Children are naturally curious about the world around them. Once a child gains mobility it is a constant exploration to absorb all they be able to. Bringing this exploration into the classroom is the focus of this lesson. It is created to both allow for investigation and to present their discoveries to others and share what they learned on their expedition. With educational funding as it is today it is difficult to take students out of the classroom setting to explore their world so it is up to teachers to creatively find ways to incorporate the outside world into the classroom. Using technology, students’ imagination and a few objects of interest you can construct a world of discovery in your own classroom. Through this lesson I have created an excursion to travel through the United States along Route 66. Students will discover new landmarks, search through local histories and spread their imaginative wings exploring the world outside of the classroom.
Stephanie Jayanandhan wrote an article surrounding the difficulty of defining place (Jayanandhan, 2009). She takes a deeper look into the educational philosophy of John Dewey and his connections to the ideas of environment, experience and democracy (Jayanandhan, 2009). My unit on Route 66 stands firm on the principles of environment from Dewey’s standpoint. It is designed to take the classroom and transform it into an environment outside of the classroom by representation of landmarks, locations and historical events. Jayanandhan mentions, “Dewey’s understand of environment as potentially miseducative and his call for education environments to be “wider and more balanced” than individuals’ environments, is overlooked in some conceptions of place-based education. (Jayanandhan, 2...
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...ave found thus far but I look forward to working throughout my life to stay current and develop the perfect curricula.
Works Cited
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Flinders, D. J. (1997). Curriculum and Consciousness. The curriculum studies reader (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. (Flinders, 1997)
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Jayanandhan, S. (2009). John Dewey and a Pedagogy of Place. Philosophical Studies In Education, 40(104-112).
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Dewey’s philosophy of pragmatism and his creation of progression education, simply emphasize the need to learn by doing (Rivera-Castro). His idea that children learn best by doing and exploring the environment around them plays well into Greene’s idea of being wide-awake and allowing teachers and students to create
Connected to this theme is the development of a shared, lived experience, where students and teacher are involved in an ongoing negotiation of curriculum. In the first 13 chapters, Paley’s central focus is to develop a learning community within the safety of the classroom. In the second half of her book, Paley illustrates how the combination of these two themes in turn offers an opportunity for what we call an opening up of the definition of curriculum. This review is an analysis of these three themes within the organizational framework of Paley’s book. The theme of children and teachers as co-creators of curriculum is established in the first chapter when Paley says, “Each year I wait to be reawakened by a Reeny … something to ponder deeply and expand upon extravagantly” (p.10). Reeny responds to this call by asserting herself early on as a curriculum leader in Paley’s classroom. Because children themselves are curriculum makers and leaders, curriculum cannot be imposed upon the learner. Ultimately, this opening up of the discussion of what curriculum means is established by Reeny in the last lines of the book when she announces: “But I’m thinking, why don’t you stay and we’ll talk about it. Don’t fly away. See we can keep talking about it, okay?” (p. 99). It is in Reeny’s utterance that we understand—the curriculum conversation must necessarily begin with students’
Definitions for curriculum are many and varied. Broad sweeping statements claim that curriculum is what is taught in various subjects and the amount of time given to each. While a more specific view is that curriculum are performance objectives for students that focus on specific skills or knowledge (Marsh, 2010). Marsh (2010, p. 93) defines curriculum as “an interrelated set of plans and experiences” that are completed at school. The curriculum used in education can have various interpretations, it may refer to the curriculum as a plan that encompasses all the learning that is planned and directed by the school. Cu...
Australia is entering into a new phase of curriculum whereby there will be no state by state curriculum. It will be a national curriculum that is developed by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). By introducing a national curriculum, the Australian Government is hoping to unify what is taught throughout the states/territories. It is possible to analyse the Australian Curriculum in terms of the definitions of curriculum it incorporates and how it is structured and how this is similar or different to various curriculum models. By using references from various readings and analysing the National Australian Curriculum, this paper will also address the purpose and goal that is promoted by the Australian Curriculum, how it is informed by factors such as learning theories, how it informs the teaching and assessment process and how it will cater for the needs of the 21st century learner.
As a professional practice, settings are responsible for the delivery of core subjects, dictated through specific curriculums. The term curriculum ( or curricula) refers to a set of courses and their content offered in educational institutes, such as schools,(Doherty and Hughes, 2009). Its context is said to describe: a body of theory about teaching and learning, targeting the needs and characteristics of a particular group of learners,(Veale,2013). It often refers to the programmes’ objectives and goals, as well as its methods and materials, (Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, 2014). “Curricula are undoubtedly culturally shaped and cannot always be readily transferred from one environment to another,”(p.5, Miller and Pound. 2011).
