Historical Foundations of

Curriculum
 REPORTERS

Apple Joy Serapion

Wilma Diego
Mary Rose Sunio
Marc Angelo De Guzman
Hendrix Dioquino
 Table of contents

01 02 03
The Colonial Period: 1642- The National Period: 1776- The 19th Century European
1776 1850 Educators

04 05 06
The Rise of Universal The Transitional Period: The Birth of the Field of
Education: 1820-1900 1893-1918 Curriculum: 1918-1949
The Colonial Period:
1642-1776
 The curriculum's historical foundations are largely rooted in the
educational experiences of colonial Massachusetts. The primary purpose of
education during the colonial period was to teach children to read the
scriptures and notices of civil affairs. There are three regions in this period
and these are, Massachusetts (New England), Middle Colonies, and Southern
Colonies. Schools in colonial Massachusetts derived from two sources: (1)
1642 legislation required parents and guardians to ensure that children could
read and understand the principles of religion and the laws of the
commonwealth and (2) the "Old Deluder Satan" Act of 1647, which required
every town of 50 or more families to appoint a reading and writing teacher.
 Town Schools 
 A public elementary schools attended by
boys and girls of community

 Children ranging from 5-6 years old to

13-14 years old.

 Weather and farming conditions decided

the children attendance.
Parochial Schools 

 Elementary schools based on

religion and ethnicity.

 Focused on reading, writing and

religious sermons.
 Latin Grammar Schools 
 Secondary level for upper-class boys as
preparation for college.

 For boys at age 8 or 9 and remains for 8

years.

 Catered to those who planned to enters the

professions ( Medicine, law, teaching, the
ministry, business or merchants)
Academies
 Second American institution provide education.

 Based on Benjamin Franklin’s ideas and offered

practical studies.

 Students can choose from foreign language based on

their vocational needs.

 Introduced practical and manual skills such as

Carpentry, engraving, printing, painting, cabinet
making, farming and bookkeeping .
 There are four Old Textbooks, Old
Readers used during Colonial Period.

1. Hornbook it consists of memorized

alphabet, Lord’s Prayer, some syllables,
words, and sentences.

2. Primer a first American

basal reader used in colonies
for more than 100 years.
 There are four Old Textbooks, Old
Readers used during Colonial Period.

3. Westminster Catechism it consists of

indoctrination.

4. Bible is a religious book of

moral values and character
building.
The National Period:
1776-1850 
 Benjamin Rush:
Science, Progress, Free Education 

He believed that education should "advance democracy

and the exploration and development of natural
resources". Benjamin Rush developed an educational
plan that included "free elementary schools in every
township consisting of 100 or more families, a free
academy at the county level, and free colleges and
universities at the state level for society's future leaders“.
This plan would be paid for with the use of taxes. His
educational plan included: reading, writing, and
arithmetic (elementary), English, German, the arts, and
sciences (secondary & college), and good manners and
moral principles in all levels. 
 Thomas Jefferson:
Education for Citizenship 

He believed that the state must

educate at the expense of all its
citizens to ensure a democratic
society. He proposed free
elementary schools and 20
secondary grammar schools. Poor
but gifted students receive
scholarships. 
 Noah Webster:
School Master and Cultural Naturalist

When America's constitution became law in 1789, Webster

argued that the U.S. should have its own "language as well
as government" Webster believed that a national language
and literature would create a sense of "national identity.
“According to Webster, a U.S. language would "(1)
eliminate the remains of European usage, (2) create a
uniform U.S. speech free of localism and provincialism, and
(3) promote U.S. cultural nationalism." (Ornstein, 2009, p.
60). His book, Grammatical Institute of the English
Language, was published 1783. However, Webster's greatest
work was The American Dictionary, which was published in
1825 after 25 year of research. 
 William H. McGuffey:
The Readers and American Virtues 

