What are the "thematic curriculum" and "all aspects?" Why are they important? Although these phrases are relatively recent additions to educators' vocabularies, they have existed in one form or another for many years. To assist in describing what the thematic curriculum and all aspects of the industry are, this introductory section focuses on their definitions and distinguishing characteristics. Also included are descriptions of what has been learned about the thematic curriculum and the potential it has to improve education.
Consider this. What do the Bronx High School of Science, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences, the Oakland Academy of Health Sciences, and Valley Forge Military Academy have in common? Obviously, they all provide students with some form of education. However, each offers education that is linked to and imbedded in a broad content theme. For example, at the Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences all students have exposure to agriculture; and through this exposure, they are able learn trigonometry, biology, physics, and other subjects within an agricultural context. Students at Valley Forge Military Academy (a private school that offers a high school diploma and a two-year associate degree) participate in a wide range of military experiences as they study world history, geography, American government, and other courses. Students' active involvement in military experiences serves as the "contextual glue" that holds the curriculum together.
So what then is a thematic curriculum? It is a set of organized learning experiences such as programs, courses, and other school-sponsored activities that provide students with exposure to a broad, predominant content theme. This broad theme can serve an entire school as is the case of the Fashion Institute of Technology, a postsecondary institution in New York City which claims Calvin Kline as one of its graduates. Alternatively, a theme may be the focal point for a school within a school which is the case of the Health and Bioscience Academy, an academy that operates as a school within Oakland (California) Technical High School. Or a theme may be used to provide students with a context where they can demonstrate self-motivated learning. This is perhaps exemplified by the International Baccalaureate, a globally focused curriculum offered by hundreds of high schools around the world to self-directed students who thrive in academically challenging learning environments.
Presented in Figure 1-1 are examples of thematic curricula that may be found in schools across the United States. A theme may serve as an organizer for an entire school or multiple themes may be established for subsets of the school. These multiple themes are sometimes referred to as clusters, majors, and academies. The examples given are merely representative of the many titles educators have chosen for themes in their schools. Additional examples may be found in the appendices.
Figure 1-1. Examples of Thematic Curricula
- Agriculture
- Arts and Media
- Business Management and Marketing
- Construction and Environmental Technology
- Communication
- Engineering and Mechanical
- Global Studies
- Manufacturing
- Medical and Human Services
- Military Science and Leadership
And of what value is a thematic curriculum? Value is largely dependent on what educators see as being important for their students. A few of the possible benefits available to students through the thematic curriculum include
Benefits from thematic curriculum use may also accrue for educators. Depending on the curriculum configuration, several possible examples include providing opportunities for
With the thematic curriculum briefly described and some of its benefits detailed, how may this curriculum be designed? The design answer begins with an introduction to "all aspects" and continues throughout this guide.
Comments such as "we have been teaching all aspects of industry for years" and "every student receives plenty of this all aspects instruction" may infer that "all aspects" exists in a school. However, in order to determine the validity of these statements, a thorough understanding of all aspects of industry (AAI) is required. One source of understanding consists of statements about "all aspects" contained in recent legislation. "All aspects" was first mentioned in federal legislation as part of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act of 1990 (Perkins II). A provision in this act called for students to have "strong experience in and an understanding of those aspects of industry the students are preparing to enter." In the Perkins II legislation, educational activities associated with "all aspects" were also described. These include "planning, management, finance, technical and production skills, underlying principles of technology, labor issues, community issues, and health, safety, and environment issues" (American Vocational Association, 1990, p. 66). More recently, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 amplified the need for focusing on "all aspects" in the schools. In the school-to-work legislation, "all aspects" is viewed as a valuable component of and contributor to school-to-work systems.
What then is "all aspects"? Is it defined by legislation or is it defined by whatever educators in each school and school district decide it should be? At the very least, it can be said that "all aspects" will evolve just as education and workplace needs and practices evolve. As with other strategies, "all aspects" will not be driven solely by legislation nor will it ever be defined in precise terms. Likewise, "all aspects" may vary as a function of the context or contexts in which it is used. And finally, it should be recognized that "all aspects" is a curriculum development strategy. It best serves as an organizer for curriculum rather than an end in itself.
