Curriculum Theorists

Dileep Kumar
Post R.N BSc.N, CHN

Ilmiya Institute of Nursing Karachi

Curriculum theory
Curriculum theory is a way of describing the educational philosophy of certain approaches to the development and performance of curriculum. Within the broad field of curriculum studies, it is both a historical analysis of curriculum and a way of viewing current educational curriculum and policy decisions.

Ralph W. Tyler

(1902-1994)

Born on April 22, 1902, in Chicago was an American educator who worked in the field of assessment and evaluation served on or advised a number of bodies that set guidelines for the expenditure of federal funds and influenced the underlying policy of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Tyler chaired the committee that eventually developed the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Credited with coining term "evaluation," for aligning measurement and testing with educational objectives. Because his concept of evaluation consisted of gathering comprehensive evidence of learning rather than just paper and pencil tests 3

Ralph W. Tylers
Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction Tyler formalized his thoughts on viewing, analyzing and interpreting the curriculum and instructional program of an educational institution in Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction in 1949 These 04 basic principles include:
1. Defining appropriate learning objectives 2. Establishing useful learning experiences 3. Organizing experiences to maximize their effect 4. Evaluating the curriculum and revising those aspects that did not prove to be effective.
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Hilda Taba (19021967)

born in Kooraste, in south-east Estonia, on 7 December 1902 Was Curriculum theorist, curriculum reformer, and teacher educator contributed to the theoretical and pedagogical foundations of concept development and critical thinking in social studies curriculum helped to lay the foundations of education for diverse student populations Her theorizing & curriculum development processes provided a blueprint for curriculum development in 20th century She comprehended and articulated the complex connections between
1. culture, politics, and social change 2. cognition and learning 3. experience and evaluation in curriculum development
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Important Activities in Curriculum Design by Taba

Taba's dissertations (Studies, Critiques) established a foundation for much of her subsequent work. Three key ideas in the work are particularly important for curriculum history in the twentieth century. She Argued that; 1. Learning & study of learning should be modeled after dynamic models derived from contemporary physics. Rather than relying on observation, prediction, and measurement of static phenomena 2. Education for democracy was a critical component of contemporary schooling and curricula, and that it needed to be experiential, where children learn to solve problems and resolve conflicts together. 3. Educators had to provide conceptually sound curriculum that was organized and taught effectively, and that student understanding had to be evaluated using appropriate tools and processes. 6

Tabas Principles of curriculum theory & curriculum development

1. Social processes, including the socialization of human beings, are not linear, and they cannot be modeled through linear planning. In other words, learning and development of personality cannot be considered as one-way processes of establishing educational aims and deriving specific objectives from an ideal of education proclaimed or imagined by some authority. 2. Social institutions, among them school curricula and programmed, are more likely to be effectively rearranged if, instead of the common way of administrative reorganization from top to bottoma well founded & coordinated system of development from bottom to top can be Used
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Tabas Principles of curriculum theory & development

3. The development of new curricula and programmes is more effective if it is based on the principles of democratic guidance and on the wellfounded distribution of work. The emphasis is on the partnership based on competence, and not on administration. 4. The renovation of curricula and programmes is not a short-term effort but a long process, lasting for years

Burrhus Frederic (B.F) Skinner (1904-90)

American psychologist, educator, and author, born in the small Pennsylvanian town of Susquehanna in March 20, 1904. B.F Skinner influenced education as well as psychology. He was quoted as saying "Teachers must learn how to teach ... they need only to be taught more effective ways of teaching." He asserted that positive reinforcement is more effective at changing and establishing behavior than punishment, with obvious implications for the then widespread practice of rote learning and punitive discipline in education. Skinner also suggests that the main thing people learn from being punished is how to avoid punishment.
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Cont .
The theory of B.F. Skinner is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. A response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner's S-R theory. A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired response. It could be positive such as verbal praise, a good grade Also covers negative reinforcers such as punishment etc 10

Cont
Skinner says that there are five main obstacles to learning:
1. People have a fear of failure. 2. The task is not broken down into small enough steps 3. There is a lack of directions. 4. There is also a lack of clarity in the directions 5. Positive reinforcement is lacking

