10.6 Chapter summary and references

Chapter summary

In the United States, broad educational goals for most subject areas are published by many national professional associations and by all state departments of education. Usually the state departments of education also publish curriculum framework or curriculum guides that offer somewhat more specific explanations of educational goals, and how they might be taught.

Transforming the goals into specific learning objectives, however, remains a responsibility of the teacher. The formulation can focus on curriculum topics that can analyzed into specific activities, or it can focus on specific behaviors expected of students and assembled into general types of outcomes. Taxonomies of educational objectives, such as the ones originated by Benjamin Bloom, are a useful tool with either approach to instructional planning.

In addition to planning instruction on students’ behalf, many teachers organize instruction so that students themselves can influence the choice of goals. One way to do so is through emergent curriculum; another way is through multicultural and anti-bias curriculum.

Whatever planning strategies are used, learning is enhanced by using a wide variety of resources, including the Internet, local experts, field trips, and service learning, among others. It is also enhanced if the teacher can build bridges between curriculum goals and students’ experiences through judicious use of modeling, activation of prior knowledge, anticipation of students’ preconceptions, and an appropriate blend of guided and independent practice.

Key terms

Affective objectives

Anti-bias education

Bloom’s taxonomy

Content integration

Curriculum framework

Curriculum guide

Educational goals

Emergent curriculum

Equity pedagogy

Guided practice

Independent practice

Indicators

Instructional planning

Learning commons

Learning objectives

Modeling as demonstration

Modeling as simplified representation

Multicultural education

National standards

Psychomotor objectives

Scope and sequence

Service learning

State standards

Taxonomy of educational objectives

On the internet

< http://med.fsu.edu/education/FacultyDevelopment/objectives.asp >

< (External Link) >

These are two of many websites that explains what behavioral objectives are, and how to write them. They give more detail than is possible in this chapter.

< http://www.adl.org/tools_teachers/tips_antibias_ed.asp > This page is part of the website for the Anti-Defamation League of America, an organization dedicated to eliminating racial and ethnic bias throughout society. This particular page explains the concept of anti-bias education, but it also has links to pages that contain tips for teachers dealing with racial and ethnic bias.

< http://education-world.com/standards > This website contains links to educational standards documents written by every major state department of education and a number of national and professional associations. It covers all of the major subjects commonly taught in public schools.