Traditionally, content has been considered as curriculum development's primary focus. Contemporary views of curriculum have not diminished content's importance in the curriculum building process; however, content is currently seen as having a shared role in determining what the curriculum should be. As with many other curricula, the thematic curriculum is developed giving full consideration to how potential content aligns with contextual, organizational, and delivery decisions (see Sections 3, 4, and 5). In this section, ways that thematic curriculum content may be identified and organized are described. The process begins by documenting school, workplace, and community needs and potential contributions. This is followed by identifying and selecting curriculum content. Selected content is then organized and integrated in ways that best serve students' needs.
If the thematic curriculum is to have relevance, curriculum content should be closely aligned with the school, the workplace, and the community. But why is this so important? Just as mathematics and English course content are often based on what students need to prepare them for further education and to function in the real world, thematic curriculum content should be relevant to students' current and future educational and career needs. Content should also link in meaningful ways with the community and the workplace. For example, it is important to document potential opportunities to utilize the workplace and the community as school partners. Since the thematic curriculum places emphasis on a broad content theme (e.g., industry, field, career) it is important to determine
Internal and external scanning, which are used in the strategic planning process, can be easily applied to curriculum needs assessment (Herman, 1989). Internal scanning consists of gathering relevant information from people and other sources within the organization (school and school district); whereas, external scanning refers to gathering information from outside the organization (businesses, industries, and the community). Gathering this information can be as simple or as complex as time and resources permit. However, the process should seek answers to key questions about the school, the workplace, and the community.
Documenting why the school and its staff intend to create a thematic curriculum is basic to the development process since it allows intentions to be discussed, debated, and ultimately documented. These actions--especially documentation--ensure that school staff who are involved with the curriculum understand what they will be getting into and why. Determining which students the curriculum will serve is important since this decision has direct impact on the curriculum content and expectations. For example, a thematic curriculum designed for students who plan to attend universities right after high school might be quite different from one that will serve students who plan to attend universities after they have been employed for a few years. When determining which student groups the curriculum will serve, several questions may serve as focal points (see Figure 6-1).
Answers to these questions should reveal what constitutes the curriculum's target population; that is, which students the curriculum will be designed to serve. However, the answers can also assist in deciding what marketing may be needed to reach these students so they are encouraged to enroll.
Figure 6-1. Determining Who the Curriculum Will Serve
- What defining characteristics do the potential student enrollees have? (e.g., college and university bound, interest in the transportation field, current enrollment in middle school career cluster studies)
- At what grade level(s) might students be enrolled in the thematic curriculum? This information has implications for determining students' maturity levels and educational levels when they enroll in the curriculum.
- To what extent will students' parents and peers support their enrollment in thematic studies? This information has implications for student enrollment support from others and assists in determining whether students will actually enroll.
Information gathered from businesses and industries can also be a valuable contributor to curriculum decisions. However, designing the thematic curriculum differs markedly from curricula focusing on preparing students for specific jobs and occupations. Rather than just basing content specifically on detailed job task information gathered from workers employed in specific jobs, a broad theme serves as the content organizer. Information gathered from businesses and industries located in the area served by the school or school district assists in defining this organizer. Once obtained, information can be used to aid in (1) deciding what the theme will be (e.g., manufacturing, marketing, travel and tourism, the built environment), (2) determining aspects of the theme that will serve as the curriculum organizer, and (3) identifying potential ways businesses and industries can contribute to creating the curriculum and providing support. It should be noted that selection of a content organizer need not be based on what is occurring or exists in the local area. For example, even though the nearest airport may be over 50 miles from a high school, the school faculty might decide to implement a curriculum focusing on the aviation and aerospace field since this focus will be interesting and challenging to students. Faculty at another high school may decide to focus their curriculum on the aviation and aerospace field because airports and aviation- and aerospace-related industries and businesses are close by and offer a number of employment opportunities. Questions asked of businesses and industries that can assist in making curriculum decisions are included in Figure 6-2.
Figure 6-2. Curriculum-Related Questions To Ask Businesses and Industries
- To what extent do different workplaces focus their efforts on common themes? For example, it may be useful to know if a number of the businesses and industries focus directly and extensively on manufacturing, health care, or some other broad theme area.
