This work offers a detailed critique of various radical interpretations of curriculum history and curriculum theory. Hlebowitsh seeks to show how the progressive experimentalist tradition in curriculum studies has been unjustly characterised by ""reconceptualist"" theorists as somehow rooted in notions of social control and social efficiency. In their fight against what they see as the behaviourism inherent in traditional curriculum theory, the radicals have pushed aside the important contributions of Progressives from Dewey to Tyler, whose ideas about intelligent self-control and enlightened collective empowerment support values that are fundamental to democracy.
Reconceptualizing Curriculum Development provides accessible, clear guidance on curriculum problem solving and educational leadership through the practice of a synoptic curriculum study. This practice integrates three influential interpretations of curriculum—curriculum as deliberative artistry, curriculum as complicated conversation, and curriculum as currere—with John Dewey’s lifetime work on reflective inquiry. At its heart, the book advances a way of studying as a way of living with reference to the question: How might I live as a democratic educator? The study guidance is organized as an open-ended scaffolding of three embedded reflective inquiries informed by four deliberative conversations. Study recommendations are provided by a carefully selected team. The field-tested study-based approach is illustrated through a multi-layered, multi-voiced narrative collage of four experienced teachers’ personal journeys of understanding in a collegial study context. Applying William Pinar’s argument that a "conceptual montage" enabling teachers to lead complicated conversations should be the focus for curriculum development in the field’s current ‘post-reconceptualist’ moment, the book moves forward the educational aim of facilitating a holistic subject/self/social understanding through the practice of a balanced hermeneutics of suspicion and trust. It closes with a discussion of cross-cultural collaboration and advocacy, reflecting the interest of curriculum scholars in a wide range of countries in this study-based, lead-learning approach to curriculum development.
Perhaps not since Ralph Tyler's (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has a book communicated the field as completely as Understanding Curriculum. From historical discourses to breaking developments in feminist, poststructuralist, and racial theory, including chapters on political theory, phenomenology, aesthetics, theology, international developments, and a lengthy chapter on institutional concerns, the American curriculum field is here. It will be an indispensable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses alike.
Lack of learner motivation is the single greatest challenge before American schools and colleges. When students are self-motivated, they invest more and work harder at learning even if resources are inadequate. Jackson Kytle's provocative book argues that students and teachers waste time and human energy because the conventional curriculum rests on flawed mental models. Hope for change requires a searching critique of modernity as well as expanded theories of human motivation and learning based on advances in neurobiology and cognitive studies. After consideration of existentialism and choice of life purposes, and the dynamics of psychological involvement, Kytle closes his ambitious, interdisciplinary book with ten considerations for better learning.
The acclaimed classic shows educators how to set classroom objectives, select learning experiences, organize instruction, and evaluate progress. In 1949, a small book had a big impact on education. In just over one hundred pages, Ralph W. Tyler presented the concept that curriculum should be dynamic, a program under constant evaluation and revision. Curriculum had always been thought of as a static, set program, and in an era preoccupied with student testing, he offered the innovative idea that teachers and administrators should spend as much time evaluating their plans as they do assessing their students. Since then, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has been a standard reference for anyone working with curriculum development. Although not a strict how-to guide, the book shows how educators can critically approach curriculum planning, studying progress and retooling when needed. Its four sections focus on setting objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing instruction, and evaluating progress. Readers will come away with a firm understanding of how to formulate educational objectives and how to analyze and adjust their plans so that students meet the objectives. Tyler also explains that curriculum planning is a continuous, cyclical process, an instrument of education that needs to be fine-tuned. This emphasis on thoughtful evaluation has kept Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction a relevant, trusted companion for over sixty years. And with school districts across the nation working feverishly to align their curriculum with Common Core standards, Tyler’s straightforward recommendations are sound and effective tools for educators working to create a curriculum that integrates national objectives with their students’ needs. Praise for Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction “Tyler addresses the essential purposes of teaching in a way that still has relevance for contemporary students of education, and communicates to them how important and timeless the quality of the pupil-teacher interaction actually is.” —Times Higher Education (UK)
Critical Curriculum Studies examines both how social power is embedded in curricular knowledge and how such knowledge can be used to make progressive educational and social change.
