HED4802 Assignment 2
Memo (COMPLETE
ANSWERS) Due 20 June
2025
For assistance contact
Email:
, Question 1: Paradigms of Curriculum Design and Implementation
Curriculum design and implementation are deeply influenced by the underlying epistemological
and ontological assumptions, characterized as paradigms of learning and knowledge. Positivism,
interpretivism, critical theory, and post-structuralism each provide a unique paradigm through
which teachers think about the purposes of curriculum, identify knowledge, plan teaching
strategies, and implement assessment methods. A critical examination of each
paradigm demonstrates their strengths, weaknesses, and
the particular educational climate they promote.
Positivism basically imagines knowledge to be objective, empirical, and measurable. In
curriculum, this is in the guise of objectives towards the transmission of a fixed corpus of factual
knowledge and most commonly applicable skills. Knowledge selection
is properly organized, with a demand for disciplinary boundaries, serial progression,
and verifiable and measurable content that tends to rest on scientific and technical rationality.
For instance, a positivist epistemology science curriculum would emphasize memorization of the
periodic table, familiarity with Newtonian laws of physics, and experimentation with
predetermined outcomes. Teaching methods are typically didactic and teacher-centered, relying
on lectures, practice drills, and texts to effect efficient transfer of information.
Assessment techniques are largely summative, standardized, and quantifiable, using multiple-
choice testing, recall questions, and numerical grading to measure students' acquisition of pre-
determined facts and skill sets. The objective is to achieve standard, measurable results,
often disregarding personal differences or individual perceptions.
Interpretivism, however, presumes that knowledge is constructed socially, subjective,
and interpreted from individual and group meanings. Its
curriculum goals concentrate on the growth of comprehension, meaning-making,
and compassion along with multiversity. Knowledge selection is thus much broader and
more inclusive, valuing personal experiences, stories of cultures, and
qualitative comprehension. An interpretivist-guided museum studies curriculum might encourage
students to explore diverse understandings of past happenings, conduct oral histories with
community members, and analyze primary documents for nuanced meanings, rather
than memorizing dates. Teaching strategies are student-centered, collaborative, and
facilitative, using discussions, role-playing, ethnographic studies, and project-based learning
to facilitate students' exploring diversity of perspectives. Assessment techniques are qualitative
and often formative, in the presentation of portfolios, reflective journals, and narrative feedback
that chart depth of understanding and richness of individual interpretation rather than
simply testing correct answers.
Critical Theory views knowledge as political and shaped by relations of power. Its
curriculum objectives are transformative, aiming to empower learners to critically
analyze social injustices, subvert dominant ideologies,
and struggle towards social transformation. Knowledge
selection is particularly aimed at the problems of excavating latent curricula, questioning issues
Memo (COMPLETE
ANSWERS) Due 20 June
2025
For assistance contact
Email:
, Question 1: Paradigms of Curriculum Design and Implementation
Curriculum design and implementation are deeply influenced by the underlying epistemological
and ontological assumptions, characterized as paradigms of learning and knowledge. Positivism,
interpretivism, critical theory, and post-structuralism each provide a unique paradigm through
which teachers think about the purposes of curriculum, identify knowledge, plan teaching
strategies, and implement assessment methods. A critical examination of each
paradigm demonstrates their strengths, weaknesses, and
the particular educational climate they promote.
Positivism basically imagines knowledge to be objective, empirical, and measurable. In
curriculum, this is in the guise of objectives towards the transmission of a fixed corpus of factual
knowledge and most commonly applicable skills. Knowledge selection
is properly organized, with a demand for disciplinary boundaries, serial progression,
and verifiable and measurable content that tends to rest on scientific and technical rationality.
For instance, a positivist epistemology science curriculum would emphasize memorization of the
periodic table, familiarity with Newtonian laws of physics, and experimentation with
predetermined outcomes. Teaching methods are typically didactic and teacher-centered, relying
on lectures, practice drills, and texts to effect efficient transfer of information.
Assessment techniques are largely summative, standardized, and quantifiable, using multiple-
choice testing, recall questions, and numerical grading to measure students' acquisition of pre-
determined facts and skill sets. The objective is to achieve standard, measurable results,
often disregarding personal differences or individual perceptions.
Interpretivism, however, presumes that knowledge is constructed socially, subjective,
and interpreted from individual and group meanings. Its
curriculum goals concentrate on the growth of comprehension, meaning-making,
and compassion along with multiversity. Knowledge selection is thus much broader and
more inclusive, valuing personal experiences, stories of cultures, and
qualitative comprehension. An interpretivist-guided museum studies curriculum might encourage
students to explore diverse understandings of past happenings, conduct oral histories with
community members, and analyze primary documents for nuanced meanings, rather
than memorizing dates. Teaching strategies are student-centered, collaborative, and
facilitative, using discussions, role-playing, ethnographic studies, and project-based learning
to facilitate students' exploring diversity of perspectives. Assessment techniques are qualitative
and often formative, in the presentation of portfolios, reflective journals, and narrative feedback
that chart depth of understanding and richness of individual interpretation rather than
simply testing correct answers.
Critical Theory views knowledge as political and shaped by relations of power. Its
curriculum objectives are transformative, aiming to empower learners to critically
analyze social injustices, subvert dominant ideologies,
and struggle towards social transformation. Knowledge
selection is particularly aimed at the problems of excavating latent curricula, questioning issues
