWARD GARDNER
·       Transforming the Mainstream Curriculum (1994) – JAMES A. BANKS
·       Pedagogy of Hope (1994) – PAULO FRIEIRE
·       Pedagogy of Freedom (1998) – PAULO FREIRE