Abstract
M.Ed. (Didactics Training)
Since the Second World War due to the knowledge explosion curricula became over-loaded in order to meet the needs and demands of a fast developing western society. "The personal and particular needs of the child were brushed aside in favour of the needs of commerce and industry. Curriculum research became important in
order to re-establish equilibrium in education. Because of the over-loading of curricula, a very general problem arose: Children became "memorising machines" in rapidly increasing numbers, while insight am. understanding of the world around them
and of themselves was not regarded as a priority in this time-pressed century. It follows that such an educational system cannot produce balanced adults. A child will presumably only participate with full co-operation and with insight if and when he understands the adult and is understood by the adult. 'Ibis is an understanding of one another in the educational content. Understanding seems to be the motivating
force behind the Participating child, because it leads to thought, action and exploration, insight and synthesis. A curriculum will have to be developmental in order to facilitate
the emergence of above mentioned characteristics. An effort has been made to demonstrate that a model of curriculum can approximate a model of child development. The above mentioned motivation-characteristics are then compared with the curriculum model. It is found that these characteristics can be facilitated by and incorporated in the curriculum. These characteristics have to be made operational. It seems that to operationalise these characteristics in the lesson, the instruments
to facilitate them are: interaction, intra-action and action, leading to reaction as a changed human being.