Conceptions of Curriculum

“A conception of curriculum implies a particular purpose of education with appropriate content and organization.” (Sowell, p. 38) I have started this blog with a concept map of my interpretation of the conceptions of curriculum. I have drawn from the many resources provided and attempted to put it altogether in a coherent and comprehension summary.

https://prezi.com/view/pCwtUHTdfAzxYgaQgHg9/

While reading and processing all this information, it occurred to me over and over again that as a teacher in an elementary school, I can identify with all of the five main conceptions of curriculum. There is definitely a place for aspects of each one in the classroom. My present practise is constantly evolving and changing, dependent upon the nature of my class, the mandate of the school board and the preference of the school administration. Ornstein points out that “curriculum is a dynamic field” (p 1) and “many educators are not strongly committed to one approach.” (p 2). In my present practise, my default or starting point, is always the academic rationalism approach mainly because as a school board, the Ontario government has laid out what learning is required at each level in the form of a curriculum document. However, over the last couple of years, there has been opportunities for professional development around the way we teach social studies and science. As a school, we are attempting to implement collaborative inquiry in these areas, thus adapting a humanistic approach (Ornstein p 7) or a cognitive process approach (Eisner and Vallance p 5) and incorporating a social relevance reconstruction approach (Sowell p 41) by adding a social justice piece to learning activities. In order for students to access information to analyze, evaluate and make conclusions, a technology approach is embedded in these practises. The Web allows students to access information quickly from multiple sources and apps and technology programs allow them to present their findings, solutions and conclusions in a way that meets their personal interests and individual needs. These types of assignments and learning activities dip into the self actualization approach to curriculum. I am able to use elements of all five of these conceptions of curriculum in my classroom by, in addition to the academic standards in the curriculum document, using the big ideas presented in the social studies, science and the arts curriculum, along with knowledge of current social issues and my professional experience.

I can appreciate the conflict in conceptions of curriculum where “educators have been at war with each other over what the nature of the American school curriculum should be.” (Schiro p 1). I can also appreciate the value and emphasis each individual conception offers to curriculum development. However, I can see why some approaches are accepted as more mainstream than others. Sowell says the cumulative tradition of organized knowledge is where “the purpose of education is to cultivate cognitive achievement and intellect by helping students understand knowledge.” (p 39). A similar approach is the academic rationalism conception. “This approach states that classic disciplines should be taught in the curriculum since they enable individuals to learn concepts “through which thought acquires precision, generality, and power; such disciplines exemplify intellectual activity at its best” (Eisner & Vallance, 1974, p. 12). Eisner and Vallance declared that the structure of this conception is preferred by many educators and therefore is alive and well.” (Al Mousa p 24). This approach seems to be the most commonly used and preferred by educators, which makes it the most well-practised and perhaps the approach for which we are best equipped. It seems as though our education system is best set up for this approach. The Ontario curriculum document is a well laid out set of standards, learning objectives and examples, where learning goals build on each other from year to year. There is also the issue of standardized testing, which requires teachers to prepare students to answer questions on predetermined content. Finally, the Ontario report card system requires teachers to measure student progress against a universal grading system. These requirements make it difficult to approach curriculum from any other conception than the behavioural approach (Ornstein p 2) or the academic rationalism approach (Eisner and Vallance p 12), thus making these approaches mainstream as opposed to the other four approaches. I do believe that the education system is changing and in the future, I am hopeful that as educators, we will have more freedom to draw from all five conceptions of curriculum with ease.

References:

• Eisner, E., & Vallance, E. (Eds.). (1974). Five conceptions of the curriculum: Their roots and implications for curriculum planning. In E. Eisner & E. Vallance (Eds.), Conflicting conceptions of curriculum (pp. 1-18). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing.
• McNeil, J. D. (2009).  Contemporary curriculum in thought and action (7^th ed.).  Hoboken, NJ:  John Wiley.  Pages 1, 3-14, 27-39, 52-60, 71-74.
• Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues (6^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Read part of Chapter 1, pp. 1-8.
• Schiro, M. S. (2013).  Introduction to the curriculum ideologies.  In M. S. Schiro, Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns (2^nd ed., pp. 1-13). Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage.
• Sowell, E. J. (2005). Curriculum: An integrative introduction (3rd ed., pp. 37-51). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
• Vallance. (1986). A second look at conflicting conceptions of the curriculum. Theory into Practice, 25(1), 24-30.
• Al Mousa, N. (2013). An examination of cad use in two interior design programs from the perspectives of curriculum and instructors, pp. 21-37 (Master’s Thesis).
• Brown, G. T. L. (2006). Conceptions of curriculum: A framework for understanding New Zealand’s Curriculum Framework and teachers’ opinions. Curriculum Matters, 2, 164-181.

Philosophical Foundations of Education, Curriculum Design Planning and Conceptions of Curriculum

Alia Hamadani and I have created a visual representation using Mindomo of the relationships between the differing philosophical foundations of education and the different curriculum designs and then connecting the conceptions of curriculum to those philosophies and designs. Use the link below to view our mind map.

https://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/86b4103bedc0434d90c6f7d57629c33c

Planning, Instruction, and Assessment Approaches in Different Curricular Designs

Alia Hamadani and I have updated our visual representation of the foundations of education to include how planning, instruction and assessment approaches differ between the three main curriculum designs, subject-based, leaner-based and problem-based designs. Use the link below to view our mind map.

https://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/philosophical-foundations-for-education-what-is-the-purpose-school-86b4103bedc0434d90c6f7d57629c33c

My Electronic Journal: Connecting to a Professional Community

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have connected, interacted and published a blog post on TeachOntario, a professional community that I have recently become a member of in hopes to grow, share and offer leadership in my professional life. Please find my electronic journal and my blog post, by using the links below.

My Electronic Journal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oVIis0_44km5NQ7GIAmsNOFoBcWP3jib5_OC4OyHAlo/edit?usp=sharing

My Blog post on TeachOntario: A summary of learning and my personal views

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11mShvj8tatBF-l50q34eYwYIzQqAh7c_JAcd4eK0g3w/edit?usp=sharing