Assignment 3: Curriculum Development and Implementation

Curriculum Foundations

Larry Ratliff Jr

Strayer University

EDU 555

May 15, 2016

Dr. DeDominci

The specific curriculum area and grade level(s) for the pilot curriculum

The specific area of this curriculum is mathematics. This pilot curriculum will cover from kindergarten to grade 8 mathematics in the school district. This curriculum has been developed with the aim of improving the mathematics quality in the school districts which has been reportedly dropping in the past few years. The major goal during the creation of this curriculum was to reinforce the significance of procedural thinking, conceptual understanding and solving of problems and also to differentiate expectations in varying grade levels (Saracho, 2013).

Four (4) core instructional goals for the curriculum

The four core instructional goals of this curriculum are to increase the students understanding through the key understanding that the students will be taught from every study unit. Secondly, to create essential questions that majorly will be based on the goal of increasing understanding. The critical questions are aimed at promoting critical thinking through creating of questions that can have more than one answer. Third, to create standards that includes content and skills to be taught in each grade. The last instructional goal of this pilot curriculum is to feature language and key vocabularies used in mathematics in a way that the needs of all students are met.

The approach to curriculum development

In this curriculum development, we will use the humanistic approach to shape the curriculum. We chose this approach because it is non technical while it favors more students in regard to cultural, artistic and physical aspect. We also chose the humanistic approach because it has more consideration to self actualization and self - reflection among students. Lastly the approach is good since it also focuses on classroom’s sociopsychological dynamics. The humanistic approach will be essential in meeting the instructional goals of this pilot curriculum since the approach put whole emphasis on a person. This method looks seeks to study holistically the person being focused on.

The philosophical approach to curriculum development

The philosophical approach that was used in this curriculum development is Realism. we chose realism because first it is a subject matter curriculum. Secondly, realism was chosen since its concentration is on humanistic principals while its values are based on global natural laws. This approach main focus is to teach students a scientific way of solving issues. Through realism, we hope that the students will be in a position to develop rigor, accountability and also be able to instill practical from of knowledge. This method believes that students should be taught in an organized and thoughtful method so as to fully impact their organizational skills. The approach also firmly believes that students should be taught on basis of their strengths and abilities. Another major reason of choosing this approach is because it strongly believes in use of technology and in expertise of teachers to their subject matter (Tye, 2013).

The psychological motivational approach to curriculum development that we shall use

Motivational processes can be significantly underestimated factor in development of curriculum. Developing curricula to particularly grow student’s motivation can greatly influence the results of curricula. The major essential for ensuring intrinsic motivation is achieved from students includes anatomy support, enough feedback and expressive support that majorly seem to lack in majority of curricula plans. The best approach to use is the participatory approach in development of the curriculum.

Through the use of the participatory approach we shall be able to get a good chance for reflection and discussions with varying stakeholders. This will help in working and learning together in an efficient manner. The other benefit of this approach is that networks and links are easily formed allowing information to be shared better making courses more relevant to the students. Through the participatory approach the shy students will get a chance to get involved in discussions, hence benefiting more. We shall further be able to develop a more elaborative course design procedure since new lines of communication and new linkages will be set, hence creating more satisfaction in the mathematics program. Finally, this method will gain more responsibility for varying stages in the process of curriculum development.

One (1) cultural influence that has the greatest impact on the school district

One cultural influence that has the greatest influence on the school district is racism. Racism is a term that has greatly been felt in public educational systems. Racism is basically a way of classifying people, creating a caste system, and offering an accepted pecking lifestyle in the society. Racism is very popular in school district and it has varying stages of progression. In stage one; racism exists because of racial and cultural differences that exist. The requirement for cultural identity expressions is inherent and it’s important that they are explored. It is very paramount for minority students to gain their traditional education something that should be approached by educators with a lot of significance. Education should therefore have a foundation of racial and cultural understanding.

