Group Six Presentation.pptx

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
• COLLEGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
• DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND I.C.T EDUCATION
• (M.ED MATHEMATICS EDUCATION)
1

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
EMA 803D
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN MATHEMATICS
EDUCATION
ACCRA CENTRE

ASSIGNMENT
GROUP SIX
PRESENTED BY:
1. THERESA ATTACHIE ED/MTD/21/0004
2. STELLA ADJEI-SAFORO ED/MTD/21/0008
3. WURAH ERIC JUNIOR ED/MTD/21/0072

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN MATHEMATICS:
LESSONS FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
OBJECTIVES
Explore the lessons for today and tomorrow in curriculum development in mathematics:
1. On the evaluation of curriculum development
2. Curriculum research desiderata
3. The teacher and curriculum development

On the evaluation of curriculum development
By the end of the presentation, you will be able to explain:
1. The reform period in retrospect, its achievements and failings, and the
lessons to be learned.
2. Teacher’s and student teacher's commitment to curriculum
development.
INTRODUCTION
• Curriculum is defined as the total experiences that the learners undergo
under the auspices of the school.
• Evaluation is the process of examining a program or process to determine
what is working, what is not and why
5

INTRODUCTION
• Curriculum evaluation however, is the process of examining the content of a curriculum to determine its
impact on student achievement.
• It is now almost thirty years since the 'modern math' reforms began.
• Today, much of the enthusiasm of those early days seems to have been
• lost. There is a feeling that 'change' has been overdone: 'innovation’ is going out of fashion.
• In the past, educators tended to view curriculum development as the responsibility of researchers,
theoreticians, or administrators, and there was notion that materials were the product of “experts” and
“innovators” that were handed down to the teacher who was viewed as the “neutral transmitter” of
knowledge of the curriculum message (Enns-Connolly, 1990; Gough, 1977).
6

The purpose of curriculum evaluation is:
 To determine whether or not the newly adopted curriculum is producing the intended
results and meeting the objective that it has set fourth, and it is an essential
component in the process of adopting and implementing any new curriculum in any
educational setting.
 Another purpose is to gather data that will help in identifying areas in need of
improvement.
 To identify the strengths and weaknesses of an existing curriculum that will be the basis
of the intended plan, design or implementation.
• When evaluation is done in the middle of the curriculum development, it will tell if the
designed or implemented curriculum can produce or is producing the desired result.

The purpose of curriculum evaluation
• Curriculum evaluation is a crucial aspect in curriculum development. This would
communicate whether the curriculum is serving the purpose for which it was
developed for and if performance has improved.
• When the curriculum fails to achieve its objective, the future of a state would be
affected since both students and teachers will be mislead.

Achievements, failures and lessons learnt
Achievements:
• Since the 1950s curriculum development has itself developed; moving from small beginnings to
the prosperity of an academic, even scientific, reputation. In so doing, ideas, orientations and
approaches have been change.
• The emergence of Piaget's theory inspired a new 'round' of projects; the behaviourist projects
in the United States owed much of their success to their ability to match the demands of a
commercially oriented market; and in the same country the Cambridge Conferences showed
that curriculum development can be pursued as a process of deliberate progress
Failures:
• Inadequate financial resources, customs and traditions of various countries
9

Achievements, failures and lessons learnt
Failures:
had been the major setback on the rapid change in the curriculum development all around the world.
Lessons learnt:
• Academic prosperities are achieved when curriculum is well resourced.
• Curriculum evaluators now assess both Enovation and the outcomes of
curriculum development.
10

• Evaluation of curriculum development
The various curriculum reforms that have occurred can be identified within the
US . This include the following;
• The behaviourist approach
• The structuralist approach
• The formative approach
• Integrated teaching approach
11

• Evaluation of curriculum development
The behaviourist approach
• The positive aspect of this approach was that, Contents were perfectly
arranged, Lessons were based on previous goals towards precise target,
Teacher has control of the class and pupils’ achievement and Students are
provided with lucid and unambiguous directions with clear control system.
• On the negative perspective, the approach did not meet the demands of
the society. It also restricted the mathematics content to only few concepts
which they found useful hence the need for the introduction of the new
math approach for increase in mathematical content.
12

Evaluation of curriculum development
The structuralist approach
• It emphasized the need for student centered approaches to teaching for an
effective education to take place. Hence focus was laid on both the content
and method of teaching.
• However, the implementation of the structuralist approach created some
problem due to the contradictory nature of the aims of the curriculum
hence there was a mismatch between individual orientation and social
needs.
13

