An often tacit corollary of emphasizing the newest trends in education is ignorance of our educational past. The contemporary social community of educators resembles a teacher with only five years of memory. This article explains the importance of educational history, particularly curriculum development history of the 1940s. Thoroughly…

If we appreciate that attempts to maintain curriculum as an action arena are not confined to the "dominant perspective" as the literature narrowly defines it, and if we also appreciate that reconceptualism's task should be to consider advocacy of collectivist and individualist sources of educational ideals, there is some basis for dialog…

The process of education is intended to free the mind from certainty, to liberate children and adolescents so that they can consider options not entertained by their parents. After distinguishing between the intended and the operational curricula, this article examines five desirable features of intended curricula. Includes 14 references. (MLH)

Available evidence suggests that the curriculum theories of social studies professors are seldom the same as teachers' curriculum practices. Three 10th-grade U.S. history classrooms were studied to explore curriculum consonance: the relationships among the intended curriculum, what ensues in the classroom, and what students learn. Includes 36…

Arguing that curriculum research can be organized and prioritized according to reasonable criteria, this article defines "curriculum practice" and "curriculum research," explains how they relate to each other, and reviews current work in curriculum research. Curriculum research is hampered by lack of longitudinal studies and the separation of…

The curriculum is not a training ground for economic productivity. Curriculum should interact fully with students' world and encourage students' theoretical understanding of their social, emotional, and intellectual encounters. (10 references) (MLF)

Treating curriculum out of context is mostly responsible for the disappointments of curriculum theory in practice. Decontextualization has conceptually separated curriculum from its design and use; operationally, curriculum is separated from its structural and sociocultural contexts. The alternative--curriculum in context--can inform research,…

Relates how historical developments initiated the curriculum reform movement, which caused curriculum studies to become vulnerable to reconceptualization. Traces the movement from Sputnik in 1957 through reconceptualists' opposition to the mainstream field in the 1970s. The opposition has now become the field itself, which is characterized by…

Curriculum theorists must raise their own institutions' level of consciousness about fundamental principles in the curriculum development process. Curriculum researchers must align themselves with curriculum decision makers in other institutions and curriculum inquiries must study actors, actions, and the consequences of actions in natural…

Careful work in comparing, analyzing, and critiquing the positions and communications put forth by various professional curriculum organizations would be valuable to the curriculum research community. Provides an example: "Principles for Australian Curriculum Reform," prepared by the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA). (MLF)

Describes a study that evaluated implementation of curriculum materials for secondary social studies in the Netherlands. The evaluation focused on individual teachers' actual use of these materials in their classrooms. A large discrepancy emerged between the curriculum developers' original intentions and the observed instructional processes.…

This article reviews aspects of the work of Lawrence Stenhouse in curriculum development and research, identifying and summarizing his core ideas: curriculum development as social and political action, the importance of case studies for involving teachers in research, and teaching as an art. (TE)

Summarizes Dewey's essay "The Educational Situation: As Concerns the Elementary School" and discusses implications for today's elementary school curriculum. (PKP)