Agency, understood as the capacity to act independently and to make one's own choices, is considered central to children's development. Thus, education, and hence education curricula, have a role in ...the development of learner agency. While curriculum development is a key focus for educational theory, research, policy, and classroom practice, the potential implications of curriculum content selections for learner agency remain underexplored. Theoretically, this paper engages with critical realism, explaining how it can provide theoretical foundation for a more comprehensive view of learner agency and, by implication, more balanced curricula. Empirically, the paper draws on the findings from a content analysis of the national curriculum documents of four countries with relatively high scores in international comparative tables, England, Australia, Hong-Kong, and Canada, to develop a new typology of primary curricula. Based on the extent of emphasis placed on knowledge versus skills, values, and attitudes, three types of curricula were identified: knowledge-based, skills-oriented, and learner-centred. Due to its significant theoretical and practical influence globally, we focus on the knowledge-based model and its likely impact on students' agency. We conclude by highlighting the importance of making learner agency a key orientation of the curriculum and suggesting directions for future research.
Adding computer science as a separate school subject to the core K-6 curriculum is a complex issue with educational challenges. The authors herein address two of these challenges: (1) the design of ...the curriculum based on a generic computational thinking framework, and (2) the knowledge teachers need to teach the curriculum. The first issue is discussed within a perspective of designing an authentic computational thinking curriculum with a focus on real-world problems. The second issue is addressed within the framework of technological pedagogical content knowledge explicating in detail the body of knowledge that teachers need to have to be able to teach computational thinking in a K-6 environment. An example of how these ideas can be applied in practice is also given. While it is recognized there is a lack of adequate empirical evidence in terms of the effectiveness of the frameworks proposed herein, it is expected that our knowledge and research base will dramatically increase over the next several years, as more countries around the world add computer science as a separate school subject to their K-6 curriculum.
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This open access book features a selection of articles written by Erich Ch. Wittmann between 1984 to 2019, which shows how the "design science conception" has been continuously developed over a ...number of decades. The articles not only describe this conception in general terms, but also demonstrate various substantial learning environments that serve as typical examples. In terms of teacher education, the book provides clear information on how to combine (well-understood) mathematics and methods courses to benefit of teachers.The role of mathematics in mathematics education is often explicitly and implicitly reduced to the delivery of subject matter that then has to be selected and made palpable for students using methods imported from psychology, sociology, educational research and related disciplines. While these fields have made significant contributions to mathematics education in recent decades, it cannot be ignored that mathematics itself, if well understood, provides essential knowledge for teaching mathematics beyond the pure delivery of subject matter. For this purpose, mathematics has to be conceived of as an organism that is deeply rooted in elementary operations of the human mind, which can be seamlessly developed to higher and higher levels so that the full richness of problems of various degrees of difficulty, and different means of representation, problem-solving strategies, and forms of proof can be used in ways that are appropriate for the respective level.This view of mathematics is essential for designing learning environments and curricula, for conducting empirical studies on truly mathematical processes and also for implementing the findings of mathematics education in teacher education, where it is crucial to take systemic constraints into account.
This open access book presents a strong philosophical, theoretical and practical argument for the mainstreaming of indigenous knowledge in curricula development, and in teaching and learning across ...the African continent. Since the dawn of political independence in Africa, there has been an ongoing search for the kind of education that will create a class of principled and innovative citizens who are sensitive to and committed to the needs of the continent. When indigenous or environment-generated knowledge forms the basis of learning in classrooms, learners are able to immediately connect their education with their lived reality. The result is much introspection, creativity and innovation across fields, sectors and disciplines, leading to societal transformation. Drawing on several theoretical assertions, examples from a wide range of disciplines, and experiences gathered from different continents at different points in history, the book establishes that for education to trigger the necessary transformation in Africa, it should be constructed on a strong foundation of learners’ indigenous knowledge. The book presents a distinct and uncharted pathway for Africa to advance sustainably through home-grown and grassroots based ideas, leading to advances in science and technology, growth of indigenous African business and the transformation of Africans into conscious and active participants in the continent’s progress. Indigenous Knowledge and Education in Africa is of interest to educators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers and individuals engaged in finding sustainable and strategic solutions to regional and global advancement.
This study examines how researchers can better understand the instructional and practical realities of teachers through collective sensemaking. Traditional approaches to curriculum design engage ...learning models without accounting for the needed flexibility of teachers. This approach has resulted in tension and gatekeeping—inhibiting the implementation of curriculum. Teachers are often considered relatively autonomous; however, this study sheds light on the constrained autonomy teachers experience resulting from internal and external pressures. This study examines the collective sensemaking process of researchers while developing a high school genetics curriculum. By examining the collective sensemaking of the areas of tension that arose during the curriculum design process, the problem space of researchers expanded and became more aligned with the problem space of teachers. Collective sensemaking encouraged the humanizing of teachers by centering their content, contextual, and social needs. In addition, this study suggests that gatekeeping can result from many factors; but through collective sensemaking, researchers can intentionally design to resolve said factors.
