The Adaptation of Science Curricula‐‐an Exploratory Analysis of Some Relevant Decisions

Summaries

English

The paper attempts a systematic analysis of some of the issues involved in the adaptation of science curricula. The meaning of adaptation is defined and adaptation as a process is distinguished from adaptation (or ‘adaptedness') as a quality of a curriculum.

The ‘situation variables’ affecting the ‘adaptedness’ of a curriculum in a given setting are analysed; modifications which differences in such variables may necessitate are discussed and a simple classification proposed. The feasibility of adapting a given curriculum for use in a different setting depends both on differences in the situation variables and on characteristics of the curriculum itself. Some relevant characteristics are identified and their effects assessed.

Finally the paper directs attention to the wider issues of a socio‐economic character which, in practice, affect the desirability, or the wisdom, of opting for adaptation as a curriculum development strategy in a given context.     

Palestinian education: a national curriculum against all odds

This article deals with the political transition taking place in the Israeli Occupied Territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in connection with the implementation of the first ever Palestinian national curriculum. The significance of this transition for the Palestinian national ambitions, with reference to relevant international law, is firstly analyzed. Then, a review of the landmarks in the construction of the curriculum, under the light of the main developments in the recent evolution of the Palestinian education, is made. The difficulties the Palestinian Ministry of Education has to overcome to implement its curriculum, because of the faltering political situation, are finally discussed. The main conclusion is that the curriculum is unable to contribute to the national construction because, the Palestinian nation's future is not in the Palestinians' hands.     

以行动进入文明： 杜威手工训练课程一解

本文以杜威创办的芝加哥实验学校中的手工训练课程为讨论对象，集中解析其中蕴含的教育原理与文明关怀。由于过分突出语言学习课程，美国镀金时代的基础教育丧失了根本的生命力和行动力。杜威以手工训练取代语言学习，开启了进步主义教育改革。从心理学层面看，手工训练解放了儿童的自然力量，让儿童恢复积极的行动力。从社会学层面看，手工训练实现了“去社会的社会化”，让个体沿着特定的社会方向成长。而在更普遍的意义上，手工训练充当了个体与文明之间的教育中介，为整全人格的塑造和现代公民教育奠定了坚实基础。对于手工训练的解读，有助于我们更加深入地理解杜威的教育思想与现实关怀，同时反思中国当前的教育状况与课程改革。     

基于岗位能力的高职课程工学结合教学的实践--以高职文秘专业应用写作课程为例

应用写作是高职院校文秘专业的专业核心课程。针对当前课程的教学困境,以广西职业技术学院文秘专业的应用写作课程岗位化教学改革为例,提出了整套“工学结合”教学模式：根据市场需求确定文秘专业应用写作教学目标;分析行业需求岗位能力,调整课程体系,确定课程定位;根据课程定位确定教学内容,编写纸质、网络“双版”教材;构建立体课堂、实行“四期”岗位实训;成立文秘专业建设指导委员会,实行“双导师”制教学;建立多重课程考核标准。这对高职文秘专业应用写作课程岗位化教学具有一定的启发作用。     

Identity issues in Taiwan's history curriculum

As a result of Taiwan's peculiar political situation, national identity has become a crucial and controversial issue in the history curriculum. This chapter analyzes the changing role of nationalism in the history curriculum from 1980 onwards, focusing on the ways in which politics has affected the history curriculum. In particular, it examines how, why and to what extent the focus of the curriculum has shifted from China to Taiwan. Relying on analysis of the content of official syllabuses and textbooks for elementary and junior high schools, it concludes that Chinese identity was emphasized before the 1990s, while Taiwanese identity has been given greater emphasis more recently. The emergence of the identity issue has been part cause, part consequence of the democratization process and the shift of political power away from the KMT old-guard and towards more ‘nativist’ Taiwanese elements.     

Gender in Dutch General Education. The Case of 'Taking Care'

This article deals with theoretical problems connected with notions on gender, 'being an educated person', rationality and caring, and the Dutch curriculum for general education. The introduction of the subject 'taking care' as part of the curriculum for secondary education in the Netherlands, can be understood as a step towards a more gender-egalitarian curriculum. Discussions on the meaning of 'an educated person' and on the meaning of rationality within philosophy of education are described and used to analyse the aims of 'taking care'. The way 'gender' is at stake within this subject, and the implicit notion of an educated person are discussed, in order to find out if and how a gender-egalitarian curriculum, based upon a gender-egalitarian notion of an 'educated person', is possible.     

