Professional Documents
Culture Documents
curriculum development
By Craig A. Cunningham, Ph.D.
Center for School Improvement
University of Chicago
Agenda
Idealism: ideas are really real while material things are illusory or
fleeting; truth is absolute but perhaps unknowable to (ordinary)
humans (Plato)
Materialism: ideas are illusory while physical and economic
forces control the world; truth is irrelevant since power is
everything (Karl Marx)
Pragmatism: ideas are real things only insofar as they affect
action; ideas are true only insofar as they work in action (John
Dewey)
Formalism: ideas are interesting in themselves and need no
connection to things or actions to be the focus of inquiry; truth
can be derived from careful understanding of statements and
counter-statements (Bertrand Russell)
Ultimate goal
Nature of child
Definition of learning
Selection of texts for study
Relative importance of knowledges and skills
Value of student interest and choice
Whether truth/goodness/beauty are predefined or
indeterminate
Examples of Curriculum
To get us started:
Choose a partner
Think for a minute about the last time you were involved in
a dispute about curriculum in your school
Describe your disputes to each other
Choose one dispute to focus on
Think about the philosophical issues underlying the dispute
Did philosophy play a role in the resolution?
How might philosophy have helped to resolve the dispute?
Be prepared to share your discussion with the group
The end
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