The revised Fifth Edition provides a broad perspective on the basic curriculum questions educators face regarding the purposes, content, design, and structure of educational programs. After examining aims that have been proposed by classical educational thinkers and reviewing the dominant educational debate of the 20th century between traditionalists and progressives, the authors deal with fundamental contemporary issues of curriculum theory and instructional practice. Providing realistic case studies that inspire pre-service teachers to grapple with the issues of curriculum and aims in the context of classroom situations, the new edition features: a new case study on Education and Equity: Closing the Achievement Gap and updated references to important recent ideas in a new section at the end of each chapter called For Further Inquiry