Definitions of curriculum present different perceptions and beliefs. Stenhouse describes: ‘On the one hand curriculum is seen as an intention, plan or perception….on the other, it is seen as the existing state of affairs in schools’ (Stenhouse, 1975 in Wilson, 2009: 507)). Shirley Grundy defines curriculum as: ‘A programme of activities designed so that pupils will attain so far as possible certain educational and other schooling ends or objectives’ ( Grundy, 1987:11). Curriculum in generally need to consider the syllabus as the knowledge, the pedagogy as the process, the assessment as the product, the praxis as the style of delivery. Providing planned studying programme with consideration the grounds of its justifications, curriculum informs what and how is to be learned and taught.
Curriculum is a broad term for the development, design, implementation, research, evaluation and construction of the guide to teaching (Rudinski, 2017). These key elements of teaching allow for students to obtain the nessecary education in a positive learning environment to prepare them for future education and life. It provides a gudeline for the progress of students and the outcomes that they should be achieving at each level. A teaching pedagogy, however, is far more than the instruction and is more about how we interact with students and set up learning tasks to meet desirerd outcomes. Without knowledge of the curriculum teachers are not guided by the expectation of their students and therefore do not know what to teach, highlighting the importance of having in-depth knowledge of the
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Noddings, N. (2007). The philosophical and educational thought of John Dewey. In Philosophy of education (2nd ed., pp. 23-41). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
The days of arriving to school early with a sack lunch, eagerly awaiting roll call and then to board a bus and go on a fieldtrip are becoming very rare these days. Fieldtrips are becoming too expensive for schools to provide and parents do not want to dish out loads of money for something that could potentially be taught in a classroom for free. In all age groups fieldtrips are slipping into a memory. Yet, a new way to take fieldtrips has emerged and is growing in popularity: Virtual fieldtrips. A virtual field trip is “a guided and narrated tour of website(s) that have been selected by an educator… and arranged in a “thread” that students can follow from site to site with just a click of a button” (Tramline, 2007, p.1). Virtual fieldtrips can take the shape in many different forms; this includes websites, PowerPoint, posters, and brochures (Rallis, 2013). What is nice about virtual fieldtrips is that you can adapt them to the age group that you will be teaching as well. They can range from simple ones to ones that go into greater depth and detail depending on the lesson and age group. This paper will discuss how to get started with virtual fieldtrips, differences from real field trips, and the pros and cons of a virtual fieldtrip in a junior high setting.
An Australian Curriculum has been en route for almost three decades, but due to inadequate support of its implementation, the ongoing developments had been short-lived, until now. This essay will discuss how an Australian Curriculum is a major priority for the 21st century and will look at the construction of this new curriculum including the impact that historic and current learning has had on present developments. Models of curriculum have always provided support to educators, so how do these models relate to the Australian Curriculum? Are they still suitable reference points? And what is the view of the learner? There are many definitions of curriculum, but this essay is going to discuss which definitions are valid for defining the Australian Curriculum and look at what the purpose of this new curriculum is. The teaching and learning cycle and assessment are the three dimensions to education; therefore the processes of each dimension are going to be highlighted. The 21st century and new ways of life t has pushed education to change. The need for this change has seen phase one of the Australian curriculum implemented. However, what else is going to be in the curriculum and how does all of these changes impact on the 21st century. The impact of these changes is going to be discussed in relation to current learning needs.
Dewey, John, and Reginald D. Archambault. John Dewey on education; selected writings.. New York: Modern Library, 1964. Print.
From a Latin word for course, later to define course of syllabus, Curriculum is now a formal outline to assist teachers by providing the core structure to learning and it constitutes a wide and inclusive range of planned educational experiences. Recent times have shown an understanding of curriculum to be that it “represents the expression of educational ideas in practice” (Prideaux, 2003).
There seems to be a lot of controversy and uncertainty as to ¡¥what is the curriculum?¡¦ As such, there is a distributing lack of consensus on an all-embracing definition of this comprehensive concept. This is, in part, due to the various interpretations, meanings, emphasis and approaches that the scholars of curriculum studies embark upon. This, in turn, leaves the education practitioners and the general public in the dark as to what constitutes that which should be considered as ¡¥good curriculum practice¡¦ in educational institutions.
A National Curriculum has been of some importance within the Australian Governments for some time. Previous national planned curriculums have been developed and failed a number of times. The Australian Governments with the guidance of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians have developed ‘The Australian Curriculum’; A planned national curriculum from Foundation to Year 12 covering a variety of learning areas or subjects catering for Diversity, Differences and the needs of the 21st Century. The introduction of the Australian Curriculum is designed to supply all young Australians across the States and Territories an education that is of equal and high standards. This Essay will discuss the structure of the Curriculum, definition of the Curriculum, Outcomes expected to be achieved, Teaching, Learning and Assessment process and the needs of 21st century learners as well as the influences from Learning Theorist and Curriculum Models.