美国高校面向职前教师培养的专业伦理课程：发展历程、目标定位与实践路径

教师专业伦理是对教学所蕴含的价值理性与社会责任的澄清,也是对教学所承载的关系的界明,其在师德建设与教师专业发展中均扮演着重要的角色。20世纪80年代至今,美国高校教师教育项目中专业伦理课程的发展经历了萌芽期、拓展期和成熟期三个阶段。专业伦理课程目标主要聚焦于三大维度：精神之维,致力于教学伦理属性的澄明;知识之维,旨在提升职前教师的教学伦理理论品位;实践之维,旨在激发职前教师伦理自主的活力。在此基础上,探索出理论与实践互动、职前教师的持续反思以及批判性学习等卓有成效的课程实践路径。美国高校教师教育项目在独立式专业伦理课程的建设中积累了丰富的经验,对我国教师教育的课程改革具有如下借鉴意义：厘清课程现状,凸显专业伦理课程的重要地位;拓宽教学场域,促进理论知识与实践知识的融合转化;开展平等对话,提升职前教师的专业伦理自主权。     

The Belgian Engineer in the European Context

This paper represents the Belgian viewpoint on the education curriculum of engineering graduates at university level. Starting with the Belgian situation, existing programme contents are discussed and compared with the aims as put forward by FEANI. Taking into account future technical developments and FEANI's aims, some ideas for change are put forward.     

Curriculum reform in contemporary China: seven goals and six strategies

Curriculum developers and scholars in China are facing a set of inter‐related issues around the goals and the strategies of curriculum reform. This paper argues that there are, as in every process of curriculum development, seven goals to be addressed within China's curriculum reform: (1) the establishment of a new curriculum philosophy or ideal; (2) the development of educational objectives; (3) the renewal of educational content and experience; (4) the reconstruction of a model of curriculum organization; (5) innovation in curriculum materials; (6) the establishment of an active mode of teaching and instruction; and (7) the establishment of a new system of curriculum evaluation. Six strategies are needed for China to reach these goals: (1) improving the system of curriculum management; (2) redeveloping the mechanisms of curriculum reform; (3) promoting school‐based curriculum development; (4) integrating information technology with curriculum; (5) emphasizing teachers' professional development; and (6) encouraging the whole nation's participation in the reform.     

Does the curriculum matter in peer mentoring? From mentee to mentor in problem‐based learning: a unique case study

Peer mentoring has been used for many years by the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine to integrate new students into the academic and social culture of the institution. In 2001, an unusual situation arose. A problem‐based learning (PBL) curriculum was introduced and the first cohort in this programme was mentored by senior traditional curriculum students. The present study, by canvassing the 2002 PBL mentors, set out to determine whether the mismatch in curricula impacted on students' mentoring experiences. There was overwhelming agreement that curriculum did matter—it is only when mentors are able to share the same experiences as mentees, can they fully understand student problems. Notwithstanding this and other difficulties (e.g. timetable clashes), some 2001 mentees did form bonds with their traditional curriculum mentors. Some even identified them as role models. The 2002 PBL mentors also indicated that they had undergone considerable personal development as a result of their experiences.     

No Place for Girls? Gender,Ethnicity and Citizenship Education in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

Citizenship education in a national curriculum such as that provided in the Lao People's Democratic Republic is contradictory and problematic. The issue for the majority of Lao people is that the subject virtually excludes the rights or practice of ethnic minority cultures or languages, and assumes an equality for males and females without recognising the prevailing unequal and inequitable situation for girls. This paper discusses the implications for girls and minority groups' participation in the wider society, and asks some more general questions about the broader implications for gender and ethnicity education policy in education.     

Project-based learning in post-WWII Japanese school curriculum: an analysis via curriculum orientations

In the 2000s, the new national curriculum, dubbed as the ‘yutori curriculum,’ introduced a new subject for project-based learning ‘Integrated Study’ as its prominent feature. Comparing curriculum orientations in project-based learning in three historical periods after the WWII including Integrated Study, this paper aims to offer a genealogy of postwar Japanese school curriculum primarily based on a critical reading of the national curriculum guidelines on project-based learning, which is emblematic of the extending power of postwar Japan's curriculum authorities. Although Integrated Study was purportedly child-centered and put emphasis on each child's personal relevance and each school's autonomy, the finding of this study shows that Integrated Study in the yutori curriculum was rather a technology that disciplined schools, teachers, and classroom processes to shape children into morally good and cognitively flexible Japanese nationals. Despite its rhetoric of child-centeredness and personal relevance, the introduction of Integrated Study as part of the yutori curriculum was ultimately part of the state's move to gain further control over schooling.     

Teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice in early childhood education

This study explores aspects of teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice by questioning whether a teacher's teachable moment is relevant to the learner's 'learnable moment'. For teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice to result in developmentally and culturally appropriate meaningful learning, transforming the identity between learner and teacher seems imperative. Data collected from naturalistic settings in various teacher education contexts over the last few years are used. Both prospective and in-service teachers' images of teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practices are presented     

Hans Freudenthal: A mathematician on didactics and curriculum theory

The main ideas in the work of Hans Freudenthal (1905-1990), the Dutch mathematician and mathematics educator, related to curriculum theory and didactics are described. Freudenthal's educational credo, 'mathematics as a human activity', is explored. From this pedagogical point of departure, Freudenthal's criticism of educational research and educational theories is sketched and fleshed out. Freudenthal's approaches to mathematics education, developmental research and curriculum development can be seen as alternatives to the mainstream 'Anglo-Saxon' approaches to curriculum theory.     

Assessment with children who experience difficulty in mathematics

In recent years, there has been growing awareness of the impact that difficulties in mathematics can have on the life chances of children and young people. Consequently, a range of targeted interventions has been developed to support learners. However, when difficulties persist in spite of such intervention, next steps are not always clear. This article describes how assessment can be used in such cases, to build a better understanding of a child's situation and plan appropriate intervention. Two complimentary approaches to assessment are outlined: curriculum‐based assessment, which considers which parts of the maths curriculum a learner finds difficult and diagnostic assessment which asks why this might be so. Assessment tools and links between assessment and intervention are also discussed.     

Measuring Teachers' Meta-Orientations to Curriculum: Application of Hierarchical Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Although curriculum scholars generally agree that teachers' meta-orientations to curriculum are hidden forces guiding their selection of curriculum goals, curriculum content, teaching methods, and assessment strategies, the existence of such a meta-orientation construct has not been empirically confirmed. The author used McNeil's (1996) 4 curriculum orientations to demonstrate how hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis can be applied to measure the meta-orientation construct. A hierarchical model was hypothesized that consisted of 4 1st-order factors and 1 2nd-order factor. The 1st-order factors represented McNeil's 4 separate curriculum orientations: academic, social reconstructionist, humanistic, and technological. The 2nd-order factor denoted the meta-orientation construct. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis of teacher data collected by a curriculum orientation inventory provided clear support for the hypothesized model.     

学生话语的内涵和重要性:课程与教学的转向

新课程改革背景下,不断强调学生的主体性和参与性的重要性,因此倾听学生的话语变得越来越必要。但当前,学生话语在课程改革与课堂教学实践中处于"失语"的状态,学生的话语权严重缺失。因此,学生作为学习的主体,应该让他们积极参与到课程与教学的实践中来,促使传统的课程改革与课堂教学实践发生新的转向,最终促进学生的发展。     

Continuity and Progression in Science Teaching at Key Stages 2 and 3

Recent classroom observation suggests that the science taught at Key Stage 3 has changed little over the past two decades despite the introduction of the National Curriculum reforms. At the same time the 'high stakes' testing at the end of Key Stage 2 has resulted in less experimentation in Year 6. As a consequence, positive attitudes to science, which are already in decline at primary school, dip further after transfer, particularly among more able pupils. This article examines some of the structural factors responsible for the current situation and argues that the solution has more to do with a shift in pedagogy rather than further changes in the curriculum.     

Testing to Destruction: A problem in a small state

This paper presents a review of assessment procedures in the small state of Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China under the 'one country two systems' policy. The situation of Macau is used as a critical case study of some questionable educational practices that can occur when testing runs without restraint. The paper presents quantitative and qualitative data from two empirical studies to argue that testing--largely, in this case, the testing of students' ability to repeat book knowledge and facts--if left unchecked, becomes part of a dependency culture, a hermetically sealed system in which curricula and testing mutually reinforce each other in producing a low-level, facts-driven curriculum, dangerously didactic pedagogy, rote learning, poor student motivation, and a powerful controlling mechanism on teachers and students. What is disturbing is that this is the very system which many participants in education in Macau seem to want.     

Using Deliberative Inquiry to Assess Future Needs for a Graduate HRD Curriculum: A Case Study

The many changes in today's workplace argue for equivalent changes in educating human resource development (HRD) professionals. The need for HRD curricular changes to be thought out fully and future-focused warrants the use of systematic methods for formulating, solving, and learning more about how to formulate and solve curriculum problems. Deliberative inquiry is such a method. This research methodology is directed toward curricular decision-making as it occurs within a specific context and, simultaneously, toward learning how to formulate and solve such problems. This study focuses on how faculty members in one university department used the problem formulation phase of deliberative inquiry to assess future needs for their HRD specialization. The article first overviews the research methodology of deliberative inquiry and then describes the systematic approach-subject matter analysis-that was used to structure the problem formulation relative to HRD curricular needs. The problem formulation process clarified stakeholders' values. It also resulted in reframing the situation, which led to new insights about the issues facing the HRD curriculum and ways to address them.