Curriculm Theory by Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar

Curriculum Theory
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD
Research Scholar
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Research
Scholar

The foundation of curriculum that is least
appreciated is curriculum theory.
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The behaviorist approach to curriculum is based
largely on psychological theories of learning.
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We are no longer satisfied with merely being
technicians following curriculum development
recipes in blind adherence to past models of
previous thinking.
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They are very much immersed in investigating
how current curricula are created and
maintained and how particular programs
evolve and emerge in response to dynamic
times. They wish to produce theoretical
knowledge that can serve the practical
purposes of explaining, prescribing, guiding,
and describing what people involved in
education do within the curriculum arena and
within the general social context.
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 With theory, curriculum decision makes can
draw on the most advanced and valid
knowledge available and apply it to many
situations.
 We can provide ourselves with ways of
viewing the world and how it works so that
education will be “real,” will relate to the
world, and will have applicability to real issues
and challenges.
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Theoretical Perspectives
 The challenge of bringing into focus visions of the
future and then skillfully initiating actions that assure
attainment of these visions is not small.
 Curriculum is a complex phenomenon existing within
ever expanding social and political dynamics.
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 Perhaps we can be more receptive to theory if
we realize that theorizing is a process that
engages us in imagining the how and why of
certain phenomena.
 It challenges us to analyze why we think a
curriculum should be developed in a certain
way for particular students and focused on
certain content.
 Theory can also suggest ways in which we can
teach what we think is important.
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 In many ways, theory is an expression of
belief.
 George Beauchamp has asserted that all
theories are derived from three broad
categories of knowledge: (1) the humanities;
(2) the natural sciences; and (3) the social
sciences. These divisions of knowledge are
well established as the basic realms of
knowledge.
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 There are two major categories of curriculum
theories – design theories and engineering
theories.
 Design theories address the basic organization of
the curriculum plan. For this, curricularists draw
on philosophy as well as on social and psychology
theory.
 Engineering theories explain, describe, predict, or
even guide curriculum-development activities.
They involve specific plans, principles, and/or
methods or procedures. Engineering theories of
curriculum are also partially based on principles of
measurement and statistics.
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The Meaning of Theory
“A theory is a way of making sense of a
disturbing situation so as to allow us most
effectively to bring to bear our repertoire of
habits, and even more important, to modify
habits or discard them altogether, replacing new
ones as the situation demands…”
- Abraham Kaplan
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A challenge for curricularists is to determine
just what aspect of the field of curriculum we
are processing. Our assumption is that the
field of curriculum should involve
curricularists in theorizing about curriculum
design and curriculum development.
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Most curricularists do seem to agree on two
points.
 First, curricularists agree that curriculum is of
fundamental importance to our teachers and
students, and to the nature of teaching and
learning.
 Second, curriculum development is greatly
influenced by the values we bring to the process.
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The term theory sometimes refers to a set of
propositions inductively derived from
empirical findings. These generalizations refer
to various facts, laws, or hypotheses that are
related to each other in a systematic way and
that form a type of whole – an entity.
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Scientific theory, then, is comprised of general
facts, laws, or hypotheses related to each other.
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Scientific theory is a “set of assumptions from
which can be derived by purely
logicomathematical procedures, a larger set of
empirical laws. The theory furnished an
explanation of these empirical laws and unifies
the subject matter.”
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Philosophical and Humanistic Theory
 Such theories produce a set of assumptions or
beliefs that explain what ought to be.
 Philosophers’ theories describe their outlooks
– their views of reality and their place within
it.
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 Much of the theory that relates to education, and
specifically to curriculum, stems from the
philosophical and/or humanistic orientation.
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 Philosophical and humanistic theory is largely
normative (based on values). It essentially
indicates what should or should not be
included or done in some action.
 Humanistic theory emphasizes the melding of
the emotion and physical with the intellectual.
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The Functions of Theory
 Educators may ask, “Why do we need theory at
all?” Often, they do not wait for a reply and
state, “I do not need your damn theory.”
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The aim of science is to understand the
phenomena studied. Philosophers also seek
answers to their questions: What is knowledge,
what is reality, what is of value?
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Theory comes from the Greek word theoria
connoting “wakefulness of mind.” It is a type
of “pure viewing” of truth. Theory explains
reality; it makes people aware of their world
and its interactions.
