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38536 results in Cambridge Textbooks

Page 1221 of 1927

  • Chapter 2 - Theory, research and the early childhood curriculum

  • Claire McLachlan, University of Waikato, New Zealand, Marilyn Fleer, Monash University, Victoria, Susan Edwards, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Early Childhood Curriculum
    Published online:
    12 August 2019
    Print publication:
    30 March 2018, pp 8-32

  • Summary

    LEARNING INTENTIONS

    In this chapter we intend to:

  • • define the term ‘curriculum’

  • • examine the major philosophical and theoretical positions that underpin modern conceptions of early childhood curriculum

  • • analyse how the efficacy of a curriculum can be evaluated.

    • In the first chapter it was noted that early childhood teachers are often confused by the term ‘curriculum’ because of the different ways this term is used, as noted by Kiri, Gemma, Jacob and Michael:

    CASE STUDY 2.1: DEFINING A CURRICULUM

    Kiri: Most countries have some type of written curriculum document. Surely the people who wrote those documents knew what they were on about?

    Gemma: But aren't those documents just a guide to what we do in the classroom? Although Te Whāriki has been revised and there is a stronger indication of what children should be learning, it is not very specific about the actual stuff I will do with children every day.

    Jacob: Isn't the curriculum how you plan the environment, and sort of based on your own national curriculum and the sorts of things it says that children should experience?

    Michael: But on my last teaching practice, my Associate Teacher told me that the curriculum was in her head and that she didn't take much notice of the curriculum she was using. She said that she just uses the curriculum as a source of ideas and then the real curriculum is designed on the trot as she interacts with children and as the children have new ideas for play.

    In this chapter we seek to unpack some of the ideas put forward by Kiri, Gemma, Jacob and Michael through introducing you to conceptual knowledge about curriculum, as well as through examining fundamental principles of curriculum design.

    Because knowledge is not static, we ask you to consider the importance of research as a driver for change and continued professional development. This chapter will explore some of the principles of what a curriculum is and how the taken for granted nature of curricula can be challenged.

    What is a curriculum?

    According to Scott (2008), a curriculum can be defined in the following way:

    A curriculum may refer to a system, as in a national curriculum; an institution, as in a school curriculum; or even to an individual school, as in the school geography curriculum (pp. 19–20).

  • 1 - Introduction

  • Thomas Mazzoni, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Germany
  • Book:
    A First Course in Quantitative Finance
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    22 March 2018, pp 1-4

  • Summary

    Modern financial markets have come a long way from ancient bartering. They are highly interconnected, the information is very dense, and reaction to external events is almost instantaneous. Even though organized markets have existed for a very long time, this level of sophistication was not realized before the second half of the last century. The reason is that sufficient computing power and broadband internet coverage is necessary to allow a market to become a global organic structure. It is not surprising that such a self-organizing structure reveals new rules like for example the no arbitrage principle. What is surprising is that not only the rules, but also the purpose of the whole market seems to have changed. Nowadays, one of the primary objectives of an operational and liquid financial market is risk transfer. There are highly sophisticated instruments like options, swaps, and so forth, designed to decouple all sorts of risks from the underlying contract, and trade them separately. That way market participants can realize their individually desired level of insurance by simply trading the risk. Such a market is certainly not dominated by gambling or speculation, as suggested by the news from time to time, but indeed obeys some very fundamental and deep mathematical principles and is best analyzed using tools from probability theory, econometrics, and engineering.

    Unfortunately the required mathematical machinery is not part of the regular education of economists. So the better part of this fascinating field is often reserved to trained mathematicians, physicists, and statisticians. The tragedy is that economists have much to contribute, because they are usually the only ones trained in the economic background and the appropriate way of thinking. It is not easy to bridge the gap, because often economists and mathematicians speak a very different language. Nevertheless, the fundamental structures and principles generally possess more than one representation. They can be proved mathematically, described geometrically, and be understood economically. It is thus the goal of this book to navigate through the equivalent descriptions, avoiding unnecessary technicalities, to provide an unobstructed view on those deep and elegant principles, governing modern financial markets.

Page 1221 of 1927