Abstract: William E. Dole Jr. applied postmodern framework to curriculum field with his broad vision and unique thinking. He absorbed the theories and thoughts of many scholars and constructed his own postmodern curriculum theory. This paper briefly summarizes his post-modern curriculum view from three aspects: theoretical basis, curriculum concept and curriculum standard, in order to have a preliminary understanding of it.
Keywords: post-modern Dole curriculum concept, curriculum standards
William E. Doyle, Jr. is a professor and director of the curriculum theory program in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching of Louisiana State University. Dole calls himself a postmodernist. He believes that we are now in an era of paradigm shift, that is, from modern paradigm to post-modern paradigm (Dole explains paradigm from Kuhn's point of view and thinks that "paradigm" controls "the methods, problems and standards used by the community, as well as the aggregation of its broader beliefs, values and skills"). In the process of this paradigm shift, the curriculum based on modern paradigm will undoubtedly face many problems. This is the core of Dole's post-modern curriculum view, and all problems revolve around this issue.
First, the theoretical basis of Dole's post-modernism curriculum view
(A) Dole's criticism of the modernist closed curriculum system and its theory
1. Criticism of the pre-modernist curriculum system. Dole believes that determinism prevailed in the material world in the18th century and the19th century-the determinism in Descartes methodology and Newton's stable worldview tell people that the relationship between things can be found and can also be used for prediction and control. This view had a great influence on the educational research in the19th century and 20th century, which made the curriculum field show a tendency of being closed, linear, unified, predictable and certain.
2. Criticize the modernist curriculum view. At the beginning of the 20th century, Taylor's scientific management theory was introduced into school management, and the curriculum as the core of the school also turned to "scientific management". At this time, education experts began to be keen on the design of curriculum model, the most famous of which should belong to Taylor's curriculum model, which is known as the "father of modern curriculum theory". Doyle believes that Taylor's curriculum model is the product and model of modernist closed curriculum system. Because Taylor's curriculum and teaching principles mainly focus on the following four questions: First, what goals should the school achieve? Second, what educational experience can be provided to achieve these goals? Third, how to organize these educational experiences effectively? Fourthly, how can we ensure that these goals are being achieved? Therefore, Dole mainly criticizes Taylor's modern curriculum view from the disconnection between curriculum objectives and experience (the specific content will be explained more clearly below).
(B) the theoretical cornerstone of post-modernism curriculum view
After criticizing the closed curriculum system of modernism and its theory, Dole creatively applied Dewey's process theory and Whitehead's organic process theory with a macroscopic and comprehensive vision and concept. Piaget's "balanced model" and I.llyaPrigogine's theory of self-organized dissipative structure paint a pluralistic and open blueprint for postmodernism, and put forward a curriculum view that transcends modern scientific rationality-transformational curriculum view. This post-modern curriculum design thought takes 4R as the standard, seeking to replace modern monologue one-way authoritative education, thus realizing the real transcendence of Taylor's principle of instrumental rationality.
1, process theory. Process theory includes Dewey's process theory and Whitehead's organic process theory. Dewey's process theory holds that "experience is first of all a process of experience, a process of experiencing something ..., and experience has initiative and continuity;" Human thinking is also a process, a process of reflection. " Reflective thinking is a tool to form a transformative curriculum. As far as curriculum is concerned, the function of curriculum is not to preset experience, but to transform existing experience. Whitehead, on the other hand, put forward the primacy of process from the perspective of internal relations and based on organic theory. Whitehead's organic theory emphasizes an important aspect, not a whole interconnection. Another important aspect is that things are not static, but developing, moving and changing. They are formative and procedural. His original concept of relationship and process has found a "feeling" for us to change the curriculum theory. Inspired by these two theories, Dole believes that education is also a process, in which educational goals and courses should be coordinated and unified as a whole, rather than one-sided and fragmented; It is not static and predetermined, but uncertain, and the curriculum can be transformed through reflection. "... goals and objectives, the curriculum beacon that guides us so many curriculum behaviors, will not appear naturally. They are personal decisions made as cultural existence at historical moment. We need to understand these existences and their moments in order to create courses. "
2. Piaget's biological point of view. The human life system is complex and open. The important feature of an open system is that not only the system itself interacts with the external environment, but also the interaction within the system produces a self-organization full of mysterious charm. After applying this idea to the curriculum, Dole thinks that curriculum experts should pay attention to: the curriculum should be rich in complex nature; The curriculum should go beyond the closed framework to open; Courses should be conducive to learners' self-organization and the possibility of deepening.
