Assignment

1. ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC : ISSUE BASED CURRICULUM
Submitted by,
Devi .G. Priya
English Optional,
Candidate Code:
165/13376008

2. Introduction
Issue Based Approach to curriculum transaction
is a novel and unique one in the history of school curriculum
development in Kerala. This approach is a clear departure from the
traditional ‘knowledge transmission’ models of curriculum
transaction and focuses on ‘knowledge generation’ by the learners.
The IBA aims to sensitize the learners about the
numerous issues faced by our society through the learning material
itself. These issues are developed and sensitized using various
discourses which provide a linguistically rich environment in the
classroom. Being a novel one, the IBA poses a number of challenges to
facilitators with respect to the preparation of teaching manual, lesson
transaction learner assessment etc. in the classroom. It is really a hard
task to the facilitator to bring in various social issues in an appropriate
form into the framework of formal education. The challenge of the
facilitators to generate contextualized knowledge in developing and
transacting IBA lessons.
Issue Based Curriculum
Education that aims merely at the development of
skills needed for productive activities is possible only in a simple
society. The society today has become complex and sophisticated
through millenniums of social evolution. Here, learning often
promotes the existing social hierarchy and structures. It assumes that
the aim of education should be the welfare and development of all. At
the same time, it neglects and ignores the needs and issues of the
downtrodden in the society.
The learning system often does not promote
realisations of these issues and prepares the learner mentally to accept
things as they are. Social reformation can also be achieved through
education. The slogan of the renaissance period, ‘get enlightened
through knowledge’ points out the role of education in social
liberation. Based on this aim, the educational system of Kerala could
develop beyond the divisions of the society based on class and caste.
Everyone should get opportunities to grow and develop. The society
lives in a social , economic and cultural environment developed
through millennium.

3. Our greatest challenge is to implement a learning
system that could ensure opportunities for all. The privileged classes
can easily achieve their ends whereas the under privileged will
co0ntinue to remain in their original state. As a result the aim of
social development will remain as a mirage. Therefore certain
planned prioritizations and changes are necessary to ensure social
development of all classes.
A learning system that aims at social reformation
should provide opportunities to work for social justice, for balanced
and judicious development, to generate better citizens, to promote a
nationalistic spirit, to promote consciousness of rights, to promote an
understanding of science and technology, to promote logical thinking,
to realise and develop one’s one culture, to develop vocational skills,
to assimilate social and democratic values, to promote self-reliance,
to resist injustice, to take up leadership in the construction and
exchange of knowledge and to promote critical thinking.
The learning materials and principles of education
that could be used for social reformation have to be selected carefully.
There are two schools of thought in this regard. Some argue that we
should develop the knowledge and skills needed for social change
through the present system of education. The learners would then
naturally work for social change. The second school of thought argues
that we should sensitise the learners about the numerous issues faced
by our society as the learning material itself. Then the learners could
intervene directly in social changes along with their education.
The first school of thought has some reservations. It
dissociates between the aims and processes of learning. Therefore a
learner might fail to link the means and ends of his and her education
together. For example a person who has learned the principles of
swimming from books can’t swim. The book on swimming becomes
useless not because it doesn’t deal with swimming, but because it
doesn’t contain the real spirit of that human activity called swimming.
Hence the approach of the first school which dissociates means from
ends is not effective. We cannot achieve any serious aim by following
this method. The process of education that aims at social change
should be through social interventions themselves. Our social life
consists of physical, social and cultural spheres.

4. Each of these spheres has numerous problems.
When we examine some problems, we can identify certain common
sources that generate a set of problems. The genetic issues that could
commonly be identified throughout Kerala could be subjected to
detailed analysis and study through the curriculum. These genetic
issues dealt with should have a bearing on all the spheres of social
life.
For example, we experience floods and land bursts
throughout Kerala during the rainy season. But our experience of the
summer season is often water scarcity and drought. When we analyse
this common experience of Keralites we can see that it is due to lack
of scientific management of land water.
The issue domains that affect all spheres of our
lives are lack of scientific land water management, issues related to
agriculture, lack of cohesive universal vision, lack of human resource
development , lack of cultural consciousness, lack of eco-friendly
industrialization and urbanization, the issues of the marginalised and
the issues related to health and public health.
The issues are developed and sensitised using
various discourses which provide a linguistically rich environment in
the classrooms. The learners are to develop a linguistic competence to
intervene in the social issues. They have to deal with the problems
and formulate their ideas, opinions and attitudes about them. The
issue based curriculum should ignite thoughts and activities among
learners. Moreover they should be able to intervene in the thoughts,
activities and perspectives of the people around him. Learning of this
kind becomes a linking of experiences with a social aim. Thus
education can become more fruitful than ever before.
Another big part of developing a problem-based
curriculum centres on the use of a model for the design, development
and implementation of your materials. The Critical Thinking
Curriculum Model (CTCM) utilizes a multidisciplinary approach that
integrates effective learning and teaching practices with computer
technology. The model is designed to be flexible within a curriculum,
an example for teachers to follow, where they can plug in their own
critical issue.

