The scientific method in curriculum-making and standardized education

Bobbitt, F. (2013). Scientific method in curriculum-making. In: D. J. Flinders & S. J. Thornton (Eds.), Curriculum Studies Reader (4th ed.), pp. 11–18. New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer. In 1918, then Professor of educational administration at the University of Chicago, Franklin Bobbitt, wrote the above essay which presented a theory of curriculum development, based on the … Continue reading →

Maria Montessori’s critical consideration of the “new” pedagogy

Montessori, M. (2013). A critical consideration of the new pedagogy in its relation to modern science. In: D. J. Flinders & S. J. Thornton (Eds.), Curriculum Studies Reader (4th ed.), pp. 19–31. New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer. A complete audiobook of the original publication is available for download at this URL—https://librivox.org/the-montessori-method-by-maria-montessori/ Originally published in 1912, Montessori … Continue reading →

Tyler’s basic principles of curriculum and instruction

Tyler, R. (2013). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. In: D. J. Flinders & S. J. Thornton (Eds.), Curriculum Studies Reader (4th ed.), pp. 59–68. New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer. First published in 1949, the first sentence of Ralph Tyler’s paper, “a rationale for viewing, analyzing and interpreting the curriculum and instructional program of an educational … Continue reading →

Counts splits the progressive education movment

Counts, G. (1932). Dare progressive education be progressive? Progressive Education 9(4), 257–263. A collection of three speeches given at the February 1932 meeting of the Progressive Education Association (P.E.A.) in Baltimore, was first published as a pamphlet entitled Dare the School Build a New Social Order? At the time, many perceived an emerging split within … Continue reading →

John Dewey, the Dewey School and the vocational path that followed

Kliebard, H. (2004). The struggle for the American curriculum. Ch. 3–4, pp. 51–104. New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer. John Dewey’s ideas about education… The Univ. of Chicago, Laboratory School (The Dewey School) opened in 1896. No fully worked out curriculum. Kliebard noted that subjects were described by Albion Small, Head Professor of Social Studies as ”an unorganized … Continue reading →

Defining what you know that you don’t know

Plato. (1997). Meno (G.M.A. Grube, Trans.). In, Plato: Complete works. J. M. Cooper & D. S. Hutchinson (Eds.), pp. 870–897. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. (Original work published ca. 380 B.C.) This has been my first real exposure to classical Greek philosophy, and as such I’ll apologize to any real scholars of Greek philosophy … Continue reading →

Variations in curriculum theory

Kliebard, H. (2004). The struggle for the American curriculum. Ch. 1–2, pp. 1–50. New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer. Kliebard described changes in the perception and the reality of society and the school at the close of the nineteenth century. Kliebard argues that, in the public’s view, changes that had begun earlier in the century, such as the … Continue reading →