Week 3 Discussion 1 - Guidelines for Curriculum Planning

What guidelines for curriculum planning will ensure that the curriculum content you have chosen provides students with experiences that enhance their feelings of competence during the fourth stage of the life cycle (school age)? See P. 180.

The fourth stage of Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development deals with industry versus inferiority and can be observed between the ages of 6-12 years old.  Curriculum planning for students in these grades should allow students to work towards a sense of accomplishment and grow in a slow and steady fashion.  Creating curriculum content that engages children and allows them to develop and analyze real-world situations can help the course of instruction be meaningful and fulfilling to both students and teachers.  If preceding stages were not mastered, then it is imperative for the curriculum content to allow students to accept their previous inferiority and help them achieve mastery.  Small group settings and rigorous instruction with content that is relevant and challenging, without the fear of initial failure and learning through making mistakes, allows children to enter the next stage of identity with a sense of accomplishment and security in who they are and what they have achieved.