Coherent Curriculum Research Articles

The curriculum at the decision of the school - a factor of progress in the development of communication skills of students

The current social and economic dynamics recorded at the national level has determined the appearance of significant changes in the Romanian educational system. Thereby, schools and communities, especially those in rural areas, face a series of challenges aimed at the real needs of the beneficiaries of educational services. In order to improve and overcome such situations, schools and communities can benefit from specialized support, within the framework of implemented and accredited study programs or projects. They can be supported by the curriculum at the school’s decision. It must be seen as part of the entire curriculum and not as irrelevant in relation to the national one in force or being in contradiction with it. The student needs to experience a coherent curriculum, and not a fragmented, deficient one. Thus, the curriculum at the decision of the school must meet the national one and blend together. Since then the traditional subject-based curriculum has emphasized knowledge and understanding. Because of that, the role of the curriculum in the decision of the school has addressed to those desired competences that are too little developed specifically or explicitly by academic disciplines. Examples of such skills may include personal development, preparation for adulthood and economic life, encouraging the responsible being, etc.

The forensic´s scientist craft: toward an integrative theory. Part 2: meso- and macroapproach

ABSTRACT Several authors have suggested theoretical approaches that support the practices of forensic scientists, including adherence to the evidential paradigm and the centrality of the concept of trace, both included in the Sydney Declaration. The objective of this paper was to continue the construction of an integrated theoretical model, which incorporates the epistemological, methodological and practical dimensions of the forensic scientist’s work. Therefore, these new discussions found in the literature will be incorporated, as well as some established traditional concepts. A synthesis theory was elaborated from basic concepts and practices related to the following procedures performed by forensic scientists: a) use of laws derived from other sciences to assert causes associated with state changes observed in a trace; b) use of inferences and experimentation for the reconstruction of the criminal event and detection of trace arrangement patterns in criminal scenarios. The formulation of a coherent, hierarchical and systematic framework provides subsidies for facing some challenges in forensic science, such as: evaluating the role of cognitive bias in certain phases of the forensic scientist’s work; the determination of a coherent curriculum that aggregates the essential competences for forensic analysis and the improvement of the predictive potential of forensic science in intelligence studies.

Contesting Women's Learning and Fashion: Ann Murry's Moral Zoological System in the Lady's Magazine

This article focuses on Ann Murry's serial essay “The Moral Zoologist, or Natural History of Animals,” which appeared in the Lady's Magazine in sixty-seven letters between 1800 and 1805. I argue that Murry's “The Moral Zoologist” contested the bounds of women's scientific knowledge in the eighteenth century. Although some scholarship has argued that women's magazines usually did not provide a coherent curriculum for female readers and confined their female readership to the merely entertaining or domestic, Murry used “The Moral Zoologist” to present readers with a systematic view of animal life, as well as moral reflections on the relationship between humans and animals. In particular, “The Moral Zoologist” includes pointed critiques of the use of animal fur and feathers for clothing and therefore provides a contrasting perspective for readers to consider when they peruse the fashion pieces that also populated the pages of the Lady's Magazine. Murry's work, therefore, shows that eighteenth-century periodicals for women were complex spaces in which different ideas about the relationship between women, science, animals, and ethics could coexist.

An Undergraduate Program to Address the Teacher Shortage: What We Thought We Knew

After more than 20 years of a critical shortage in special education teachers, this mid-Atlantic state expedited program development for undergraduate-level teacher preparation programs. To meet the accelerated timeline, one programat a large public university used its graduate-level coursework as a model for the undergraduate level program. After initial implementation, it was clear that revisions were necessary. In this article, we provide a description of the program revision activities conducted, including (a) building a representative advisory board, (b) conducting a needs assessment, (c) developing a coherent curriculum map, (d) creating an action plan and implementing reforms, and (e) reviewing ongoing activities for continuous improvement. Implications are described, including how special education teacher preparation programs can use the CEEDAR Center Roadmap to Educator Preparation Reform to guide data-based program revisions, conduct a Q-Sort Activity as a systematic way to identify program priorities, and engage in program review activities, ultimately to better prepare special educators and reduce the teacher shortage.

