Category: ECS 203 (Page 2 of 2)

The Tyler rationale is an approach to curriculum theory and practice that has a primary focus on reaching an outcome and later evaluating if the outcome was attained. This is one of the many approaches to curriculum development that is found within the reading “Curriculum Theory and Practice” by Smith. It is a systematic process which places emphasis on the creation of behavioural objectives that can potentially be applied across all subjects. A clear idea of the outcomes are given “so that content and method may be organized and the results evaluated” (Smith, 1996, 2000, p. 4). Here we see a brief summary of the four fundamental questions that this theory is based on. This is still something that we can see being used in our education system today as we discussed in class. When I think back to my schooling, a major way in which I experienced the Tyler rationale was through the use of departmental exams. These exams serve as the main form of assessment to ensure that students learn everything they were supposed to over the course of the whole school year. Being that throughout different schools in Saskatchewan, all students take the exact same test at the exact same time as to show how strict the outcomes were. I found that most of my science and math classes involved the teachers always prioritizing our success on the final departmental exam. The lessons were oriented around only material that would be on the departmental exam and no extra material was given. I was also always evaluated during the middle of the school year by completing tests that would show what I knew and what I didn’t understand. We would rarely focus on problems that students got wrong because we had to move on to the next topic in order to meet all the objectives. Another school experience that I had regarding the Tyler rationale is the multiple classes where I didn’t really have the ability to learn on my own. There were times when I felt that the classes were too guided and I was barely even given the opportunity to ask myself questions.

There are quite a few limitations of the Tyler rationale being that it can make some important aspects of education impossible. It is a very traditional approach to the curriculum. A major problem with this approach is the fact that the students have basically no freedom and “can end up with little or no voice” (Smith, 1996, 2000, p. 4). This is because, with a focus on getting the students to reach the final objective, they are told how they must learn which leads to them not getting the opportunity to truly engage in their own experiences in education. This limits the ability of all students to learn in ways that best suit them, meaning that it might benefit those who learn best under the given circumstances but those who require a different way of learning will have a hard time succeeding. In seeing this, it is also clear that the teachers have no say in the matter being that it takes away their influence since it is intended to be a “teacher proof” curriculum. Their freedom is taken away when it comes to their creativity of forming a classroom that they believe will most benefit the students. Another problem with this occurs when the idea of measuring learning comes into play, being that this is the center of the approach. This can become difficult because we don’t always see the results of learning immediately, especially when it comes to skills which take time to build. It can also be hard to measure the wide range of learning that can take place in a classroom under the restrictions of this model. Then comes the fact that the Tyler rationale limits the ability for both students and teachers to recognize learning that might not be a part of the set objective, making it impossible for them to see growth in other areas. They will instead only have a focus on trying to improve in ways that regard the outcomes that are expected, leaving them with seeing no importance in any other skills.

This approach can also lead to some potential benefits, making some important things possible to accomplish. There is mention that “the attraction of this way of approaching curriculum theory and practice is that it is systematic and has considerable organizing power” (Smith, 1996, 2000, p. 4). This is something I can agree with being that teachers often strive for organization in their classroom. With the general benefit of this approach being organization, it allows for clear and ordered instructions which can benefit student learning. It can also potentially be good for the students and teacher to see exactly what they will be doing since it does provide them with a focus point. There would not be any confusion in what the teacher must teach or how they must teach it with this model, meaning it makes it easy for teachers to create lesson plans. There are also possible benefits that come about with the idea of bringing change into the students behaviour since it could be for the better, potentially shifting them out of past learning habits that might not have worked for them, and instead showing them this model which could make learning easier for them. 

References:

Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000) ‘Curriculum theory and practice’ The encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm.

Within the reading “The Problem of Common Sense” by Kumashiro, he has a very interesting way of defining common sense and he raises some excellent points. He starts off by saying that common sense is basically what everyone’s expected to know or should know. These are the ways that we traditionally think about certain things, such as teaching and learning. Kumashiro explains that common sense is typically just accepted and very specific to a place, as we can see when he explains the difference between his experiences in Nepal compared to the United States when it comes to schooling and life in general. During his teaching experience in Nepal, he got to see how common sense works and more specifically, how it can cause issues in the school system. There were all these new teaching styles that Kumashiro brought with him, but common sense was preventing the students from wanting to accept these new and different methods. He soon recognized that there was a problem occurring with this idea of common sense due to the fact that it makes us fear change, being that we often find comfort in the traditional ways. Another interesting comment that he makes is that common sense can limit us. He explains how common sense doesn’t tell us what we could be doing because instead, it tells us what we should be doing. There are also instances where he describes common sense within the school system as something that makes it easy to use methods that allow oppression to continue without being questioned. When considering all of these different sides of Kumashiro’s definition of common sense, we can see his big idea that focuses on how common sense should not shape these aspects of education, being that instead this is what we must look deeper into so that it can finally be challenged.

There are many reasons why it is so important to pay attention to common sense. A majority of us do not even realize that there is this common sense in our lives because we are just used to it. This makes it hard to notice, but when we do pay attention to it, we can find ways to produce benefits. The main importance is that what may seem to be common sense to someone could be totally new to others. In this way it allows us to learn about other people’s experiences similarly to how Kumashiro learns about the unique ways of life in Nepal that they take for granted. When we pay attention to this, it allows us to raise questions about how effective the common sense ways are. It also gives us the ability to challenge it and step away from the traditional ways that we have become so accustomed to. If we continue to brush off this idea of common sense, we will become stuck in a world of repetition. When we specifically consider common sense within teaching and learning, we see that people tend to stick to the same routine and methods, but when we recognize this, it allows for us to consider other options that can potentially have greater benefits for everyone involved. As Kumashiro mentions, common sense can often lead to oppression being continued within schools and society. If we recognize the importance of paying attention to the common sense, we can address the things that are causing this inequality. If we all pay attention to the common sense surrounding us, it will overall allow for new experiences to arise within ourselves as individuals and society as a whole.

I have many common sense understandings of curriculum and pedagogy that all come from my previous experiences in school. When it comes to the curriculum, I have always understood it to simply be a document that teachers read to know what content has to be taught. It is typically seen as something that has to be strictly followed, as my past teachers would say. I have come to know the curriculum as being the reason that we must rush while learning new concepts or why we don’t have time for experiments and other activities. This was simply because the common sense understanding of the curriculum was that it contained a large amount of content that teachers had to teach in a school year, meaning there was not enough time for anything truly engaging. There are also many common sense understandings of pedagogy that I have come to know based on previous teaching styles that I have come across. I have had a majority of my teachers use the lecture, notes, assignment, test approach so that is just what I have come to expect when entering a new class. With this comes the memorization aspect that became a regular part of every class in my past years of school as well. Another common sense understanding that has to do with pedagogy is homework. This is something that I was just used to getting in school so it just became routine in my life. These common sense understandings that I bring into this class are probably similar to my peers, being that they seemed to be traditional within our education system. Now as I continue forward, I am able to understand how we tend to become stuck in these traditions and why it is so important for us to challenge them in order to benefit everyone.

References:

Kumashiro. (2009). Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice, pp. XXIX – XLI.