Cultures Of Curriculum

This book is designed to foster awareness, examination, and deliberation about the curricula planned for and carried out in classrooms and schools, to inspire conversations about theory and practice. The framework of inquiry elucidates the concept of curriculum as culture; highlights patterns of curricular thinking that have influenced the development of the concept of cultures of curriculum; gives historical insight about shifting educational and social priorities that have influenced the course of curriculum; and integrates moral and political discourse into recognition and discussion of curriculum. Contents: - Conceptualizing Curriculum - Understanding Curriculum as Culture - Training for Work and Survival - Connecting to the Canon - Developing Self and Spirit - Constructing Understanding - Deliberating Democracy - Confronting the Dominant Order - Reculturing Curriculum.

Offering a conceptual framework for teaching the visual arts (K-12 and higher education) from a cultural standpoint, the author discusses visual culture in a democracy.

This txtbk presents the concept of curriculum as culture-a system of implicit & explicit beliefs, values, behaviors, & customs in classrooms & schools. Goal is to foster awareness, examination, & deliberation about the curricula planned for & carried out

In a world where the global engagement and international dialogue intensifies, some areas of cultivated knowledge suffer from this dialogue and this has consequences for people and communities. We propose education to be such a case. The global dialogue in education tends to be restricted to and mediated by standardized measurements. Such standards are meant to measure qualities of education and of student behavior and create the sought for condition for normative comparability and competition. The obvious drawback is that cultural variability – in local living as well as in education – is rendered irrelevant. Are there alternatives? The book insists on maintaining the discussion about education on a global level, but rather than moving towards homogenization and standardization of education, the attention is drawn towards the potential for learning from creative fits - and misfits - between concrete local cultures, institutional practices and global aims and standards of education. This work brings together a group of educational and developmental researchers and scholars grappling to find culturally informed and sensitive modes of educating people and communities. Case studies and examples from four geographical contexts are being discussed: China, Brazil, Australia and Europe. While being embedded in these local cultures, the authors share a conceptual grounding in cultural developmental theorizing and a vision for a culturally informed globalized perspective on education. As the theme of the book is learning from each other, the volume also includes commentaries from leading scholars in the field of cultural psychology and education.

EXPLORE THE CULTURES OF THE WORLD! Meet buddies from different parts of our planet and go on adventures near and far with 30 stories bursting with intrigue, curiosity and wonder! Travel from Japan to Peru and South Africa to Denmark, and learn about diverse cultures, customs, traditions and more in one handy, charmingly illustrated volume. - A magical, educational experience for young readers to discover the differences that make our planet so special, but also to uncover the similarities we often overlook - Fictional plots of kids from different countries capture the imagination of little readers and allow them to experience the world beyond themselves, developing compassion and empathy - Every story is accompanied by a 2-page snapshot of that country's culture, filled with fun facts and engaging activities, such as puzzles, songs and recipes

This little book is confined to very simple “reading lessons upon the Form and Motions of the Earth, the Points of the Compass, the Meaning of a Map: Definitions.” The shape and motions of the earth are fundamental ideas—however difficult to grasp. Geography should be learned chiefly from maps, and the child should begin the study by learning “the meaning of map,” and how to use it. These subjects are well fitted to form an attractive introduction to the study of Geography: some of them should awaken the delightful interest which attaches in a child’s mind to that which is wonderful—incomprehensible. The Map lessons should lead to mechanical efforts, equally delightful. It is only when presented to the child for the first time in the form of stale knowledge and foregone conclusions that the facts taught in these lessons appear dry and repulsive to him. An effort is made in the following pages to treat the subject with the sort of sympathetic interest and freshness which attracts children to a new study. A short summary of the chief points in each reading lesson is given in the form of questions and answers. Easy verses, illustrative of the various subjects, are introduced, in order that the children may connect pleasant poetic fancies with the phenomena upon which “Geography” so much depends. It is hoped that these reading lessons may afford intelligent teaching, even in the hands of a young teacher. The first ideas of Geography—the lessons on “Place”—which should make the child observant of local geography, of the features of his own neighbourhood, its heights and hollows and level lands, its streams and ponds—should be conveyed viva voce. At this stage, a class-book cannot take the place of an intelligent teacher. Children should go through the book twice, and should, after the second reading, be able to answer any of the questions from memory. Charlotte M. Mason

Discover why and how schools must become places where thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothing less than environments that bring out the best in people, take learning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propel both the individual and the group forward into a lifetime of learning. This is something all teachers want and all students deserve. In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart, author of Making Thinking Visible, explains how creating a culture of thinking is more important to learning than any particular curriculum and he outlines how any school or teacher can accomplish this by leveraging 8 cultural forces: expectations, language, time, modeling, opportunities, routines, interactions, and environment. With the techniques and rich classroom vignettes throughout this book, Ritchhart shows that creating a culture of thinking is not about just adhering to a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A culture of thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work.

This text aims to deepen awareness of dilemmas of practice in curriculum work. It is a suitable resource for students in curriculum theory and curriculum studies, and should also enter the public discourse as readers bring its ideas and issues into their schools and communities.

Introduces prospective/in-service teachers to an anthropological framework & to research & practice base that will help them be more successful in teaching students from various immigrant cultures. Focuses on home-school communication & parent involvemen

It is often argued that education is concerned with the transmission of middle-class values and that this explains the relative educational failure of the working class. Consequently, distinctive culture needs a different kind of education. This volume examines this claim and the wider question of culture in British society. It analyses cultural differences from a social historical viewpoint and considers the views of those applying the sociology of knowledge to educational problems. The author recognizes the pervasive sub-cultural differences in British society but maintains that education should ideally transmit knowledge which is relatively class-free. Curriculum is defined as a selection from the culture of a society and this selection should be appropriate for all children. The proposed solution is a common culture curriculum and the author discusses three schools which are attempting to put the theory of such curriculum into practice. This study is an incisive analysis of the relationships between class, education and culture and also a clear exposition of the issues and pressures in developing a common culture curriculum.