The Influence of the "Practical Problem Approach" on the National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education in the USA

Abstract

In this article, the author tries to examine the National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education published in 1998 as the product of the home economics curricula in the USA, and to investigate to what extent they are influenced by the curriculum theory of the "Practical Problem Approach" and the practical problem based home economics curricula developed in several states. The National Standards are structured to assist students to integrate content and process by making explicit what is expected of the learners and with the emphasis on how to acquire content. The author found that the National Standards adopted new perspectives of the "Practical Problem Approach" characterized by the practical problems, a family system of actions, and practical reasoning and incorporated peculiarities of the practical problem based home economics curricula developed in the states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Maryland. While the National Standards are mostly reflected in the curriculum theory of the "Practical Problem Approach," they seemed to be designed to integrate various types of exsisting state curricula. The National Standards intended to provide a model available to educators with flexibility for their use.