Sources, Goals, and the Two Screens

This final article ties the building process back to where objectives come from. The sources feed in the raw material, the school distils it into general goals, and teachers pass those goals through two screens to produce the precise objectives they teach. It is Tyler’s whole logic, seen as a pipeline.

The sources and the goals

Three sources supply the data for a curriculum: society’s values, students’ needs, and input from subject specialists. Together they help determine the educational purposes a school should pursue, and they push a developer to look at the broader context affecting the curriculum. They raise questions such as:

1. What educational goals should the school hope to achieve?
2. What knowledge and skills prepare learners for jobs today and in future?
3. How can a curriculum serve learners of different styles, abilities, and interests?
4. Is the subject hierarchical, sequential, or spiral in nature?
5. How can knowledge and skills across subjects be integrated?
6. How can a thematic approach help learners see how knowledge connects?

Answering these questions is the first step toward curriculum development. It defines the scope of the curriculum and determines the general goals of education. These general goals appear in all curricula, national and school, and they in turn determine what should be taught, how it should be taught, and how it should be assessed.

Flashcard

What do the general goals of education, once determined, decide?

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Answer

What should be taught, how it should be taught, and how it should be assessed

The sources, society, learners, and specialists, and the questions they raise define the scope and set the general goals. Those goals then drive content, method, and assessment.

The two screens turn goals into objectives

A general goal is too broad to teach directly. To turn it into something workable, teachers apply two screens, exactly the two met earlier in the module on purposes:

1. Their philosophy of education.
2. Their understanding of the psychology of learning.

Using these two screens, teachers construct instructional objectives and describe learners’ learning in precise terms. The general goal goes in; a teachable, measurable objective comes out.

The two screens do different jobs, and the difference maps onto ends and means. A teacher’s philosophy of education shapes what will be included in the curriculum, the ends. Their views about learning shape how it will be taught, the means. Philosophy matters as a filter because it gives meaning and direction to the actions a teacher takes regarding the curriculum. The psychology of learning matters because it answers how learners learn best and whether the goals are appropriate for the level of the learners. One screen decides what is worth teaching; the other decides what can actually be learned and how.

Flashcard

What two screens do teachers apply to turn general goals into instructional objectives?

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Answer

Their philosophy of education and their understanding of the psychology of learning

Philosophy shapes the ends, what is worth including and why; psychology shapes the means, how to teach it and whether learners at this level can reach it. A goal must pass both.