Five Theoretical Perspectives on Curriculum

Five Theoretical Perspectives on Curriculum

1. Approaches

   • Assumptions
     • Education
     • Experience

2. The Traditional Perspective

   • ED Hirsch, Jr
     • The main purpose of education is to acculturate children
       • The educational curricula’s’ primary goal is to transmit the accumulated knowledge of society
     • XIX
   • Progressive educators
     • The experiential perspective
       • Motivation
       • Knowledge
       • School or society

3. The Experiential Perspective

   • John Dewey
     • XX
       • Social reform movement
     • The curricula should take a holistic approach
       • Considering all their experiences
       • It assumes that the curriculum is more or less the same as the very process of living

4. Structure of the Disciplines

   • Arthur Bestor
     • If a student can understand the structure of a discipline, then the student can acquire the knowledge base of that discipline independently

5. The Constructivist Perspective

   • Jean Piaget
     • Students assimilate information, as opposed to acquire it
       • They then accommodate new knowledge by reorganizing information so that it may fit into their existent thought structures.

6. The Behavioral Perspective

   • Edward Thorndike and Franklin Bobbitt
     • Educators should focus on the behaviors students acquire while in school not in the content