Week 6 Assignment 2 – Curriculum Foundations
Aspects of Curriculum Inception
Piloting curriculum is essential in numerous ways. In the curriculum inception assignment, the context of the identified pilot curriculum is Florence County School District 2, whereby the curriculum is organized into content, objectives, and learning experiences. Demographics of the student population indicate that Florence County District 2 has 1,083 students, ranging from PK to K12.
Curriculum area and grade levels: The proposed curriculum will focus on math, science, technology, and liberal arts. The curriculum will ensure that these subjects are prerequisites to graduating from high school. This curriculum will consider math a foundational element to help learners acquire a proper understanding of mathematical concepts for application in their daily lives (Himeno, 2017). Technology will be a critical element for the curriculum given its significance in furthering studies and the employment sector. Other curriculum areas such as liberal arts and science will be vital in the proposed curriculum as students will be able to comprehend their current strengths, educational needs, and career passions. This curriculum cuts across the entire K12 curriculum system. The curriculum will commence at the K1 grade level through to the K12 grade level. Learners will form a strong foundation with the curriculum and educators will have sufficient time to slowly adapt to the curriculum’s needs.
Instructional goals for the curriculum: The four primary instructional goals for the proposed pilot curriculum include:
- Students will be able to compute basic math problems to apply to real issues such as economics and the exponential rate at which a pandemic can spread.
- Students should be able to apply basic technological applications in their life. This includes operating technological devices and diagnosing minor issues.
- The student will be able to implement scientific applications in the world. This includes simple things such as why diseases can spread from one person to another to complex things such as global warming.
- Students will understand their history and those of others, understand psychology, economics, and other liberal arts.
Curriculum Development Approach
There are different approaches to curriculum development, including the systems, behavior, and humanistic approach. In reference to the core instructional goals, the systems approach to curriculum development is more consistent with the curriculum design. The curriculum design’s core instructional goals are built on the target curriculum areas, i.e., math, technology, science, and liberal arts. According to (Pfannkuch, 2018), educational technology, math, and science are systems approaches. The systems approach to curriculum development facilitates the comprehension and handling of a complex phenomenon or situation. In the proposed curriculum design, the systems approach will approach the whole school system by system theory. In reference to the instructional goals, the systems approach to curriculum development will provide equal opportunities to all school levels, cutting across administration, curriculum, instruction, and evaluation.
Adopting the systems approach will allow the educators to establish orderly introduction of math, technology, science, and liberal arts components that are helping in students’ learning. In (Himeno, 2017) studies, educational technology is considered to be a systems approach. The second instructional goal of equipping students with basic technological applications justifies why the approach is suitable in this curriculum design. In the curriculum, students should learn to apply technologies to diagnose and solve minor issues. Technology and science go hand in hand, indicating that science is also a systems approach. In the K-12 education system, the use of systems approach will establish a shared understanding of math and scientific problems. Also, the instructional design wants to equip learners with decision-making skills. In this perspective, the systems approach helps make both short- and long-term decisions.
Philosophical/theoretical Approach to Curriculum Development
In order to shape this curriculum design, the most suitable approach is the realism approach. This is because realism advocates for developing a curriculum fit for realistic education, a curriculum that enables students to solve different life problems and lead successful and happy life. Educational realism recommends that teachers study logic, scientific methods, and critical thinking to educate students to understand and perceive reality (Pfannkuch, 2018). This rationale aligns with the proposed curriculum’s third core instructional goal, i.e., equipping the students with abilities to implement scientific applications in the world. This instructional goal seeks to equip students with skills useful in solving problems that affect the community, e.g., global warming.
By including the realism approach to the new curriculum, students will understand the scientific processes, gain critical thinking skills, and research ways to improve health and hygiene. Also, educational realism emphasizes math and science, educational areas that the first and second core instructional goals seek to achieve. In the K-12 education system, imparting realism requires teachers to educate students on the natural world, teach them about the world around them, and create opportunities whereby students can apply logic to find truth in the natural world (Graham & McAleer, 2018). For example, as per instructional goal two, realism can help students apply logic in operating technological tools to diagnose minor issues. Thus, since realism emphasizes utilizing logical processes to understand the natural world and find the truth, the curriculum design should be built on this approach.
Psychological Motivation Approach to Curriculum Development
In reference to the core instructional goals, cognitivism is the most suitable psychological motivational approach to use in shaping this curriculum design. According to (Muhajirah, 2020), the cognitive learning theory uses metacognition to understand how thought patterns impact learning. Studies by (Clark, 2018) posit that cognitivism focuses on how learners receive information, how the information is organized, stored, and retrieved for use in real-life scenarios. Under this psychological motivational approach, students become actively engaged in the manner they process information. According to the theorists, knowledge, thinking, memory, and problem-solving are core in curriculum development. In the four core instructional goals, it is evident that the proposed curriculum seeks to equip learners with critical thinking, problem-solving, and scientific skills. This means that the proposed K-12 curriculum will entail a logical information organization and interpretation process.
