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In this paper, an historical case study is presented of the transplanting of curricular and instructional practices from the United States to Australia. The case study draws upon a collection of education policy documents (syllabuses, policy statements and correspondence) and oral histories recorded with key curriculum workers in Queensland (one of eight states and territories in Australia) from 1969 to 1989. Analyses of these data provide valuable insights into the complexities and intricacies of two eras of curriculum development and reform, and more broadly, into the validity or otherwise of significant historical assumptions and explanations held about those and other reform efforts, The paper advocates the use of conceptual constructs (social and cross-cultural perspectives) and methodological approaches (document analysis and interview-based fieldwork in the form of "oral histories") in further empirical research on the transplanting of social studies across societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social meaning of subject choice in the post-16 context through a case study of Media Studies in a selective school. Students' accounts are discussed in terms of both their enjoyment of the subject and their negotiation of its ‘legitimacy’. The analysis of their comments in interviews stresses the subject's precarious position in a school where a relatively traditional hierarchy of subjects still prevails. It also considers the strength of family ‘projects’ in framing children's educational ‘choices’. Media Studies is discussed as a negotiable option primarily facilitating projections into a new middle-class sense of self-hood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study drew on Bernstein's theory and Moscovici's theory of Social Representations to investigate how children in classrooms with different types of structuration developed social representation of the curriculum. Comparable case studies were carried out in schools chosen to reflect three types of pedagogy according to Bernstein's typology. Twelve classrooms took part and ethnographic investigations were employed to compile a typology of recognition and realisation rules to map the range and type of curriculum structuration in each. Children's representations of the curriculum were investigated through specially designed tasks. Findings showed that as children gained experience of schooling they constructed more elaborate social representations of the curriculum regardless of the pedagogic mode and that classroom structuration became a feature of the junior rather than the infant children's representations. Older children in classrooms with performance pedagogies had two classifications for recognising classroom culture, while those in classrooms with mixed and competence pedagogies did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses the issue of the need for the development of a post compulsory curriculum adequate to the demands of the 21st century in British education. Qualitative and quantitative issues involved in the development of a 21st century curriculum; Circumstances that can influence curriculum development efforts in the country.

Discusses the factors being considered in national curriculum-making in Australia. Trends in the Australian economy; Costs of education in relation to the outcomes of schooling; Integration of education and youth policies.

