Hands, Head and Heart (3H) framework for curriculum review emergence and nesting phenomena

• Published in: Educational studies in mathematics Vol. 106; no. 2; pp. 189 - 210
• Main Authors: Tan, Da Yang, Tay, Eng Guan, Teo, Kok Ming, Shutler, Paul M. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Science + Business Media 01.02.2021; Springer Netherlands; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Chaos theory; Curricula; Curriculum Design; Curriculum Evaluation; Education; Elementary School Curriculum; Evaluation; Focus Groups; Foreign Countries; Heart; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Learning strategies; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; Meetings; Methods; Nesting; Preservice Teacher Education; Preservice Teachers; Professional development; Self-similarity; Student teachers; Study and teaching; Surveys; Teachers; Vocational guidance; Singapore; Curriculum design; Primary mathematics; Mathematics teacher education; Emergent behaviour; Subject knowledge; Complexity science; Self-similarity
• ISSN: 0013-1954; 1573-0816
• DOI: 10.1007/s10649-020-10003-2

In this work, we report the emergence of the Hands, Head and Heart framework that arose within the curriculum review for subject knowledge courses for primary school pre-service teachers in the National Institute of Education, Singapore. Through an initial grounded analysis of a survey of pre-service teachers and faculty focus group meeting data, the responses were broadly categorised into hands, head and heart domains and these formed an initial framework for discussions in the review committee meetings. By revisiting the data from the survey, an analysis through a complexity lens revealed the emergence of a characteristic nested self-similarity of the framework. Over the course of several committee meetings, further self-similarity was discovered. We conjecture that the Hands, Head and Heart framework and its self-similarity property provide a potential basis for a holistic approach to curriculum review. We used this framework to revise the learning objectives of the subject knowledge curriculum by resolving perspectives which previously seemed contradictory.