- What potential exists for businesses and industries to become partners and/or assist in other ways with implementing and otherwise contributing to the thematic curriculum? This might include providing students with workplace job shadowing and internship opportunities and assisting in creating and maintaining the curriculum (e.g., providing teachers with opportunities to intern in the workplace, serving on curriculum advisory committees, and offering to serve as guest speakers in the school).
- What potential exists for the curriculum to be of value to businesses and industries? Collaboration is a two-way street. The curriculum must be seen as contributing in meaningful ways to business and industry as well as educational needs. It is thus important to clearly document how the curriculum will benefit businesses and industries.
Details about the community can, likewise, provide valuable information for curriculum decisions. By extending external scanning to the community, information may be gathered about how community activities, including those of public service providers (e.g., local government, chambers of commerce, health service agencies) can contribute to the thematic curriculum. The types of community-related questions asked, which are similar to those asked of businesses and industries, may be found in Figure 6-3.
Figure 6-3. Curriculum-Related Questions To Ask Community Representatives
- To what extent may community agencies and providers be linked to a common theme or themes (e.g., public administration, protective services)?
- What opportunities exist for the community or a subset of the community to become a partner in providing the curriculum? Although often ignored as a potential resource, the community services and agencies can make excellent partners.
- What contributions can the curriculum make to the community? Again, it is important to document ways the thematic curriculum can contribute to the community.
Useful information may be gathered in several ways. The most widely used approaches are face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and surveys. Procedures for conducting interviews and surveys are available from a number of sources (e.g., Finch & Crunkilton, 1993; Frey, 1983; Spradley, 1979). It may also be useful to examine community records and information bases. For example, telephone directories can reveal how many and what types of employers are involved in some way with the transportation field (e.g., automotive sales and service, railway operations, aviation, moving companies). Curriculum advisory committees can also provide meaningful information. If an advisory committee is established early in the curriculum development process, committee members who represent that theme can assist by identifying useful information sources available in the area.
Regarding specifics to be asked about the school, the workplace, and community, questions listed in this section can assist in gathering basic information for curriculum content decisions. Questions related to a specific theme and to a certain locality may be added as necessary so more detailed local information is gathered.
Identifying and selecting thematic curriculum content is a key component of the development process. Unlike curricula for many content areas that have been developed and refined over the years and are readily available for review, examples of thematic curricula can be very difficult to locate. Additionally, since the thematic curriculum is sometimes tailored to a specific locality or region, there may be little opportunity to take an existing curriculum from one school and implement it in another school without first making major changes.
In Figure 6-4, an overview of the content identification and selection process is provided. School, employer, and community information is fundamental to the process since it provides both a context and a starting point for content decisions. It is especially important to gather information about standards that can affect what is taught, how it is taught, and the extent to which student learning should occur in the school. These standards may be schoolwide, school districtwide, or take the form of state learning expectations for students. For example, statewide student learning standards such as "use technologies as extensions of the mind" and "write and speak with power, economy, and elegance" (Eggebrecht et al., 1996) could be important determiners of what content will ultimately be included in the curriculum. Other standards such as those that must be met in order to be certified as an emergency medical technician or to receive a private pilot's license may affect the content provided in a thematic curriculum with a health and human services or an aviation and aerospace technology emphasis. Other content sources should not be overlooked. Examples of broad industries and fields and related information can provide meaningful input for content selection. Included in Appendices A, B, and C are several examples of industries and fields; content organized around broad themes; and career clusters, pathways, and majors. These examples can be used to stimulate discussion and make decisions about what should be included in the thematic curricula. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (U.S. Department of Labor, 1991) is another excellent information source since it presents information about a wide range of occupational areas and clusters (see Appendix A).
Figure 6-4. Theme Content Identification and
Selection: Building from an All Aspects Base
*Functions, issues, concerns, and
technologcial knowledge and skills
Many existing curricula such as those in marketing, agriculture, technology, and business education are broadly and comprehensively organized and may thus be potentially useful information sources. It is important to note that the thematic curriculum does not have to be created from scratch. As with most curriculum work, ideas can be drawn from a variety of sources and shaped to fit the local situation.
