Humanities Curriculum Research Articles

Bearing relevance to modern times

HOW are our toys different from those in the past? This is one of the units for year 1 in the Qualification and Curriculum Authority scheme for history. As we use this scheme of work along with the geography scheme as the basis for our humanities curriculum in school, this lesson plan is based upon the learning objectives contained in this particular unit.

New York State’s “Great Irish Famine Curriculum”: A Report

The logo of the New York State Great Irish Famine Curriculum: A digitized version of Fred Conlon’s bronze and boulder stone sculpture, Faoin Sceach (“Under the Hawthorn”), commissioned for the Sligo Famine Commemoration Committee in 1997. Courtesy of Maureen Murphy. NEW YORK STATE’S “GREAT IRISH FAMINE CURRICULUM”: A REPORT MAUREEN MURPHY AND ALAN SINGER The Great Irish Famine Curriculum was founded on initiatives that came from both sides of the narrow street in Albany that separates the chambers of the New York State Legislature from the New York State Education Department. In 1996, the State Education Department started distributing copies of its new Learning Standards, the performance-based learning criteria designed to improve the quality of education in the state’s public schools. Schools’ accountability for ensuring that new standards are met would be measured by a new set of assessments in all subjects for pupils in grades four, eight, and eleven. Tests like the Regents would no longer be optional; all students would be examined. Because the assessments would be performance-based, no set curricula were provided with the new standards. The following year, across the street, Irish-American members of the New York State Legislature, led by Assemblymen Joseph Crowley and John McEneny, proposed to observe the 150th anniversary of the worst year of the Great Irish Famine by requiring that the State’s Human Rights Curriculum for public schools, which includes American slavery and the European Holocaust, also cover the Great Irish Famine. The legislature passed the amendment with enthusiastic bipartisan support , and approved an appropriation bill to support the development of a Great Irish Famine curriculum. At Hofstra University, a team of educators responded to the State Education Department’s call for curriculum proposals by linking the teaching of the Great Irish Famine to the new Learning Standards. Members of the Hofstra University team included Professor of Secondary Education and English, Maureen Murphy, Director; Professor of Elementary Education, Maureen McCann Miletta; and Associate Professor of Secondary Education and Social Studies, Alan Singer. Murphy’s research interests are in Irish Studies; Singer’s are in the American labor movement; and Miletta’s are in children’s literature. We are all teacher-educators with NEW YORK STATE’S “GREAT IRISH FAMINE CURRICULUM” 109 regular working relationships with networks of cooperative teachers, department chairs, and administrators. We are in touch with our former students teaching in the area. Murphy and Singer also work with the Hofstra New Teacher Network, a mentoring program for first-year secondary school teachers, many of whom teach in schools designated as having high needs. We believed that we could use the Great Irish Famine Curriculum in schools that were facing the new standards and assessments without the resources of wealthier suburban districts. We were especially fortunate in our Advisory Board. Chaired by Dr. Margaret MacCurtain, O.P., Chair of the Advisory Council of the National Archives of Ireland, the board included Professor Mary E. Daly (University College, Dublin); Professor James S. Donnelly, Jr. (University of Wisconsin); Professor Margaret Kelleher (National University of Ireland, Maynooth); Noel Kissane (Keeper of Manuscripts, National Library of Ireland ); Professor Joe Lee (University College, Cork); New York State Senator Michael Holbrook; Professor Kerby Miller (University of Missouri, Columbia); Peter Quinn (Time-Warner); Professor Cormac O’Gráda (University College, Dublin); Professor Kevin O’Neill (Director of Irish Studies, Boston College); and Professor Robert Scally (Director, Ireland House, New York University). Their willingness to share their own work with us, to meet with us to discuss the project, and read through drafts of the Great Irish Famine Curriculum helped us create a document informed by their high standard of scholarship. We proposed to create twenty-four interdisciplinary lesson plans for grades four through twelve. As stipulated by the terms of the grant, we promised to provide a resource guide for teachers in the state’s eight thousand schools, a Website, and a CD-ROM. We created one hundred fifty interdisciplinary lessons using art, career development, dance, economics, family and consumer science, geography, government, history, literature, mathematics, music, science, technology, and theatre. The resource guides were scheduled to be in every school in New York State by the end of...