‘As I would do in my own research’: a multiple-case study of faculty members’ undergraduate research designs in research-intensive universities

ABSTRACT Undergraduate research (UR) is regarded as an impactful instructional practice, but implementing it in the curriculum is challenging. Faculty members’ approaches to the design of UR are under-explored due to the scarcity of studies that situate practices in both the curricular contexts and the concept of the research-teaching nexus. This multiple-case study investigated faculty members’ approaches to UR in four curricula in two research-intensive universities in Hong Kong. Document review and semi-structured interviews revealed five approaches to UR: project-based, process-based, lab-based, scenario-based, and research community-based approaches. Particularly, the scenario-based and research community-based approaches complemented the current typologies. Another contribution of this study is the identification of nuanced differences in the adoption of the approaches. Faculty members perceiving reciprocal research-teaching nexus at both departmental and personal levels, and viewing UR holistically, tended to connect students with their own research experiences. In contrast, those who only acknowledged the research-teaching nexus at a departmental level were unlikely to create such a connection. Meanwhile, concerns over curricular coherence and ethics were also discussed. The implications include creating a more transparent process of curriculum design and facilitating students’ understanding of their contributions to the research community. It would also be useful to engage faculty members more fully in curriculum planning to enhance the coherence of students’ research experiences.

Utilizing Evaluation and Development Frameworks to Engineer a College-Wide Evaluation and Reform of an Undergraduate Dental Curriculum.

To operationalize and analyze a college-wide evaluation of an undergraduate dental curriculum. A descriptive case study design was used with extensive multiple data collection methods that included literature review, document review of existing data, survey questionnaires, focus group semi-structured interviews and observation of clinical and laboratory tasks. This approach was based on Kern's curriculum development model and Fitzpatrick's practical guidelines and evaluation standards. The evaluation outcomes indicated that a significant curricular change is needed. In hindsight, a thorough reflection on the evaluation strategy is provided highlighting several contextual factors. Actionable recommendations and comparisons are also drafted to shape a coherent curriculum reform implementation. The process by which the evaluation was conducted, and the reform implementation is being instituted, while unique to this college, may offer insights for change at other dental colleges. In that, greater emphasis is placed on the general principles that remain applicable to other comparable contexts regardless of the distinctiveness in specificities.

Coherent Curriculum Design of Primary School English Course in China

Coherent Curriculum Design of Primary School English Course in China

Trends in curriculum studies on the philosophical foundation of university Law programs in Latin America

This literature review article aims to make a theoretical approximation of the state of the art for the study entitled «Analysis of the curricular foundation of law programs in Latin America». This, with the aim of identifying the philosophical tendencies that underlie the curricular studies of university academic programs and in thecontext of the curricular studies that are carried out in law programs. The methodology used in this research is developed through a qualitative approach that seeks to understand the reality expressed by human acts, through a hermeneutic method that seeks to understand said acts expressed as texts as an integrated whole. As a result, it was possible to show that curricular studies related to the philosophical foundation in curricular design are not common, since these studies focus mainly on the search for relevance and curricular coherence. Most studies of curricular design in legal pedagogy focus on training by competencies that respond to social, market and self-realization demands of individuals.

A national higher education analysis of the skills, knowledge, and values essential for students in Community Development Education

ABSTRACT The growing discipline of Community Development plays a vital role in addressing urban and rural community issues within the United States, and globally. Still, as Hains et al. pointed out in their 2020 article, there continues to be no consistent education or pedagogical practices available for future Community Development practitioners during students’ higher education experience. Thus, researchers conducted a modified Delphi study with an expert panel of Community Development educators from institutions of higher education across the United States. Upon culmination of three examining rounds, experts achieved consensus on 21 skills, 14 knowledge constructs and 17 values deemed essential for inclusion in Community Development Education curriculum in higher education. Ideally, including these constructs in a more coherent CD Education curriculum will lead to more consistently and effectively trained future Community Development practitioners. Implications, field application and future research are further discussed.