Also, the instructional goals seek to equip students with reflective thinking, critical thinking, and intuitive thinking skills. For example, applying basic scientific and technological skills in solving real-life problems. To shape this curriculum design, cognitive learning strategies will be essential. Such learning strategies include asking learners to reflect on their experience, assisting learners in finding new solutions to existing or real-life problems, encouraging discussions, and assisting students to explore and comprehend how ideas are connected (Clark, 2018). Further, the basic tenets of cognitive learning theory are also significant and aligned to the proposed instructional goals in the curriculum.
Cultural Influence – Impact on School District and Recommendations to the Integrate Cultural Influence
Florence County School District 2 has 1,083 students ranging from PK to K12. In the past, the school district experienced a high percentage of discrimination and segregation based on race. Currently, this is an issue of the past. This is due to the increased cultural diversity maintained in the school district, a measure that has ensures that equality is highly practiced. However, as a result of this diversity, the cultural influence that continues to impact on this school district is cultural superiority. Largely termed ethnocentrism, (Kendal, et al., 2018) defines cultural superiority as the belief that one’s culture is superior to the rest. Cultural superiority results from judging other cultures by one’s cultural ideals. The influence of culture is a concern that the school district considers as a major threat to the planned curriculum.
In order to address this concern, the school district has introduced a culture of reprimanding anyone who tries to reintroduce a culture of superiority. In particular, the school district emphasizes the use of responsive language and being culturally sensitive in one’s words to help bridge the gap existing among students. However, finding a more proactive approach to integrate the cultural influence into the new curriculum, an approach consistent with the curriculum’s instructional goals is crucial (Nelson, Voithofer, & Cheng, 2019). This study recommends that the school district provide the instructional staff with a support system to participate in professional development. This will help raise the understanding of cultural diversity and sensitivity among the teachers, a culture that will be equally shared with the students by the educators. This strategy will help in honoring individual and cultural experience, supporting participants to respect others’ cultural views, opinions, and thought patterns.
Strategy for Incorporating Critical Thinking Skills – Bloom’s Taxonomy
Although Florence County School District 2 has endured significant progress towards integrating cultural influence into the curriculum, a lot needs to be done to close the cultural superiority gap. Particularly, the Florence Country School District 2 needs to address the pertinent issues surrounding students’ critical thinking skills, i.e., knowledge, morals, reflection skills, thought patterns, problem-solving, and decision making skills as authored in the proposed curriculum (Adams, 2015). In reference to Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive objectives, the suitable strategy for incorporating critical thinking skills into the planned curriculum is the inclusion of group work discussions, teamwork sessions, games, field trips, and other interactive approaches of delivering the instructional goals to learners while also working to bridge the cultural gap among learners from the diverse cultural backgrounds. By being attentive, participating in class discussions, exploring other information related to the instructional goals, remembering the taught concepts, and attending field trips will offer a good opportunity for students to acquire and exercise critical thinking skills. This strategy will ensure open communication, whereby all students will express their ideas, opinions, and viewpoints without prejudice and discrimination (Adams, 2015). Turn-taking will help ensure that all students have equal opportunities to express and share their thoughts. This culturally sensitive strategy will create a long-term value system that is consistent, pervasive, and contextual to the planned curriculum.
References
Adams, N. E. (2015). Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 103(3), 152.
Clark, K. R. (2018). Learning theories: cognitivism. Radiologic Technology, 90(2), 176-179.
Graham, A. C., & McAleer, S. (2018). An overview of realist evaluation for simulation-based education. Advances in Simulation, 3(1), 1-8.
Himeno, K. (2017). Recent Trends of Research on Classroom Instruction and Teacher Education Based on the Educational Technology Approach. Educational Technology Research, 39(1), 5-13.
Kendal, R. L., Boogert, N. J., Rendell, L., Laland, K. N., Webster, M., & Jones, P. L. (2018). Social learning strategies: Bridge-building between fields. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(7), 651-656.
Muhajirah, M. (2020). Basic of Learning Theory:(Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, and Humanism). International Journal of Asian Education, 1(1), 37-42.
Nelson, M. J., Voithofer, R., & Cheng, S. L. (2019). Mediating factors that influence the technology integration practices of teacher educators. Computers & Education, 128, 330-334.
Pfannkuch, M. (2018). Reimagining curriculum approaches. In International Handbook of Research in Statistics Education, 387-413.