3. Chaos theory. Newtonianism before chaos theory thought that nature was orderly, regular, predictable and determinable. However, black holes, rotating mesons and self-replicating DNA show complexity, randomness and unpredictability. The application of chaos theory in teaching is mainly the conceptual application of regression. Through regression (that is, circulation), individuals can reflect on themselves and gain a sense of self and value through self-reference experience. Personal reflection and discussion of these reflections are the key parts of this curriculum view. Chedor believes that creativity can be generated in chaotic order. "Creativity is generated in the interaction of chaotic order, unconstrained imagination and trained skills."
4. I.llyaPrigogine's dissipative structure theory. Prigogine applied non-equilibrium thermodynamics and non-equilibrium statistical physics to study self-organization phenomena, and established a set of unique self-organization theories with dissipative structure as the central concept. The so-called self-organization refers to the self-organization and ordering process of natural or objective things themselves. The self-organization of a system is a process in which the system spontaneously forms its organizational structure, self-development and self-movement. Dole believes that dissipative structure is the source of orderly creation, which can achieve order through fluctuation, and it is also easy to cause openness and become uncertain and nonlinear. He introduced the idea of dissipative structure into the curriculum, which he thought had a great influence on education and curriculum: (1) Teaching-framework can be separated from the causal framework as the direct result of teaching, or the relationship between preaching and learning is high-level and low-level, thus turning to another way, that is, teaching is subordinate to individual self-organization and dominated by it. Teaching reform has changed its practice and turned to dialogue. (2) Repeated, regressive and nonlinear curriculum materials can promote reflection.
Second, Dole's new curriculum concept
On the basis of extensive and special care for many theories with post-modern premonition, Dole put forward his own curriculum utopia, that is, "no one has the truth, and everyone has the right to be understood" [1](p238). In this curriculum ideal, teachers are leaders, but only equal members of the community. In this community, metaphor can trigger dialogue more than logic. New ideas about educational objectives, curriculum organization, teaching process and evaluation will also emerge, which will be open and flexible, focusing on process rather than results.
1, education goal
Dole believes that the setting of educational goals in modern paradigm is very mechanical before the teaching process, which makes teachers and students become passive and active under the control of goals, which makes teaching and learning lack due creativity. He appreciates Dewey's view that "the goal comes from the action and runs in the action" ... is the turning point in the activity, not the activity ... "Whitehead thinks that" the existence of an entity is composed of its formative nature ",[2](p204), so he is convinced that the goal is varied and constantly generated, and teachers and students are * * * in the interactive activities. In this way, before the process, we can only use general or even "vague" words to describe the goal. This generative goal can really give teachers and students great initiative and make teaching and learning change and adjust with time, situation and conditions, which is an accurate grasp of the uncertainty and dynamic characteristics of the education and teaching process.
2. Course content
"Onlooker-on epistemology" holds that knowledge is transcendental, certain and exists independently of the subject. Therefore, Taylor's curriculum view based on this epistemology emphasizes the certainty, rigor and unity of curriculum content, and excludes vague and uncertain knowledge from curriculum content. Dole accused the modern curriculum represented by it of relying on a closed and linear way of thinking, assuming stability and "God doesn't roll dice". These ideas are reflected in the curriculum content, which is the knowledge system that students are required to determine.
Dole believes that in the post-modern paradigm, doubts that God may have used lead dice can be seen everywhere. In his curriculum utopia, "no one has the truth, and everyone has the right to be understood" [3](p238), so there should be many possibilities or explanations in the curriculum content, and there should be "moderate" uncertainty, abnormality and fuzziness. [4](p250) How to grasp the "right amount"? Dole believes that this is uncertain and can only be coordinated among students, teachers and texts.
3. Course organization
In the modern paradigm, stability, inevitability and external control are all considered to be self-evident, and God neither cheats nor rolls dice. Reflected in the curriculum organization, it is a linear and gradual organizational model. Here, gullies, fractures and accidents are regarded as "background noise", which is a waste of time and needs to be overcome or weakened as much as possible. In Taylor's curriculum model, the curriculum organization is linear and gradual, and the curriculum is a series of adjacent and independent unit combinations. Time, as a related variable of content, is meaningful only from the perspective of accumulation, rather than being regarded as a positive component of creative transformation.
The postmodern paradigm holds that contingency and uncertainty are everywhere. Not only are we not sure about God's sex, but we also suspect that God may use lead-containing dice. Interference and imbalance are both conditions to promote the self-organization of the system. Therefore, Dole believes that curriculum organization should be nonlinear and complex, defined by various intersections and full of relevant meaning networks. It "goes beyond the view that curriculum is a series of adjacent units", but "a multi-level combination of rich and open experiences" and "a complex mosaic that changes the center with the shift of our attention"
4. Teaching process
Dole criticized the teaching under the background of modern curriculum mainly for the realization of curriculum objectives. All aspects of its implementation are controlled by curriculum objectives, and teachers and students are bound by established objectives. The essence of post-modern curriculum implementation is to face the educational situation and teachers and students themselves. Dole agrees with Schwab, the representative figure of discipline structure theory, that is, "the problem of teaching and learning needs to be dealt with from the perspective of practice rather than theory;" It needs to be handled in a specific and specific way ... This way is infinitely influenced by the situation, so it has a high response ability to unexpected changes, and further believes that "teachers and students should be encouraged and required to develop their own courses freely through interaction". [5](23 1) Compared with the "goal-achieving mode" of modern teaching, this postmodern "practice mode" has great flexibility and is more in line with the actual situation of teaching.
