BHARATHIDASAN UNIVERSITY 
                                      TIRUCHIRAPPALLI – 620 024 
                                                                      
                                                                      
                    CENTRE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION 
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                                              
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      
                  
                       KNOWLEDGE AND CURRICULUM 
                                                                      
                                                   B.Ed. II YEAR 
                                                                      
                  
                                                                      
                   (Copyright reserved)                                                    For Private Circulation only 
              Chairman 
              Dr.V.M.Muthukumar 
              Vice-Chancellor 
              Bharathidasan University 
              Tiruchirapplli-620 024 
              Vice-Chairman 
              Dr.C.Thiruchelvam 
              Registrar 
              Bharathidasan University 
              Tiruchirapplli-620 024 
              Course Director 
              Dr. R. Babu Rajendran 
              Director i/c 
              Centre for Distance Education 
              Bharathidasan University 
              Tiruchirapplli-620 024 
              Course Material Co-ordinator      
              Dr.K.Anandan 
              Professor & Head, Dept .of Education 
              Centre for Distance Education 
              Bharathidasan University 
              Tiruchirapplli-620 024 
              Author 
              Dr.A.Tholappan 
              Asst.Professor,Dept.of Education,CDE 
              Bharathidaan University 
              Tiruchirapplli-620 024 
                                                      The Syllabus adopted from 2015-16 onwards 
                UNIT-1       KNOWLEDGE  EDUCATION  CURRICULUM  AND 
                PERSPECTIVES 
                Structure  
                  1.1 Introduction 
                  1.2 Objectives 
                  1.3 Foundations of Education  
                  1.4 Genesis of knowledge 
                  1.5 Types of Knowledge 
                        1.5.1 Personal Knowledge 
                        1.5.2 Procedural Knowledge 
                        1.5.3 Propositional Knowledge 
                  1.6 Structure and Forms of Knowledge  
                        1.6.1 Ways to Acquiring Knowledge 
                        1.6.2 Meaning of Information 
                  1.7 Modes of Education 
                          1.7.1 Formal Education        
                        1.7.2 Non - Formal Education   
                                1.7.2.1 Open University 
                                1.7.2.2 Open and Distance Learning  
                                1.7.2.3 Distance Education 
                        1.7.3 Informal Education 
                1.8 Teaching in Multicultural Setting 
                1.9 Curriculum 
                        1.9.1 Meaning of Curriculum 
                        1.9.2 Nature of Curriculum 
                        1.9.3 Scope of Curriculum 
                        1.9.4 Curriculum and Syllabus 
                        1.9.5 Curriculum Development  
                        1.9.6 Need and Importance of Curriculum 
                1.10 Foundation of Curriculum 
                        1.10.1 Philosophical Foundation of Curriculum 
                        1.10.2 Psychological Foundation of Curriculum 
                        1.10.3 Sociological Foundation of Curriculum 
                1.11 Let Us Sum Up 
                1.12 Unit End Activity 
                1.13 Points for Discussion 
                1.14 Answer to Check Your Progress 
                                                                                                 1 
                 
             1.1 INTRODUCTION 
             Knowledge  is  habitually  defined  as  a  belief  that  is  true  and  justified.            
             The philosopher Plato famously defined knowledge as "justified true belief". 
             On the other hand, knowledge is a familiarity, awareness of understanding of 
             someone  or  something,  such  as  facts,  information,  descriptions,  or  skills, 
             which acquired through experiences or education by perceiving, discovering 
             or  learning.  On  comparing  knowledge  and  wisdom,  knowledge  is  the 
             accumulation  of  facts  and  information  and  wisdom  is  the  synthesis  is  of 
             knowledge and experiences into insights that deepen one’s understanding of 
             relationships and the meaning of life. Education is really a means to discover 
             new things which we don’t know about and increase our knowledge. Hence,   
             it is important to provide effective teaching-learning experiences by means of 
             constructing  productive  curriculum.  In  developing  curriculum,  all  the 
             foundations (Philosophical, Psychological, and Sociological Foundations) of 
             development  of  curriculum  should  be  accommodated  with  respect  to  the 
             learners and the society. Educators, curriculum makers and teachers must have 
             promoted philosophies that are deemed necessary for planning, implementing 
             and evaluating a school curriculum.  This philosophical foundation define the 
             purpose of the school, the important subject to be taught, the kind of learning 
             students must have and how they can acquire them, the instructional material, 
             methods and strategies to be used and how students will be evaluated. It is 
             found that Curriculum is influenced by psychology and Psychology provides 
             information  about  the  teaching  and  learning  process.  This  psychological 
             foundation seeks answers as to how a curriculum be organized in order to 
             achieve students’ learning at the optimum level, and as to what amount of 
             information they can absorb in learning the various contents of the curriculum. 
             Education takes place in society. Education is essentially a social process and 
             life-long process and social environment educates the child education has a 
             social role to play. Since the society is dynamic, there are many developments 
             which  are  difficult  to  cope  with  and  to  adjust  to.  Hence,  sociological 
             foundation of curriculum helps in developing democratic skills and values in 
             students. In this unit, we will discuss about the importance of knowledge with 
             its  acquisition,  modes  of  education  and  its  scope  and  determinants  of 
             curriculum with its foundations.  
                                            2