ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces and defines experience as a key concept in curriculum. Beginning with John Dewey’s definition of experience from Experience and Education, it addresses experience in relation to curriculum making and the notion of emergent curriculum. Experience is a means to ground education in diverse perspectives, including of those persons whose knowledge has been minoritized. Students too come with diverse experiences and goals. Ted Aoki’s (1993) “lived curriculum” constructs curriculum as experienced, and this nexus of curriculum and experience provides a lens to research curriculum as a phenomenon of study. This introduction to the concept of experience in curriculum theory is accompanied by personal reflections on the key concept from two individuals, a teacher and a student, who further explore the relevance of experience to the study and practice of teaching and learning. The chapter concludes with some suggested discussion questions for use in curriculum studies courses and by curriculum theory students.
