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"Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum", originally published in 1992, includes 21 key topics in the field and is divided into six sections, including: curriculum planning and development; curriculum management; teaching perspectives; collaborative involvement in curriculum; and curriculum ideology.
Perhaps not since Ralph Tyler's (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has a book communicated the field as completely as Understanding Curriculum. From historical discourses to breaking developments in feminist, poststructuralist, and racial theory, including chapters on political theory, phenomenology, aesthetics, theology, international developments, and a lengthy chapter on institutional concerns, the American curriculum field is here. It will be an indispensable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses alike.
Understanding Curriculum is a critical introduction to contemporary curriculum theory and practice. Substantially revised, the second edition includes more detailed consideration of the ideological underpinnings of curriculum development, features new chapters on assessment and reporting, and updated vignettes and extracts. These features, combined with all the elements of the previous edition, encourages readers to reflect on how curriculum theory can inform and enhance classroom practice.
At a time of rapid social change and numerous policy initiatives, there is a need to question the nature and function of school curricula and the purposes of formal public education. Comparing curriculum developments around the globe, Understanding the School Curriculum draws on a range of educational, philosophical and sociological theories to examine the question ‘What is a curriculum for?’ In considering different answers to this fundamental question, it explores a range of topical issues and debates, including: tensions and dynamics within curriculum policy The implications of uncertainty and rapid social change for curriculum development the positive and negative influence of free market ideologies on public education the impact of globalization and digital technologies arguments for and against common core curricula and state control It examines the possibility of a school curriculum that is not shaped and monitored by dominant interests but that has as its founding principles the promotion of responsibility, responsiveness, a love of learning, and a sense of wonder and respect for the natural and social world. Understanding the School Curriculum is for all students following undergraduate and Masters courses in curriculum, public policy and education-related subjects. It is also for all training and practising teachers who wish to combine a deeper understanding of major curriculum issues with a critical understanding of the ways in which ideologies impact on formal state education, and to consider ways of producing school curricula that are appropriate to the times we live in.
What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.
Understanding and Shaping Curriculum: What We Teach and Why introduces readers to curriculum as knowledge, curriculum as work, and curriculum as professional practice. Author Thomas W. Hewitt discusses curriculum from theoretical and practical perspectives to not only acquaint readers with the study of curriculum, but also help them to become effective curriculum practitioners.
Approaches debates over the cultural character of the curriculum as debates over the American national identity. The 15 essays discuss curriculum politics, race and representation, gender and class, cultural pluralism and ethnicity, multiculturalism, and other topics. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Thie fourth edition provides not only a solid grounding in the subject but also covers the latest trends and issues affecting the field.
In this edition, the authors narrow their target to issues common to adolescents and young adults. While many of the features of the original book have been maintained, information on evidence-based practice has been added. Further, a series of instructional strategies are provided that can be used to teach the hidden curriculum. Instructional aids include charts, forms, and templates designed to make the job of teaching and learning the hidden curriculum more effective.
Both a practitioner’s guide and a school reform model, the new edition of this popular book shares exemplary arts-integration practices across the K–8 curriculum. Rather than providing formulas or scripts to be followed, each chapter carefully describes how the arts offer an entry point for gaining insight into why and how students learn to assist teachers in developing their own philosophy and practice. This updated second edition features scholarship and art at the forefront of contemporary practice and addresses social justice issues such as racial, climate, and economic justice. Chapter authors provide concrete ideas along with lively examples of public-school teachers integrating visual arts, music, drama, and dance with subject matter that includes English, social studies, science, and mathematics. The bookÕs narrative approach makes arts integration accessible and understandable to novice and experts alike. Readers of this new edition will come away with a deeper understanding of why and how to use the arts every day, in every school, to reach every child. Book Features: Explains how arts integration across the K–8 curriculum contributes to student learning.Features examples of how integrated arts education functions in classrooms when it is done well. Introduces historical and contemporary artists whose work is transdisciplinary. Brings together and speaks to diverse stakeholders, including classroom teachers, teaching artists, school administrators, and teacher educators. Explores intensive teacher-education and principal-training programs now underway in several higher education institutions. “A thorough guide to integrating art into other disciplinary subjects . . . recommended.” —SchoolArts (for first edition)
