Perennial Problem
Perennial Problem is one faced over and over by successive generations of teachers. Perennial Problems include enduring questions about how to improve the quality of education. Posing curriculum lessons as Perennial Problems avoids focusing on time-specific problems. Developers of this curriculum have used the Perennial Problem approach throughout the curriculum. This approach provides a convenient framework for addressing issues involved in integrating new basic skills into vocational education. The Perennial Problem informing this curriculum is: What should be done about integrating the new basic skills into vocational education?
Practical Problem
A Practical Problem identifies an action that can help address the Perennial Problem. This action is born of reasoned thought and sound judgment. Posing a Practical Problem in a curriculum is a way of focusing on both affective and cognitive processes, on both knowledge and values, on life experiences, and on thought and action. The Practical Problem approach can be used to help analyze a teaching situation, identify and address an education dilemma, generate and critique alternatives, and make value judgments. Justification for Lesson To develop this curriculum, teachers integrating the new basic skills into vocational education were asked the question, “What would you have liked to have studied/discussed in your preservice education that would have prepared you to do a better job of integrating these skills into your work?” Their responses framed the lessons developed.