An established medical school human sexuality curriculum: description and evaluation

The human sexuality course at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is unique with respect to its goals, structure, content and format. It provides a comprehensive and concentrated opportunity for students to become knowledgeable and comfortable in dealing with a critical though sensitive aspect of human behavior - one that is typically shrouded in myth, misinformation, controversy and prejudice. No single department or discipline can address all aspects of human sexuality and adequately address the material that must be covered. One of the greatest strengths of the course is its interdisciplinary focus and its emphasis on case-based and experiential learning. Student evaluations suggest that the course is successful in promoting greater comfort, increased knowledge and more tolerance and respect for individuals with different life styles and sexual beliefs. Many have also privately asserted that it has added immeasurably to their personal lives.

An established medical school human sexuality curriculum: Description and evaluation

The human sexuality course at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is unique with respect to its goals, structure, content and format. It provides a comprehensive and concentrated opportunity for students to become knowledgeable and comfortable in dealing with a critical though sensitive aspect of human behavior - one that is typically shrouded in myth, misinformation, controversy and prejudice. No single department or discipline can address all aspects of human sexuality and adequately address the material that must be covered. One of the greatest strengths of the course is its interdisciplinary focus and its emphasis on case-based and experiential learning. Student evaluations suggest that the course is successful in promoting greater comfort, increased knowledge and more tolerance and respect for individuals with different life styles and sexual beliefs. Many have also privately asserted that it has added immeasurably to their personal lives.

Shifting the human resource management curriculum from the traditional to the strategic: description of a process for curriculum revision

This article describes a process by which any curriculum can be updated or revised. A cascade approach to revising a curriculum is described. This approach includes the following steps: convening a task force of important constituent groups, such as faculty and practitioners; developing a mission statement to guide the process, creating goals and learning outcomes; use of a comparison matrix to link goals and outcomes; analysing the content of the current curriculum to identify gaps with newly derived goals and learning outcomes; deciding upon the preferred educational delivery methodology; revising and fine tuning; and, finally, assessing outcomes. The article concludes with thoughts about what works well and what should be given careful consideration when undertaking a curriculum revision.

Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine.

Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine.

What Are You Assessing? General Education and the Humanities Curriculum

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsThomas E. HelmThomas E. Helm is a professor of philosophy and religious studies and director of the university Honors Program at Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois.

Minority Humanistic Perspectives on Aging Curriculum

This article examines two reference volumes on the literature of aging and older adults to identify literary works with minority group representation. Forty-two citations offer a set of literary exemplars of the life experiences of representatives of older minority group members. Thematic content of these works are included and the article provides specific suggestions for their curricular inclusion. Appendices include reference to these citations, a list of anthologies in aging and literature, video resource material, and helpful bibliographies. Recommendations for developing ethnic minority perspective curricula in Humanities is included.

From here to equity: The influence of status on student access to and understanding of science

The purpose of this article is to extend our understanding of groupwork in the science classroom—to use the sociological construct of status (defined here as a student's perceived academic ability and popularity) to explain inequitable participation by group members and to identify strategies that promote reasoned consideration of all ideas within groups. Toward these ends, I investigated three classes of one sixth-grade science teacher at an urban, ethnically diverse middle school. Students in these life science classes used an instructional strategy and curriculum designed explicitly to address differences in their access to and understanding of science: the Complex Instruction model of groupwork and the Human Biology Middle Grades Life Science Curriculum. Over the course of two units, I examined the powerful influence of status on student–student interactions during groupwork and student performance on science tests. I used quantitative observation instruments and semistructured student interviews to ascertain the quality of groupwork implementation, audio- and videotapes of target groups to study the relationship between status and participation, and a Rate of Talk Instrument and unit tests to determine if students' participation during groupwork influenced their achievement in science. Because status issues were not fully addressed by teacher and curriculum, inequities in both groupwork participation and science learning persisted. Three recommendations for groupwork refinement are offered: the consistent implementation of interventions designed to ameliorate status differences; the strategic assignment of procedural roles to ensure student access to group materials, discourse, and decisions; and the overturning of students' conventional notions of intelligence—what they think it means to be smart. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 83:577–601, 1999.

