CURRICULUM DESIGN AND

ORGANIZATION

AVM7
Sources of Curriculum Design

SCIENCE SOCIETY MORAL KNOWLEDGE LEARNER

DOCTRINE
 Science As a Source
•
~Based on the scientific method; the design contains observable and quantifiable
elements.
~Problem solving is most important.
~Learning how to learn
Society as a Source

• ~Curriculum designers must notice the role that society will play in their curricular ideas and
analyze the social situation.
~Political issues such as: No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are still being used and revised
in curriculum.
~Schools and their curricula are still being critiqued by radicals and liberals that don't feel that the
curriculum serves underrepresented groups such as indigenous people, people of color, women and
homosexuals.
~Effective curriculum designers realize the need for collaboration among diverse individuals and
groups.
~

Moral Doctrine as a Source

-Subjects follow a hierarchy system
~Knowledge and spirituality
~Develop empathy, insight, and compassion.
~William Pinar felt that viewing curriculum as religious text
may allow for a blending of truth, faith, knowledge, ethics,
thought, and action.
Knowledge as Source

• ~Celebrates Plato's academic views

~What knowledge is of most worth?
~What intellectual skills must be taught
~Knowledge may be a discipline
 The Learner as a Source
~How do the students learn, form attitudes, generate interest, and develop
values.
~Rousseou's theory of development
~Examining a child's cognitive ability
~This returns to the ideas of Science as a Source by putting an emphasis
on the way our brain reacts and how we can develop curriculum through
the brains activity
Conceptual Framework of
Curriculum Organization

Horizontal Vertical
Organization Organization

It is blending It is sequencing
curriculum curriculum
elements
elements
Curriculum Design Qualities

Scope Sequence Continuity Integration Articulation Balance

Curriculum Design Qualities

Scope Sequence Continuity Integration Articulation Balance

 I. SCOPE
• It refers to the breadth and depth of the curriculum content—at any
level at any given time.

• Ralph Tyler –
It refers to scope as consisting all the contents, topics, learning
experiences, and organizing threads comprising the educational plan.
• John Goodlad and Zhisin Su
It refers to the currciculum’s horizontal dimension. All the types of
educational experiences contructed to involve student’s learning are
part of the scope.
 II. SEQUENCE
• It is concerned with the order of topics overtime. It is also called
vertical dimension. Sequence is founded on psychological principles
draw on research on human growth, development, and learning.
Most schools consider students’ stages of thinking in planning
curriculum objevtives, content, and experiences by grade level.
• It is based on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
➢sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2 years
➢Preoperational stage: Ages 2 to 7
➢Concrete operational stage: Ages 7 to 11
➢Formal operational stage: Ages 12 and up
Othanel Smith, William Stanby and Harlan Shores
(1973) introduced 4 principles in sequencing.
1. Simple to complex learning indicates that content to optimally
organize in a sequence preceding from simple to
subordinate components to complex components
highlighting interrelationships among components.
Optimal learning results when individuals are presented
with easy (often concrete) content and then with more
difficult (often abstract) content.
2. Prerequisite learning is similar to part-to-whole learning. It works
on the assumptions that bits of information must be grasped before
other bits can be comprehend.
3. Whole-to-part learning receives support from
cognitive psychologists. They have urged that the
curriculum be arranged so that the content or
experience is first presented in an overview that
provides students with a general idea of the
information or situation.
4. Chronological learning refers to content whose
sequence reflects the times of real world
occurrences. History, political, science, and world
events frequently are organized chronologically.
Gerald Posner and Kenneth Strike provided 4
types f sequencing.
1. The concept-related method. It draws heavily on the structure of
knowledge. It focuses on the concepts’ interrelationship rather that
knowledge of the concrete.

