In Tyler’s outline on obtaining objectives from subject specialists he mentioned that subject specialists have been criticized for being “too technical”. Tyler proposed that this is largely because when they were designing curriculum objectives they were asking the wrong question: “What should be the elementary instruction for students who are later to carry on much more advanced work in the field?” I often find myself questioning aspects of the curriculum, for example prior to the new BC curriculum changes, grade 9 math students were expected to learn circle geometry. As a teacher, I could not explain to my students why they needed to learn circle geometry, other than they would need it in order to understand more complex math concepts in future math courses. Since grade 9 math is a required course that every student is to take, I feel that the curricular objectives should be focusing on providing students with strong foundational math skills that are relevant to everyday living. Tyler said that the question subject specialists should be asking when designing curricular objectives is “What can your subject contribute to the education of young people who are not going to be specialists in your field; what can your subject contribute to the layman, the garden variety of citizen?” I agree that approaching subject specific objectives from this perspective would produce curricular objectives that are better suited for student needs.
I enjoyed reading the first chapter of Tyler’s book, I found it thought provoking and intriguing to think about how and where curricular objectives are produced. I was quite surprised to learn from the Halvorson reading that it was Tyler’s book that lead to the No Child Left Behind revolution. On the topic of subject specialists forming curricular objectives Halvorson says that Tyler’s message was “conflicted in approach [that] On the one hand, Tyler acknowledges the importance of scholarship in forming objectives, and on the other hand, he subordinates the uniqueness of disciplinary knowledge to broad functions of inferred generalizations, such as critical thinking and creative skill.” I struggle to see Halvorson’s perception of this statement as a ‘conflict’ in approach, as when I read it I understood that Tyler was providing the curriculum designer with multiple perspectives to showcase the point that there are numerous sources to consider when deciding curricular objectives.
On the topic of designing curriculum objectives I propose the question shift to not only thinking about what the objectives are but who decides them. Should teachers have more autonomy in designing curricular objectives?
I enjoyed reading the first chapter of Tyler’s book, I found it thought provoking and intriguing to think about how and where curricular objectives are produced. I was quite surprised to learn from the Halvorson reading that it was Tyler’s book that lead to the No Child Left Behind revolution. On the topic of subject specialists forming curricular objectives Halvorson says that Tyler’s message was “conflicted in approach [that] On the one hand, Tyler acknowledges the importance of scholarship in forming objectives, and on the other hand, he subordinates the uniqueness of disciplinary knowledge to broad functions of inferred generalizations, such as critical thinking and creative skill.” I struggle to see Halvorson’s perception of this statement as a ‘conflict’ in approach, as when I read it I understood that Tyler was providing the curriculum designer with multiple perspectives to showcase the point that there are numerous sources to consider when deciding curricular objectives.
On the topic of designing curriculum objectives I propose the question shift to not only thinking about what the objectives are but who decides them. Should teachers have more autonomy in designing curricular objectives?
Halvorson, M. (2011). Revealing the technological irresponsibility in curriculum design. Curriculum Inquiry, 41(1), 34-47. doi:10.1111/j.1467-873X.2010.00523
Tyler, R. W, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (Flinders & Thornton)
Tyler, R. W, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (Flinders & Thornton)
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