The Changing Face of Medieval Near Eastern Studies: Challenges and Strategies

As we Embrace the new millennium, the debate concerning the ever-changing role of area studies in the humanities curriculum and in funding and academic policies continues. Middle Eastern Studies is facing a new policy and funding agenda, which is forcing institutions and departments to impose changes in teaching, research and funding and meant to bring Middle Eastern Studies in line with what are perceived as more relevant fields of study. Accordingly, some Near Eastern Studies programs, which have continued to experience a decline in funding levels, have over the past decade placed greater emphasis on interdisciplinary classes in comparative literature, history and religion. Sometimes these changes have led to the marginalization of early and medieval Islamic history, culture and religion at public institutions. Why offer a class in medieval Islamic history, while classes in the modern Middle East, comparative literature, or world history might attract higher undergraduate enrollment? Faculty have not always succeeded in convincing university administration of the need to offer undergraduate seminars on various aspects of Islamic history, or devised ways of making pre-modern Near Eastern history and religion more appealing to undergraduates.

Old Wine in New Bottles: The Humanities Curriculum in Professional Education

Old Wine in New Bottles: The Humanities Curriculum in Professional Education

High school genetics education and Alzheimer disease.

Improved and updated human genetics education, including Alzheimer disease (AD) awareness and education, is urgently needed. National, state, and local standards for science education agree that human genetics, biotechnology applications, and the social and ethical issues raised by modern technology need to be taught in high school science using hands-on and inquiry methods of teaching. High school science courses are the last opportunity for most individuals to learn human genetics. There are an increasing number of new and successful human genetics curriculum materials and inservice teacher education programs at the secondary school level aligned with national and state science education standards. These curricula and teacher education programs can be enhanced by collaborative partnerships of geneticists, genetics professionals, biotechnology scientists and technical personnel, and science educators, several of which are in successful operation. Because human genetics involves families and generations, genetics education tied to AD may provide a unique opportunity to educate two generations, both students and parents, to the many medical, personal, family, community, and cultural issues of human genetics and genetic conditions. Implementing human genetics and AD education provides a recipe for accurate, relevant, sustainable and exciting teaching and learning for all involved.

Undergraduate Human Factors Curriculum and Introductory Human Factors Course Content

This panel provided a discussion format for six academic institutions to share their Human Factors (HF) curriculum and more specifically, to educate others on how they teach their introductory HF course. Each panelist addressed the following topics regarding their HF curriculum: foundation courses of the department's degree and specific HF courses offered. Then the panelists focused their discussions to their specific introductory HF course: philosophy; text book(s) used; course objectives; course syllabus flow; grading practices; and specific lesson exercises/labs.

In the company of colleagues: An interim report on the development of a community of teacher learners

This article reports on a professional development project that sought to establish a community of learners among high school teachers. Teachers from the English and history departments at a large urban high school met twice a month for two-and-a-half years. Project activities included reading and discussing pieces of fiction and history, developing an interdisciplinary humanities curriculum, and video-taping and viewing classroom instruction. Initial findings point to an enhanced collegiality among faculty within and across departments; reduced teacher isolation; and the development of an intellectual community for teachers within the high school. However, teachers at different points in their career trajectory were differentially affected by this project. Based on our preliminary findings, we offer implications for teacher induction and socialization, and on-going professional development.

Status of Human Factors and Ergonomics Education: Are Universities Providing the Skills Required for Consumer Product Design?

