Individual Knowledge And Public Knowledge

Curriculum reform keeps developing with the change of knowledge concepts because knowledge is one of the key parts of curricula. The latest curriculum reform in elementary education in China is no exception, and an important theoretical basis for it is the change of knowledge concepts, whose prominent characteristic is the category of individual knowledge and public knowledge has being more mature. Based on the category, the research analyses the basic issues and its tendency of curriculum knowledge concepts, and sets up a unique perspective of the theory of knowledge and the standpoint in examining curriculum reform. Besides, it reveals the mechanism of knowledge arrangement in curricula, and points out the problems of knowledge arrangement in the process of theories and practice of curriculum reform especially of the latest curriculum reform so as to enrich the theoretical consciousness and to raise the level of the theory of knowledge in curriculum reform.Individual knowledge and public knowledge are a contradictory category supplementary to each other and restricting each other. The research mainly covers the following two aspects: firstly, it defines the category and explains its functions in curriculum theories so that we can enrich and perfect the theory of knowledge classification of curricula, and establish the knowledge framework of curriculum reform; secondly, started from this category, it reviews the development of knowledge concepts in previous curriculum reform, and clarifies the vision of the theory of knowledge in the latest curriculum reform, that is, taken individual knowledge and public knowledge as an entrance, it discusses the achievements and shortages in curriculum reform from the perspective of theories and practice. The research contains six chapters.Chapter one defines the relevant concepts. It discusses the subject (single and complex) and the orientation (comprehension and cognition) of knowledge and differentiates such factors as the connotation, the nature, the value, the way of enlarging and the mutual relationship between individual knowledge and public knowledge. The research establishes a unique perspective of the theory of knowledge and the basic standpoint in analysing curricula.According to the two orientations of individual knowledge and public knowledge, chapter two reviews the outstanding educators' thoughts on curricula in the history of education, the typical schools of curricula and the influential practice of curriculum reform so as to reveal the basis of the theory of knowledge and the laws of curriculum reform .Chapter three mainly studies the educational value of individual knowledge and public knowledge and its functions in curriculum theories. In addition, it analyses the standards of curriculum choosing of the two types of knowledge. In other words, it elaborates the basic features, the spiritual implications and pedagogical functions of the two types of knowledge in curriculum reform, which is the most important discovery of the research in theory.Chapter four and five concern the theoretical reflection on practice. They analyse the curriculum reform thoroughly from the dimension of individual knowledge and public knowledge respectively. According to the theory of public knowledge, the research expounds the reconstruction of the basic academic capacity, the improvement of subject curricula, the establishment of curriculum standards and a series of various reforms based on these standards. Meanwhile, it also expounds the changes in concept of curricula, textbooks, teaching and learning in the latest curriculum reform from the point of view of individual knowledge.The last chapter analyses many disagreements in the latest curriculum reform from the perspective of individuality and publicity of knowledge, and makes an attempt to attain more benefits on the methodology and epistemology from the understanding of these disagreements. Both on the theories and practice, the curriculum reform has to face many disagreements which lie in the misunderstandings of individual knowledge and public knowledge. The main purpose of the research is how to seize the essential trends of contemporary knowledge concepts of curricula by evaluating the relevant academic contention.In short, curricula are the heart of education; knowledge is the core of curricula. The issues of knowledge point directly to the issues of curricula. The different opinions of the connotation, the nature and the relationship between individual knowledge and public knowledge will affect every part of curriculum theories and practice. Avoiding the influence of the binary thinking pattern, the research proves the basis of knowledge concepts systematically from the combination of individual knowledge and public knowledge. The conclusion will clarify the misunderstandings and the misleading in the process of the latest curriculum reform and guide the right direction and offer effective methods for the further reform.