**I do realize that ‘Curriculartornessly’ is not a real word. I was just trying to add some pizzazz to my blog title to grab your attention ok?!?!**
Let us delve into the concept of curriculum, shall we? The word curriculum has its etymological roots in Latin words related to “course” and “career” (apparently). This gives me the outstanding visual of a track (like the kind you run on) where there are lanes that you stick to in order to finish the race. These lanes or “tracks” can in turn, help you towards a career you are interested in for the future.
What would it be like to learn without curriculum (or rather an open curriculum = no requirements). Would there be chaos and disorder without structure of curriculum? Do people NEED the type of guided direction that a curriculum provides? I personally am not fond of running at all, and therefore avoid running tracks whenever possible so perhaps I would be ok without the idea of not having a curriculum to follow. Although, going off of the dislike for a certain task (i.e. running) that the curriculum/track metaphor instills in me is not nearly grounded enough to provide a good argument so I will think on this further.
I don’t think people in general are responsible enough (for themselves) to not have a curriculum. Or perhaps maybe a curriculum should be necessary for elementary school and middle school students (because they are so young, I feel they need the guidance of the curriculum to give them a jumping off point for them to explore which subjects appeal to them and make them want to pursue fields in that area).
Would it be possible for LESS regulated control to lead to MORE learning? For some reason whenever I try to think of an educational system that is based on a no or open curriculum policy, all I can envision is chaos (unengaged students doing whatever they want, causing riots, breaking things). Perhaps this is because of that darn QWERTY effect that is so ingrained in my mind (AH!!! Is it really that hard for me to think outside the box about this concept of a society being able to RELEARN a better way to educate its people?).
Here is my main issue with curriculum: how does forcing someone to take a course help them? I have taken mass amounts of courses that have absolutely zero appeal to me. I considered it a waste of my time and would much rather have taken courses that were engaging (for me).
SO. AH! Ok. What if we go back to concepts from Papert to find a way that we can all live happily with curriculum without having to do away with it and completely relearn a new educational system. If we can find a way for people to become interested in certain courses (courses that they otherwise have no desire to take), then that newly instilled interested can lead to people engaging their imaginations!
For example: Papert’s turtle. The turtle was a form of tactile learning that was a transitional object routed in experience. The turtle allowed students to relate themselves to the turtle which in turn allowed them to think about abstract mathematics. I think that if turtles had been introduced to my math classes, I would probably have a completely different outlook on math. Perhaps I would LOVE math, and actually understand it and be interested enough in it to WANT to engage in it. Perhaps all I needed was some creative tool like the turtle to allow open a portal in my mind that would lead to imaginative engagement in mathematics.
***Since I man the cash register at the deli where I work (workk itttt, worrkkk ittt), I have the oppurtunity to meet a lot of interesting people. There is one guy who comes in quite often, and one day he told me about a feral kitten that he had just seen at Chatham Manor that animal control was trying to catch. Intrigued, I stopped by Chatham Manor after work (I brought some chicken with me to feed to the cat) to see if I could spot this kitten. Well, I found him***
*** I wasn’t able to catch the kitten but I did feed her and meow with her for awhile. Turns out, the guy that had told me about the cat in the first place went back the next day and took her home with him. She had to learn how to be a “DVORAK” domestic house cat after being born and raised ”QWERTY” feral cat (Har Har) but didn’t seem to have a problem with that.***
great post
I feel your frustration too. There is the rigidity of curriculum and the chaos of having none it all. There must be a balance somewhere in the gray area, right? I think this is where Papert comes in. As you mentioned the turtles engaged students in a topic that they might have had little interest in. The students engage in a playful way to learn and it helps them take abstract math concepts and put them into ideas and visuals they can understand.
There needs to be a playfulness to learning and when that is mixed in with a little bit of structure, magic could happen. Think about Gardner’s class, there are topics and ideas that give the class a focus but, at the same time there is an unstructured sense of play that happens in discussions during class (humans are unpredictable, right?) and in outside discussions, like on blogs.
As a side note, there is a certain level of commitment that students need to take if they are ever to enjoy learning and that commitment is a choice made by each individual, and that can make things more complicated. Of course that is an issue for another blog post. : )
Great post keep on grokking.