The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare dental hygine curriculum of three countries--Korea, U.S.A., and Japan--, focusing on the ways of organizing content.
In this study, 30 curriculum documents of dental hygienist in U.S., Japan, and Korea were analyzed and discussed by a framework of analysis which was constructed referring to Tylerian curriculum model. Using this framework, three kinds of key components of curriculum document were compared according to specific elements of each component.
More specifically, comparing those curriculum documents, we must consider the dimension of content organization. In this study, the problem of course organization was viewed on three dimensions; continuity, sequence, and integration of curriculum content.
Based on the results of this study, the conclusions are as follows.
1.Courses of dental hygienist education should be organized so that the curriculum foster the cumulative and continuous learning. It will be accomplished by considering the essential procedures or sequence of dental hygiene activities.
2.When organizing curriculum elements, we should consider the continuity dimension of learning content. continuity deals with the vertical manipulation or repetition of curriculum components. In other words, it accounts for the reapperance in the curriculum of certain major ideas or skills. Therefore, courses should be based on the level of the dental hygienist activities in order to ensure a continuity of learning experiences.
3.Dental hygienist curriculum must be organized in a way to integrate the logic of dental hygiene as a discipline with the process of dental hygiene performance. Integration refers to the linking of all types of knowledge and experiences contained within the curriculum design. It emphasizes horizontal relations among various content topics and themes involving all domains of knowledge recognized. Thus, courses of dental hygiene curriculum should be integrated to allow college students to obtain a unified view of knowledge and an in-depth meaning of the dental hygiene as a profession.
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