Informatics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education in Korea: Situation Analysis Using the Darmstadt Model

The Korean government has implemented various policies to support software (SW) and artificial intelligence (AI) education to secure national competitiveness since 2015. As the social impact of AI technology increased, AI became an integral component of the computer education curricula. SW and AI education projects have been promoted jointly to develop technical and human infrastructure supporting the “informatics”—the subject name of computer science (CS) education in Korea. However, a survey conducted by the Korean government showed that only a few respondents had AI education provided by public institutions such as schools. Therefore, this paper analyzes why AI education has not been well implemented and proposes discussions for improvement. The Darmstadt model, a systematic framework for analyzing CS education in the country, was chosen to analyze the documents. Between 2015 and 2021, 72 documents related to the computer education system, sociocultural factors, curricula, policies, teaching environment, tests, extra curriculum activities, and media were collected and qualitatively analyzed. The results were presented regarding the educational system, sociocultural factors, curriculum, policies, teachers, tests, extracurricular activities, and media. The results reveal that systematic and coherent curricula are required at all school levels, and it is also necessary to secure more education time to implement the curriculum. The number of informatics-computer teachers should be increased, and research to verify the teaching capacity of teachers is demanded. Finally, it is vital to build and manage a technical infrastructure.

Bridging the Curriculum Divide: A Proposal for Expressive Writing in World Language Content Courses

In 2007, the Modern Language Association (MLA) called for significant changes to world language programs due to a curricular bifurcation between basic language courses and upper-division content courses. Although significant inroads have been made in the last 14 years, the two-tiered curriculum structure still exists in many programs, and the urgency for curricular coherence has been heightened by a dwindling number of language majors coupled with institutional disinvestment in language departments. In practice, when language programs have not undergone a significant redesign, the general remedy for this divide is to include more authentic content in the target language in lower-level courses and to provide opportunities to continue to develop the full range of linguistic skills in upper-level content courses. In this proposal, I enter the conversation surrounding the curriculum divide in language programs and recommend a supplementary approach to previous solutions. I explore the advantages and disadvantages of expressive writing in advanced language courses and propose that including expressive writing assignments in world language content courses will help bridge the divide between lower-level and upper-level curricula. More specifically, I argue that expressive writing encourages students to continue to develop their voice from lower-level courses, to activate their background knowledge and facilitate reflection on course content, and to develop their linguistic skills in lower-stakes writing assignments. I also offer suggestions for adaptable, expressive assignment types for advanced language content courses.

Planning for student-driven discussions: a revelatory case of curricular sensemaking for epistemic agency

ABSTRACT Background Teachers need to make sense of curricular materials and design instruction to ensure students will be positioned to pursue their own arc of inquiry in curriculum enactment. Whole-group discussions are crucial opportunities for curricular sensemaking, yet planning and enactment can be challenging. Methods We used a single, revelatory case study approach with one focal teacher to research curricular sensemaking for epistemic agency in storyline materials. We identified episodes of pedagogical reasoning for epistemic agency in the teacher’s pre- and post-interview responses and participation in discussion planning cycles (DPCs). This analysis revealed the recurrent sources of tension and ambiguity that the teacher grappled with concerning epistemic agency. Findings The teacher made sense of two key sources of tension: curricular coherence and student coherence-seeking; equitable participation and incremental building of ideas; and one source of ambiguity: uniform or variable form(s) of epistemic agency in different discussion types. The teacher grappled with these tensions and ambiguity and learned to leverage them to position students with epistemic agency in their learning. Contribution The teacher engaged in curricular sensemaking for epistemic agency. This form of sensemaking involves the teacher’s efforts to engage with students’ emergent ideas and participation in their use of curricular materials.

Climate change in public health and medical curricula in Australia and New Zealand: a mixed methods study of educator perceptions of barriers and areas for further action

The importance of a safe climate for human health is recognised by healthcare professionals, who need to be equipped to deliver environmentally sustainable healthcare and promote the health of natural systems on which we depend. The inclusion of climate-health in Australian and New Zealand accredited master-level public health training and medical programs is unclear. Educators identified by their coordination, convenorship, or delivery into programs of public health and medicine at universities in Australia and New Zealand were invited to participate in a cross-sectional, exploratory mixed methods study to examine the design and delivery of climate change content in the curricula, and the barriers and opportunities for better integration. Quantitative surveys were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative interview content was analysed via a modified grounded theory approach. The quantitative survey had 43.7% (21/48) response rate, with 10 survey respondents completing qualitative interviews. Qualitative interviews highlighted the minimal role of Indigenous-led content in this field, the barriers of time and resources to develop a coherent curriculum and the role of high-level champions to drive the inclusion of climate change and planetary health. Building pedagogical leadership in in the area of climate change and health teaching at universities through stronger partnerships with policymakers, community stakeholders and advocacy organisations will be important for future health workforce training amid increasing climate risks. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2036325 .