A review of curricula from the past, an examination of federal legislation, visits to schools with curricula that utilize "all aspects," and discussions with persons in these schools have all contributed to the development of what may be referred to as key "all aspects" factors (see Figure 1-2). The factors serve two purposes: first, they assist in defining the main features of "all aspects" and second, they help to determine whether "all aspects" has been used to assist in creating an educational curriculum. Using these factors to help define "all aspects" has its limitations. They include the possibility of misinterpreting words and statements, restricting one's view of what "all aspects" may be, and reliance on somewhat abstract factors to decide what "all aspects" is. However, for the present, other options appear to have even greater limitations. For example, strict adherence to statements about "all aspects" drawn from legislation might exclude from consideration some of the fine curriculum work of the past. And excluding certain phrases and words based on legislation might cause people to ignore important statements found there.
Figure 1-2. Key "All Aspects" Factors*Listed below are several factors that distinguish "all aspects." The first five factors are considered essential to "all aspects," whereas, factors six through eight are highly recommended since they have been shown to enhance the benefits "all aspects" offers to students.
- "All aspects" encompasses a broad "industry" or field within the workplace. Illustrative fields include agriculture, business, construction, communication, community services, health, manufacturing, marketing, and transportation.
- Curriculum content and focus includes instruction in a wide range of industry or field-wide functions, concerns, issues, and technological knowledge and skills. Illustrative of the areas are community issues, environment issues, economic issues, finance, health, labor issues, leadership, management, planning, safety, technological knowledge and skills, and underlying principles of technology.
- Instruction includes strong emphasis on developing problem-solving skills and basic and applied academic skills in technological settings. Academic studies focus on mathematics, oral communication, reading, writing, science, and social and behavioral sciences instruction.
- Students are provided with extensive experience in and an understanding of those aspects of the broad industry of field they are exploring and/or preparing to enter.
- Students completing the instruction are able to link their school studies and related experiences directly to a broad industry or field, including the functions, concerns, issues, and technological knowledge and skills associated with that industry or field.
- Teachers actively collaborate with each other in determining content and experiences, planning instructional strategies, and teaching in a manner that integrates instruction and emphasizes contextualized, applied learning.
- "All aspects" is available to all students (in the school district, school, magnet school, academy) regardless of their future education and employment plans and aspirations.
- "All aspects" is creatively and effectively combined with educational reforms to produce a comprehensive school-to-work system.
*Included in the above statements is some information extracted from the Perkins II and School-to-Work Opportunities Acts.
Referring again to Figure 1-2, eight factors distinguish "all aspects." The first five factors are deemed essential, whereas, factors six through eight are important contributors to its success. Although factors six through eight are not always essential to success, they enhance the potential for "all aspects" to be successful. These factors may be useful in providing flexibility in the thematic curriculum development process.
Contemporary views of thematic curricula have been shaped by the need to provide student learning through more comprehensive exposure to working and living. For a number of years, educators and others have sought to create curricula that exposed students to broad industries and fields. Early work in this area tended to result in curricula and courses that focused on either preparation for life or preparation for earning a living.
During the late 1950s, employers began to recognize that skilled workers often did not have facility in higher levels of knowledge and skills associated with emerging technology and technological fields. As more and more employers recognized the need for technicians in the workplace, educational institutions responded by creating curricula that prepared graduates who had both technical depth and breadth. Depth included studies in mathematics and science that were more rigorous than what skilled workers received and somewhat less rigorous than what was offered in engineering programs. Breadth included studies that exposed students to the field they were preparing to enter (e.g., electronics technology, design) as well as collateral areas such as accounting and management. Descriptions of this preparation phenomenon contrasted what was, at the time, termed "field-oriented" and "job oriented" employment preparation. Field-oriented preparation focuses on enabling graduates to enter a broad array of occupational areas within an industry or field, whereas, job-oriented preparation emphasizes preparing graduates for specific jobs such as electrician, machinist, welder, and drafter (Finch, 1968).
During this same period, some educators began to be concerned that secondary school students were not being given opportunities to learn about the comprehensive nature of industries. Ready for change and eager to shed a manual training/manual arts image, Industrial Arts educators began to reconstruct the Industrial Arts curriculum so it encompassed entire industries. Industrial Arts curriculum models that emerged during the 1960s included, for example, the American Industry model that focused on concepts common to all industries of the day and the Industrial Arts Curriculum Project that included instruction on both the world of manufacturing and the world of construction (Cochran, 1970). Each of these models was designed to help students learn about industry in its broadest sense. These Industrial Arts curriculum models were not intended to prepare students for employment; their focus was on preparing students for life. Even though Industrial Arts has evolved into Technology Education, the study of various industries continues to be emphasized in some secondary level Technology Education programs in various parts of the United States. This is evidenced by current Technology Education text book titles such a Manufacturing Technology, Production Systems Technology, and Power and Energy Technology (Jones, 1995, p. 66).
