Curriculum is a word constantly used in education and schools, but there is sometimes a misconception of the definition, especially the difference between curriculum and standard. Some might use the two interchanging between the two, but there is a significant difference between curriculum and standards. Standards are “statements of what students are expected to learn” (Leinwand, 2014, p. 70), while the curriculum is how the students are going to learn it. For example, one fifth-grade standard deals with dividing unit fractions and whole numbers, so a part of the curriculum could be allowing students to work with Playdough to model dividing a whole number by a unit fractions. Teachers play a vital role in designing a curriculum as it relates
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One way teachers can make critical curriculum decisions in regard to student learning is through a collaborative effort with multiple teachers and intuition. In a study published in the Educational Technology Research and Development by Ferry Boschman, Susan McKenney, and Joke Voogt (2014), the researchers investigated how three different teams of Dutch kindergarten teachers used intuitive decisions to design a curriculum implementing a technology program. The results indicated the teams relied on two main principles to create their curriculum: existing orientations and practical concerns. Existing orientations are the teachers’ beliefs and knowledge about the topics based on their previous teaching experiences, which teachers “often adapt curriculum materials to better fit their classroom practice” (Boschman, McKenney, & Voogt, 2014, p. 396). In the teams’ discussion, they mainly drew on their experiences with motivating students in lessons because it is one of the indicators of students’ mastery of the concepts and willingness to learn new concepts. The teachers also relied on practical …show more content…
They would use their previous knowledge of students and the content to develop the design problem, then analyze each other’s lessons and change their design as they saw fit. One interesting find was that “problem statements that occur at the start of the conversation reflect existing orientations; problem statements further down the conversation reflect practical concerns” (Boschman et al., 2014, p. 413). This could imply that teachers start off with what they know but adjust their perspectives as they gain more experiences. Teachers in this study made critical curriculum decisions based on student learning by brainstorming with other teachers and using personal teaching experiences to best present the information to students. Another study emphasizing the role of team curriculum in making important curriculum decisions comes from a study conducted by David Mitchell from the University College London, which followed four high school geography departments in London as they plan their curriculum. This researcher found one of the biggest factors impacting curriculum is the “accountability pressures” (Mitchell, 2016,
One way teachers can make critical curriculum decisions in regard to student learning is through a collaborative effort with multiple teachers and intuition. In a study published in the Educational Technology Research and Development by Ferry Boschman, Susan McKenney, and Joke Voogt (2014), the researchers investigated how three different teams of Dutch kindergarten teachers used intuitive decisions to design a curriculum implementing a technology program. The results indicated the teams relied on two main principles to create their curriculum: existing orientations and practical concerns. Existing orientations are the teachers’ beliefs and knowledge about the topics based on their previous teaching experiences, which teachers “often adapt curriculum materials to better fit their classroom practice” (Boschman, McKenney, & Voogt, 2014, p. 396). In the teams’ discussion, they mainly drew on their experiences with motivating students in lessons because it is one of the indicators of students’ mastery of the concepts and willingness to learn new concepts. The teachers also relied on practical …show more content…
They would use their previous knowledge of students and the content to develop the design problem, then analyze each other’s lessons and change their design as they saw fit. One interesting find was that “problem statements that occur at the start of the conversation reflect existing orientations; problem statements further down the conversation reflect practical concerns” (Boschman et al., 2014, p. 413). This could imply that teachers start off with what they know but adjust their perspectives as they gain more experiences. Teachers in this study made critical curriculum decisions based on student learning by brainstorming with other teachers and using personal teaching experiences to best present the information to students. Another study emphasizing the role of team curriculum in making important curriculum decisions comes from a study conducted by David Mitchell from the University College London, which followed four high school geography departments in London as they plan their curriculum. This researcher found one of the biggest factors impacting curriculum is the “accountability pressures” (Mitchell, 2016,