Reconstituting the Curriculum

M. Rafiq Islam has nearly 30 years of experience in teaching and research, during which time he has supervised over 150 graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows and completed over $20 million of funded research. During his career, he has published over 700 research papers and some dozen books on topics ranging from petroleum reservoir modeling to economics. He is the founding executive editor of Journal of Nature Science and Sustainable Technology, Advances in Sustainable Petroleum Engineering Science, Journal of Characterization and Development of Novel Materials, and Journal of Information, Intelligence and Knowledge. Gary M. Zatzman has decades of investigative journalism and research experience, dozens of articles in technical journals, and three previously published books: Sustainable Resource Development, Sustainable Energy Pricing, and Economics of Intangibles (with M.R. Islam).Jaan S. Islam is the executive editor of Ummah Youth Journal published in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has been involved in research in the social sciences as well as technology development and has published numerous papers.

• Foreword xiiiAcknowledgments xvPreface xvii1 Introduction 11.1 Widespread malaise — a Summary 11.2 Thought as Material 81.3 Renewal of Thought-Material Resources and the Nature-Science Approach 92 Curriculum — The Place Where Tangible Content Wrestles Intangible Process 192.1 Introduction 192.2 What is ‘Human Thought Material’? 212.3 Why This Starting Point? 222.4 HTM from the Nature-Science Standpoint 242.5 Commodification of HTM 462.6 HTM vs Commodification 472.7 Skills Development versus Learning from Acts of “Finding Out” 572.8 Current Practices in Education 652.9 The Need for the Science of Intangibles as the Basis for Education 692.10 The Tangible-Intangible Nexus 702.11 The Encounter between European and Islamic Outlooks — a Delinearized History 742.12 Final Words About Education and Training 853 Intention: Its Individual and Social Purposes 873.1 Introduction 873.2 Human Thought Material: A “Root + Pathway” Analysis 883.3 Foetal Learning 883.4 Aspects of Pre-School Learning and Early Development of Individuals’ own Thought-Material 903.5 Intention: Origins 913.6 Nature for Sale? 1023.7 Conclusions 1074 Fundamental Changes in Curriculum Development 1094.1 Introduction 1094.2 Struggle for Educational Reform: Internal and External Factors 1114.3 Muslim-Christian Conflict: A Delinearized Short History 1124.4 Why did the Scientific Revolution Break Out in Europe and Not the Islamic World? 1164.5 Education and Civilization: a Delinearized History 1174.6 Education and Civilization: the Delinearized Future Prospect of a Reconstituted Curriculum 1235 Sustainability and Change in Curriculum Development: The HSSA Syndrome and Other Maladies 1255.1. Truth is Knowledge, Knowledge is Peace, So … What’s the Problem? 1255.2 What is Sustainability? 1265.3 What Happens When a Process is Not Sustainable 1275.4 Theories Proven Wrong? How About ‘Laws’? 1315.5 Could this be Averted, and if so, How? 1365.6 Theory, Empirical Outlook and Disinformation in the Social Sciences 1416 The Nature-Science Criterion 1516.1 Introduction — Can Modern Science Distinguish Truth From Falsehood? 1516.2 Tangible-Intangible Nexus & the criterion of Truth vs Falsehood 1596.3 Negative Impacts of the Science of Tangibles 1637 The HSSRAR Phenomenon 1917.1 Introduction 1917.2 The HSSRAR (Honey Sugar SaccharinR AspartameR) Pathway 1938 Concluding Remarks & Observations 2078.1 Introduction 207The Appendices 209Appendix 1a 211Appendix 2a 325Appendix 3a 411References and Bibliography 463Index 505