Skinner suggests that any ageappropriate skill can be taught using five principles to remedy the above problems;
1. Give the learner immediate feedback. 2. Break down the task into small steps. 3. Repeat the directions as many times as possible. 4. Work from the most simple to the most complex tasks. 5. Give positive reinforcement.
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Cont..
Skinner Highlighted 07 Factors that a teacher should consider in integrating faith and learning. They include internal and external environmental influences 1. The physical setting of the school
Naturalness, simplicity, neatness, etc. learn through 5 senses

2. Aesthetic Elements 3. Social Atmosphere 4. Curricular design

Harmonious development of the physical, spiritual, mental & social needs of humans Reflect educational philosophy

5. Content of subjects

6. Religious environment 7. Co-curricular activities

Exhibition, tours, religious activities, etc
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Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987)

born in January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Best known for his contribution to clientcentered therapy and his role in the development of counseling Also had much to say about education and group work. The strength of Rogers' approach lies in part in his focus on relationship. As he once wrote, The facilitation of significant learning rests upon certain attitudinal qualities that exist in the personal relationship between facilitator and learner Freedom to Learn(1969; 1983; 1993) is a classic statement of educational possibility in this respect. Was gifted teacher
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Core conditions
Carl Rogers on the interpersonal relationship in the facilitation of learning Following are three qualities & attitudes, that facilitate learning 1. Realness in the facilitator of learning It means facilitator coming into a direct personal encounter with the learner, meeting her/him on a person-to-person basis. It means that she is being her/himself, not denying her/himself. 2. Prizing, acceptance, trust There is another attitude that stands out in those who are successful in facilitating learning I think of it as prizing the learner, prizing her feelings, her opinions, her person. It is a caring for the learner, but a non-possessive caring.
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Cont..
3. Emphatic (absolute) understanding 1. A further element that establishes a climate for self-initiated experiential learning is an emphatic understanding 2. When the teacher has the ability to understand the students reactions from the inside 3. Teacher has a sensitive awareness of the way the process of education and learning seems to the student 4. [Students feel deeply appreciative] when they are simply understood not evaluated, not judged, simply understood from their own point of view, not the teachers.

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Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

He had already begun to explore the notion of 'student- centered teaching and offered several hypothesized general principles. These included: We cannot teach another person directly; we can only facilitate his learning. The structure and organization of the self appears to become more rigid under threat; to relax its boundaries when completely free from threat... The educational situation which most effectively promotes significant learning is 1) threat to the self of the learner is reduced a minimum 2) differentiated perception of the field of experience is facilitated.
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Robert M. Gagn
(1916 - 2002) Born in August 21, 1916 was an American educational psychologist best known for his "Conditions of Learning Gagn pioneered the science of instruction during WWII for the air force with pilot training Later he went on to develop a series of studies and works that helped codify what is now considered to be 'good instruction. He also was involved in applying concepts of instructional theory to the design of computer based training and multimedia based learning
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Categories of learning
Gagne identifies 05 categories of learning: 1. Verbal information Stating previously learned materials such as facts, concepts, principles, and procedures, e.g., listing the 7 major symptoms of cancer 2. Intellectual Skills: Discriminations, concrete concepts, Defined concepts, rules, higher order rules 3. Cognitive Strategies Employing personal ways to guide learning, thinking, acting, and feeling 4. Attitudes Choosing personal actions based on internal states of understanding and feeling, 5. Motor Skills Executing performances involving the use 18 muscles,

Gagnes 09 Events of Instruction

1. Gaining Attention
Stimuli activates receptors

2. Informing the Learner of the Objective

Creates level of expectation for learning

3. Stimulating Recall of Prior Learning

Retrieval and activation of short-term memory

4. Presenting the Stimulus

Selective perception of content

5. Providing Learner Guidance

Semantic encoding for storage long-term memory

6. Eliciting Performance
Responds to questions, enhance encoding & verification

7. Giving Feedback
Reinforcement & assessment of correct performance

8. Assessing Performance
Retrieval & reinforcement of content as final evaluation

9. Enhancing Retention and Transfer

Retrieval and generalization of learned skill to new 19 situation

Gagne's Hierarchy of Learning

Gagne also argues that learning tasks for intellectual skills can be organized in a hierarchy according to complexity: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Stimulus Recognition Response Generation Procedure Following Use Of Terminology Discriminations Concept Formation Rule Application Problem Solving

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Phases of Learning by Gagnes

