Curriculum Theory

Catalog description

In this course students will examine historical and contemporary theories underpinning curricula decisions, how educational settings decide what knowledge is worth teaching and learning, whose knowledge is valued in the curriculum, who has the power to make these decisions, and the implications of these decisions in terms of who is included, who is excluded, who benefits, who is disadvantaged, and what this means for student experience. In this course, curriculum is understood as overt and planned for guiding teaching and learning as well as hidden to shape the educational experiences of students. Students will explore critical, postmodern, poststructural, feminist, postfeminist, queer, phenomenological, autobiographical, and aesthetical theory as lenses for engaging with curriculum issues. In this course, students will also become familiar with the theoretical orientation of research on curriculum and evaluate the production of knowledge related to curriculum issues.