Knowledge and curriculum

Abstract

The paper raises the questions as follows: What is knowledge in general? What is it that a student should know? What does it mean that somebody knows something? Those questions point to a volume of dilemmas related to the epistemological issue of the nature of knowledge. Regardless of some authors' views that knowledge has not been defined yet, in the present paper knowledge is a subject matter of analysis from the aspect of various theoretical conceptions. The fact is that curricula development as well as the conception of student cognitive development depends on how knowledge is defined. Also, a question is raised on how beliefs about human thinking affect curricula development and accomplishment. It is all the more important if the basic function of education is considered to be knowledge acquisition and development of intellectual abilities. Regarding different approaches to curriculum development, the paper points to some epistemological postulates that affected educational practice. It is true that a model of talking and numerical approach dominate educational practice. It would be quite appropriate to modify curricula in accordance with contemporary theoretical-empirical research results. There is a general agreement that the process of knowledge acquisition in teaching should become the subject of special analysis in order that its regularities can be understood.U radu se postavljaju sledeca pitanja: Sta je znanje uopste? Sta je to sto ucenik treba da zna? Sta znaci da neko nesto zna? Ova pitanja ukazuju da se radi o velikom broju dilema koje se odnose na epistemolosko pitanje o prirodi znanja. Bez obzira na to sto neki autori smatraju da znanje jos uvek nije definisano, u ovom radu znanje se pojavljuje kao predmet analize sa stanovista razlicitih teorijskih koncepcija. Cinjenica je da u zavisnosti od toga kako se definise znanje zavisi planiranje nastavnog programa, kao i koncepcija kognitivnog razvoja ucenika. Takodje, postavlja se pitanje: na koji nacin verovanje o ljudskom misljenju utice na planiranje i realizaciju nastavnog programa, tim pre sto se smatra da je osnovna funkcija obrazovanja usvajanje znanja i razvoj intelektualnih sposobnosti. S obzirom na to da postoje razliciti pristupi u planiranju nastavnog programa, u radu se ukazuje na neke epistemoloske postavke koje su imale uticaja na obrazovnu praksu. Cinjenica je da u obrazovnoj praksi dominira model razgovora i numericki pristup. Bilo bi sasvim umesno da se nastavni programi modifikuju u skladu sa rezultatima savremenih teorijsko-empirijskih istrazivanja. Reklo bi se da postoji opsta saglasnost da proces usvajanja znanja u nastavi treba da postane specijalni predmet analize, da bi se shvatile njegove zakonitosti.