Family and Consumer Sciences Curriculum, History of

The curriculum of family and consumer sciences (home economics) symbolized the field's unifying focus and in higher educational institutions reflected the changing conception of home economics and family and consumer sciences throughout the 20th century. The concepts taught in traditional home economics and family and consumer sciences curricula embodied the prevailing notion of essential knowledge in the field. These ideas developed into courses in the following subject areas: family relations and child development, textiles and clothing, housing and interior design, home management and consumer economics, foods and nutrition, and home economics foundations and professional development. These subject areas formed the organizational center of home economics and developed into the curriculum. However, the integrated curriculum has given way to a more specialized curriculum as home economics and family and consumer sciences have moved into the 21st century.

The 19th century society began to allow access for women to public college education, and home economics evolved as a curriculum especially designed for them. Young women learned the science of planning homes that could be built with sanitary and safety features. Home decoration and clothing design utilized art principles. Scientific discoveries helped to build knowledge in cooking, cleaning, and laundry. The 10 Lake Placid Conferences (1899–1908), hosted by Melvil and Annie Dewey, founded the field of home economics. These conferences formally recognized curricula that had been taught to young women in varying forms since colonial times and established the study of these curricula in higher, secondary, and adult education. The education of women in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States included home taught needle arts and social skills. In the late 19th century, Ellen Swallow Richards, the founder of home economics, wanted to develop a new field of study that utilized science to improve the environment of the home. A chemist, she developed sanitary standards for home cleanliness using chemistry, biology, and physics. She advanced her goal of practical application of science to home economics through her leadership in the Lake Placid Conferences.

The Lake Placid Conference participants formalized home economics as a discipline and determined knowledge and skills needed by homemakers and those who would teach them. Even in the early years of these conferences, leaders articulated two worldviews about how the curriculum should be conceptualized. Should the home economics curriculum reflect an empirical, positivistic, or an interpretative field of study? These two modes of thought, empirical versus interpretative, profoundly influenced curriculum development early in the 20th century; however, most home economics curriculum developed in the direction of the empirical science group. Therefore, early curriculum emphasized skill orientation and developed empirically, working within society rather than attempting to change society.