Curriculum Design

1. What myths about educations

purposes do many educators and
the general public seem to believe?

Myths about education

The right curriculum and curriculum design- can
eliminate ignorance.
Education and well-design curricula can supply all
the knowledge needed to manage society and the
Earth.
Educational curricula are increasing human
goodness- Well designed curricula instill wisdom.
Educations primary purpose is to enable students
to be upwardly mobile and economically
successful.

2. What three main, or big ideas influence

our thinking about education?

First big ideas influence thinking about

education
Most accept that education serves to socialise
students to be functioning members of society,
or good citizens.
- have allegiance to complex sets of beliefs and
particular patterns of
behaviour

Second big ideas influence thinking about

education
Platos academic idea
- deals with what knowledge is of most worth
- influences how we select and organise
knowledge and content in
curriculum development

Third big ideas influence thinking about

education
Rousseaus development idea
- consider:
i. the basic maturing of the individual, specifically
the growth of
mind
ii. the variety ways in which individuals process
knowledge to gain
literacy

3. What are the main sources of curriculum

design?

Science as a source
Contains only observable and quantifiable
elements
Prioritises problem-solving and thinking strategies
Emphasises learning how to learn
With knowledge increasing so rapidly, the only
constant seems to be the procedures by which we
process knowledge.

Society as a source
School is an agent of society
Should draw its curriculum ideas from analysis of the social
situation
Believe heavily in the socialisation function of schooling
Must consider current and future society at the local,
national and global levels
Both political and social communities influence education
system
Realise the need for collaboration among diverse individuals
and groups

Moral doctrine as a source

Look to the past for guidance regarding
appropriate content
Emphasise what they view as lasting truths
advanced by the great thinkers of the past
Guided by the Bible or other religious texts
Consider the relationship between knowledge and
peoples spirituality
Curriculum as religious text may allow for a
blending of truth, faith, knowledge, ethics, thought
and action.

Knowledge as a source
The primary source of curriculum
Disciplined knowledge
-have a particular structure and a particular
methods by which
scholars extend its boundaries
Undisciplined knowledge
- content is shaped according to an investigations
focus
Challenge- knowledge is exploding exponentially

The learner as a source

Should drive from our knowledge of students- how
they learn, form attitudes, generate interests, and
develop values.
Draw heavily on psychological foundations, especially
how minds create meaning
Overlaps with approaches that focus on knowledge
- emphasises how individuals process information
Overlaps with approaches that focus on science
- emphasises strategies for processing knowledge

4. What are the major components of

curriculum design?

 Objectives
-What should be done?
Content
-What subject matter should be included?
Learning experiences
-What instructional strategies, resources and activities should be
employed?
Evaluation
-What instruments and methods should be used to appraise the
results of the curriculum?

5. In what way has current brain

research had an influence on curriculum
design?

 Through the brain research,

-allow the general public and educators
unparalleled access to new level of
understanding of human brain development
-processing knowledge which becomes the
most powerful new fount of data for
reconceptualizing curriculum design

6. What are the major curriculum

design dimensions?

 Scope
- curriculums breadth and depth of content
- considering cognitive domain, affective domain and
psychomotor domain
Continuity
- vertical repetition of curriculum components
- For example, if reading skills are an important
objective, then in Tylers words, this skill should be
practiced and developed in many times which being
brought into continuity operation

 Sequence
- curriculum that foster cumulative and continuous learning (content and
learning experiences)
- involve four types of learning principles:
- Simple-to-complex learning- content is optimally organized in a
sequence proceeding from simple subordinate components to complex
components
- Prerequisite learning part-to-whole learning with the assumption that
bits of information must be grasped before other bits can be
comprehended
- Whole-to-part learning content or experience is first presented in an
overview that provides students with a general idea of the information or
situation
- Chronological learning content whose sequence reflects the times of
real world occurrences. For exp: history, political science and world events

 Integration
- linking all types of knowledge and experiences contained within the
curriculum plan so that students can comprehend knowledge as unified
rather than atomized
Articulation
- vertical and horizontal interrelatedness of various aspects of the
curriculum
- For instance, a teacher might design an algebra course so that it relates
algebra concepts to key concepts presented in a geometry course
- Horizontal articulation (sometimes called correlation)- association among
simultaneous elements, for example, the relationship between eighthgrade social studies and eighth-grade English
- Vertical articulation- sequencing of content from one grade level to
another to ensure that student receive necessary preparation for
coursework

 Balance
- students can acquire and use knowledge in
ways that advance their personal, social and
intellectual goals
- balancing our philosophy and psychology of
learning

9. Which design do you think is most

likely to change in the future?

Subject Design
Reasons:
Students have no choice but to learn the content set by the
designers. The content set may not be suitable or meaningful to
them.
Stressing subject matter may fails to foster social, psychological,
and physical development and, to some extent, promotes a
scholarly elite.
This design stresses content and neglects students needs,
interests and experiences.
According to Dewey, the curriculum should emphasize both
subject matter and the learner.

10. Which curriculum design would you

most like to see become dominant in
the future? Why?

Broad-Fields Design
Reasons:
As an effort to correct the fragmentation and
compartmentalization caused by the Subject Design
Content are integrated and fit together logically, to suits
the students needs and interests.
Focuses on curriculum webs, connections among related
themes or concepts.
Hybrid forms of content and knowledge in the curriculum
allows students to participate in constructing knowledge.