The Saber Tooth Curriculum Education Essay

In the article we learn about the different techniques used to for daily survival in the wilderness. Many issues arose regarding how tribe members could go about conserving the food and hide they had obtained from hunting. Children, who were seen to play games with no specific importance, were then taught necessary hunting skills as they would be the ones going about the hunting in the near future. The lessons taught to them did not only train them in one specific field or develop them in a certain area but taught them lessons of alertness, strength and courage. The universal principle was illustrated through training and how the needs of the tribe and later of the society were met.

The ever-changing times in our South African lives call for education that would teach us more in the least amount of time. There is a continuous influence of education on these children as it improves their skills on a daily basis. The lessons learnt while fish grabbing, not only helped them acquire the skills and rapidness to catch the fish with their bare hands but also to focus and keep in mind the end goal. Horse clubbing did not only result in the tribe being warm or the ability to think critically about how and where clubbing the horses would benefit them. Their fears of saber-toothed tigers had also built on their quick thinking and fight or flight responses. Tiger scaring assisted these tribe members in heading for a better existence. The lessons New-Fist had taught at the time had the children engaged physically so that understanding of how and why would be stronger. This gave the children an advantage over those who were taught in a methodical manner. Resistance from more traditional and religious tribe members had opposed New-Fists theory of formal education saying that if it were meant to be known, children would have been born with the knowledge. While the lessons taught by New-Fist were relevant to the tribe at the time, circumstances had changed and the needs of the tribe had changed. As the changes were noticed, so a plan was devised on how to go about combating the challenge. The tribe members worked hard at acquainting themselves with the new way of fishing, snaring and pit digging.

The Outcomes based education principle focuses on adapting the curriculum and how the thinking of each learner is assessed. The aim Outcomes Based Education looks to achieve is to increase the level of their thing, i.e. higher order thinking, improve on the skills learnt by ascertaining what it is that needs to be taught to the learner. Once this has been realised, teachers can now move onto ways in which it can be achieved. The necessary methods, procedures and processes can then be followed to achieving the outcome. Once an outcome is taught, the learner is then required to demonstrate their understanding of the outcome as if it is in a real life situation. These outcomes test content knowledge, recollection of the information taught to them and taking the knowledge a step further by doing something significant with the information.

Outcomes Based Education can be identified in the ideas of educational theorist Ralph Tyler. The curriculum must have clear educational purposes or objectives from which learners may identify with modern and life like situations. Tyler believed that to conquer and understand the principle, one must experience it. Although many of us have had what Tyler may call an ‘educational experience’, it may not fit in with the objectives therefore organisation and management of these experiences are vital e.g. outings and field trips to study the subject in the habitat. A clear relationship between subjects in the curriculum needs to be made in order for students and learners to understand their similarities. Many items of the subject matter in the curriculum may come across as complex to teacher and learner, therefore thorough explanation and repetitive studying will help in comprehending. As in many studies, evidence that the product is successful needs to be obtained regularly. Evaluation of the subject and the knowledge obtained by the learner is vital to assess the success or failure of the given teaching content. Key concepts in the Outcomes Based Education syllabus through the views of Tyler and his colleagues: Lawrence Stenhouse and Paolo Freire consist of: learning through experience; focus; the learning area content and the skills involved and individual learning to name but a few. Outcomes Based Education can also be seen as competency based and a teacher-learning process takes place to better equip the receiver of the information (learners) for the success of the actual role.

The National Curriculum Statement gives rise to the subjects with knowledge, skills and values that are worth teaching and learning i.e. Level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). It is meant to relay meaningful information as well as knowledge and skills that would further benefit the lives of those at the receiving end. The subject content focuses on local contexts while remaining objective and insightful of contrary view points of parents, learners and teachers as well as society as a whole.

The aims of the National Curriculum statement are to prepare learners for everyday life once they have matriculated. Many elements and factors must be taken into account namely: background; race; gender; intellectual and physical ability in order to provide learners with the appropriate career opportunities. It affords learners admission to higher and further education studies if they so wish and also the tools they may need in their switch from a learning society into the workplace and it provides the institution at which learners choose to work with a central idea of the proficiency of the learner.

From the different curriculums we can see the link between each one of them including the Saber-toothed Curriculum. All are very learner based and focused on equipping the learners with the skills that they will not only find useful in their own environment or situation but everywhere.