Seven Curricular Landscapes

Seven Curricular Landscapes offers a holistic presentation and critique of what the author considers to be the seven major types of curricula. This book, which is suitable for both upper-division and graduate education courses, differs from previous holistic approaches in that it closely considers the holistic implications of postmodernism, adds new categories and terms to the holistic repertoire, includes the latest developments in transpersonal theory, examines the Existentialist curriculum as a spiritual phenomenon, and discusses the curricular implications of both Eastern and Western spirituality.

Curriculum problems are everywhere: alert observers with a practiced eye and educated mind will find it almost impossible to read a newspaper without discovering curricular issues. The media often report about educational reforms or even about curriculum wars with opposing parties fiercely debating the aims, content and organization of learning. Few people analyze these trends and discussions from a curricular conceptual framework. In addition, people sometimes think that their curriculum approaches and problems are unique and context-specific. However, international experience shows us that we can learn a lot from curriculum issues elsewhere. This book aims to sharpen the eyes and minds of a broader audience in identifying, understanding, addressing and reflecting upon curriculum problems. It also aims to contribute to the increased exchange, discussion and reflection on all the current curriculum problems that form such a crucial part of learning worldwide.

William G. Tierney offers a different way of thinking about the curriculum in post-secondary curriculum than is customary. Through an in-depth analysis of seven ethnographic case studies, the author demonstrates how the curriculum itself is a cultural product which institutions of higher education construct socially. The manner in which the individual institution defines its curriculum, Tierney argues, commits it to certain philosophical and ideological choices, whether these are overtly recognized or not. It is the result of a year's research that included over 250 interviews at seven colleges in universities throughout the U.S. The volume concludes with recommendations administrators and faculty may employ in the effort to advance democracy in their colleges and universities. Organized around the theme of institutional curricula acting as a critical agent for preparing students to participate in the democratic sphere, the book begins by providing a conceptual map for the chapters which follow. Both curricular and cultural theories are reviewed and discussed. The next two sections explore the archaeology of the curriculum at the seven institutions under study. After examining the ways in which participants at the seven colleges and universities view different curricular concepts, the author illustrates how the individuals view one another's actions about the curriculum. As he demonstrates, the curriculum often becomes contested terrain because of the cultural constructions different groups develop about one another and toward the curriculum. Finally, the author offers an interpretation and analysis of the different curricula of the seven institutions, concluding with a discussion of how organizational participants might assume the roles of transformative leaders who create new curricular paths and directions for their organizations.

Special 2018 Edition From the new Introduction by Janet L. Miller, Teachers College, Columbia University: "Maxine Greene never claimed to be a visionary thinker. But forty years later, her trepidations detailed throughout 1978's Landscapes of Learning now appear unnervingly prescient. Witness and treasure Landscapes as evidence of her matchless abilities to inspire myriad educators and students worldwide." “I would suggest that there must always be a place in teacher education for ‘foundations’ people, whose fundamental concern is with opening new perspectives on the many faces of the human world.” —Maxine Greene The essays in this volume demonstrate clearly that Maxine Greene is herself an example of the kind of “foundations” specialist she hopes to see: someone who can stimulate, inform, and bring new insights to teachers, students, curriculum planners, administrators, policymakers—indeed all those concerned with education in its broadest sense. These essays, a number of them based on lectures presented to various professional organizations, reveals her dedication to learning and teaching, as it reveals her belief in the potential of each individual person. A philosopher whose orientation is largely existential and phenomenological, she seeks to demystify aspects of today’s technological society, to question taken-for-granted notions of social justice and equality, and to elucidate conflicts between youth and age, the poor and the middle class, minorities and Whites, male and female. As a humanist, she calls for self-reflectiveness, wide-awakeness, and personal transformation within the context of each person’s own lived world—each one’s particular landscape of work, experience, and aspiration. Recognizing the multiple realities that compose experience, the many landscapes against which sense-making proceeds, the essays are grouped in four sections: intellectual and moral components of emancipatory education; social issues and their implications for approaches to pedagogy; artistic-aesthetic considerations in the making of curriculum; and the cultural significance of women’s predicaments today. All are richly illuminated by examples; all are written with grace and passion; all will help readers achieve greater self-understanding and critical consciousness. “This is a significant book.”—Phi Delta Kappan “Maxine Greene forces us to consider what we can do even in a limited way and to begin to understand where we have failed.” —Cross Currents

This book proposes a new way of categorizing curricula in the holistic educational traditional. This is an idea that goes back in the Western tradition at least as far as Plato, and Lao Tzu in the Eastern tradition. It is certainly present in Spinoza and Schopenhauer. It is called a “holarchy”. The idea of a holarchy gives rise to Integrative Curriculum Theory, which, with major modifications, draws on Ken Wilber’s in his evolutionary model of the development of consciousness at personal, cultural and ontological realms. Integrative Curriculum Theory will: 1) Prove a useful addition to the holistic repertoire of systematic and, above all, humane terminologies and “technologies” for making and evaluating specific curricula as well as for theorizing the curriculum at a time when “scientistic,” “technist” and profit-driven views of education have commandeered the podium, policy, and praxis and 2) address some areas of concern that with certain holistic models of education, and 3) address some problems in Wilber’s integral model of psychological, cultural, and spiritual evolution.

The World's Fearlessness Teachings addresses the human fear problem in a truly unique and insightful way, summarizing the teachings on fearlessness from around the world and throughout history. The author then utilizes critical integral theory (a la Wilber) as an approach to categorize the developmental and evolutionary spectrum of fear management systems known thus far. The author has spent twenty years researching the timely topic of fear and how to best manage and transform it. From this experience, he offers an educational healing vision to address the challenges of a dangerous 21st century. Fear's empire has taken rule. It is time to resist it using the best intelligence from both sacred and secular traditions, as well as the transformational theories humanity has to offer. Fisher maps out ten fear management systems that will benefit future-positive leaders everywhere.

This book presents research involving learning opportunities that are afforded to learners of science when the focus is on linking the formal and informal science education sectors. It uses the metaphor of a "landscape" as it emphasises how the authors see the possible movement within a landscape that is inclusive of formal, informal and free-choice opportunities. The book explores opportunities to change formal school science education via perspectives and achievements from the informal and free-choice science education sector within the wider lifelong, life-wide education landscape. Additionally it explores how science learning that occurs in a more inclusive landscape can demonstrate the potential power of these opportunities to address issues of relevance and engagement that currently plague the learning of science in school settings. Combining specific contexts, case studies and more general examples, the book examines the science learning landscapes by means of the lens of an ecosystem and the case of the Synergies longitudinal research project. It explores the relationships between school and museum, and relates the lessons learned through encounters with a narwhal. It discusses science communication, school-community partnerships, socioscientific issues, outreach education, digital platforms and the notion of a learning ecology.

The changing landscape of Spanish language education -- History and evolution of post-secondary Spanish language education in the United States -- Spanish heritage language learners : finding their place -- Incorporating meaningful service learning into Spanish L2 curricula -- Curricular and programmatic considerations in Spanish for specific purposes -- Issues in Spanish curricular assessment : placement, outcomes and articulation -- Connecting Spanish language education with social, economic, and political realities -- Training future Spanish teachers -- Technological advances in Spanish language education -- Charting a course forward -- Appendix A. Description of data sources