Hidden Curriculum Infuenced by Psychical Environment

Curriculum studies in higher education as a new field of this realm could be consider from different aspects. Hidden curriculum as an important aspect of curriculum has been emphasized in recent years. This kind of curriculum would be influenced by three environments; cognitive, social and psychical. In spite of this point, studies have focused on cognitive and social environment more than psychical. Thus, the focus of this study is to explore hidden curriculum influenced by psychical environment. Studies regarding higher education and hidden curriculum are related to disciplinary culture because of special identity and culture that each discipline maintains. On the other hand, spaces, places and human spatial perception have been interpreted based on their culture. From this point of view, this study considers disciplinary culture as a phenomenon having effects on students’ perception from the spaces and places. This study has been done through qualitative approaches and has applied phenomenological and ethnographic inquiry. Data have been gathered through open, informal, semi-structural interviews with students and open questionnaires, participant observations and autobiographies. As a result, this study introduces the hidden messages that psychical environment send to students and the hidden curriculum of these messages, in addition to the effects of disciplinary culture on their meaning of academic places.