AN EXAMINATION OF ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS TO CONSTRAIN SUBJECT MATTER: IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING EDUCATION.
Contributors: Temple University.
Published: 1990
Number of pages: 169
Subjects: Education, Curriculum and Instruction.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Statement of the problem. The problem of this study was to examine alternative proposals that might offer constraints for subject matter for schooling and to derive implications for nursing education.

First, the status of subject matter inquiry in nursing was described. Second, the initial and subsequent subject matter proposals of Eisner and Vallance were critically examined. Third, Shulman's subject matter proposals were described and examined to determine if constraints for subject matter for schooling are provided. Fourth, based on the status of subject matter inquiry in nursing, and the examination of the proposals of Eisner, Vallance and Shulman, implications for nursing education were derived.

Implications. It was shown through critical review that Eisner and Vallance and Shulman neither constrain subject matter nor differentiate subject matter from teaching and learning. If the distinctive features of subject matter, teaching and learning are not described, then neither difference nor relationship can be described.

Attempts to characterize the subject matter of nursing have often been transported into nursing education prior to critical examination. The promulgation of unexamined subject matter proposals, that fail to constrain subject matter, has contributed to program development which is neither consistent, systematic nor amenable to assessment.

One source of subject matter constraints are the competing proposals of recognized scholars within a "discipline." The competing characterizations of nursing would be translated into different configurations of subject matter in nursing education. Critical review of the characterizations may lead to the identification and description of propositions which characterize nursing, and subject matter constraints for nursing education. The identification of both the commonalities and the differences in the competing characterizations of nursing is essential.

A requirement of systematic program development for nursing education is the constraint of subject matter. It is this constraint of subject matter which will permit examination toward determining the difference and the relationship among subject matter, teaching and learning. If the subject matter for nursing education can be constrained, and if the difference and the relationship among subject matter, teaching and learning can be described, then systematic program development can be initiated for nursing education.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-08, Section: A, page: 2626.

Thesis (ED.D.)--TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, 1990.

School code: 0225.