Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies

The Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies provides a comprehensive introduction to the academic field of curriculum studies for the scholar, student, teacher, and administrator. The study of curriculum, beginning in the early 20th century, served primarily the areas of school administration and teaching and was seen as a method to design and develop programs of study. The field subsequently expanded to draw upon disciplines from the arts, humanities, and social sciences and to examine larger educational forces and their effects upon the individual, society, and conceptions of knowledge. Curriculum studies has now emerged to embrace an expansive and contested conception of academic scholarship while focusing upon a diverse and complex dynamic among educational experiences, practices, settings, actions, and theories in relation to personal and institutional needs and interests. The Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies serves to inform and to introduce terms, events, documents, biographies, and concepts to assist the reader in understanding aspects of this rapidly changing field of study.Representative topics include: Origins, definitions, dimensions, and variations on Curriculum StudiesCurriculum development and design for schoolsCurricular purpose, implementation, and evaluationContemporary issues, e.g., standards, tests, and accountabilityCurricular dimensions of teaching and teacher educationInterdisciplinary perspectives on institutionalized curriculumInformal curricula of homes, mass media, workplaces, organizations, and relationshipsImpact of race, class, gender, health, belief, appearance, place, ethnicity, languageRelationships of curriculum and poverty, wealth, and related factorsModes of curriculum inquiry and researchCurriculum as cultural studies, exploring the formation of identities and possibilitiesCorporate, state, church, and military influence as curriculumGlobal and international perspectives on curriculumCurriculum organizations, journals, and resourcesSummaries of books and articles on curriculum studiesBiographic vignettes of key persons in curriculum studiesRelevant photographs