Undergraduate Course: Primary Studies 1 (EDUA08094)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to the fundamental questions of 'What is knowledge?', 'How do we know?', and 'Why is this important in Primary Education?' The course intentionally introduces students to the complexities of the nature of knowledge before considering approaches to teaching and learning in particular curricular areas. How we understand the nature of knowledge has an impact on how we teach, and how pupils learn. The course will have a particular focus on the nature of knowledge or 'knowledges' across the disciplines of the primary curriculum. These fundamental questions will first be considered holistically, before the course develops to recognise and investigate knowledge in the discrete areas of the curriculum, and how this influences learning and teaching within primary schools. Students will have the chance to explore how understandings of knowledge have influenced Curriculum for Excellence.
The course has two main strands.
1. In Primary Studies 1, students consider how knowledge (or 'knowledges') is constructed, produced and reproduced, and are introduced to the major subject disciplines as 'ways of knowing' within this critical framework. This course begins by introducing students to the nature of knowledge. It poses questions such as 'what do we know?', 'how do we know it?' and 'why does this matter?'. Students will be encouraged to consider alternative understandings of knowledge and knowing.
2. The course then moves on to consider the nature of knowledge within the
discrete disciplines of the curriculum (Expressive Arts, Mathematics, HWB:PE, RME, Social Subjects, Sciences, and Technologies). Students will be encouraged to consider how the nature of knowledge influences learning and teaching within primary schools and begin to question practice in terms of 'how?', 'what' and 'why?'.
These two strands will be treated as interdependent, and in each curricular area students will take firstly a more philosophical approach to the nature of knowledge and then consider its application within the primary curriculum.
Links will be made with theoretical perspectives on learning and teaching in the complementary Educational Studies 1 Course, Primary Literacies 1.
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| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of Primary 1, and at a level appropriate to the first year of an undergraduate course, students will be able to:
-Critically explain different understandings of the nature of knowledge.
-Compare and contrast how knowledge is constructed in and through different disciplines.
-Analyse the relationship between the production of knowledge and learning and teaching in different disciplines.
-Be able to critically evaluate curriculum content and structure.
-Apply understandings of knowledge to their professional learning and practice.
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Reading List
Indicative Reading List:
Generic Reading List:
Alexander, R. (2001) Culture and Pedagogy. Oxford: Blackwell.
National Research Council (2000) How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School. National Academy Press: Washington.
Kelly, V. (2009) The Curriculum: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE
Rachels, J. (2002) The Elements of Moral Philosophy. London: Mcgraw-Hill.
Van De Lagemaat, R. (2012) Theory of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Curricular Reading List:
Griggs, G. (ed) (2012) Physical Education in the Primary School: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
Haylock, D. (2010) Mathematics Explained for Primary Teachers (4th Edition) London: Sage.
Hickman, R. (2010) Why we make Art and Why it is Taught? Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Neelands, J. & Goode, T. (2006) Structuring Drama Work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rohaan, E., Taconis, R. & Jochems, W. (2012) ¿Analysing Teacher Knowledge for Technology Education in Primary Schools¿, International Journal of Technology and Design Education 22 (3), pp. 271¿280.
Sheppard. P. (2005) Music Makes your Child Smarter. New York: Schirmer G Books.
Smith, H. (1999) The World¿s Religions. San Francisco: Harper.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | knowledge, curriculum, discipline |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Kevin Wright
Tel: (0131 6)51 6676
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Marzia Ballardin
Tel: (0131 6)51 6381
Email: |
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