Background: Teachers have limited insight in students' perspectives on education, although these perspectives influence quality of learning. As students' and teachers' perspectives differ considerably, there is a need for teachers to learn more about students' experiences and ideas about education. Participatory design might be a good strategy for taking student perspectives into account in instructional design. In areas outside education, the positive effects of participation have already been demonstrated. Purpose: The main goals of this exploratory study are to develop an approach - based on the principles of participatory design - for student participation in instructional design, and to evaluate how students and teachers experience the discussion about possible changes in the design and how they co-operate in designing lessons. Additionally, the study investigates whether the used approach is workable and suitable for use with a range of courses. Sample: The sample consisted of six teachers (of mathematics, economics and English) from two secondary schools in the Netherlands and their 10th-grade pre-university students (N = 139; average age 16 years). In each class, a small group of seven co-designing students was selected as a representative sample of their class. All other students in these classes (i.e. those not directly involved in participatory re-design) were also included, as evaluators of the proposed changes. Design and methods: A participatory design meeting was organised for each group separately. In all groups, the same approach for participatory design was used. The quality of the meeting and the agreement with the proposed changes were evaluated using open questions. The questions were answered individually by both teachers and co-designing students. The remaining students answered questions about their agreement with the proposed changes. The written answers were analysed using a coding scheme. Results: Findings suggest that both teachers and co-designing students were largely satisfied with the meeting. The atmosphere was experienced predominantly as comfortable and enough opportunities were provided to express thoughts and ideas. Teachers, additionally, stated that the usability of students' suggestions was good. The remaining students predominantly agreed on the proposed changes discussed. No differences were found between the evaluation scores of students of different courses. Conclusions: The main conclusion from this exploratory study is that participatory design appears suitable for use in education. The approach used for initiating and structuring the discussion between the teacher and his/her students was appropriate for designing lessons, according to all those involved. As this study suggests, the barriers to the inclusion of students in the instructional design process are not insurmountable, and there are compelling reasons for implementing participatory design in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-secondary education sees an increasing variety of instructional media and an increasing diversity among learners. The goal of this study was to ascertain whether students of different learning styles, majors, and genders benefited from particular instructional media. Students completed a learning styles inventory and a survey of perceived usefulness of each instructional medium. Qualitative information was collected in student focus groups. All students perceived some of the same instructional media as useful and all valued a mix of media. A rich ecology of media appears to enhance student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author addresses the problem of content knowledge dominating the school curriculum and the resultant marginalization of sociocivic and moral dispositions. Given the problems associated with teaching dispositions directly, the author offers four curricular aims that collectively develop the attitudes required of democratic citizens through deliberate employment in daily curriculum planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite emphasis and progress in developing collaborative inquiry in computer-supported collaborative learning research, little attention has been given to examining how collective learning can be assessed in computer-supported collaborative learning classrooms, and how students can have agency in assessing their own collaborative process. We propose that assessments should capture both individual and collective aspects of learning and be designed in ways that foster collaboration. We describe the design of student-directed electronic portfolio assessments to characterize and "scaffold" collaborative inquiry using Knowledge Forum™. Our design involved asking students to identify exemplary notes in the computer discourse depicting knowledge building episodes using four knowledge building principles as criteria. We report three studies that examined the designs and roles of knowledge building portfolios with graduate and Grade 12 students in Hong Kong and Canada. The findings suggest that knowledge building portfolios help to characterize collective knowledge advances and foster domain understanding. We discuss lessons learned regarding how knowledge building may be fostered and provide principles for designing assessments that can be used to evaluate and foster deep inquiry in asynchronous online discussion environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes data from the Community Mapping Project, a set of statistical activities and inquiry projects within a summer seminar for high school students. In designing the Community Mapping Project, we attempted to create conditions under which urban students themselves would come to recognize how mathematics is relevant to their lives and their communities. Using mixed methods, we analyzed the pre- and postassessments and final projects of 25 high school students to investigate what students learned from their experience. We also analyzed the data from video case studies to begin to understand how learning was organized. Our qualitative analysis revealed several tensions that emerged between the goals and norms of our instantiation of a culturally relevant pedagogy and the goals and norms of our mathematics pedagogy. We argue that how these tensions are navigated mediate what opportunity students have for learning statistics. This article provides some considerations and lessons learned that may help inform both teachers who wish to rethink their mathematics pedagogy, and the designers who wish to create culturally relevant curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a cohesive, empirically grounded categorization system differentiating the types of generalizations students constructed when reasoning mathematically. The generalization taxonomy developed out of an empirical study conducted during a 3-week teaching experiment and a series of individual interviews. Qualitative analysis of data from teaching sessions with 7 seventh-graders and individual interviews with 7 eighth-graders resulted in a taxonomy that distinguishes between students' activity as they generalize, or generalizing actions, and students' final statements of generalization, or reflection generalizations. The three major generalizing action categories that emerged from analysis are (a) relating, in which one forms an association between two or more problems or objects, (b) searching, in which one repeats an action to locate an element of similarity, and (c) extending, in which one expands a pattern or relation into a more general structure. Reflection generalizations took the form of identifications or statements, definitions, and the influence of prior ideas or strategies. By locating generalization within the learner's viewpoint, the taxonomy moves beyond casting it as an activity at which students either fail or succeed to allow researchers to identify what students see as general, and how they engage in the act of generalizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the impact of Nuffield 'A' level Physics Project (NAP) on curriculum development in the U.S. and Great Britain. Details regarding the establishment of the project; Introduction of NAP draft materials to preliminary trial schools; Criticism faced by the project; Launch of the project.

Examines a case study on the implementation of sex equality in physical education for equal curricular opportunity in England. History of the explicit recognition by official agencies of sex discrimination in schools; Exploration of the difficulties of policy implementation; Assessment on how far the notion of sex equality has become implanted in an area of the school curriculum typically neglected by curriculum theorists, the physical education.

Outlines the main details of the Associated Examining Board's philosophy syllabus and considers the problem of teaching philosophy in schools in Great Britain. Composition of two parts in the syllabus that concentrate on the history of philosophy and other various philosophical themes; Choice given to students to select two themes from possible areas like Our Perception of the External World and Faith and the Existence of God; Possibility that naive philosophical amateurs would be given a license to indulge in an undisciplined search for a philosophy of life.

In this study the author examines how seven 5th-grade teachers organized their social studies curriculum using a recently issued text bock. In general, the teaching was more variable than might be expected given the similarity of teaching materials. The author discerned three different styles of textbook use, each with a distinct impact on the teachers' assessment of the curricular potential of the new resource and on the ways the teachers modified their prior instructional agendas. Overall, teacher planning was less dependent upon the textbook than previous studies suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the study for the evaluation of middle school economics curriculum materials. The study is aimed to persuade teachers to increase standards in choosing appropriate curriculum materials. It provides criteria on how teachers select curriculum materials for middle school economics. Criteria for reviewing middle school economics curriculum materials are provided like product characteristics, economic content, and middle school student focus. Teachers for the economics subject are also being chosen according to their experience at middle school level, training in economics education, and recommendation from the coordinator of social studies curriculum.

The article addresses a concern about the connection between the intermediate micro theory course and the upper-level applied micro-courses in the Department of Economics at Syracuse University. The obvious locus of responsibility for the program, as opposed to the courses, was in the office of the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The project undertaken produced several results. First, the data supported the expectation that autonomous individual course planning leads to course disconnections where connections should be strong, and the problem was non-trivial. Second, the process for curriculum analysis, assessment, and redesign worked well. Finally, the project brought into sharp focus the fact that curriculum design and innovation are bounded by the cultural/philosophical context. Seeing if courses provide continuous educational development, and fixing the problem when they do not is a narrow perspective on curriculum. Identifying problems and proposing solutions is not sufficient, the solutions must be consistent with the culture.