Philippine Normal University

The National Center for Teacher Education

COLLEGE OF TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

CHARMEL FE L. ENDANGAN BSSE II

DIMENSIONS AND PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM DESIGN

Purita P. Bilbao, Ed. D.

Dimensions of Curriculum
Scope- As the content, topics, learning experiences and organizing threads comprising the educational plan.(Tyler
in Ornstein 2004). Scope does not only refer to the cognitive content, but also the affective and psychomotor
content. It is the depth, as well as, the breadth of these contents. The term broad, limited, simple and general is few
that best describe the scope. It is here where the decision making skill of the teacher is important. Other
considerations in determination of the scope should include time, diversity and maturity of the learners, complexity
of the content and the level of education. Scope refers to the coverage of the curriculum.
The scope is divided into chunks called units, sub-units, chapters and sub-chapters as the case may be.
The division of the content may use the deductive principle from the whole to the parts which will have a
cascading arrangement or the inductive principle from the examples to generalization.

Sequence- To provide continuous and cumulative learning a vertical relationship among the elements of the
curriculum provides the sequence. Contents and experiences are arrange in hierarchical manner, where the basis
can either be logic of the subject matter or the developmental patterns of growth of the cognitive, affective and
psychomotor domains.

SMITH, STANLEY AND SHORE (1957) INTRODUCED 4 PRINCIPLES FOR SEQUENCE.

1. Simple to Complex Learning- Concrete to abstract, from easy to difficult. This principle is in consonance with
developmental theories of learning and cognition

2. Prerequisite learning- There is fundamental things to do ahead. Like addition before multiplications in mathematics.

3. Whole to part learning- The principle has relation to Gestalt. The forest before trees. The over view before the
specific content of the topic.

4. Chronological Learning- The order of events is made as the basis of sequencing the content and the experiences.
This principle is closely allied to the history, political science or world events.

Five Major Principles for Organizing Content in Units by Posner and Rudnitsky (1994)

1. World-related sequence-

SPACE- Spatial relations would be the basis for the sequence. Closest to farthest, bottom to top or east to
west.
TIME- The content is based from the earliest to the more recent.
PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES- Refers to the physical characteristics of the phenomena such as age, shape,
sizes, brightness and others.
 2. Concept –related Sequence- This arrangement reflects the organization of the conceptual world, how ideas related
together in logical manner.
CLASS RELATIONS- refers to the group or set of things that share common practices. Teaching the
characteristics of the class ahead of the characteristics of the member of the class.
PROPOSITIONAL RELATIONS- Is a statement that asserts something. Sequence is arranged so that
evidence is presented ahead before proposition.
3. Inquiry-related sequence-Based on the process of generating, discovering and verifying knowledge, content and
experiences are sequenced logically and methodically.
4. Learning –related Sequence- This is based on the psychology of learning and how people learn.

Empirical Prerequisites- Sequence is primarily based on empirical studies where the pre-requisites are
required before learning the next level.
Familiarity- Prior learning is important to sequence. What is familiar should be taken first before the unfamiliar.
Difficulty- Easy content is taken ahead than the difficult one.
Interest –Contents and experiences that stimulate interest are those that are novel. These can arouse curiosity
and interest of the learners.

Continuity –Vertical repetition and recurring appearances of the content provide continuity in the curriculum. To
strengthen the permanency of learning and development of skills. Gerom Bruners calls this Spiral Curriculum
where the content is organized according to the interrelationship between the structure of the basic ideas of a major
discipline.
Integration- “ Everything is integrated and interconnected . Life is a series of emerging themes” . This is the
essence of integration in the curriculum design.
Articulation – This can be done either vertically or horizontally. In vertical articulation, contents are arranged from
level to level is connected to the next level. Horizontal articulation happens when the association is among or
between elements that happen in the same time like social studies in grade six is related to science in grade six.
Balance- Equitable assignment of content, time, experiences and other elements to establish balance is
needed in curriculum design. Too much or too little of these elements maybe disastrous to the curriculum.

Guidelines in Curriculum Design

 Curriculum Design committee should involve teachers, parents, administrators, and even students
 School’s vision, mission, goals and objectives should be reviewed and used as basis for curriculum design.
 The needs and the interest of the learners, in particular, and the society, in general, should be considered.
 Alternative curriculum design should consider advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost, scheduling, class
size, facilities and personnel required.
 The curriculum design should take into account cognitive, affective, psychomotor skills, concepts and outcomes.