Sept. 22nd reading

Analyzing the Curriculum
by George Posner
pp. 127-143

Chapter Six discusses the ways in which curriculum is organized. It opens with a discussion of the basic terms and concepts which the author deems necessary to know in order to objectively analyze any curriculum. The most important caution comes on page 136 when Posner warns, “curriculum organization is a cultural construction, and is, therefore, subject to change…skepticism regarding current practice in curriculum organization is preferable to blind acceptance.”
Some basic terms which Posner identifies are:

macro organization: relations between education levels such as elementary/secondary OR between programs such as general and vocational; the organization of courses to form programs

micro organization: relations between concepts, facts, or skills within lessons; the organization of particular courses or units

vertical dimensions: what follows or precedes a particular study; the sequencing of content; e.g. prerequisites for courses

horizontal dimensions: integration and/or correlation of content taught concurrently; e.g. combining English and history to become American Studies

CONTENT STRUCTURES:
o discrete: all content is unrelated or independent of other content; e.g. Sesame Street T.V.
o linear: all content requires mastery of the previous concept or skill e.g. Bloom’s taxonomy, Saxon math
o pyramidal or hierarchical: multiple unrelated skills are necessary for learning subsequent concepts or skills
o spiral: same concepts are taught in different ways at different ages and stages of educational development

NOTE: pyramidal and spiral fall partway between the opposing extremes of discrete and linear content structure

Macro-level curriculum organization: This section reviews the ways in which our school systems are currently structured ie with English and Math being the basics in Elementary school, and the addition of other major subjects, and some electives in high school. Posner discusses the reasons for the way in which curriculum was and is organized, noting that until the 19th century, the primary purpose of schools was for religious purposes. Later, the emergence of math was a response to “the growing commercial class.” (p. 135) The idea of basic skills is a fairly recent concept and structure for organizing the teaching of curriculum. Posner concludes this section by instructing curriculum analysts to keep Schwab’s four commonplaces in mind when looking at curriculum organization: the subject matter, the learning and learning process, the teacher and teaching process, and the milieu in which education takes place (p. 138). He then begins to examine each of these areas, teaching us to first look at how subject matter is organized (e.g. world related principles vs. concept related principles, then how learners are organized (e.g. using Gardner’s multiple intelligences), and so on.