Using a historical memoir to improve curriculum coherence in teacher education: The case of Trevor Noah's Born a Crime

Two of the recurring concerns identified in teacher education are a lack of curricular coherence and a schism between content and practice. In this article, we discuss a specific intervention that was aimed at addressing these two challenges as they relate to English and History specifically. We argue that through the use of a carefully selected historical memoir, much tighter coherence between these subjects can be articulated in ways that facilitate students' mastery of core concepts and skills across both these learning areas, as well as a richer appreciation of their implication for teaching practice. For the purposes of this article, we define curricular coherence as an experienced sense of connectedness within and across modules. Focusing on the use of Trevor Noah's memoir, Born a Crime (2016), we argue that engaging with a single historical text across multiple modules can improve curricular coherence and offer a more integrated approach to engaging with written texts and historical resources. With close reference to the Department of Higher Education and Training's Policy on the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications, we reflect on our experiences of integrating this memoir into an undergraduate Intermediate Phase (IP) teacher education programme at the University ofJohannesburg (UJ). We show how this memoir was integrated into four modules that form part of the second year of the degree, namely English for the Primary School, Social Sciences for the Intermediate Phase, Teaching Methodology for English, and Teaching Methodology for the Social Sciences.

Identifying knowledge important to teach about the nervous system in the context of secondary biology and science education-A Delphi study.

Teaching about the nervous system has become a challenging task in secondary biology and science education because of the fast development in the field of neuroscience. A major challenge is to determine what content to teach. Curricula goals are often too general to guide instruction, and information about the nervous system has become overwhelming and diverse with ubiquitous relevance in society. In addition, several misconceptions and myths are circulating in educational communities causing world-wide confusion as to what content is correct. To help teachers, textbook authors, and curricula developers in this challenging landscape of knowledge, the aim of the present study is to identify the expert view on what knowledge is important for understanding the nervous system in the context of secondary biology and science education. To accomplish this, we have conducted a thematic content analysis of textbooks followed by a Delphi study of 15 experts in diverse but relevant fields. The results demonstrate six curriculum themes including gross anatomy and function, cell types and functional units, the nerve signal, connections between neurons, when nerve signals travel through networks of neurons, and plasticity in the nervous system, as well as 26 content principles organized in a coherent curriculum progression from general content to more specific content. Whereas some of the principles clarify and elaborate on traditional school biology knowledge, others add new knowledge to the curriculum. Importantly, the new framework for teaching about the nervous system presented here, meets the needs of society, as expressed by recent international policy frameworks of OECD and WHO, and it addresses common misconceptions about the brain. The study suggests an update of the biology and science curriculum.

Learning Communities: Factors Influencing Faculty Involvement

The debate in higher education has inspired broad discussion about the quality of undergraduate education. Several of these criticisms have focused on a lack of curricular coherency, an emphasis on research versus teaching, and intellectual isolationism within the academic community. The debate has inspired broad discussion and questions the overall quality of undergraduate education in this country. One attempt by some institutions of higher education to counter these criticisms is through the development of various curricular structures referred to as learning communities. Learning communities represent a structural response to curricular fragmentation by promoting curricular coherence, intellectual and social community, and sense of common purpose within the academic environment. The research on learning communities as been limited in identifying factors which prompt faculty to become involved in this kind of teaching and learning structure. The purpose of this research study is to provide additional insights on variables that influence faculty involvement in learning communities. Three variable sets—faculty background, structural, and organization/environmental—frame the theoretical basis for the research study.

Connectivity in support of student co-design of innovative mathematics curriculum trajectories

The argument of this theoretical paper is that the existence and availability of suitable digital curriculum resources, accelerated by the recent pandemic, have required a revision of the pedagogical landscape in terms of ways in which students can be empowered to (co-)design their own curriculum trajectories. For this purpose, I argue, students need to be supported in considering many connections, to arrive at coherent trajectories. Based on complexity thinking and curriculum design with digital resources, I propose the concept of connectivity as a crucial principle for creating coherent curriculum trajectories. If students are to become the co-designers of their own curriculum, they need a frame that raises their awareness about the many connections to be made and that supports their capability for actually realizing them. Drawing strongly on my own work and related work by others, I analyse and illustrate the connections made by students, teachers and curriculum designers in their design of mathematics tasks, lessons and learning trajectories with digital resources. Results show that connections can be made at several levels, namely, at a social level, at a material level, at programme level, and at a didactical level. Leaning on systems thinking, connections can be systematically considered, which is likely to help students to enhance the coherence of their designs. I contend that a student-designed ‘connected curriculum trajectory’ is likely to become the focus of future research activities in innovative learning environments: this endeavor would connect aspects of curriculum, mathematical content, learning strategies of students, and the use of new technologies.