Because the teaching process is situation-oriented, Dole feels that the traditional indoctrination and explanation methods can no longer be used. The correct way should be participation, dialogue, reflection and transformation, because the curriculum in the post-modern framework is "not a package, but a process-a process of dialogue and transformation". Conversation is the core of Dole's curriculum. He believes that conversation leads to reflection, which in turn leads to transformation.
In Dole's curriculum ideal, the teacher is the "chief among equals" in the teaching process, and his role is transformed from the external situation of students to the existence of this situation, and his authority is also transferred to the human situation; He didn't ask students to accept his authority, but asked them to postpone their distrust of that authority. [6](227) This view of teachers is a complete denial of the absolute authority of teachers in traditional education. Its positive significance lies in paying attention to establishing an equal relationship between teachers and students, so that teachers and students can gain a sense of empowerment in the teaching situation.
5. Curriculum evaluation
In Taylor's model, evaluation is the process of determining the degree to which courses and teaching plans actually achieve educational goals. Because Taylor believes that the educational goal essentially refers to the change of people's behavior, and evaluation is a process that determines the degree of actual behavior change, and this evaluation
The price aims to determine the "shortage" and "gap". Therefore, in order to carry out evaluation, the definition of educational objectives must be clear and specific. The results of the evaluation do not include reflection on the educational objectives, but aim at improving the teaching plan and determining the advantages and disadvantages of students. In this way, evaluation has become the driving force of the curriculum.
Dole believes that this kind of curriculum evaluation is basically used to "distinguish winners and losers", [7](246) "Examination is almost universally used as a means of distinction rather than the starting point of dialogue", and its hypothetical grade evaluation is an evaluation of how many standards and methods children have obtained. Postmodernism dispels the simplicity, closeness and accuracy of modernist curriculum evaluation criteria, and emphasizes the diversity, dynamics and fuzziness of evaluation criteria. In essence, curriculum evaluation has become a collaborative process with the purpose of change under the same background. Evaluation has become the starting point of reflection, and teachers are with students in reflection. Teachers will play a central role in the evaluation process, but teachers are by no means the only evaluators. In addition, postmodernism believes that evaluation is a kind of feedback and an integral part of the cycle of doing-criticizing-doing-criticizing. Of course, in the post-modern framework, if necessary, evaluation can still play a distinguishing function, but it may be judged by different individuals, such as doctoral committees and admissions committees.
Thirdly, the standard of Dole's post-modern curriculum view.
In view of Taylor's linear curriculum design model's predestination (curriculum objectives, curriculum content), control (curriculum implementation, curriculum evaluation) and closure, Doyle believes that postmodern curriculum should be constructive and nonlinear, formative rather than predefined. Therefore, Dole put forward the "4R" standards of postmodern curriculum design, namely, Rich (richness), Recursive (regression), Relational (relevance) and rigorous (rigor).
1, richness. Refers to the depth of the course, the level of meaning, multiple possibilities or multiple explanations. Dole thinks: in order to promote students and teachers to change and be changed, the curriculum should have an appropriate amount of uncertainty, abnormality, ineffectiveness, fuzziness, imbalance, dissipation and vivid experience. [8](250) But for the curriculum, how can we stimulate creativity in an appropriate amount without losing form or form? This problem should be constantly coordinated among students, teachers and textbooks, but the curriculum needs interference factors, and there is no need to coordinate these factors. These factors form the suspicion, interference and possibility of life itself. This not only endows the curriculum with richness, but also has the meaning of existence. The main subjects in the school have their own historical background, basic concepts and final vocabulary. So each subject should explain its richness in its own way. Language, including reading, writing, literature and oral communication, focuses on the interpretation of metaphor, myth and narrative to develop its richness. Computing teaching can develop its curriculum richness through model games, and social sciences-anthropology, economics, history, psychology and sociology can gain richness from dialogue or coordination among various explanations of social problems. Biology and physics aim to intuitively feel, develop, explore and prove our assumptions about the world around us, which makes science go beyond the collection of facts.
