An Inquiry Into The Aesthetics-oriented Curriculum

Aesthetic is science of Philosophy, science of Wisdom and science of Spirit, and aesthetic is also the highest-level pursuit of all Humans. By using aesthetic as a value yardstick and theoretical basis for the curriculum understanding, it can help curriculum relieve the influence of "Instrument Rationality" and turn to aesthetic curriculum which using the individual life experience as a way of curriculum understanding. Aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry is a creative product of the re-conception movement, and it is also a typical representative of the turn of curriculum paradigm. By using the theory from aesthetic in the field of curriculum research area, the aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry can help researchers to re-finding the essence of curriculum, to reconstruct a curriculum that concerns the value of life and also the ontological meaning of the curriculum. This kind of curriculum has a meaning of conscious awaken and social transformation, it encourages the curriculum to re-understanding the value in itself; and it is also a kind of research turn for the value and methodology of curriculum research.This research adopted the literature-analyzing, the historical-analyzing and case-study-analyzing methods as the mainly research methods. Through the using of the literature-analyzing method, the researcher can sort out and analyzing the important domestic and abroad literatures that concern aesthetic. Some important enlightenment for the curriculum research and the combination possibility between aesthetic theory and curriculum research can also be formed by the analyzing of these literatures. Besides, the using of aesthetic theory in curriculum research can help constructing the curriculum objects, curriculum content, the relationship between teachers and students in curriculum, the curriculum assessment etc from a new perspective. Through the using of historical-analyzing method, the historical development phases and the future trends of aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry can also be discovered. At the end, the using of case-study method can construct the solid research basis by introducing some typical events in the research, and by describing, analyzing and discussing about these typical events, the aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry can rooted in the practical teaching life, so that the combination between theory and practice can be realized.In this research, based on the existing research results, five important problems will be discussed, such as the theory-constructing problem of aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry; the essence of aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry; the practice of the aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry; the relationship between the teachers role and the aesthetic-oriented curriculum and the assessment of aesthetic-oriented curriculum. This research is constituted by five parts.Part I discusses the history and the development process of aesthetic-oriented curriculum. With the development of curriculum research, the curriculum research gradually turns from scientism paradigm to humanism paradigm, this kind of paradigm turn promoted the emergency of a multi-value re-concept movement in the curriculum research area. As a new perspective in curriculum research, the aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry gradually enters the multi development phase after the emergence and formation phases. As a kind of research method, the aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry emphasizes the humanistic inquiry and aesthetic inquiry in curriculum research. By using the aesthetic spirit in curriculum research, the traditional and standardized experience can be relieved, the influence and constraints from the existing cultural stereotype and the fixed teaching regulations and the traditional curriculum experience can also be overcomed. So, this research advocate questioning and challenging critically the constraints of the traditional curriculum research, then rethink and reexamine the curriculum problems in the real curriculum environment.Part2constructs the aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry theory framework. In this research, the empirical aesthetics, the life aesthetics and the phenomenological aesthetics constitute the theory basis for this research. By excavating some important idea symbols that related with curriculum from these aesthetic theories, the theory basis of aesthetic-oriented inquiry will be constructed. The empirical aesthetics suggests that the life-based curriculum can be constructed by the using of monism strategy in curriculum research. The life aesthetics advocates that the curriculum should highlight the meaning of life, and then the curriculum should return to the life itself. The phenomenological aesthetics challenge the traditional curriculum epistemology, question the traditional curriculum research methodology, and also criticize the contradict-thinking-pattern in traditional curriculum.Part3aims to the construction of the philosophy of aesthetic-oriented curriculum inquiry in curriculum research. There are four kinds of ideas. Firstly, curriculum is a journey of consciousness awakens; secondly, curriculum is a process of life experience; thirdly, curriculum is the process where the meaning generated from; fourthly, curriculum is the poetical existence. The implement of good curriculum ideas relies upon the specific curriculum objectives. The formulation of the objectives of aesthetic-oriented curriculum paid much attention to humanism, comprehensive, multidimensional and generative of these objectives. Humanism reflects the value of humanities in the curriculum; the comprehensive promotes the overall development of Humans; multidimensional can meet the different needs of individuals; generative can promote the sustainable development of Human. The curriculum knowledge is determined by the curriculum objectives. The aesthetic-oriented curriculum considers that knowledge is both universal and individual; knowledge is not a static thing but a process full of experience.Part4discusses the implementation policy of the aesthetic-oriented curriculum. Firstly, this research adhere that humanities, generative and dialogue as principles in the implementation process of aesthetic-oriented curriculum. The humanities proposed to the building of a classroom culture full of humanistic care, and teachers should concern students as individuals. The generative recommends that, the philosophy derived from the Chinese art can be useful for the implement of aesthetic-oriented curriculum. Teachers can learn to abandon the already known "road"and try to explore the "Road" in the curriculum, they also need to "suspend" all the already known "experience" and take curriculum as an unknown journey which full of unexpected, vague and complex factors. The principle of dialogue suggests that teachers should participate actively in curriculum and communicate actively with students, and then encourage students participating actively in the implementation of curriculum. These kinds of efforts above can contribute to the creation of an open, democratic and pluralistic aesthetic environment. Secondly, this research discusses the different roles that teachers and students should play. This research considers that teachers should behavior like artists, and then they can discover the beauty of the curriculum. In order to realize the vision above, teachers should have professional accomplishments, which can help teachers to discover the talents of students and the neglected natural and educational contexts, and then, by introducing these elements in the curriculum, the better development of students can be realized. Besides, teachers should also have the impulse for creativity as real artists, they need to treat curriculum as a creation, they need to perfect and create curriculum continuously, other than working as techniques who implement his role technically and inflexible. Teachers should have rich imagination and poetic wisdom, and then implement this kind of imagination and wisdom in curriculum-understanding. Students behavior like actors, teachers can encourage students to explore the world by using a variety of ways, and then encourage them to improve their awareness towards aesthetic, helping them to accumulate a wealth of aesthetic experience. In a word, the implementation policy of the aesthetic-oriented curriculum proposed that more attention should be paid on the intentions of curriculum objectives, which can provide future development plan for the students; the students should also be granted the right to choose by perfecting the curriculum system continuously; the teaching ideas should also be revised, in order to improve teachers understanding towards curriculum; the poetic wisdom of teachers should also be explored, in order to promote the implementation of aesthetic curriculum.Part5discusses the assessment of the aesthetic-oriented curriculum. The aesthetic-oriented curriculum advocates that the traditional way and phenomenon of using single text and tool as the approach assessing the individual development should be avoid, more tolerance and appreciation should be used in the student assessment activity, at the mean time, the assessment activity should be taken as a process that was constituted by understanding, exploring and constructing activities. The aesthetic-oriented curriculum also advocates that the technical tests, procedural tests and accuracy tests should be weakened, on the contrast, the value construction, the authentic assessment and the indefinite tests should be emphasized during the assessment process. The assessment strategies of aesthetic-oriented curriculum include Portfolio, Grade evaluation and Self-evaluation etc.The research shows that the aesthetic-oriented curriculum concerns the meaning of life, advocates rooting the research in the practical field, and constructs the dialogue approach between aesthetic and the soul. This research was based on the aesthetic theory and research perspective, explored the possibility turn of the curriculum methodology, epistemology and value, tried to construct a new curriculum, which was influenced by aesthetic theory, which provides teacher with new perspectives when judging the curriculum. The research and the adopting of aesthetic-oriented curriculum can enrich the experience, the spirit and emotion of students, and then, the true nature and individual personality of the students will be developed and realized.