The formative approach
• The focus of the curriculum was much on the method than the
mathematical content. Teachers thus played a strong role to devise
situations in which children can learn. This method of teaching was
radically different from the traditional lessons. Teachers undergone
in-service training to bring a change in the pedagogical structure in
the classroom
• One disadvantage was that, there was much workload on teachers.
One class’s curriculum was different from others.
14

The integrated teaching approach
Attempts to do away with the boundaries between
mathematics and other disciplines. Mathematics was to be reduced to
an instrument for problem solving.
On the other side, teachers whose mathematical education has not
prepared them in the use of problem solving approach had problem
implementing this type of curriculum. As a result, it had problems in
dissemination and teacher re-education.
15

Curriculum development and reality of school practice
• It is often asked to what extent innovators are aware of the day-to-day
difficulties posed by life in a real school.
• It stated that when innovation clashes with classroom reality, it is the former
which is usually forced to adapt.
• There have been cases where the technological model (R-D-D Model that is
Regression Discontinuity Design: A quasi-experimental impact evaluation
method used to evaluate programs that have been a cutoff point determining
who is eligible to participate) developed a curriculum that is far detached from
the realities in the classroom.
• The model thus lost justification when it acknowledged that pedagogical
16

• The formative approach to curriculum development requires that teachers
play a strong role in helping to devise situations in which children can learn
mathematics.
• One issue associated with the technological approach is that, the gulf
between projects and reality widened.
• The Madison Project which followed the behaviorist program although
greatly esteemed by curriculum developers made little actual impact on
schools.
17

Curriculum development and social reality
• Curriculum development is more often on a large scale as compared to
developmental work which is mainly on a small scale hence it demands skills
and expertise.
• Mismatches between the social and cultural backgrounds of the donor and
recipient can prove disastrous.
• The point is doubly important when one realizes that only a few countries can
maintain independent curriculum development.
• Curriculum development has been based on the eclectic adoption of foreign
research and developmental work.
18

• The innovative strategy, like the technological model, ignored the teacher's
possible contribution and was not understood by teachers, pupils and parents.
The reform, inspired by foreign examples, had ignored the reality of conditions at
home.
• The developing countries have traditionally had to look overseas for their
teaching materials, their educational systems usually being too small to be self-
sufficient.
• There is therefore the need to assist developing countries to produce their own
new materials but the problem lies in the lack of background knowledge and
understanding of the educational systems of the societies in the developing
countries. 19

• National differences between educational systems do affect curriculum
development greatly, but one must not allow these to restrict internationally
based attempts to unravel and solve the problems which developers
everywhere meet.
20

CURRICULUM RESEARCH DESIDERATA
• Desiderata originates from the Latin word desiderare which means “something
desired”
• In other words, desiderata mean; requirement, prerequisite, need,
indispensable thing, desired thing.
• Curriculum research is a research in which one or more of the variables
represent the change in pupil behavior which is petinent in the goals of the
school.
• Curriculum research is an indispensable thing to do
21

• Up to date curriculum development has been a typical example of the
adage “the more one knows, the more one knows how little he/she knows”.
• Continuous reforms in curriculum development are as a result of problems
in the curriculum remaining unobserved.
• Some of these problems really are new, and result from changes in the
provision and orientation of education in a particular country.
• Obviously, much research and development work, and considerable
resourcefulness, will be needed before solutions are achieved at a
particular moment.
22

Problems of linearity
• The innovations of recent times have shown not only that many more
mathematical topics can be taught at a school level than was previously
thought possible, but also that the time at which topics are introduced can vary
considerably.
• For example, matrices can be successfully taught to students at different age-
levels, although, of course, the age of introduction should determine the
methods used.
• There are some logically necessary sequences but these exercise comparatively
few global constraints on curriculum building: the designer retains considerable
freedom. 23

• Mathematical activities can then be planned bearing in mind a theory of
the mental growth of the child.
• It has become increasingly difficult for teachers to vary the order in which
chapters are presented and in which, it is assumed, pupils will learn their
mathematics.
• To date allegiance to 'linear' and 'nonlinear' views can only be dependent
upon personal beliefs: there is insufficient evidence either to disprove or to
substantiate the claims of the 'non-linearists'. Clearly, this is an area in
which further research is vital.
24