This research is a comparative study of Finnish and Australian science curricula in early childhood education (EC). The study aims to figure out the constructivist components of the science ...curriculum in two countries as well as
locate the similarities and differences in the rationale and aims, contents, learning outcomes, learning activities, teacher's role and assessment. The curriculum analysis framework developed by Van den Akker (2003) was used as a
methodological framework for the curricula analysis. Based on the theory-driven content analyses, findings show that both countries have several components of constructivist curriculum, but not always clearly focused on science
education. The Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) integrates children's science learning within their five specific learning outcomes, whereas the Finnish national core curriculum for early childhood education and care has
no defined learning outcomes in general. The Finnish curriculum more clearly than EYLF encompasses science and environmental education as a learning domain, within which children participate in targeted scientific activities to gain
procedural knowledge in specific environmental-related concepts. More focus should be turned to the teachers' role and assessment, which are not determined in science context in both countries. This international comparative study calls
for the need of a considered EC curriculum framework that more explicitly has science domains with specifically defined rationale, aims, content areas, learning outcomes and assessment criteria. The implications lie in providing early
childhood educators with tangible and theoretically solid curriculum framework and resources in order to foster scientific thinking in young children. Author abstract
A curriculum is dynamic entity and hence, metaphorically, can be considered 'alive'. Curricular diseases may impair its quality and hence its viability. The quality of a curriculum is typically ...assessed against certain quality standards only. This approach does not identify the inhibitors impeding the achievement of quality standards. The purpose of this study is to identify not only standards but also inhibitors of curriculum quality, allowing for a more comprehensive assessment of what we coin 'curriculum viability'.
We performed a scoping review of 'curriculum viability', after which 13 articles were found eligible through a meticulous search and selection process. We first identified 1233 studies based on matching keywords, title and abstract; 36 of which met our inclusion criteria. After application of the Qualsyst criteria, two independent reviewers performed a thematic analysis of the 13 articles that remained.
While all studies reported on standards of quality, only two studies described both standards and inhibitors of quality. These standards and inhibitors were related to educational content and strategy, students, faculty, assessment, educational/work environment, communication, technology and leadership.
The framework of curriculum viability thus developed will help identify inhibitors adversely affecting the curriculum viability and remaining hidden or un-noticed when curriculum evaluation is done.
Through the lens of contrasting curriculum cultures, the author considers the evolution of Irish curriculum policy and reform. Whereas our curriculum thinking and practice are grounded in an ...Anglo-Saxon/American culture, Didaktik curriculum culture and Stenhouse's Process model provide valuable alternative perspectives. Our prevailing understandings of curriculum are reified, in an environment where curriculum reform/change are used interchangeably. Historically, our curriculum reform efforts have been characterised by centralised control and a paucity of research, debate, and school-based curriculum development. Meaningful curriculum change, however, challenges the cultural beliefs of employers, parents, and students and requires critical engagement with the professional beliefs and values of educational administrators, school leaders and teachers. Since the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment became statutory, our curriculum culture, and our understandings of curriculum change, have been evolving. This growing appreciation of the complexity of change is reflected in the discourse of the Framework for Junior Cycle. The influence of Anglo-Saxon/American curriculum culture remains palpable, however, while the impact of globalisation and market forces is evidenced in a growing emphasis on skills, competences and pre-determined learning outcomes. The author concludes that we have arrived at a hybrid curriculum culture whose future development is rather difficult to predict.
Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and ...policy communities. Each annual volume contains chapters that discuss salient dimensions of scholarly and policy inquiries on topics pertaining to college students and faculty, organization and administration, curriculum and instruction, policy, diversity issues, economics and finance, history and philosophy, community colleges, advances in research methodology and more. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic. The series is fortunate to have attracted annual contributions from distinguished scholars throughout the world. This book contains the following chapters: (1) A First-Generation Scholar's "Camino de Conocimiento" (Laura Ignacia Rendón); (2) The History of Religion in American Higher Education (Andrea L. Turpin); (3) An Interdisciplinary Return to Queer and Trans* Studies in Higher Education (Antonio Duran, Reginald A. Blockett, and Z Nicolazzo); (4) Toward a More Critical Understanding of the Experiences of Division I College Athletes (Eddie Comeaux); (5) Reimagining the Study of Campus Sexual Assault (Jessica C. Harris, Krystle P. Cobian, and Nadeeka Karunaratne); (6) Institutional Barriers, Strategies, and Benefits to Increasing the Representation of Women and Men of Color in the Professoriate (Kimberly A. Griffin); (7) The Ambivalence About Distance Learning in Higher Education (Di Xu and Ying Xu); (8) Learning to Change and Changing to Learn (Aimee La Pointe Terosky and Katie Conway); (9) Evaluation and Decision Making in Higher Education (Julie Posselt, Theresa E. Hernandez, Cynthia D. Villarreal, Aireale J. Rodgers, and Lauren N. Irwin); (10) Trends and Perspectives on Finance Equity and the Promise of Community Colleges (Alicia C. Dowd, Kelly Ochs Rosinger, and Marlon Fernandez Castro); (11) Privatization as the New Normal in Higher Education (Kevin R. McClure, Sondra N. Barringer, and Joshua Travis Brown); and (12) A Primer for Interpreting and Designing Difference-in-Differences Studies in Higher Education Research (Fernando Furquim, Daniel Corral, and Nicholas Hillman). For the previous volume, "Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Volume 34," see ED594480.
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