Philosophy of Family and Consumer Sciences Education FCS 461: Methods and Teaching Strategies for FCS Education Fall 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is for you to communicate to the reader your philosophy of family and consumer sciences education, identify target audiences, reflect upon course content selection, describe the critical science approach to knowledge, and describe a classroom example that uses the three facets of the critical science approach.

Content: Your paper should address the following areas: 1. Philosophy of Family and Consumer Sciences Education a. Choose a statement of philosophy of Family and Consumer Sciences Education from course readings and/or other professional sources. A dictionary definition is inadequate. The guiding questions are: “What is family and consumer sciences education?”, What is the purpose of family and consumer sciences education?”. b. Interpret and explain the statement in your own words. 2. Describe the target audiences of family and consumer sciences education. This would include students/learners and families. 3. Answer the question “What should we teach?” Justify your response with information from professional sources. 4. Provide a description of the three perspectives of critical science approach. Use professional sources to clarify your response. 5. Using an example, demonstrate how you would use the three perspectives of the critical science approach in your classroom.

Criteria: Papers should meet the following criteria: 1. Three to five typed pages. 2. Free of grammatical and typing errors. Have a friend read the paper, critiquing your responses, grammar and typing. 3. Bibliography. Be consistent in terms of the style you choose to use. Include all essential bibliographic information.