KNOWLEDGE AND CURRICULUM

BHARATHIDASAN UNIVERSITY - KNOWLEDGE, EDUCATION, AND CURRICULUM

Chairman and Course Directors

  • Chairman: Dr. V.M. Muthukumar, Vice-Chancellor

  • Vice-Chairman: Dr. C. Thiruchelvam, Registrar

  • Course Director: Dr. R. Babu Rajendran, Director i/c

  • Course Material Co-ordinator: Dr. K. Anandan, Professor & Head

  • Author: Dr. A. Tholappan, Asst. Professor

  • Syllabus adopted from 2015-16 onwards

UNIT-1: KNOWLEDGE, EDUCATION, CURRICULUM, AND PERSPECTIVES

Structure

  • Introduction.

  • Objectives.

  • Foundations of Education.

  • Genesis of Knowledge.

  • Types of Knowledge.

    • Personal Knowledge.

    • Procedural Knowledge.

    • Propositional Knowledge.

  • Structure and Forms of Knowledge.

    • Ways to Acquiring Knowledge.

    • Meaning of Information.

  • Modes of Education.

    • Formal Education.

    • Non-Formal Education.

      • Open University.

      • Open and Distance Learning.

      • Distance Education.

    • Informal Education.

  • Teaching in a Multicultural Setting.

  • Curriculum.

    • Meaning of Curriculum.

    • Nature of Curriculum.

    • Scope of Curriculum.

    • Curriculum and Syllabus.

    • Curriculum Development.

    • Need and Importance of Curriculum.

  • Foundation of Curriculum.

    • Philosophical Foundation of Curriculum.

    • Psychological Foundation of Curriculum.

    • Sociological Foundation of Curriculum.

  • Let Us Sum Up.

  • Unit End Activity.

  • Points for Discussion.

  • Answer to Check Your Progress.

INTRODUCTION

  • Knowledge is defined as a belief that is true and justified.

  • Plato defined knowledge as "justified true belief".

  • Knowledge is familiarity, awareness, or understanding of facts, information, descriptions, or skills acquired through experiences or education.

  • Knowledge is the accumulation of facts and information, while wisdom is the synthesis of knowledge and experiences into insights.

  • Education discovers new things and increases knowledge.

  • Effective teaching-learning experiences require a productive curriculum.

  • Curriculum development should consider philosophical, psychological, and sociological foundations.

  • Philosophical foundations define the purpose of the school, subjects to be taught, learning types, instructional material, and evaluation methods.

  • Psychology provides information about the teaching and learning process.

  • Psychological foundations organize curriculum to optimize learning and information absorption.

  • Education occurs in society and is a social and lifelong process.

  • Sociological foundations help develop democratic skills and values in students.

  • The unit discusses the importance of knowledge acquisition, modes of education, and curriculum determinants and foundations.

OBJECTIVES

  • Define the meaning of Knowledge.

  • Identify the ways of acquiring Knowledge.

  • Explain the forms of Knowledge.

  • Understand the different modes of Education.

  • Define the Curriculum.

  • Explain the nature and scope of Curriculum.

  • Differentiate the Curriculum from Syllabus.

  • Discuss the foundations of Curriculum.

FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

  • Three important foundations:

    • Ontological (nature of knowledge).

    • Epistemic (theory of knowledge): most fundamental.

    • Axiological (related to values).

  • Epistemic reveals reality and facilitates value realization.

  • Knowledge: theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, implicit or explicit, formal or systematic.

  • Information and knowledge are growing rapidly.

  • Education should help students develop intellectual tools and learning strategies to acquire knowledge.

  • Philosophy implies seeking wisdom and wisdom itself.

  • Wisdom is theoretical and practical knowledge related to life and the universe.

CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE

  • Chambers Dictionary defines knowledge:

    • Fact of knowing.

    • Information or what is known.

    • The whole of what can be learned or found out.

  • Knowledge as assured belief, information, instruction, enlightenment, learning, practical skill, and acquaintance.

  • Concept of knowledge: information teachers teach and students learn in subjects like English, Math, Science, or Social Studies.

  • Concept of knowledge generally refers to facts, concepts, theories, and principles taught and learned.

  • It is distinct from skills like reading, writing, or researching.

IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE

  • Knowledge is not truth; truth is inferred from knowledge.

  • Truth about the universe is inferred knowledge.

  • Examples: galaxy, nuclear science, space, DNA.

  • Knowledge is used through effects, properties, and characteristics rather than observed.

  • Philosophy employs methods for drawing inferences.

  • Knowledge certified by philosophy enters the curriculum.

  • Philosophy approves methods for building knowledge.

  • Truth from philosophy sets goals and objectives of education and evaluation.

  • Knowledge helps philosophy interpret, guide, monitor, and validate education.

NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

  • Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, dealing with knowledge as a universal matter.

  • It aims to discover what is involved in the process of knowing.

