Once upon a time the animals in the forest decided to start a school. They agreed that the curriculum should include the following subjects: swimming, hopping, climbing, running, flying, digging and slithering. All animals were required to take all subjects.
Everything went on well until the third day when the principal, Wise Old Owl noticed some disturbing trends. For example, the rabbits were excelling in hopping but performed poorly in flying tests. The cheetahs were scoring A’s in running but were getting D’s in digging.
The ducks were getting straight A’s in swimming but were failing in the slithering course. The snakes easily got A’s in slithering but had difficulty flying. An emergency staff meeting was held among the teachers to find out whether is was due to poor teaching or was it a curriculum problem. It was agreed that the teachers were good and dedicated practicing research-based instructional strategies.
Professor Lion from Forest State University was called in as a consultant. He discovered that the problem was not due to poor teaching but rather the low level of curriculum utility. He pointed out that ducks really do not need to know how to slither and cheetahs should not be forced to learn digging skills. Neither should the snakes be asked to take flying classes.
Prof. Lion concluded that animals were forced to learn skills that were not relevant to their situations. However, there are certain skills every animal needs to know such as finding food and water. He proposed that the curriculum be revised to include instruction in generic skills such as food-acquisition principles and social skills. But, animals were allowed to specialise in subjects most applicable to their species (eg. swimming, running). The animals all
rejoiced when the recommendations were implemented and shouted “Now this is a useful curriculum”. [source: adaptation of L. F. Buscaglia (1972), Love. Thorofare, NJ: C.B. Slack, citedin R. Burks, A theory of secondary curriculum utility, 1998. www.randallburks.com/curriculum.htm]
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