Problems of choice in the curriculum
• The degree to which 'choice' is allowed, both on the part of the teacher and
the student in curriculum design needs attention of research.
• The Leapfrogs group (1975) contends that the best kind of learning occurs
when the student makes the subject matter his own.
• This can be achieved when learners are exposed to a extensive range of
significant and potentially interesting activities and stimuli from which the
students can choose from.
• Permitting some degree of choice in curriculum design is relevant.
25

• It allows the teacher to vary the content of what he teaches from year to year
and so helps counteract stagnation; new topics can enter the classroom in an
experimental fashion; syllabuses can be tailored to the individual interests
and beliefs of teachers.
• However, if a wide variety of choice is permitted at one level of education
considerable problems will arise for those designing curriculum for the next,
higher level.
• What degree of choice should be available to the teacher in the way of
options?
• Hence the need for further research.
26

Problems of differentiation
• Another problem of curriculum design is the differentiation of students and
courses. Many secondary-school systems were planned, or evolved, as two-
or three-track systems.
• Often three distinct streams could be identified: academic, technical
(vocational) and 'the rest’.
• Differentiation into streams, when it has come, has often been too late for
children of lower abilities, who still find themselves with inadequate
arithmetical foundations.
27

• Not only has uniform content been imposed on all, but the same teaching
methods are used.
• No consideration of the fact that children of lower ability may well fail to
respond to methods which can be successfully used with high-fliers, who in
turn may be bored to tears by methods well-suited to the average student.
• There has been a clear mismatch between pupils, methods and content. Yet
how is this problem to be resolved?
28

• Both the curriculum under review and the materials used in the control
group(s) should be specified. Research should evaluate the relative impact of
the two across several years, following a single cohort, if at all feasible.
• Researchers should report the degree to which a curriculum showed success
in a variety of school structures and across the different student subgroups.
• Research studies should include surveys of teachers and students to ascertain
which features they found to be most effective. These findings should be
cross-tabulated to the impact on student learning using nationally normed
assessments.
29

The teacher and curriculum development
• In the past, educators tended to view curriculum
development as the responsibility of researchers,
theoreticians, or administrators, and there was notion that
materials were the product of “experts” and “innovators”
that were handed down to the teacher who was viewed as
the “neutral transmitter” of knowledge of the curriculum
message (Enns-Connolly, 1990; Gough, 1977).

The teacher and curriculum development
• Every teacher needs to follow the curriculum hence there is the need for
teachers to have knowledge about the development and critical analysis of the
curriculum.
• Careful examination of old textbooks could depict how curriculum has been
stagnant in terms of change from the time the teachers themselves were
taught till the era when they also begun the work of teaching in terms of
conventional understanding of content and methods.
• Apparently, teachers often forced to rely on his own understanding and powers
of interpretation. 31

• For the teacher, a knowledge of curriculum development is essential if he is
to make a responsible choice.
• If he wishes to assume the role he can play in his students' learning, then
he will need to be aware of the weaknesses in the materials he is using and
of how to compensate, and of how to take advantage of their strengths.
• A teacher must understand the materials he uses, and not only in the sense
of mastering the mathematics they contain. One clear way in which an
understanding of materials can be arrived at is by comparing them with
others
32

• The balance between general education' and 'professional training' will,
however, remain a problem for all institutes supplying pre-service
education.
• There will also be a need for planned in-service education since improved
pre-service education cannot solve all problems.
• For instance, The James Report on Teacher Education and Training (London,
HMSO, 1972) placed great emphasis on the need to provide a wide range of
activities which would enable teachers to continue their personal education
and extend their professional competence.
33

• Therefore, if innovation is to proceed more satisfactorily in future then it is
essential that we ensure better understanding and acceptance by teachers
for it is only through curriculum development that our goals for school
education will be realised.
34

APA REFERENCE STYLE (6TH EDITION)
REFERENCES
Enns-Connolly, E. (1990). Second language curriculum development as dialectic process.
Canadian modern language Review, 46(3), 500-513.
Gough, R. (1977). Curriculum development and teacher education. British Journal of In-
Service Education, 3(3), 217-219.
Howson, G., Keitel, C., Kilpatrick, J. (2008). Curriculum Development in Mathematics.
Cambridge: Cambridge University press.
Swafford, J. O., & Kepner, H. S. (1980). The evaluation of an application-oriented first-year
algebra program. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 11, 190–201
35

36
THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION
Do you have any
question?

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