In the recent past, educational scholars have looked to define and better understand the curriculum orientation (or beliefs) that educators hold. Among these beliefs are that curriculum should focus on:
1. Cognitive Process
2. Behavorial
3. Social Reconstruction
4. Academic Rationalism
5. Humanistic and
6. Ecclectic/Practical
Each of these beliefs represent varying philosophical approaches. To focus on Cognetitive Processes is the belief that developing thinking skills is of the utmost importance. A Behavorial approach/belief is focused not on the acquisition of knowledge or societal issues but of individual progress. Academic Rationalists adhere to more traditional beliefs of the acquisition of knowledge and Social Reconstruction encourages students to think critically and problem solve. The Humansitic approach calls for attention to be paid to personal reflection and development. Those who believe in an Eccelctic/Practical approach look to curriculum to investigate and mitigate local problems.
After 20 years of teaching, my personal beliefs would tend toward Academic Rationalism as I have taught Advanced Placement History courses that stress the acquisition of knowledge. While many today argue that attaining knowledge is not as important in today's society as factual knowledge can be quickly obtained through internet search engines such as Google. However, it is the attainment of knowledge, the understanding of that knowledge and processing/anaylzing it, that has been the focus of many of my years of teaching.
After studying my own beliefs and taking S.B. Jenkins survey to measure my own beliefs, I was surprised that the results indicated that my strongest belief is that of "Curriculum as Techonolgy" or the Behavioural approach, particularly as this is not a content based philosophy. However, I do appreciate the attention individual progress that the Behavourial philosophy recognizes.
No comments:
Post a Comment