Also included in Figure 6-4 are core elements of the thematic curriculum: a theme (e.g., industry, field), broadly defined content areas, and related focus areas. As noted earlier, the theme serves as curriculum content organizer. It should be broad enough to encompass a predominant area. And how large should a theme be? Perhaps the best way to describe its size is to consider what schools have done. In some high schools, thematic curricula organized as career majors and academies may take up most of students' school time for three or four school years. However, other high schools involve students less than two or three periods each school day for two or three school years. Others may be organized into six or eight different but complementary themes (clusters, majors, or pathways), with each student being a member of one theme "team." Many high schools also coordinate and monitor students' paid or unpaid summer internships in business and industry. In effect, a theme is not "English" or "drafting"; it is something much more encompassing such as "International Baccalaureate," "business and marketing," or "manufacturing." When the theme is being selected, several questions may assist in providing direction. Does the potential theme . . .
Examples of various themes and content (Appendices A and B) and their applications in selected high schools (Appendix C) are useful starting points for content decisionmaking. When these examples are combined with current school, employer, and community information and ideas drawn from other content sources, the result should be selection of a tentative theme.
Next, broad content areas are determined. To accomplish this, potential content is reviewed in relation to the selected theme. For example, if engineering and technology is the tentative theme of choice, information gathered about students, employers, and the community focusing on engineering and technology should be examined. Available engineering- and technology-related curricula and content sources may also be studied (Appendices B and C). A few questions related to tentative content areas follow:
Finally, consider related focus areas. For example, in manufacturing, these might encompass the fiscal, economic, marketing, distribution, and management areas. Examples of theme-wide functions, issues, concerns, and technological knowledge and skills are included in Appendix D. As with the broad content areas, it must be decided which related focus areas exemplify and truly define the broad theme. Questions related to focus area content include the following:
The content selection process must include times when all those who will be involved in teaching the content have opportunities to voice their feelings and concerns. Teachers directly involved in core theme instruction are logically members of the curriculum team and should be able to offer suggestions throughout the content identification and selection process. However, others who teach core-related subjects and/or coordinate students' work-based learning experiences should also be involved. These persons are in excellent positions to offer suggestions from their personal vantage points. They can also provide insights that may not have been otherwise considered. A useful way of bringing these educators together and getting their collective input is by using what Drake (1993) describes as the transdisciplinary/real-world approach. In this approach, which builds on strengths of the thematic approach, "Interconnections . . . are so vast they seem limitless: the theme, strategies, and skills seem to merge when the theme is set in its real-life context. Disciplines are transcended, but imbedded naturally within the connections if one cares to look" (p. 40). Drake goes on to say that the approach emphasizes relevance and meaning via a life-centered approach where "knowledge is explored as it is embedded in a real-life or cultural context" (p. 41). A transdisciplinary web has been devised by Drake to help educators shift their focus from disciplines to core learnings that are essential life skills for the productive future citizen. The transdisciplinary approach and web enable educators to move beyond specific disciplines, contexts, and situations. When Drake used a transdisciplinary web with curriculum writing teams, she found most participants discovered that knowledge is interconnected and value-laden. Thus, brainstorming that begins with a real-world focus (e.g., an industry or field) may lead to the identification of both broad content areas and related focus areas that include many functions, issues, concerns, and technological knowledge and skills. The transformational web example in Figure 6-5 uses Healthcare as a focal point. Building from Healthcare as an organizer, and using information gathered from the school, the workplace, and the community, as well as other content sources, a team can brainstorm, discuss, and then detail the broad content areas that should be embraced by this organizer. Concurrently, the team can consider what aspects of Healthcare impact at local, state, national, and international levels. Next, related focus areas can be identified that link with both the theme and the broad content areas. The result is a thematic curriculum that has been organized based on a wide variety of information.
Figure 6-5. Example of a Healthcare Transdisciplinary Web*
*This example builds on the web concept devised by Drake (1993).
