Ask someone the following question: “What does the word curriculum mean to you?”

Ask someone the following question: “What does the word curriculum mean to you?”  You can phrase the question any way you would like but your intent is to get a general understanding of curriculum from the speaker.  Your choice of speaker (stranger, business partner, family member, co-worker, principal and so on) is up to you but if you want to make it interesting, maybe ask someone who is not directly involved in education.   

Ask the person to explain his or her viewpoint.  Where did s/he collect the information? Ask follow-up questions to get more details. 

Take note of the speaker’s response and write down or record the details immediately following the discussion.  Who did you ask?  When did you ask them?  Where did you ask them?  What was his/her immediate reaction?  This discussion should take no more than thirty minutes.  

Now, create the written narrative of the exchange.  Write about the experience and draw upon your notes to help build the story of the exchange.  In addition to constructing the story, describe the setting.  Conclude your written work by reflecting on the talk.  What did you learn about curriculum from this dialogue?

 The purpose of this assignment is two-fold.  In this course, you will be dialoguing the term curriculum with your online peers but in this activity, you discover what others in your immediate environment think/know about curriculum. 

The second purpose is to begin practicing the ideas of academic research specifically how to present a question to a participant, to collect data, and to record data.  Researchers have to begin somewhere and usually, they start by asking someone a particular question and taking notes.  I am not asking you to keep extensive data but just ask this question, take a few notes and compose a short summary of the exchange.  Use the narrative voice when writing to recount this experience.  

Submit a paper which is 2-3 pages in length (no more than 3-pages), exclusive of the reference page. The paper should be double-spaced.  The paper should cite at least 2 additional sources in APA format.  The paper should be well-written using Times New Roman, 12 point font. Check all content for grammar, spelling and to be sure that you have properly cited all resources (in APA format) used. A rubric will be used to evaluate your paper.