  • Epistemology asks questions such as:

    • Is there something common to all activities related to "knowing"?

    • Does knowing involve a special mental act?

    • Can we know anything beyond senses?

    • Does knowing make a difference to the object known?

  • If we can be certain of knowledge, it becomes a foundation for our search for more of it.

  • Doubtful knowledge then generates more doubtful knowledge.

  • Knowledge may be a "torch of smoky pine that lights the pathway but one step ahead, across a void of mystery and dread".

  • We must strive to understand the source of it, and understand nature of that reality to which it is related.

  • Epistemology is not interested in amassing and classifying facts and data and subjecting them to statistical process.

  • The epistemologist has ideas about how people think and feel, but he does not claim to be able to explain them scientifically

  • Epistemologist examines psychological concepts and sees if they are consistent with each other.

  • Knowing the psychological problem is to state and assess the very grounds on which knowledge rests and claim to knowledge are made.

GENESIS OF KNOWLEDGE

  • Different sources of knowledge:

SENSE EXPERIENCE - EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE

  • Major source of knowledge comes through senses.

  • Modern science is empirical and concepts are formed through senses.

  • Form composite of the world by seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting.

  • Empirical cautions to “look and see” whereas rationalist tells to “think things through”.

REASON - RATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

  • Knowledge is of universal and known by the mind not the senses is called Rationalism.

  • Reasoning is central in valid judgments that are consistent.

  • Mathematical and logical truths are self-evident kinds of knowledge.

  • Two contradictory statements cannot be true at the same time.

  • If A > B and B > C, then A > C is based of reason.

EXPERIMENTATION

  • The experimentation defined as “observation under controlled conditions.”

  • Knowledge is the product of tested experiences.

  • Experimental knowledge is used every day.

  • Senses may deceive at times like a straight stick looking bent in the water.

  • Sense can be reduced by such events as cold, fog, heat, noise or smog.

AUTHORITY

  • Central doctrine: the ultimate source of knowledge is authority, like God, the State, Tradition, or an Expert.

  • Authoritative knowledge accepted as true because it comes from experts.

  • Authoritative knowledge might be inadequate. One needs a criterion to analyze kinds of authorities.

  • Much factual knowledge is based on authority.

INTUITION

  • Personal way of knowing.

  • Occurs beneath the “threshold of consciousness".

  • Connected intimately with feeling and emotion.

  • Contrasts with the logical process.

  • Sudden flash of insight.

  • Direct access into the heart of reality.

REVEALED FAITH KNOWLEDGE

  • God discloses to man.

  • God inspires certain men to record His revelation.

  • Bhagavad-Gita and Upanishads for Hindus.

  • Bible for Christians and Jews.

  • Khoran for Mohammedans.

  • Accept it on feeling, but stressed by reason and critical experience.

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

  • Personal.

  • Procedural.

  • Propositional.

PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE

  • Knowledge by acquaintance.

  • Being familiar with something.

  • Involves more than knowledge of propositions.

PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE

  • Knowledge how to do something.

  • Skills involved.

  • Differs from propositional knowledge.

  • Knowing the theory without having the procedural knowledge.

PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

  • Concern of epistemology.

  • Knowledge of facts.

  • Difference between three types of knowledge is not as sharp as it might at first appear.

  • Personal knowledge does seem to involve that knowledge of at least some propositions.

  • Procedural knowledge also seems to involve some propositional knowledge (e.g. knowing facts about driving).

  • Personal knowledge involves acquiring propositional knowledge in a certain way; procedural knowledge may entail propositional knowledge.

  • Personal and procedural do not entail propositional knowledge.

STRUCTURE AND FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE
WAYS OF AQUIRING KNOWLEDGE

Observation and experience

  • Simple observation to carefully designed experimentation.

Reason/Logic

  • Taking other knowledge as data, knowledge is inferred by logical operations.

  • Modeling helps to learn how to do something

Testimony

  • Accepting what others say.

  • Philosophical problems.

Authority

  • Relying on reputation of individual or institutional authority.

  • Authority uses divine revelation, observation, or authority itself as knowledge upon criteria.

  • Political basis.

Revelation

  • Via revelation/divine revelation.

  • From God or another spirit.

  • Through religious text/texts like the Bible.

  • There is no evidence to support this claim.

MEANING OF INFORMATION

Wisdom

  • Wisdom is the right use of knowledge (Charles Spurgeon).

  • The knowledge that is gained by having many experiences in life.

  • The natural ability to understand things that most other people cannot understand.

  • Knowledge of what is proper or reasonable good sense of judgment.

  • Wisdom refers the ability to use one’s knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments.

Instruction

  • Involves interaction between teachers and pupils

  • Instruction can divert pupils towards objectives.

  • Teaching includes instruction, but instruction does include teaching.

  • All three cognitive, affective and psychomotor aspects of the pupils can be replacing the teaching.

Teaching

  • Innate contact between a more mature personality and less mature one H.C. Morrison, (1943).

