Week 2 Blog Posts

January 13/14, 2020

Ways of approaching curriculum and practice:

• Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted.
• Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students – product.
• Curriculum as a process.
• Curriculum as praxis.

Curriculum development from a traditionalist perspective is widely used across schools in Canada and other countries. Think about:

The ways in which you may have experienced the Tyler rationale in your own schooling.

The Tyler rationale has been used in many schools, in my own previous education, I believe that I have experienced the Tyler rationale in elementary and high school. The math classes that I took growing up followed Tyler’s rationale closely as the teacher taught what was in the curriculum, we practiced the content repetitively and then we were evaluated on our knowledge of the content.

What are the major limitations of the Tyler rationale/ what does it make impossible?

The article lists a number of issues that relate to the Tyler rationale. The first is “A program of activities (by teachers) designed so that students will attain so far as possible certain educational and other schooling ends or objectives” (Smith, 2000, pg. 4). The issue with this is that the students are directed to learn what is given to them. I remember in my ECS 100 placement, the teacher gave the students an option as to what they wanted to learn. I thought this allowed for the students to have a say in what their education is going to look like. I don’t think that the students should completely choose what they’re going to learn but I think giving them the opportunity to have a voice will help them in their later life. The second issue is that there are questions regarding the objectives of the curriculum. The third issue suggests that “There is a real problem when we come to examine what educators actually do in the classroom” (Smith, 2000, pg.4). The Final issue suggests that “There is the problem of unanticipated results) (Smith, 2000, pg. 4).

The Tyler rationale suggests that there is one way for the teacher to teach what is in the curriculum and that there is one way for the student to learn what the teacher is teaching. I believe that this is a limitation as every student has their own methods of leaning. Students also learn at many different rates, some will pick up on the content immediately and others may need to go over the content a few times. For me personally, I find that I understand the content better if I go over it multiple times. Teachers also have their own method of teaching what is in the curriculum. If the students are understanding what the teacher is teaching then I personally do not see an issue with teachers being creative with how they teach the content within the curriculum.

What are some potential benefits/ what is made possible?

Some benefits with the Tyler rationale are that it is very straightforward, a curriculum is given and provides what needs to be taught and ways to teach it. The Tyler rationale is teacher-orientated, which means that the teacher is closely involved with the content being taught.