Chapter 5 Notes

There are several types of curricula: Formal, Extra and Hidden curricula
Formal curricula include: language arts, mathematics, science and other subject areas available to students.
Extra curricula: included activities such as athletics, band, etc.
Today this distinction is no longer true seeing that learning clearly occurs outside the classroom.
Hidden Curricula:  are the teaching of values for getting along in school and in society. It also works against diversity, equity and social justice.

Subject Matter curriculum-concentrates on traditional subject matter. The strongest influence on subject matter curriculum has been the Standard-based Reform Movement. It is designed to promote academic excellence and equity.
Content Standards: are statements of subject specific knowledge and skills that schools are expected to teach and that students are expected to learn
What is presently taught in U.S. schools are organized into subject matter areas which include math, language, science, social studies, foreign language arts, physical education, health and electives

Language Arts: seeks to develop in students the skills of reading, writing, speaking an listening, as well as the culture represented. There are disagreements in the reading field. The issue of which approach to use “whole language” approach or Phonics instruction approach which teaches a student to decode words by sounding out the letters.

Mathematics: which is the mastery of basic computational skills.
Math at the elementary level uses manipulative's to aide the student in learning about patterns in math.
Now with technology on the rise, math programs have been moving away from the traditional compartmentalization of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, etc. but are now emphasizing probability, statistics and computer science.

Science:  In elemectary focuses on plants, seasons, color, light, sound and animals
in middle schools it is expanded to weather and climate. In secondary levels, it is centered on biology, chemistry, and physics.

Social Studies: history has been the leading discipline at both the elementary and secondary levels
Government is also a staple of the social studies curriculum. In elementary though social studies has been neglected in favor of meeting the reading and mathematics testing requirements.

Foreign Language: Spanish and French are the most popular languages taken in high school. More elementary schools are offering foreign language programs.
Arts: Include visual arts, music, dance and theater. Arts and music in elementary schools are ordinarily taught by the regular classroom teacher. High school offers students: drama orchestra, bands and dance groups.

Physical Education: education by and through human movement contributes to physical fitness, skill and knowledge development and social and psychological development.

Health: address topics and injury prevention and safety prevention and control disease. Health education strives to change students attitudes and behaviors to get them to take fewer risks and to use more preventative measures.

Elective courses:  are geared to prepare the student for college and career ambitions

Vocational education/ Career and Technical Education: provides a foundation of skills that allow high school students to be gainfully employed after graduation. Business, trade and industrial education, health occupation, agriculture, family and consumer science, marketing and technology are among those that are offered.

Interdisciplinary Curriculum:  a curriculum that cuts across subject matter lines to focus on comprehensive life problems or broad based areas of study that bring together the various segments of the curriculum in meaningful association.

Cooperative Learning:  students working in small groups or teams to help one another learn academic materails. They are organized, highly structured methods usually involving formal presentation of information. Three important characteristics are: 1) group goals 2) individual accountability 3) equal opportunites for success.

Critical Thinking: it is intended to help evaluate the worth of ideas, opinions or evidence before making a decision or judgment.
Problem solving: Refers to the process of either presenting students with a problem or helping them identify the a problem and them observing and helping them become aware of the conditions, procedures or steps needed to solve it.

Differentiated Instruction: tries to respond to student variance rather than adopting a standardized approach to teaching that assumes all learners in a class are essentially alike It is a teaching philosophy based on the premise that teachers should adapt instruction to student differences in reading readiness, learning preferences and interests.

Core curriculum: course of study students are required to take
cultural literacy/ core Knowledge: being aware of the central ideas, stories, scientific knowledge, events and personalities of a culture.

Tracking: the homogeneous grouping of students for learning tasks on the basis of some measure of their abilities.