Ten Years of CERI

Summaries

English

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the different value positions claimed by Macdonald to be inherent in his three curriculum development models resulted in differences in the content of science curricula and/or the organization of such content. Information on this subject was obtained from a sample of 90 randomly‐chosen science teachers vvho examined junior high school physical science curricula, then completed a questionnaire used as a measuring instrument. This instrument was based on established criteria for selecting and organizing content for a curriculum. From the results obtained, it was concluded that significant differences in content as well as in content organization did indeed exist in the science curricula representative of Macdonald's three models. Moreover, it was found that content representative of specifie groups of selection criteria such as discipline‐oriented, societal needs, and student needs was responsible for the differentiation in the content among the models. Thus, the findings supported Macdonald's contentions. This information should be useful in future science curriculum development.