As the field of agriculture evolved, this evolution led to significant change in what Agricultural Education instructors felt should be taught to their students. During the 1960s, educators explored ways that agriculture curricula might be designed to offer students a more comprehensive view of the field. Using a strategy called the function approach (Finch & Crunkilton, 1979), researchers were able to identify content in terms of unifying characteristics or themes across a particular industry or business. Thus, by building curricula from a function base, students are given opportunities to learn about a broad range of areas within a field. This early effort in Agricultural Education curriculum contributed greatly to current emphasis in the schools to learn about agriculture as a broad, multifaceted area of study (e.g., agribusiness, agriscience).
Although research focusing on the thematic curriculum has been limited, studies conducted over the past several years by NCRVE that focus on "all aspects" offer some meaningful insight. Information gleaned from these studies (Bailey, Koppel, & Waldinger, 1994; Finch & Mooney, 1996; Nielsen Andrew, 1994) and other sources is summarized below:
More detailed information about how thematic curricula can improve education and ways of applying what has been learned is presented in later sections.
Ultimately, success of the thematic curriculum will depend on how well it improves education. Although research about the impact thematic curriculum can have on teaching and learning is very limited, some schools have had from five to ten years of experience working with themes built upon "all aspects." Persons who are focusing on themes in these schools note why they continue to teach this way. They indicate the thematic curriculum is more effective at reaching a broad range of students. In more specific terms, thematic curricula built on an "all aspects" framework have the potential to provide all students with several important benefits (Nielsen Andrew, 1994, p. 2):
Of course, there are other potential benefits of thematic curricula such as assisting students in making more informed career choices and preparing them to be better citizens and workers. Some of these potential benefits are a function of how "all aspects" is used and how well it is used as a strategy for curriculum design. Thus, for persons who are ready to accept the challenge of creating thematic curricula, there is great potential to obtain a rich return on the investment.
Even though the thematic curriculum has been around for quite some time, its adoption by schools has been limited. This situation is in part a function of an ambiguous definition. To some extent, "all aspects" has been defined by legislation. However, it appears that "all aspects" will never be driven entirely by legislation nor will it be defined in precise terms. The factors associated with "all aspects" serve to define and guide a thematic curriculum with essential and highly recommended elements. The factors also provide flexibility in ways that "all aspects" can be incorporated into the thematic curriculum development process.
Lessons from the past reveal that, even though the thematic curriculum is a new phrase, its antecedents have been present since the 1950s. Likewise, recent research shows that much has been learned about thematic curricula using "all aspects" as a framework for developing and implementing curricula in the schools. Educators who have been working with thematic curricula for a number of years have noted the many benefits it has for students, ranging from facilitating students' school-to-work transition to providing an enriched environment for learning. Additionally, "all aspects" has been shown to serve as a meaningful strategy when creating the thematic curriculum, particularly for themes that emphasize broad industries and fields.
American Vocational Association. (1990). The AVA guide to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Bailey, T., Koppel, R., & Waldinger, R. (1994, December). Education for all aspects of the industry: Overcoming barriers to broad-based training (MDS-243). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California at Berkeley.
Cochran, L. G. (1970). Innovative programs in industrial education. Chicago: McKnight & McKnight.
Finch, C. R. (1968). Manpower research: Implications for the education of technicians. In D. C. Bjorkquist (Ed.), The education and employment of technicians (pp. 60-70). Washington, DC: Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Finch, C. R., & Crunkilton, J. R. (1979). Curriculum development in vocational and technical education: Planning, content, and implementation. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Finch, C. R., & Mooney, M. (1996, July). Building all aspects of industries and fields into the high school curriculum. Presentation made at the National High Schools That Work Conference, Louisville, KY.
Jones, K. H. (1995). Analysis of readability and interest in vocational education textbooks: Implications for special needs learners. Journal of Vocational Education Research, 20(1), 55-77.
Nielsen Andrew, E. (1994, August). Education, work, and all aspects of the industry: What does it all mean? CenterWork, 5(2), 2-3.