This debate explored the state-of-the-art in human factors education and the skills that are desired as professionals enter industry to design consumer products. This debate addressed the specific needs of consumer product design, where a consumer product was defined as a product that is purchased by the end user and used by this person. Inherent in this definition is the fact that both the purchase and use of this product are left to the discretion of the user. Therefore, this product must not only facilitate the efficient completion of a task but also satisfy a basic user need. This debate attempted to arrive at a consensus on potential improvements to the training of individuals within the university environment, and to identify potential industry contributions to improve the quality of education of human factors and ergonomics professionals in consumer product design. This consensus was obtained by bringing together industry representatives from Fortune 500 companies and design firms with professors from prominent universities. University representatives provided a short overview of their human factors curriculum, the skills that this curriculum provides their students and views on how additional industry involvement could improve the quality of education. Industry representatives provided an overview of their organizations and the skills that are expected of new employees as they enter the work force. The debate occurred as differences were identified between the views expressed during these presentations. Among the topics debated were: 1) the importance of student internships versus additional course work, 2) the importance of general human factors principles versus extensive course work within specialized areas, 3) the need for education of theoretical knowledge versus applied training where students learn to make tradeoffs when the ideal cannot be achieved, 4) training involving communication within multidisciplinary teams versus relatively homogeneous human factors programs, 5) a focus on methods for determining consumer needs versus historical methods for determining needs of trained operators of large systems, and 6) training the human factors graduate as an evaluator of consumer products versus a creator/generator of new product concepts.

Library Instruction in the Human Genetics Curriculum

Library Instruction in the Human Genetics Curriculum

Teacher professionalism and the changing discourse of the humanities curriculum

In this article I give a critical account of a humanities department in a mixed comprehensive school in the early 1970s and in the mid-1990s to demonstrate the changes which have taken place in the professional role of teachers. The article explores the relationship between the wider structural scene and the curriculum and the responses of teachers to change. Following a discussion of the theoretical approach to professionalism I give a short description of the culture and situation of the school in the mid-1990s compared with the early 1970s. I describe and analyse the changing roles of humanities teachers in two sections. In the first section, called ‘The craft of the teacher’, I illustrate the way in which humanities teachers have experienced a decline in decision-making power in whole school matters along with a reduction in commitment to politically radical curriculum development. In the second section I focus on assessment to explore changing teacher autonomy. This is followed by a discussion section where I make a brief reference to theoretical points before concluding with some thoughts about the implications of this changing professionalism for teachers and students.

A quality human resource curriculum: Recommendations from leading senior HR executives

This article describes a high quality human resource management curriculum as perceived by one group of customers–senior human resource executives who hire, train, and work with university and college graduates. A Delphi research methodology was used to survey the opinions of 24 members of the Human Resources Council, an advisory body to the American Management Association. The study confirms that the major topics taught in most HRM curricula at the bachelor and masters levels are perceived by HR executives to be just about right. It also presents their views about the relative value of the topics and shares specifics about their conviction that graduates need a much deeper understanding of how and where the HR function fits into the overall business strategy of an organization. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Development of a Human Growth and Osteoporosis Prevention Curriculum and Computer Program

Osteoporosis is a serious health care problem that affects millions of the elderly population, costing billions of health care dollars annually. Education in preventive measures can reduce the incidence of bone fractures resulting from porous bones. Development of effective health-promoting programs to change population behavior of teenagers with respect to calcium intake and exercise is one of the current goals of the national public health initiative. New interactive methods of education using computer programs have given educators more efficient ways to disseminate information to students. Ohio State University has designed and evaluated a curriculum and supplemental series of computer program modules for students in grades 5-9. The Human Growth Program workbook is a middle school science curriculum that combines laboratory experiments and other activities to encourage students to form lifelong healthy choices, emphasizing adequate nutrition, particularly the importance of calcium intake, and exercise, to preserve bone during adolescence and throughout life. Interactive CD-ROM programs included with the curriculum augment the material with the use of computerized demonstrations and simulations in order to aid in the educational process and attract and lengthen the students’ interest.

A quality human resource curriculum: Recommendations from leading senior HR executives

A quality human resource curriculum: Recommendations from leading senior HR executives