EDUCA N 471-4 CURRICULUM DEVLEOPME•
ThIEORY AND PRACTICE
FALL, 1985
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INSTRUCTOR: Maurice Gibbons
TUESDAYS, 4:30 - 8:30
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LOCATION: v)X 8651
PRE READING:
Students can pick up the pre-reading package from the
undergraduate desk after August 1st. It should be read before the first
class.
THE FORMAT: The basic format of class meetings will be Presentation...
Workshop Application... Teamwork Assignment... Student Presentations.
THE TEXTS:
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participants should be prepared to pay $15.00 for the
reproduction of current materials.
THE ASSIGNMENTS: Students are expected to be present, on time and
prepared. Readings will be assigned for most sessions and ten minute
weekly quizzes will sometimes be given on their essentials. Individuals
will develop a unit in the Universal Curriculum for actual use in class.
They will also work with a team of four or five others to develop a larger
scale curriculum applying the same process to the same topic. Students
will keep a working journal to track the development of their curriculum.
In anticipation, students may wish to consider the most promising and
ambitious new developments they might pursue. These two assignments
will be conducted as negotiated learning contracts.
THE COURSE: The focus of the course will be on the following topics:
* What is curriculum? What is the range of choices? What processes
are invoved?
* What is the role of the teacher: User, chooser or developer? Can
developers develop curriculum without developing themselves? What
program of development can developers follow?
* How can we make systematic strategic curriculum decisions? How
can we analyze the situation were in to derive appropriate goals and
purposes? ?
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* How can we generate new ideas, ideas about how to achieve the goals
in powerful ways. What are the basic paradigms of education?
* What content should be selected and how should it be organized into
sequences?
* What activities should be selected for high impact teaching? What
are the sources of instructional power? How should learning activities be
organized?
* How can new programs be implemented effectively? How can they be
improved in use? How can we determine how effective a new program is?
* What do we do if we fail? If we are successful? How do we build
themes of improvement throughout our professional lives?