Dr. A. Lin Goodwin, Associate Professor in Curriculum & Teaching, Teachers College,
Columbia University
3 Credits - Out-of-Program (OOP) for Group 16
Letter Grade only

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is an introduction to curriculum design and development. We will study different approaches to curriculum development that have been offered during this century. Curriculum design and development encourage us to consider the ways that knowledge gets constructed, validated, passed on, contested, and reconstructed. We will ponder the central curriculum questions: What knowledge is of most value and worth? What should students know, experience, and find out?

The basic assumptions underlying this course are:

1. Curricula are not defined as content and teaching materials; rather, curricula are the result of numerous decisions made by educators and students based on their best understandings of the needs of learners, the socio-political-cultural-economic milieu, and the moral and ethical dimensions of schooling;
2. In our diverse world we are fast becoming a global community, and therefore curriculum development must necessarily acknowledge and address questions of diversity, multiculturalism, pluralism, and equity;
3. Curriculum change and innovation require that educators collaborate, build consensus and share perspectives and expertise.

TEXTBOOKS

Tyler, Ralph (1949). Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

BIO

A. Lin Goodwin is Associate Professor of Education and Co-director of the Pre-serviceProgram in Childhood Education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has a B.Sc. with Honors from Central Connecticut State University, and an M.A., Ed.M and Ed.D from Teachers College.

Dr. Goodwin's research and writing focus on the connections between teachers' identities and their development; between multicultural understandings and curriculum enactments; and on the particular issues facing Asian and Asian American teachers and students in U.S. schools. Her publications include "Racial identity and education" in AERA's Review of Research in Education (co-authored with Carter), "Multicultural stories: Pre-service teachers' conceptions of and responses to issues of diversity" in Urban Education, and "Voices from the margins: Asian American teachers' experiences in the profession" (co-authored with Genishi, Asher and Woo). She is also the editor of the book, Assessment for equity and inclusion: Embracing all our children. In honor of her work and contributions to the theory and practice of multicultural education, she received the Distinguished Scholar award from the American Educational Research Association's Committee on the Role and Status of Minorities in Educational Research and Development.

Dr. Goodwin serves as a consultant and staff developer to a wide variety of organizations including school districts, philanthropic foundations, higher education institutions, and professional educational organizations around issues of diversity, educational equity, assessment and teacher education. Her work in multicultural curriculum development has taken her throughout Europe and Asia where she has collaborated with teacher education faculty, school administrators and teachers to bring about school and curriculum reform.