MSN

1. Chapter 10
Establishing
Philosophical and
Educational Approaches
for an Evidence-
Informed, Context-
Relevant, Unified
Curriculum

2. Overview
• Understanding the definitions and
purposes of philosophy will facilitate the
formulation of curriculum outcomes.
• Philosophical approaches from both
educational and nursing educational
perspectives are relevant in formulating
curriculum outcomes.

3. Curriculum Philosophy
• Philosophy is the study of the most general
and abstract features of the world and
categories with which we think:
– Mind, Matter
– Reason
– Proof
– Truth
• A curriculum philosophy is part of the
curriculum foundation.

4. Curriculum Philosophy (cont.)
• A curriculum philosophy provides a basis
for:
– Development, implementation, evaluation.
– Shaping students’ ideas about clients, nursing,
and health care.
– Discussions about curriculum practices, and
preferences.
– Professional development
– Decision making for the profession

5. Curriculum Philosophy (cont.)
• Curriculum philosophy in nursing education
– Ideas possibly included in a nursing education
or curriculum philosophy are beliefs about:
• Nature of learning
• Purposes of the curriculum
• Roles of faculty and students.
• Nature of faculty-student interactions
• Other values — social justice, diversity, or service

6. Curriculum Philosophy (cont.)
• Curriculum philosophies
– Idealism: truth is universal, values unchanging,
desire to live in perfect world of ideals.
– Realism: natural laws compose the world and
all of nature.
– Perennialism: disciplining of the mind,
development of reasoning ability.
– Essentialism: cultural heritage must be
preserved, it is the role of education to do so.

7. Curriculum philosophy (cont.)
• Curriculum philosophies (cont.)
– Progressivism: the growth of students should
be the center of educational activities, and not
the subject matter.
– Reconstructionism: the purpose of education is
to improve society – students are exposed to
controversial social problems, study them, and
reach solutions through consensus.

8. Ideas about Teaching and Learning
as Part of Curriculum Philosophy
• Learning theories
– Broad categories of theories evident in nursing
education curricula include:
• Behaviorist
• Cognitive
• Humanist
• Social and Situational
• Integrated

9. Ideas about Teaching and Learning as
Part of Curriculum Philosophy (cont.)
• Science of learning (brain-based learning)
– As cognitive neuroscience continues to provide
insights into mental processes, teaching will be
more science-based, more “brain-based.”
– Five firmly established brain facts:
• Each brain is unique.
• Brains are highly plastic.
• All brains are not equal in problem-solving ability.
• The brain connects new information to old.
• The brain is changed by experience.

10. Ideas about Teaching and Learning as
Part of Curriculum Philosophy (cont.)
• Science of learning (brain-based learning)
(cont.)
– Emotions and physiological processes may
have an impact on teaching and learning.
– Robust learning entails:
• Long-term retention.
• Preparation for further and deeper learning and
application.
• Transfer of knowledge to new situations.

11. Ideas about Teaching and Learning as
Part of Curriculum Philosophy (cont.)
• Learning theories, educational frameworks,
and pedagogies
– Adult learning (Andragogy)
– Apprenticeship
– Cognitive constructivism
– Critical social theory
– Deep learning
– Epistemology
– Feminism and feminist pedagogy

12. Ideas about Teaching and Learning as
Part of Curriculum Philosophy (cont.)
• Learning theories, educational frameworks,
and pedagogies (cont.)
– Humanism
– Learner-centeredness (student-centeredness)
– Narrative pedagogy
– Phenomenology
– Postmodernism
– Pragmatism
– Transformative learning

13. Philosophical and Educational
Approaches
• Developing philosophical and educational
approaches
– Subcommittee should draft a statement of
philosophical and educational approaches.
– Task can be split among two subgroups with
results combined later.
– A literature search should be performed.
– Subcommittee should understand beliefs,
values of colleagues, as all will be
implementing the curriculum.

14. Philosophical and Educational
Approaches (cont.)
• Confirming philosophical and educational
approaches
– Consensus among the total faculty group
cannot be overemphasized.
– Agreement about philosophical and
educational approaches are essential before
subsequent curriculum work is undertaken.

15. Relationship of Philosophical
Educational Approaches
• Philosophical and educational approaches
are statements of faculty value orientation.
• Derived ideas ensure that curriculum
foundations are context-relevant and
evidence-informed.
• Inclusion of major curriculum concepts, key
nursing abilities adds to conceptual and
visual unity of the curriculum.

16. Core Processes of Curriculum Work
• Faculty development
– Values and beliefs about nursing, education,
persons, learning, etc. should be discussed.
– Discussion can serve to clarify and examine
beliefs; used as source of information.
• Ongoing appraisal
– Inherent part of discussions resulting in
statement of philosophical and educational
approaches.

17. Core Processes of Curriculum
Work (cont.)
• Scholarship
– Description of processes and discussions
undertaken to develop statements may be
instructive to faculty at other schools.
– Faculty members describe involvement in
decisions, and their subsequent degree of
commitment to the decisions.
– Survey of nursing schools to find philosophical
and educational approaches in use.