Phases of learning noted by Gagne as follow; 1. Motivation Phase: involves striving to attain some end. e.g. identification of students motives, activities that accomplish educational goals 2. Apprehending Phase: Attention and selective perception. Attention means teachers specific task by which learning ready to receive, while selective means teacher arrange those stimuli by which learner store appropriate information in short term memory 3. Acquisition Phase: coding and storage entry characteristics 4. Retention phase: means memory storage, in this instructions are designed to ensure retention such as practice, tests, and feedback
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Continue.. Phases of Learning by Gagnes

5. Recall phase: means retrieval is the appropriate internal process for this phase 6. Generalization phase: transfer of learning is the objective of this phase 7. Performance phase: means the eliciting of an appropriate performance, reflecting newly required capability 8. Feedback phase: the learner is made aware of the degree by which his/her performance approaches required standard, act as a reinforcement, strengthening newly learned associations and their recall.

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David Paul Ausubel (1918 2008)

American psychologist, born in October 25, 1918 in New York, and follower of Jean Piaget. Most significant contributions to the fields of educational psychology, cognitive science and science education In Ausubel's view, to learn meaningfully, students must relate new knowledge (concepts and propositions) to what they already know. He proposed the notion of an advanced organizer as a way to help students link their ideas with new material or concepts Ausubel's theory of learning claims that new concepts to be learned can be incorporated into more inclusive concepts or ideas These more inclusive concepts or ideas are advance organizers.
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Subsumption Theory
Ausubel's theory is concerned with how individuals learn large amounts of meaningful material from verbal/textual presentations in a school setting According to Ausubel, learning is based upon the kinds of superordinate, representational, and combinatorial processes that occur during the reception of information A primary process in learning is subsumption in which new material is related to relevant ideas in the existing cognitive structure on a substantive, nonverbatim basis. Cognitive structures represent the residue of all learning experiences; forgetting occurs because certain details get integrated and lose their individual identity.
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Advance Organizers
Advance Organizer entails the use of introductory materials with a high level of generality that introduce new material and facilitate learning by providing an "anchoring idea" to which the new idea can be attached. Cognitive theorists believe that it is essential to relate new knowledge to existing information learned. Teachers can facilitate learning by organizing information presented so that new concepts are easily relatable to concepts already learned. Examples of devices that may be used include: pictures, titles of stories, reviews of previously learned concepts, short video segments, a paradigm, a grammar rule, etc
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Principles
1. "Before we can present new material effectively, we must increase the stability and clarity of our student's structures. 2. "The sequence of the curriculum is organized so that each successive learning is carefully related to what has been learned before. 3. Ausubel describes advance organizers as "introductory material presented ahead of the learning task and at a higher level of abstraction and inclusiveness than the learning task itself
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Cont
4. Examples of Advance organizers Expository simply describes the new content Narrative presents new information in a story format Skimming skimming material before reading can be a powerful organizer Graphic organizers effective with all types of organizers: pictographs, descriptive patterns, concept patterns, etc. Ausubel broke down the process of learning to three steps:
1. what will the person learn? 2. what the person wants to learn,? 3. what did the person learn?

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Gertrude Torres
A nurse educator & provides description about curriculum development as a process According to Torres curriculum development does not take place in isolation but requires involvement of many persons Described 4 didactic (educational) stages of curriculum development; 1. Directive stage 2. Formative stage 3. Functional stage 4. Evaluative stage

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Stages of the Curriculum Process

Stages Directive: gives guidance & authority to the entire
curriculum components: 1. Philosophy 2. Glossary of Terms 3. Characteristics of the Graduate 4. Theoretical framework

Formative: utilizes broad, generalized concepts to identify specifics. Components are:

1. Curriculum design & requirement 2. Level & course objectives 3. Content Map

Functional: represent the activities affecting the

operational components of curriculum. Component 1. Approaches to content 2. Teaching methodology & learning experiences 3. Validation of learning

