Module A explored 'What is curriculum?'.
Wikipedia provides the following definition of curriculum: "a curriculum is the set of courses, course work, and content offered at a school or university". This is consistent with my initial notion of a curriculum.
This definition is extended by Schmidt et al to include the "sequences of learning opportunities in formal schooling". It is noted that the sequences of learning opportunities are not visible; the tangible artefacts consist of entities such as documents, textbooks and lessons plans.
The article by Egan considers some of the broader issues in curriculum studies. It is argued that curriculum studies is not simply studying the content of curricula, but must consider all educational aspects. Although curriculum is the what, it is necessary to understand the how as well. He believes that western cultures are struggling with the design of content due to a loss of nerve.
I am planning to teach mathematics. It appears to me that mathematics does not suffer the problems of many other disciplines that struggle to understand their core content or meaning. For example, there is no post-modernist angst among mathematicians. I would suggest this is a reason why Mathematics was arguably the least controversial curriculum developed as part of the Australian National Curriculum. This is not to say that there are differences of opinion about what material and in what order the content should be in the curriculum, but these differences are not as political and emotional as discussions of history content when considering issues of western colonization (for example).
The discussion of curriculum has made me consider the provocation "Am I ready to teach". I realise that I have to have a detailed knowledge of the National Curriculum in mathematics before I teach. From the tutorial, it was clearly shown why teaching material for a year 7 class must be designed so that it does not rely on or use, concepts that may confuse or intimidate students.
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