Chapter 9 Teaching Worthwhile Content

Overview of Prominent Philosophies  IdealismDevelopment of the - Mind Truth through great ideas  RealismDevelopment of well-defined body of knowledge - Mastery of facts  EssentialismBasic Skills training in reading, writing and math (very similar to realism)  PerennialismDevelopment of Intelligence focus on mental processes (very similar to idealism)

Overview of Prominent Philosophies  Progressivism Development of problem-solving skills – Learn by doing  Reconstructionism Schools should create a new society – teach people to address societal problems (war, injustice, poverty, environmental concerns)  Existentialism Development of the individual through conscious awareness of choice and consequence – Learners free to make choices

Sources of Curriculum Four Different Perspectives  Schools should teach fundamental universally applicable knowledge  Schools should teach content based on the natural development and interests of the child  Schools should teach concepts and skills that will prepare students to fulfill adult roles society  Schools should teach about social policy issues to combat social injustice and promote change.

Content Selection  Curricula and Instructional Guides tend to emphasize breadth of knowledge at the expense of depth  They represent presentation of a series of mini- steps toward acquisition of a large body of knowledge (A “Parade of Facts” approach)  Researchers contend that disconnected facts without relevant context or connections are not very meaningful or useful to students

Content Selection (Cont.)  Scholars tend to agree that content should be taught in greater depth as networks of connected knowledge  Powerful ideas: Essential Understandings, Guiding Questions, or Generalizations should guide the selection and presentation of content  Note: The Powerful Ideas approach is illustrated in ELED 4220 Integrating Instruction

Where Can I Find Big Ideas?  Introductions to state curriculum guides Look at the NCSCOS Introductory sections for each subject and grade. These provide thorough overviews of the concepts that should be developed during instruction. See:  Introductions to most teacher manuals provide similar information

Professional Decision Making  One role of a teaching professional is to make sound judgments about how to balance breath versus depth when planning instruction  A clear understanding of the nature of the students in the class should guide these decisions  Such things as developmental stages, background experiences, ethnic factors, community characteristics and curriculum sequence should be considered when deciding instructional content

Common Elements in Teaching for Understanding What a Teacher Should Do  Activate students’ prior knowledge  Scaffold and respond to students’ learning  Help students construct meaning  Engage students in problem solving and critical thinking  Stimulate higher order thinking as a natural part of lessons  Create a learning community that features: discourse or dialogue to promote understanding

Knowledge Networks  Traditional curriculum theory emphasized hierarchies of knowledge that must be presented in a linear instructional approach  Modern curriculum theory suggests that most curriculum content is better approached using the NETWORK OF KNOWLEDGE approach

Knowledge Networks Include:  Facts, concepts and generalizations  Opportunities to begin learning within the network at almost any point (non-linear hierarchy)  Procedural knowledge (implementation skills)  Conditional knowledge (when and why to apply the knowledge network)

How to Use Knowledge Networks  Focus on the most important ideas and concepts  Limit breadth to allow time to explore ideas and develop Essential Understandings  Emphasize application of Essential Understandings and Powerful Ideas to the students’ world  Emphasize application of Essential Understandings and Powerful Ideas to life-long learning and problem solving

Types of Activities to Create Networks of Knowledge  Simply replacing “parade of facts” worksheets with “better” worksheets will not work  Good and Brophy argue: –Much seatwork is busy work –Frequently, assigned seatwork is either too easy or to difficult for most students –Most seatwork is poorly coordinated with what is being taught at the time and unlikely to help students achieve the desired learning objectives.

Teaching Toward Big Ideas  The “Big Ideas” approach lends itself to more Authentic Learning experiences –Using what is learned for accomplishing some sort of real life application –Constructing knowledge that has value beyond the classroom –NOTE: See p. 287 (Good and Brophy) for overview of Authentic Activities

Guidelines for Seatwork (Osborn 1984)  Tasks should be related to current instruction  Some tasks should provide systematic review  Tasks should focus on the most important concepts  Instructions should be brief and clear

Guidelines for Seatwork (Cont.) (Osborn 1984)  Tasks should be accompanied by a brief explanation of their purpose  Response modes should require sustained reading and writing (as opposed to circling, drawing, underlining etc.)  Cute, non-functional, space and time- consuming tasks should be avoided

Subject Specific Recommendations Reading  Research suggests students should learn to: –Summarize the gist of a passage –Identify main ideas –Construct images to visually represent what the text is describing –Use mnemonic devices to remember word meaning

Recommendations Reading (Cont.) –Analyze story grammar –Construct story maps for narrative passages –Generate questions about the meanings and implications of text

Recommendations Reading (Cont.) –Answer questions in the text to check for understanding –Activate prior knowledge and make predictions –Compare events in text to one’s own experiences

Recommendations Writing  Writing instruction should focus on writing for application  Students should learn to organize and communicate their thoughts through writing  Students should learn to write to different audiences  Student should learn to write for different purposes

Writing Recommendations (Cont.)  Writing composition should focus on: –Effective communication –Personal craftsmanship –Developing an outline –Developing drafts –Revising drafts –Polishing the final form of the written product Note: Word mechanics and editing are taught in addition to the items listed above

Mathematics Recommendations  Current trends call for emphasis on concepts – not computational operations  Instruction emphasizes authentic applications over isolated skills practice  Research about this approach shows students exhibit better higher-order thinking and problem- solving and as-good-as or better lower order mathematical knowledge and computational skills

Science Recommendations  Blumenfld (1992) found the most successful science teachers emphasized thoughtfulness. They:  Focused on key ideas in depth  Made presentations highlighting main points and critical information.  Scaffold students to develop metacognitive and problem-solving strategies

Science Recommendations (Cont.)  Checked for understanding and added higher level questions  Helped students make connections between key ideas  Simplified problems by breaking them down  Gave models and examples  Promoted self-regulation and independence

Social Studies Recommendations  The general emphasis is on Thoughtfulness  Key indicators of thoughtfulness: –Sustained examination of a few topics –Coherence and continuity of classroom activities –Sufficient time to think

Social Studies Recommendations (Cont.) –Emphasis on clarifying and justifying one’s view –Teacher models thoughtfulness during instruction –Students generate original and unconventional ideas

High Stakes Testing Dilemma How a teacher can use these research validated teaching strategies in an era of high stakes testing and focus on test scores?

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