2. Return. It comes from the meaning of recursion, and regression is usually related to repeated operations in teaching. In repetition, the result of one operation of the equation is the input of another operation, so a formula is repeatedly operated. In y= 3x+ 1, y equals 4 (if x= 1) to become the next x, then the new y= 13 becomes the next x, and so on. [9](252) In this repetition, it has both stability and variability; The formula remains the same, but the variables have changed. In the process of regression, there is no fixed starting point and end point. As Dewey pointed out, every end point is a new starting point, and every starting point comes from the last end point. The fragments, components and order of the course are arbitrarily combined, and they should not be regarded as isolated units, but as opportunities for reflection. Under this framework, each exam and homework is not just a discussion and inquiry. This course is naturally open rather than closed. Like postmodernism itself, it is flexible, elastic and explanatory. Regression and repetition are different. No matter what way, one can't reflect the other. Repetition is an important factor of modernism, aiming at promoting scheduled performances. Its framework is open, and the functional difference between repetition and regression lies in the role of reflection in it. In repetition, reflection plays its negative role, it cuts off the process, repetition has some automaticity, and keeps the same process running. In the return, reflection plays a positive role. In the process of reunification, others-peers and teachers-are needed to check, criticize and respond to their actions. Dialogue is an absolute necessity for retrogression. Without reflection-caused by dialogue-regression will become superficial without transformation. It's not reflection and regression, but repetition. [ 10](254)
3. Relevance. The concept of connection is of great significance to the post-modern transformation curriculum in both education and culture. The former can naturally be called educational connection, which refers to the connection in those courses-courses given to enrich the model network; The latter can naturally be called cultural connection, which refers to those cultural connections outside the curriculum. The relationship between them is both main and complementary. [1 1](254) Educational contact focuses on the internal connection of curriculum structure and develops the depth of curriculum through regression. Here, the process of doing and the reflection of doing are very important. Through these courses, the courses become more and more abundant with the passage of time. Dole hopes that in the course of a semester, educational contacts can develop actively and synchronously. "Organize undergraduate and postgraduate courses from the perspective of promoting this development. In the syllabus, he listed 2/3 of the reading materials, and the remaining 1/3 was selected by each group from the selected bibliography. Class time is not used to summarize these materials, but to link the selected materials with the reading materials and various materials. " [12] (256) With the progress of the semester, the quality of discussion has been continuously improved. Using the insights gained, the articles written at the beginning of the semester have been rewritten and reorganized, and the quality of the articles has been greatly improved. Sometimes this change is transformational. The concept of cultural relevance comes from hermeneutic cosmology, which emphasizes that description and dialogue are the main tools of interpretation. Description puts forward the concepts of history, language and place. Dialogue connects the two and provides us with a sense of culture that originated in a local area but is connected with the whole world.
4. rigidity. Dole believes that "rigor is the most important of the four standards, which prevents the transformation curriculum from falling into' communication relativism' or solipsism with emotional problems." [13] (258) Stiffness is a redefinition of concepts, which is associated with interpretation and uncertainty. The main purpose is not to end up with the correctness of one viewpoint prematurely or finally, but to combine all viewpoints in various ways. Here, rigor means purposefully looking for different options, relationships and connections. Strict treatment of interpretation needs to realize that all evaluations depend on assumptions, and different frameworks, problems, procedures and evaluation results are different. Stiffness here refers to consciously looking for these assumptions held by us or others, as well as the cooperation channels of these assumptions, so as to make the dialogue effective and transformed. So rigor can be defined from the perspective of combination-the combination of uncertainty and explanation. The characteristics of explanation and its own richness depend on how well we develop the various options presented by uncertainty.
Four. abstract
Dole's postmodern curriculum view is actually a transformational curriculum view, which emphasizes the openness, self-organization and creativity of the system, the uncertainty of the curriculum process and the interaction and dialogue between teachers and students, so it has the characteristics of openness, uncertainty and interaction. These propositions undoubtedly provide broad prospects for curriculum research.
Precautions:
[1]——[ 13] Little William? e？ Dole. Post-modern curriculum view [M]. Trans. Wang Hongyu. Beijing: Education Science Press, 2000.
References:
[1] America] William Jr? e？ Dole. Post-modern curriculum view [M]. Trans. Wang Hongyu. Beijing: Education Science Press, 2000.
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[3] Li Zijian and Yin Hongbiao. Curriculum implementation in the post-modern perspective [J]. Journal of East China Normal University (Education Science Edition) 2003, (1)
[4] Jin Yule. Modern curriculum theory [M]. Chongqing: Southwest Normal University Press, 1995.
[5] Qi, "Curriculum Theory Facing the New Century-A Review of PatrickSlattery's Postmodern Curriculum Thought in the United States", in Comparative Education Research, No.6, 1997.
[6] Zhang Hua: "Research on Experiential Curriculum", doctoral thesis of East China Normal University, 1998.