5. The primary goal of the Critical Thinking
Curriculum Model is to provide opportunities to develop and apply
critical thinking and problem solving skills to a complex problem of
global significance. Additionally the CTCM seeks to promote co-operative
learning through successful teamwork, to develop the
connections between scientific concepts and everyday life and to help
increase the understanding of the scientific process.
The CTCM features open-ended and collaborative
activities that deal with current, real world issues which leaders are
attempting to solve. The CTCM is designed to encompass the
political, social/cultural, economic and scientific realms in the context
of a current local, regional or global issue. In this way, students
realise the importance of their schooling by applying their efforts to
an endeavour that ultimately will affect their future.
Issue based curriculum give answer to how can we
equip our people with sufficient scientific skills to enable them to
develop informed opinions about these important issues, without
imposing the unrealistic expectation that they be trained as scientists?
The latter consideration is also of course critical to the future health
and economic prosperity of the Nation. But without a broad populace
of "science appreciators", both the continued national investment in
science and the implementation of enlightened public policy will be
threatened.
As a designer of curriculum, the teacher's challenge
is to select and structure problems so that they address both the
important content objectives of the curriculum and important real-world
issues. This process results in a reaffirmation of the importance
of some objectives, the clarification of some and the elimination of
others as lacking relevance or importance.
In issue based class room teachers give emphasis
to set the objectives in accordance with the issues highlights in the
chapters. The teacher designs and implements activities taking into
consideration the individual differences of the child, helps and guides
the child, elicits regular feedback and changes accordingly, and uses
reference books and local resources for designing innovative
activities.

6. In practice, educators use active techniques
(experiments, real-world examples, problem solving activities,
dialogues) to introduce students to information and issues and then
encourage students to reflect on and talk about what they did and how
their understanding is changing.
The teacher makes sure she understands the
students' preexisting conceptions and guides activities to address and
build on them. The Reflective Teaching Model undergrids the
professional knowledge bases. These knowledge bases are centered
on knowledge of self, knowledge of content, knowledge of teaching
and learning, knowledge of pupils and knowledge of context within
schools and society. Preparation for working with diverse populations
in an ever-changing cultural and global context requires teachers who
are knowledgeable, caring and responsive. A visual model for teacher
reflection has been adapted from the works of Sparks-Langer (1992).
The framework is presented below.
The reflective teaching model should not be
viewed as a simplistic fix-it model whereby a solution is developed to
correct a problem without addressing the underlying causes of the
problem. Rather, it examines underlying assumptions and becomes a
useful model to understand the interaction of dispositions (being),
practice (doing), and professional knowledge (knowing). At the heart
of the model is a cyclical process leading to the construction of
meaning.
Meaning is constructed when awareness is created
by (1) observing and gathering information; (2) by analysing the
information to identify any implications; (3) by hypothesizing to
explain the events and guide further action, (4) and by implementing
an action plan. The model of reflection incorporates five categories of
knowledge.

7. Conclusion
The professional knowledge bases are identified on
the far right of the diagram. They include knowledge of self as
teacher, knowledge of content, knowledge of teaching and learning,
knowledge of students and knowledge of school and societal contexts.
These knowledge bases are viewed as essential for what prospective
teachers should know and be able to do.
On the far left of the diagram is the “doing”
dimension of teacher behaviour. It identifies performance indicators
and involves the tasks of planning, implementing and evaluating.
Incorporated in the conceptual framework are attributes or
dispositions deemed critical to professional development. They must
be nurtured. These are identified on the outside of the circle and
incorporate the affective dimensions of the six principles identified in
the EMU Teacher Education Mission Statement. Reflective Teaching
is an inquiry approach that emphasizes an ethic of caring, a
constructivist approach to teaching, and creative problem solving.
An ethic of caring respects the wonderful
range of multiple talents and capacities of all individuals regardless of
cultural, intellectual, or gender differences. A premium is placed on
the dignity of all persons. Teacher using a constructivist approach
place emphasis on big concepts, student questions, active learning and
co-operative learning and they interweave assessment with teaching.
Bibliography
(1) Kennedy, X.J. ‘ An Introduction to Poetry’
(2)Michael Apple ‘Ideology and Curriculum’
(3)Viola Spolin ‘Theatre Games for the Classroom’
(4)Vygotsky,.L. ‘Thought and Language’