In the second state of racism, it becomes operational where direct outcome of action that people exhibit to others is seen leading to negative results. Racism controllers are normally in power in the society and it is from them that it spreads to schools and society at large. Attitudes are the result of the third stage of racism. Here people develop different attitudes towards people of other cultural and racial groups. It is this form of behavior that the school district stakeholders should work on eliminating.

Effective way to integrate the cultural influence into the planned curriculum that is consistent with the core instructional goals

One way that the cultural influence can be integrated in the planned curriculum is through addressing racial groups and their cultural heritage and integrating their needs I the curriculum. We shall work on ensuring that the educational system emphasizes the positive heritages of all cultural groups. Through integrating cultural and racial identity the minorities will be more embraces and feel more as part of the society. It is therefore important for the educators to design curriculums that are based upon respect and understanding for racial and cultural differences. The procedure that shall be used in achieving this goal should include the entire school stakeholders with parents, staff, teachers and administrators being involved. It is only through this inclusive way that success shall be achieved.

The process of cultural influence should include planning, training and researching as well as innovative nontraditional education approach. Education can only be build through this manner to become a total success. Besides creation of good curriculums and school involvement, the entire society will also be required to participate in order to make it a success. Cultural differences should also be taught in schools. This should be done through explicit communication and also covering culture implicitly.

In explicit communication, plans and themes should be involved when planning for children. For instance, this can be achieved through providing artifacts from varying cultures. Explicit communication can also be done through games and books. It is also important to shape communication in a way that promotes cultural diversity in schools. Implicit communication on the other hand involves background tools that do not necessarily define the school program but contains vital parts of day to day learning and environment of learning. For instance, implicit learning can involve classroom names, group definition, and interaction methods with students, methods of conflict resolution and ways of classroom arrangement (Anderson, 2011).

A strategy for incorporating critical thinking skills (appropriate to grade level) into the planned curriculum using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives

Bloom’s Anatomy was formed by Dr. Benjamin Bloom with an aim of promoting higher types of educational thinking like evaluating and analyzing processes, concepts, principles and procedures instead of just having rote learning. Bloom’s anatomy is majorly used when creating training, educational and learning procedures. Under the Bloom’s Taxonomy there are three domains that include cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Cognitive domain includes mental skills, affective domain includes emotional and feelings growth, while the psychomotor includes physical and manual skills.

Through Bloom’s Anatomy critical thinking skills can be incorporated in the planned curriculum. Bloom’s anatomy levels include knowledge where previously learned materials can be retrieved. Secondly it includes comprehension. Through comprehension students can be able to describe major theories, issues and concepts for all theoretical approaches (Bloom, 1956). Application is another level of Bloom’s Anatomy. This is very important since through it students can be able to use theoretical principles during solving real problems. Another level in this anatomy is Analysis, which can assist students in analyzing limitations and strengths of major approaches so as to understand phenomena better. Through synthesis which is also a level in this anatomy, students will be able to merge theoretical approaches with an aim of explaining complicated phenomena. Lastly, students can get critical thinking skills through Bloom’s anatomy by the way of evaluation. Through evaluation, students can be able to use the most approachable method to phenomenon and be able to explain the reason behind their selection.

A rationale for my strategy that is consistent with the core instructional goals

My rationale for using the Bloom’s taxonomy is the fact that it contains six types of cognitive skills that range from lower-order skills which only require lesser cognitive dispensation to higher-order skills that necessitate deeper learning and a better degree of cognitive dispensation. The separation into categories of the higher-order and the lower-order skills is very essential in balancing students of different levels. I also chose these methods since they are broad and try to cover the general outlook of the students. For students to perform better, then they will be required to be understood and taught in an overall manner that covers more than their understanding in class. I also chose this method since it will also be essential for all school stakeholders who will be able to understand the students better.

References

Anderson L. (2011). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: a revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New YorkNY: Longmans

Bloom, B. (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals. New YorkNY: Longmans, Green; 1956

Saracho, O. (2013). Understanding the multicultural experience in early childhood education. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Tye, K. ((2010). Global education: From thought to action. 1991 Yearbook of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Arlington, VA: ASCD.