During the content identification process, thematic curricula may be identified that have already been organized and packaged and may even be ready to implement. In fact, several organizations have prepared curricula that appear to have a strong theme focus. Potentially, these curricula can shorten the decision process described earlier by allowing the curriculum to be implemented much more quickly.
Even though several excellent curricula have been produced, a few cautionary notes are in order. First, ease of curriculum implementation should not be confused with quality and focus. A quality thematic curriculum must be in harmony with the school, its teachers, and its students as well as employers and the community. It would be most unfortunate to implement a curriculum and discover later that it was a poor choice. Second, the selection of an "off-the-shelf" curriculum may create ownership problems. As Harvey (1990) indicates, "the best predictor of ownership is participation" (p. 35). Teachers who are provided with opportunities to create curricula may feel they are curriculum owners rather than merely renters. Since pride in ownership can generate teacher satisfaction and motivation to improve the curriculum, it is very important to actively involve teachers in the curriculum selection process. And finally, it is important for teachers to have some negotiation power in terms of what is taught. If existing curricula include learning standards that do not make provision for teacher negotiation, teachers may believe the curriculum had been dumped on them by an outsider and never accept it as being usable and credible.
Most traditionally developed courses, programs, and curricula use textbooks as starting points for organizing and sequencing content. However, since reliance on a specific textbook tends to isolate what is taught and how it is taught, creating a thematic curriculum needs to occur in more comprehensive ways. Organizing and integrating content provides both teachers and their students with a broad framework for instruction and learning. Some teachers view this framework as a way to help structure content; whereas, others see it as a way to destructure content. Regardless of personal views, organized and integrated content should provide students with opportunities to learn about a broad theme in meaningful and effective ways. Information about linking curriculum with instruction is presented in Section 7. However, this does not mean content organization and integration should exclude consideration for student learning. As the development progresses, thought must be given to ways that students' learning needs can be met.
Armstrong (1989, pp. 78-80) presents four of the more popular approaches to curriculum content organization. Each of the four is important to consider when determining how content may be organized:
Each of these approaches can make contributions to the organization process.
The thematic approach has already been described in some detail. However, another example of its application is in order. Consider a theme called the built environment. Examples of broad content areas for this theme might be architecture, urban planning, environmental design, construction, engineering, and public services. Related focus area examples might include community issues, environmental issues, architectural issues, finance, health, and safety, as well as technological knowledge and skills related to the built environment.
The chronological approach is of greatest value when content is sequenced according to a calendar. This approach is most frequently used when historical subject matter is being organized. Its value may be seen when the historical aspects of a theme are taught. For example, in a thematic curriculum focusing on hospitality, tourism, and recreation, it might be meaningful to organize content on the rise of labor unions in a chronological order that is based on historical events.
Part-to-whole and whole-to-part approaches depend on how the content is to be utilized. Thus, content for a thematic curriculum focusing on communication might be organized so broad aspects of the communication field such as its contributions to quality of life, economic development, and so forth are taught first; followed by individual contributions to the communication process such as television, radio, the World Wide Web, and graphic communication. An aviation careers curriculum might begin with parts: airport operations, aircraft safety, flight regulations, and other basic technological components of the field; and merge these parts and others together many months later into the student's first solo flight and, ultimately, award of a private pilot's license.
These four approaches to content organization are useful tools for any curriculum development effort. However, the chronological, part-to-whole, and whole-to-part approaches are of value when organizing content subsets within the thematic curriculum. Thus, for example, the chronological approach might be most appropriate for organizing history content subsets of the thematic curriculum (e.g., historical aspects of an industry or field).
Content integration flows logically from curriculum organization. As noted in Section 4, curriculum integration is one of several innovative organizational options that are available to educators. But why is integration so important to consider at this point in the curriculum development process? In an article describing lessons learned from a half-decade of work in activist school reform, Nathan (1996) presents seven ways that educational change may be made more successful. Among the lessons, Nathan notes that "making schoolwork `real' is central to engaging many students" (p. 43). In effect, linking schoolwork with the real world in creative ways can help students who have been turned off education to get turned on again. Drake (1993) offers several other benefits of integrating the curriculum: "Integration, by reducing duplication of both skills and content, begins to allow us to teach more. It also gives us a new perspective on what constitutes basic skills" (p. 2). She goes on to say that (1) integration links subjects in ways that mirror the real world and (2) teaching in integrated ways aligns with learning research that supports learning through connection-making. Logically, a thematic curriculum can offer teachers a number of opportunities to provide integrated instruction to their students. So if a thematic curriculum is configured in ways that connect "basic" and "real world" content, it is more likely that teachers will accept the thematic content and teach it in integrated ways.