  • Teaching is a kind of mentoring.

  • As a result, the pupils are diverted towards the objectives.

  • The main element of teaching is the mutual relationship between the teacher and pupils.

Skills

  • The techniques includes, motivating the students, explaining, questioning, and writing on the black board, using teaching aids so on.

  • Nonverbal behaviors such as smiling, nodding and gesturing.

  • These groups of activities are called skills.

MODES OF EDUCATION
FORMAL EDUCATION (FACE TO FACE)

  • Collective function.

  • Helps the child adapt to social environment.

  • Society assures its citizens sufficient community of ideas and sentiments.

  • It is necessary that education should not be completely abandoned to the arbitrariness of individuals, but be formalized and coordinated by an agency like the state, keeping if focus the broad social aims

  • Controlled and planned consciously by the state.

  • Rigid rules of age of admission, content and duration of courses, procedures of examination, selection of elective subjects’ etc

  • Schools, colleges, technical institutions, and universities are offering face to face education.

NON-FORMAL EDUCATION

  • Teaching of certain knowledge in a structured and programmed manner.

  • Consciously organized and patterned instruction in certain areas of knowledge, skills or values.

  • Takes place outside of school with flexibility.

  • Caters to needs of adults, farmers, women, dropouts.

  • Promotes universal elementary education and literacy.

  • Examples: Indira Gandhi National Open University, National Open Schools, part-time non-formal education centers.

  • The importance of non-formal mode of education to reach different section of the society increases because the formal system cannot meet the demand for education for all the segments of the society.

Open University

  • The vast numbers who belong to the working class, artisan, and adult peasants have been denied educational facilities on account of the accident of birth.

  • Immediately after independent in India, vast programmes of adult literacy and education were launched.

  • The Open University exploits the technical resources of radio, television, films and computers.

  • Students receive the study materials through mail.

  • There are part-time class tutors and counselors to guide them.

  • Face to face contact instruction and laboratory work are provided during a summer school programme.

  • The package sent by mail contains notices about the television and radio programmes. The most powerful stimulus comes through television.

Open and Distance Learning (ODL)

  • Open schools and open Universities are based on the concept of Open learning systems have assumed great significance.

  • Faced with the problems of literacy, school dropouts and the gigantic task of providing educational opportunities for the disadvantaged segments of the population.

  • Open learning system has now emerged as viable practical alternatives to the traditional and institutionalized formal education.

  • Open learning system flexible for those who are desirous of learning or acquiring new productive skills but whom, due to a variety of reasons, cannot afford to go through the rigid programme of formal instruction in our schools and colleges.

  • The open learning system is flexible enough to cater to varied learner needs and demands, and its openness is seen in respect of curriculum, organization, course development, delivery of content of instructions as well as assessment procedures.

  • articulated to the needs of the school leavers, working adults, farmers and artisans’ housewives and it offers a second chance to learn particularly to the disadvantaged section of the community.

  • Open learning uses modern methods of communication to overcome the problems of distance education.

Objectives

  • To provide quality opportunity in higher education to a large segment of the population, including those already employed or housewives.

  • To enable those students to learn who are unable to admission in formal institutions for one reason or another.

  • To facilitate learning and improve qualifications for promotions, change of jobs, etc.

  • To enroll the learners without any age limits.

  • To provide range university level course

  • To provide high standard of teaching, learning and evaluation in open mode.

  • To offer programmes of learning other than those offered in other universities.

  • To offer degree, diploma and certificate courses in different subjects with greater flexibility and diversity in curricula.

  • To promote national integration by offering the same course across the country.

Open University Features

  • Flexibility: Entry requirements, years to complete the course, alternative combination of subjects.
    Entry requirements, number of years to complete the course, alternative combination of subjects all of these are flexible. It is the final achievements and standards of success which cannot be compromised.

  • The government of India has accorded the same status to the degrees /diploma of the open universities as of the formal institutions of learning.

  • Open learning permits students to learn and earn at the same time.

  • Flexibility in respect of what to learn, when to learn, how to learn and where to learn.

  • Courses are comprehensively planned, well-printed and well presented.

  • Video and audio facilities are supporting the courses

  • Fewer constraints, fewer rules and regulation and greater learning autonomy.

  • No geographical and background barriers to admission and learning.

Distance Education

  • Education which either does not imply the physical presence of the teacher appointed to dispense it in the place where it is received or in which the teacher is present only on occasion or for selected tasks.

  • Distance Teaching may be defined as the family of instructional methods on which the teaching behaviors are executed apart from the learning behaviors

Objectives

  • To advance learning and knowledge by diversity of means.

  • To provide second opportunity to study to those who missed such an opportunity earlier.

  • To provide a chance who those who could not go the conventional system.

  • To improve the quality and standard of education.

  • To reduce the pressure for the secondary and higher education students.

  • To provide opportunity for higher education to a large population

  • To promote the educational standard

  • To encourage the system of education