Profiles of Elementary Teachers’ Use of Mathematics Curriculum Materials and the Influence of Teacher Expertise

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has consistently emphasized the importance of curricular coherence in mathematics education. However, the predominance of the Internet has led to a lack of consistency in the use and quality of curricular materials. We drew on teachers’ self-report of their use of curriculum materials and conducted a Latent Class Analysis to examine patterns in 56 elementary teachers’ selection, use, and perceptions of materials for teaching mathematics, including the role that teacher expertise may play in these patterns. Findings indicated that the most salient difference between classes was at least one digital resource reported—the Blended class—and no digital resources reported—the Non-Digital class. Teacher expertise was not a significant covariate. Future research should examine the role of policies on teachers’ curricular decisions. Implications include how specialist programs may support positive patterns of curriculum selection and use.

When context meets knowledge in university professional education: organizational factors influencing coherence in teaching and social work

This study investigates how organizational features of university and workplace institutions shape coherence between ideas about the knowledge required for professional education across the curriculum, in two “semi-professions”—teaching and social work. While coherence is imperative for program design in professional education frameworks that include theoretical and practicum components, it is often found to be challenging, especially in occupational fields where connections between knowledge and practice are historically weak and a demarcated knowledge base for professional preparation is missing. Based on a triangulation of qualitative research methods conducted in the working contexts of 56 professional educators in Israel, this study reveals more coherent curricula in social work education than in teacher education and exposes how such divergence is determined by the state of alignment between organizations of practice and research activities in workplace and university institutions. Findings show that whereas the organization of research activities determines faculty domains of expertise and involvement in the program and subsequently, the knowledge represented in theoretical courses, the organization of professional practice, as imposed by core working conditions, requires activating particular domains of professional knowledge in practicum settings. By underscoring institutional influences on curricular coherence in professional education, the study contributes to the international discussion about the role of academic knowledge in professional training and highlights how organizational conditions in both professional and higher education settings create affordances and limitations for professional education curricula.

Understanding coherence and integration in integrated STEM curriculum

BackgroundFew tools or rubrics exist to assess the quality of integrated STEM curricula, and existing tools focus on checklists of characteristics of integrated STEM. While such instruments provide important information about the presence and quality of certain curricular components, they do not assess the level and nature of integration of the curriculum as a whole. Thus, this study explores the development of a process focused to understand the nature of integration within a STEM curriculum unit.FindingsA conceptual flow graphic (CFG) was constructed for 50 integrated STEM curriculum units. Patterns in the nature of the interdisciplinary connections were used to categorize and understand the nature of integration and curricular coherence within each unit. The units formed four broad types of integrated STEM curricula: (i) coherent science unit with loosely connected engineering design challenge (EDC), (ii) engineering design-focused unit with limited connections to science content, (iii) engineering design unit with science content as context, and (iv) integrated and coherent STEM units. All physical science units were in the integrated and coherent category with strong conceptual integration between the main science concepts and the EDC. Curricula based in the Earth and life sciences generally lacked conceptual integration between the science content and the EDC and relied on the engineering design process to provide a coherent storyline for the unit.ConclusionsOur study shows that engineering practices can serve as a contextual integrator within a STEM unit. The utilization of an EDC also provides the potential for conceptual integration because engineering is grounded in the application of science and mathematics. Integrated STEM curricula that purposefully include science and mathematics concepts necessary to develop solutions to the EDC engage students in authentic engineering experiences and provide conceptual integration between the disciplines. However, the alignment of grade-level science standards with the EDC can be problematic, particularly in life science and Earth science. The CFG process provides a tool for determining the nature of integration between science and mathematics content and an EDC. These connections can be conceptual and/or contextual, as both forms of integration are appropriate depending on the instructional goals.