Wrote five Readers, which were America's most popular

textbooks during this era.
McGuffey’s Readers celebrated patriotism, heroism, hard
work, diligence, and virtuous living. His Readers helped
teach many generations of American students. He also
developed first grade Readers and "paved the way for a
graded system, which began in 1840." (Ornstein, 2009,
p. 60). McGuffey’s Pictorial Primer and some of
his Readers are still used today in some rural,
conservative, or fundamentalist schools. 
 The 19th Century
European Educators 
 European thought greatly influenced U.S. education.
German Educators, at the college level, influenced the field of
natural science, psychology, and sociology. In the K-12 level,
German and Swiss thinkers had progressive ideas, which "led to
curricular and instructional methods that were psychologically
oriented and considered students' needs and interests“. Traditional
curriculum, which focused on Greek, Latin, and the classics
became less popular. Instead, new educational and teaching
practices began to replace rote learning, memorization, and
corporal punishment.
Johann Pestalozzi (1746 - 1827):
General and Special Methods 

He’s a Swiss educator, "laid the basis for the modern

elementary school and helped to reform elementary-
school practice. Pestalozzi believed that education
should focus on a student's natural development and they
should learn through their senses. He pushed that the
curriculum should link to home experiences. There were
two methods - the general method and the special
method. The general method asked educators to provide
children with emotional wellbeing and affection. The
special method considered children's auditory and visual
senses.
 Friedrich Froebel (1782 - 1852):
The Kindergarten Movement 

Froebel was a German educator and he

developed "kindergarten" where he focused
on 3 and 4 year olds. He believed that
organized play with individual and group
activities should be the focus of learning
for 3-4 year olds. He encouraged a "child-
centered curriculum," similar to
Pestalozzi's, "based on love, trust, and
freedom."
Activities included: songs, colorful material, games, playful activities,
manipulating objects, and shape and construct materials. All of these
activities allowed children to "grow naturally “Many of Froebel's ideas
of childhood experience and methods of pay have been incorporated
into current theories of early childhood education and progressive
schooling"
 Johann Herbart (1776 - 1841):
Moral and Intellectual Development 

Herbart's main goal for education was moral development,

which he believed was essential for all other educational
goals or purposes. Herbart detailed "five major kinds of ideas
as the foundation of moral character: (1) inner freedom,
which referred to action based on one's personal convictions,
(2) the idea of perfection, which referred to the harmony and
integration of behavior, (3) the idea of benevolence, by which
a person was to be concerned with the social welfare of
others, (4) the idea of justice, by which a person reconciled
his or her individual behavior with that of the social group,
and (5) the idea of retribution, which indicates that reward or
punishment accrues to certain kinds of behavior
 Herbert Spencer (1820-1903):
Utilitarian and Scientific Education 

He is an English Sociologist and based his ideas of

education on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Spencer
believed that students should be taught how to think and
not what to think. Spencer also advocated that curriculum
should be built on the basis of what is useful and essential
for promoting progress. He constructed curriculum based
on knowledge and activities for sustaining life, earning a
living, rearing children properly, maintaining effective
citizenship and enjoying leisure time. Curriculum was a
turning point – focus was on whole child (progressivism)
rather than subject matter (perennialism) in education. 
The Rise of Universal
Education: 1820-
1900 
 Americans in the early 1800s expanded to the
westward and life on the new frontier helped deepen
America's faith in the common people who were the ones
that built the new nation. Mass education became
necessary for "intelligent participation in a political
democracy and for economic growth of the country. 
 Monitorial Schools 

Monitorial school was a European invention and it spread quickly to

urban areas with large immigrant populations and to the frontier where a
school system was needed.
 In Monitorial school’s teachers taught the lesson to high-achieving
student called monitors, who then presented the lesson to the other
classmates. Instruction was very structured and based on rote learning and
drilling the three R's.

Monitorial schools focused on the three R's and good citizenship and

made educational opportunities more widely available.
Most importantly, they focused on mass education and tax-supported
elementary schools. In the 1840s, Monitorial ideas where introduced to high
schools and suggested for colleges. However, by the 1850, the popularity of
Monitorial schools decreased. 
 Common Schools 

Common schools were established in Massachusetts in 1826 after the state passed
a law that required every town to choose a school board for all local schools. The
establishment of common school helped develop the foundation of U.S. public schools.
 Elementary Schools 
Throughout the 1800s, the trend was to add different courses to subjects
such as reading, spelling, grammar, and arithmetic. 