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Many writers have ascribed four functions to
theory:
 Description
 Prediction
 Explanation
 Guidance
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 Description provides a narrative classification
of knowledge in a particular theoretical field. It
furnished a structure through which
individuals’ interpretations of complex
activities can be verified. It organizes and
summarizes knowledge.
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 Prediction – A theory can predict the
occurrence of as yet unobserved events on the
basis of explanatory principles embedded in it.
Perhaps this is the ultimate function of theory.
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 Explanation addresses “why.” It not only
points out the relationships between
phenomena, but suggests either explicitly or
implicitly the reasons for the relationships.
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 Guidance. Theory also acts as a guide. It helps
researchers choose data for analysis and make
economical summaries of the data. The theory
generated promotes further investigation.
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Theory Building
 Essentially, the process of theory development
is tied to inductive and deductive thinking.
 Induction means building a theory by
accumulating and summarizing a variety of
inquiries.
 They form propositions on the basis of research
that began as tentative hypotheses they tested and
validated.
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 Deduction, in contrast to induction, is the
process of inferring necessary conclusions
from a combination of premises whose truth
has either been accepted as given or assumed
to be true. People employing deduction
develop theory by constructing logical
sequences. They proceed from the general to
the specific.
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Steps in Theory Building
 To engage in theory is to deal with symbols,
facts, or words that can be classified into large
concepts and generalizations.
 The problem with theory is when it must be
applied in the real world.
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 Defining Terms. One of the basic rules in
theory building is to be clear about terms.
 Selecting terms is governed by two rules:
 The wording must be clear, and
 The terms, once defined, must be used
consistently.
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 Concepts are either nominal or operational.
 Nominal definitions present the attributes of a
term or concept.
 In contrast, operational definitions indicate
the context in which the concept is employed.
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These primitive terms are accepted by those
who use them in their theoretical work. In
mathematics, for example, the terms “point” or
“straight line” are primitive terms.
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Another category of terms used in theory is
theoretical terms or operational constructs;
theories with any degree of sophistication
contain such terms. A construct is a concept
that represents relationships among things
and/or events and their properties.
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 Classifying. The second activity in theory
building is classification. Theorists attempt to
organize and integrate what they know about
the areas being theorized. They begin
summarizing discovered uniformities of
relationships between two or more variables or
concepts.
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Curriculum Theory
The challenge to curricularists is to make sense
out of the complexity of the field of curriculum
and to determine whether they should create
their own curriculum theory or theories,
borrow theories from other disciplines – such
as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and
philosophy – or do both.
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To create a single curriculum theory that would
describe, and more importantly explain,
curriculum is perhaps an unrealistic goal;
curriculum covers too many aspects of education.
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Maccias’ Theory
Consequently, they organized theory as formal
theory, even theory, valuational theory, and
praxiological theory.
1. Formal theory. This theory deals with
speculation about the structure of the
disciplines that comprise the
curriculum.
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2. Event theory. This theory, very similar to
what we have been discussing as scientific
theory, refers to speculation about
occurrences. It attempts to predict what
will occur given certain circumstances.
3. Valuational theory. This theory involves
speculation about the appropriate
means to attain the objectives most
desired and to include the content
judged to be the best.
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4. Praxiological theory. Such theory refers to
speculation about appropriate means to attain
what is considered valuable. It is about practices.
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Johnson’s Theory
 Johnson’s definition of curriculum – an
intended series of learning outcomes – they
should realize the usefulness of distinguishing
between theorizing about curriculum as a plan
and theorizing about the means by which such
plans are generated.
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Macdonald’s Theory
 Macdonald defines curriculum as the social system
that actually produces a plan for instruction, which he
in turn defines as another social system within which
formal teaching and learning take place.
 Teaching is different from instruction and is defined as a
personality system–the teacher–acting in a particular
manner to facilitate learning.
 Learning is defined as a personality system too; the student
becomes involved in specialized task-related behaviors.
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Curriculum Inquiry
 Curricularists are confronted with making sense
of the world, not only to describe it but to manage
it in the present and to entertain and initiate ways
of modifying it in the future.
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 Decker Walker, who is classified by some as
a conceptual curricularist, has outlined five
questions:
1. What are the major features of a given
curriculum?
2. What are the personal and social consequences
that a given curriculum feature elicits?
3. What accounts for the stability and change in
curriculum features?
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4. What accounts for people’s judgments of the
merit or worth of various curriculum
features?
5. What sorts of curriculum features should be
part of a curriculum designed for a particular
purpose?
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