Fortunately, thematic content can be organized in an integrated fashion. Since a theme can include content drawn from numerous areas and these areas may be organized so subject-based is linked with the real world, there is greater potential for integrating the thematic curriculum.
Integration linkages may be identified using an integration planning matrix. The matrix typically includes traditional teaching areas on one axis and theme-wide functions, concerns, issues, and technological knowledge and skills on the other. Included as Figure 6-6 is an integration planning matrix for a travel and tourism theme. Teachers who represent both the theme and the various teaching areas begin the planning process by brainstorming to determine how teaching areas link travel and tourism with the more detailed functions, concerns, issues, and technological knowledge and skills that have already been identified by using the transdisciplinary web (Figure 6-5). The process places emphasis on building a base from a broad theme such as an industry or field rather than using a traditional teaching area or areas as a base. Realistically, as teachers decide what to include in this thematic base, they must also focus on the standards they feel should be set for their students. Depending on what standards have already been established (e.g., state-level standards of quality have already been determined for students), teachers may choose to include discussion of these established standards while they are deciding how teaching areas and theme details align. Alternatively, they may wait until after the matrix discussion is complete to discuss where standards fit in. This alternative has the advantage of enabling teachers to think through how both the teaching areas and the theme content can be organized, combined, and integrated in meaningful ways to meet specific standards. However, regardless of the processes used to ensure that curriculum content is relevant, consideration must be given to the ways that content aligns with standards students should need. Presented in Figure 6-6 is a teacher group's view of the degree to which teaching area content aligns with the Travel and Tourism field. The result of teachers' deliberations serves as a framework for teacher collaboration across teaching areas. Ultimately, this result can enable students to become more actively engaged in their learning (Seely, 1995).
Figure 6-6. A Travel and Tourism Integration Planning Matrix*
Function** Teaching Area Science Mathematics English Social Studies Marketing Business 1*** 3 3 3 3 Economics 1 2 1 3 3 Finance 1 3 1 1 3 Planning 2 3 2 2 3 Law 2 2 3 3 2 Ethics 3 3 3 3 3 Knowledge 3 3 3 3 3 Skills 3 3 3 3 3 Other * This matrix presents several examples of functions and teaching areas and the extent to which they may be linked for integrated instruction.
** Functions, issues, concerns, and technological knowledge and skills
***Teachers' ratings: 1 = little or no integration link, 2 = moderate integration link, 3 = strong integration link
Identifying and organizing content cannot be a one time activity. Just as the school, the workplace, and the community evolve, thematic curriculum content should evolve in response to these changes. Referring again to Figure 6-4, the dashed line from content selection to content identification reflects content's cyclical nature. Just as content identification flows into the content selection process, the content that has been selected should be examined periodically to be sure it is based on current school, employer, and community information. Depending on which has the greatest appeal, content may be examined on a regularly scheduled basis (e.g., twice a year, each year, every other year) or continuously. In effect, thematic curriculum content is only as good as its content and organizational base. Obsolete curriculum content is of little value; but when organized properly, cutting-edge content can benefit students by exposing them to the latest information about and experiences related to a broad theme.
Given the variety of content options that are available, dealing with thematic curriculum content can be a difficult and time consuming process. However, the rewards appear to be worth the extra effort. Documenting needs and opportunities; examining information about the school, the workplace, and the community; and identifying, selecting, organizing, and integrating content are all important parts of the process. Deriving curriculum content without giving consideration to these areas can result in key content being overlooked. This can, in turn, result in a curriculum that does little to help students learn about a broad theme in ways that transcend disciplines.
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