 1825 - religious doctrine changed to manners and moral instruction. 

 By 1875, lessons in conduct replaced morality lessons. 
 1850 - 1900 - more subjects were added to the curriculum such as
geography, history, science, visual art, physical education, biology,
zoology, music, homemaking, and manual training. 
 Academies
 In the early 1800s, the academy started to replace the Latin
grammar school. The Academy offered students a wide range of
curriculum and was designed to provide practical program for terminal
students as well as college-preparatory course of study.

 1855 - 6,000 academies taught 263,000 students. Academies were

eventually replaced by public high schools. Then, academies became
finishing schools for young women and provided courses in classical and
modern languages, science, mathematics, art, music, and homemaking.
A few private military and elite academies exist today. 
 High Schools
 The first high school was founded in 1821 in Boston. However, high
schools did not become very popular until after 1874.

 High schools focused on college-preparatory programs and formal

education of terminal students.

 They offered a more varied curriculum than academies.1900 - highs

schools offered vocational, industrial, commercial, and clerical
courses. High schools helped contribute to social and political reform
and produced a skilled workforce. 
 The Transitional
Period: 1893-1918 
"Reformers began to ask if elementary schools should offer two curriculum
tracks: on for children bound for high school and one for children whose formal
education would end at the elementary level“.

 The National Education Association (NEA) helped organize three major

committees to help answer some of these unsettled questions about
education. 
 The first committee was the Committee of Fifteen on Elementary Education.
The second committee was The Committee of Ten on Secondary School
Studies. The third committee was The Committee on College Entrance
Requirements. 
Abraham Flexner (1866-1959) 

A former teacher of classics, now believed

traditional curriculum was out of steps with
scientific deviation. 

Curriculum of Four Basic areas: 

1. Science (major emphasis) 
2. Industry (occupations) 
3. Civics (history, economics, government) 
4. Aesthetics (Literature, languages, art, music) 
 John Dewey
"At the turn of 20th century, education was strongly
influenced by the ideas of Dewey, and Francis Parker,
the Gestalt psychology and child psychology
movements, the learning theories of behaviorism and
transfer learning, and the progressive movement in
schools and society“. Dewey published Democracy
and Education, which explored all elements of his
philosophy. It also discussed the relationship between
education and democracy. According to Dewey,
subjects cannot and should not be placed in a
hierarchy based on value. 
Charles Judd
A college of Dewey, believed that the laws of nature
should be used to educate the young. He used
research based on statistics to determine curriculum
content's worth, which means "the extent to which
particular content enhanced students' ability to
promote thinking and solve problems“.
Students should be taught how to deal with
problems, not how to acquire and recall endless
knowledge. 
The Birth of the Field
of Curriculum: 1918-
1949
John Franklin Bobbitt
(1876-1956) 
He was a North-American educationist, a
university professor and a writer. He felt that the
curriculum was a way to prepare students for
their future roles in the new industrial society. He
influenced the curriculum by showing how
teaching classical subjects should be replaced by
teaching subjects that correspond to social needs.
 Bobbitt created five steps for
curriculum making: 

How to Make a Curriculum (Boston: Houghton

Mifflin, 1924)
Step 1 - Analyze human experience
Step 2 - Job analysis
Step 3 - Deriving objectives
Step 4 - Selecting objectives
Step 5 - Planning in Detail
 Ralph Tyler

The model for curriculum design proposed

that teachers establish teaching plans to give
students the most effective education. Both
students and teachers were responsible for
meeting the curriculum standard. This is also
the first time in education that learning styles
came into curriculum development.
Hilda Taba

She advocated that teachers take an inductive

approach to curriculum development which meant
starting with the specifics and building toward a
general design. Under the Taba Model teachers are
expected to begin each curriculum by creating
specific teaching learning units and building to a
general design.
 END OF
DISCUSSION!