CHAPTER II Organized Knowledge Influencing Curriculum Decisions

SERlous examination of the nature of knowledge and of its proper rela-tionship to the school curriculum has been evident during the past three years. From the resulting analyses and ancillary activities has emerged the rapidly developing recognition that organized knowledge is a major source of the curriculum. Thus, the nature of the intellectual disciplines and of the practical technologies demands as careful and systematic attention in curriculum development and planning as the nature of society and the learner received in the past. This response undoubtedly was influenced by multiple pressures, including (a) the recognition that the disciplines are instructive in addition to preservative in nature, (b) the renewal of interest and active participation in curriculum planning by academic scholars, (c) the expression of general concern throughout American society for increased excellence in schooling, and (d) the determination to deal effec-tively with the modern explosion of knowledge. Developments of the recent past and prospects for the future, rather than precedent or a fund of research evidence, justify the inclusion in this issue of the REVIEW of a chapter dealing with organized knowledge and the curriculum. In this chapter, some of the recent analytical statements and descriptive reports treating the nature of knowledge and the curriculum are reviewed. A major purpose is to highlight those statements and reports felt to be particularly productive in terms of future development and research. Not attempted here is a comprehensive survey of attempts to analyze most disciplines for their curriculum implications, a historical treatment of the role of organized knowledge in past curriculum-making formulations and efforts, or an analysis of the conceptions of knowledge revealed in recently inaugurated curriculum development projects. The Disciplines: A Curriculum Source Recognize