Introduction

Curriculum as a field of study is relatively young. Most place its birth during the second or third decade of this century, often with the publication of Franklin Bobbitt's. In 1918, Denver superintendent Jesse Newlon's suggested use of teachers in curriculum development . It is important to note that the study of curriculum did not begin as an addition to an extant field, say as a subfield of psychology or philosophy. Rather, it began in administrative convenience: professional responsibility for curricular matters. They came from every academic background imaginable. This means different kinds of thinking from the scientific to the artistic have emerged in the curriculum field.

Curriculum as a field includes curriculum theory, development, implementation (that is, instruction), and evaluation. Traditional, conceptual-empiricist, and reconceptualist are theoretical frameworks that govern specific approaches to curriculum issues. Each of these frameworks can be characterized by the dominant and subordinate assumptions that govern the knowledge and values which underline their respective modes of inquiry.

Traditionalists:

Educational philosophy (Pernalism and Essentialism)
General Philosophy (Idealism and Realism)
Educational Psychology (Behaviorism)

History

The field of curriculum studies began in the early 1920's, and grew out of the necessity and need to define, organize and implement the public school curriculum. The early field of curriculum was dominated by administrative notions, and curriculum was viewed as the organization of time and activities to be managed according to sound business principles. The idea of "scientific management" as articulated by Frederick W. Taylor was applied to schooling. Cubberly articulated this concisely