In higher education, despite the emphasis on student-centred pedagogical approaches, undergraduate research methods pedagogy remains surprisingly teacher-directed. Consequently, it may lead to research methods students assuming that becoming a researcher involves gathering information rather than it being a continuous developmental process. To…

The assumptions of curriculum based upon external reinforcement psychology and subject-content mastery by remands and punishments are 1) a stable pupil IQ, 2) largely environmentally determined, 3) essentially evaluated through problem-solving to get answers, 4) a one-to-one correspondence with concept and conceptual-scheme hierarchical learning…

Several practical suggestions or guidelines for deriving objectives in traditionally difficult curriculum areas (written and oral communication, fine arts, social sciences, and humanities) are presented in this paper. The author believes that educators do not know how well they can define important, teachable objectives in these areas until they…

There seem to be few answers to questions asked concerning how a curriculum might be structured, or how a curriculum is currently formulated, and what the implications might be of structuring a curriculum in various ways. Most of the literature in this area consists of either arguments for "psychological" versus "logical" structure or inconsistent…

This essay aims at conceptual clarification within the field of curriculum. The concepts of curriculum theory, design, and practice are approached from the point of view of axiology. The argument presented is based on a distinction between value principles and value judgments and the type of justification involved in reasoning about such…

This paper begins a construction of curricular history by addressing the social orientation of Thorndike's psychology and its implications for the curriculum field. (MM)

This study was done in response to calls for histories of the curriculum field. Ideas within three subareas of the curriculum--design, engineering (planning, implementation, and evaluation), and theory--were analyzed, related to earlier and later work, and critically reviewed for their contributions to the field. Criteria were established for…

This report summarizes the first phase of work by the National Institute of Education Curriculum Development Task Force and presents several recommendations for Institute action to effect an informed discussion of the central issues in curriculum development. The report contains three sections. Section one contains information on the charge and…

The author examines current philosophical definitions of curriculum in order to postulate a more adequate theory of curriculum change. (DE)

This annotated bibliography on curriculum is the third publication of the auxiliary series to "Schools for the 70's--and Beyond," a publication and action program of NEA's Center for the Study of Instruction. Addressed principally to curriculum specialists and to university and school researchers, it is designed "to serve as an intellectual…

The first stage of this research project consisted of (1) an in-plant study of electro-mechanical technician operations to determine what skills and knowledge combinations are required, (2) in-depth interviews with administrative and supervisory personnel in 26 selected industrial organizations geographically distributed from New England to…

Describes the recent movement supporting curriculum integration in the middle level. Provides a detailed definition of the four dimensions of curriculum integration, and details the history of curriculum integration, including its present day status. Asserts that curriculum integration fares well today and will persist into the future. (SD)

The literature on curriculum comprises three areas. The first is made up of the articles that advocate, describe, criticize, discuss, or pontificate. These articles contain little by way of discerning theoretical analysis and nothing by way of persuasive empirical evidence and are not considered here, though their influence on actual school…

Presents 36 reasons why middle level educators should be cautious of an integrated curriculum approach. Fifteen reasons relate to unsubstantiated claims about the superiority of integrated curriculum, while 21 reasons relate to negative outcomes that might accompany excessive attention to an integrated curriculum. Urges caution and further…

One of the major issues in education is curriculum relevancy. To make education more relevant, curricula have been revised and redesigned; but many of these revisions have failed to be implemented at the classroom level because teachers and administrators are incapable of changing the classroom environment. Traditional 19th century instruction…