Month: September 2021

To be a “good” student means to accept the information you are taught, even though it may be biased by that person’s perspective, as the truth without question. Well off, male, white students are privileged by this definition. This is due to the fact that these societal privileges ensure that these students are “comfortable” with the information they’re taught. Regardless of the fact that to the students without this privilege, this information may be incorrect. Kumashiro’s reading shows how this teaching of misinformation can hinder students learning and how being made uncomfortable by new information is a common reaction to new truth’s. Historically this view of a “good” person (student), was shaped by colonialism/colonization by the European’s. They believed that being white, male, and well off made you “better”. Education, as shown in the History of Education reading, was shaped into supporting this ideal. Their wording always referred to men and not women. As well as describing a students ability to learn and become a “good” student based off the European view of a hierarchy of ethnicities. For example, people of “oriental” descent were described as: “…hypocritical and dishonest”. Although this has changed in today’s educational system, commonsense viewpoints that reinforce colonialism are still being taught in Canadian classrooms.

For assignment 1 I began researching place-based education. I started by looking at a chapter on outdoor learning. The author is showing how outdoor learning can be represented through place, space and sustainability education. Firstly, place, are showing how a student can have connections and feelings to different places. This is essential for being connected to the environment around us, and respecting it because of this. Secondly, they introduced the space relationship. Space is a common geographical feature of seeing how two or more components are related to each other. For example, how a student properly throwing away their trash at a park can ensure the area is clean for the animals who call that place their home. Finally, teaching about sustainability can be enhanced through outdoor learning. Students gain a respect for the environments around them and can use this connection in the future to make sure these environments last. They become engaged with the world and want to make a difference in it, instead of just abusing it and ignoring as these environments waste away.

My next steps to look further into this curriculum study is to see specific examples of place-based/outdoor learning, for elementary and high school students. Compare how different curriculum writers see the benefits of this education. Then write up my paper to thoroughly cover this curricular topic.

I experienced an example of the Tyler rationale in school when curriculum would be planned out day to day, without the opportunity for an extra day or two if students have trouble with a certain topic. The teacher will not know which subject matter a group of students may need more time to learn, so coming up with a class-by-class plan and strictly sticking to it can result in students falling behind or not fully comprehending it. When looking at the Tyler rationale method, it is easy to see that students have no input on their learning. Which makes it impossible to have students fully engaged and interested in the material when they have no voice. This makes getting through the curriculum planned more important than the students and their education. One positive to this method however, would be the organization of the curriculum and the plan for the class. The method of “setting objectives, drawing up a plan, applying it and measuring the outcomes” would ensure that all the material for the year is ready and planned. This is beneficial because if the teacher was unorganized it would create a lot of confusion for the students.

Kumashiro defines commonsense as what everyone should know. It is very important to pay attention to the commonsense to discover how someone’s knowledge is shaped by their environment, education, and home/life experiences. One person’s commonsense knowledge may not be the same as another’s due to differences in what they were taught. You can pay attention to knowledge that is commonsense to yourself and analyze how this knowledge is biased to your own life and may be untrue to another individual (Ex. The Nepalian children’s knowledge of what school should be like vs. the teacher from the US where teaching methods are different). Beginning this course my commonsense knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy is based on my own K-12 schooling experience. That teachers are given curriculum they must teach to their students and that there is little room for activities that could take extra time to enhance this knowledge if they want to get through all the material by the end of the year. That a behaviourist teaching/learning pedagogy usually gets through all the material that needs to be taught, but is often less helpful in making sure students retain what they were taught. On the other hand, a constructivist teaching/learning pedagogy may be more beneficial in helping student’s remember the things they’re learning, but that it takes more time and they might not get through all they need to learn, which can be harmful for government examinations and future grades when the knowledge they were supposed to have received in the previous grade needs to be built upon further. Curriculum and pedagogy need to be considerate of what commonsense knowledge each student may have or may not have from previous learning experiences/environments.