Evaluative: Involves comprehensive, formative, &

summative curriculum evaluation. Components: 1. Input 2. Throughput 3. Output

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1. Directive stage
Provides the foundation for the development of all subsequent stages & gives direction to total curriculum. Tells to the public, faculty, students & their family, and employers what the school is about and why In this stage following 4 important documents are produced 1. Curriculum philosophy 2. Glossary of terms 3. Characteristics of the graduate 4. Theoretical frame work In this important curriculum influences of the government, profession of nursing and the institution in which the program is offered are given careful consideration in developing these early documents This stage can lasts from six to twelve months
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2. Formative stage
Requires the ability to develop more specificity & it gives meaning and form to directive stage This stage has 3 components; 1. Curriculum design or outline is formed and the requirements are stated 2. Level and course objectives; they are natural points at which student performance is examined to determine their progress towards final goal 3. A content map: It identifies that where each specific unit of content is developed vertically & horizontally for following reasons
i. Serve as the document that where certain information is taught ii. Assist faculty to identify where repetition or unnecessary duplication occurs in curriculum iii. Serves as basic document for planning tests & exams throughout curriculum
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3. Functional stage
It represents the activities affecting the operational component of the curriculum In this stage three activities occurs; 1. The approaches to content are identified and implemented 2. Teaching methods and learning experiences are identified and implemented 3. Validation of learning occurs through testing & measurement; tests arte constructed and implemented

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4. Evaluative stage
It involves comprehensive formative (ongoing) and summative (total/ final) curriculum evaluation Three area of evaluation are planed, implemented and documented 1. Input the quality of the faculty, the student, resources, building and its equipments 2. Throughput Anything happen during program such as, quality of tests, instructional methods, faculty- students interaction, administrative style and leadership 3. Output The quality of graduates and the response of their employers, performance on external Professional exams, etc.
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Emily Bevis
(System & subsystems of curriculum building in nursing) She was a nurse educator & She has provided us another description of curriculum development activities. She explained that process of curriculum building in nursing has been pragmatically organized into a system, which has been invented to provide goal orientation & a natural logical sequence of tasks to achieve this goal Following are sequential arrangement of task suggested as appropriate to nursing A. Processes and Sub processes Objective of the system B. Contributing Subsystems 1. Conceptual Framework (Philosophy,
Setting, Students, and Knowledge/subject matter)

2. Course vivification (conceptual framework,

Aims, Content, Evaluation)
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1. Conceptual Framework
A. Philosophy Develop a statement of belief based on the philosophy of the sponsoring agency and the philosophical agreements of the faculty. B. Setting 1. Prognosticate (predict) the working environment of the graduate for the 15 to 20 years of expected active nursing. This means where nurses might be working; e.g. specialties, community, hospitals, day care surgery units etc. 2. Describe the current community, the environment in which health is provided. 3. Describe the educational environment of the school of nursing. 4. Describe the current and projected major health problems of the area and of the country
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Conceptual Framework
C. Students
1. Survey the demographic characteristics of the students who are currently enrolled in the school(s) of nursing. 2. Assess the personality and personal preferences of the students 3. Assess the educational and nursing attainments and needs of the students. 4. Determine what if any differences are desired in the following:
a. type of students accepted into the program b. characteristics desired on exit from program.

5. Formulate a list of concepts, postulates, propositions, principles and theories of learning that are congruent with student and faculty characteristics 6. Assess and describe the faculty of the school of nursing
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Conceptual Framework
D. Knowledge or subject matter
1. List the concepts deemed (think) important to the faculty, students, and university that are applicable to the practice of nursing. 2. Survey the literature for constructs & theories that useful to nursing. 3. Select or devise a conceptual constructs or theory of nursing that can be used in nursing practice and/or education

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2. Course Implementation (vivification)

A. Conceptual Framework
1. List definitive curriculum commitments explicit or implicit in theoretical & philosophical statements as an implementation or functional checklist

B. Aims 1. Describe essential nursing behaviors (graduate). 2. Establish program objectives. C. Content
1. Pattern course configuration. 2. Select content based on the following:
a. the processes inherent in nursing b. the information of nursing

3. Arrange the content in a pattern considering the following: a. natural groupings b. level of complexity 4. Devise course as follows: a. establish course objectives b. Select the learning activities that will provide the content necessary to accomplish the objectives.
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Continue
D. Evaluation 1. Establish minimal competencies or mastery criteria directly from objectives. 2. Make grading decisions and establish grading policies consistent with institutional guidelines, faculty philosophy, and selected learning theories

Bevis stresses that curriculum development is not a sequential activity. Activities are often being carried out at same time and affecting one another. The important part of successful curriculum development is openness of communication and involvement of each faculty member in the curriculum process.
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References
Bevis, E. O. (1988). Curriculum building in Nursing A Process 3rd Edition Curzon, L.B., Teaching in Further Education". An Outline of Principles and Practice". Third Edition Holt, Rinchart and Winston, 1985 Torres, G., Stanton, M., "Curriculum Process in Nursing". Prentice-Halt, Inc., 1982.

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