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1930s
Overview
The Great Depression and the Progressive Movement (ironically) slowed progress in the development of instruction. Bad economics caused less funding pouring into research and development in education. Social reconstructionists (a group of educators) responded to the economic situation by advocating curriculum courses that focused on economics and politics. The Progressivists hindered advancement in instructional development because of the shift of focus on student-initiated activiites rather than pre-spedcified outcomes
Highlights
- (1933) Ralph W. Tyler - Eight Year Study- use of general and behavioral objectives and formative evaluation
- (1934) William Bagley writes Education and Emergent Man
- (1939) Regular scheduled television broadcasting begins in the U.S.
- The Great Depression
- Progressive Movement
Eight Year Study (1933)
- determine if students could succeed in college using alternative high school curricula
- served to refine the procedures for writing instructional objectives
- formative evaluation - objectives and their assessment were used to revise and refine
- study confirmed that objectives should be written in terms of student behaviors, hence behavioral objectives
An opponent of pragmatism and progressive education, Bagley insisted on the value of knowledge for its own sake, not merely as an instrument, and he criticized his colleagues for their failure to emphasize systematic study of academic
subjects.