2. Inquiry –related model. Topics are sequenced to reflect the steps of

scholarly investigation. Instructional designers have incorporated the
inquiry-related sequence into what they call case-based reasoning.
People advance their knowledge by processing and organizing new
experiences for later use. It is when people fail to use acquired
information, they must recognize a failure in reasoning or a deficiency
in knowledge.
[Link] Learner-related Sequence. It is
where individuals learn through
experiencing content and activities.
[Link]-related learning. It focuses
on how people use knowledge or
engage in a particular activity in the
world that actually proceed through
the activity.
III. CONTINUITY
• It refers to “smoothness” or absence of disruption in the curriculum
overtime. Sequence without continuity is possible but continuity
without sequence is not!
• Continuity is mostly manifested in Jerome Bruner’s notion of the
“spiral curriculum”. Bruner cited that the curriculum should be
organized according to interrelationships among the basic ideas and
strictures of each major discipline. For students to understand these
ideas and structures, they should be developed and redeveloped in a
spiral fashion, in increasing depth and breadth as students advance
through the school program.
IV. INTEGRATION
• It is linking all types of knowledge and experiences
contained within the curriculum plan. The horizontal
relationships among topics and themes from all
knowledge domains are the emphasis of integration.
• Curriculum integration is not simply a design
dimension but also a way of thinking about schools’
commitment, curriculum sources, and the nature and
uses of knowledge.
•Hilda Taba (1960) cited out that the
curriculum was disjointed, fragmented,
segmented, and detached from reality.
She mentioned that a curriculum that
presents information only in bits and
pieces prevents students from seeing
knowledge as unified.
V. ARTICULATION
• It refers to smooth flow of curriculum on both vertical
and horizontal dimensions. It is the way in which
curriculum components occurring later in a program’s
sequence relate to those occurring earlier. To engage
in horizontal articulation, curriculum workers seek to
combine contents in one portion of the educational
program with contents similar in rationality or subject
matter.
VI. BALANCE
• It is where curriculum workers seek to balance students’ life. Student
must obtain and use knowledge in ways that progress their personal,
social, and intellectual goals.
• Ronald Doll states that achieving balance is difficult because we are
striving to localize and individualize the curriculum while trying to
maintain a commo content. Having a balanced curriculum involves
constant modification as well as balance in one’s philosophy and
psychology of learning.
Types of Curriculum Design
• Subject-Centered Design
-Subject Design
-Discipline Design
-Broad-Fields Design
-Correlation Design
-Process Design
I. Subject-Centered Design
•Subject-centered designs are by far the most
popular and widely used. Knowledge and
content are well accepted as integral parts of the
curriculum. This design draws heavily on Plato’s
academic idea. Schools have a strong history of
academic rationalism; also, the materials
available for school use reflect content
organization.
A. Subject Design
• Subject Design. The subject design is both the oldest and the best-
known school design to both teachers and laypeople. Teachers and
laypersons usually are educated or trained in schools employing it.
The subject design corresponds to textbook treatment and teachers’
training as subject specialists. It is also emphasized because of the
continued stress on school standards and accountability.
• Henry Morrison argued that the subject matter curriculum
contributed most to literacy, which should be the focus of the
elementary curriculum. He also believed that such a design allowed
secondary students to develop interests and competencies in
particular subject areas. However, he believed that a variety of
courses should be offered to meet students’ diverse needs
B. Discipline Design
• the discipline design is based on content’s inherent organization.
However, whereas the subject design does not make clear the
foundational basis on which it is organized or established, the
discipline design’s orientation does specify its focus on the academic
disciplines.
• Arthur King and John Brownell, proponents of the
discipline design, long ago indicated that a discipline is
specific knowledge that has the following essential
characteristics: a community of persons, an
expression of human imagination, a domain, a
tradition, a mode of inquiry, a conceptual structure, a
specialized language, a heritage of literature, a
network of communications, a valuative and affective
stance, and an instructive community.
C. Broad-Fields Design.
• The broad-fields design (often called the interdisciplinary design) is
another variation of the subject-centered design. It appeared as an
effort to correct what many educators considered the fragmentation
and compartmentalization caused by the subject design. Broad-fields
designers strove to give students a sweeping understanding of all
content areas. They attempted to integrate content that fit together
logically. Geography, economics, political science, anthropology,
sociology, and history were fused into social studies. Linguistics,
grammar, literature, composition, and spelling were collapsed into
language arts. Biology, chemistry, and physics were integrated into
general science.
• Harry Broudy and colleagues offered a unique broad-fields design
during the Sputnik era. They suggested that the entire curriculum be
organized into these categories:
• (1) symbolics of information (English, foreign languages, and
mathematics);
• (2) basic sciences (general science, biology, physics, and chemistry);
(3) developmental studies (evolution of the cosmos, of social
institutions, and of human culture);
• (4) exemplars (modes of aesthetic experience, including art, music,
drama, and literature); and
• (5) “molar problems,” which address typical social problems.
D. CORRELATION DESIGN.
• Correlation designers do not wish to create a
broad-fields design but realize there are times
when separate subjects require linkage to avoid
fragmentation of curricular content. Midway
between separate subjects and total content
integration, the correlation design attempts to
identify ways in which subjects can be related,
yet maintain their separate identities.
E. Process Designs
• Process designs focus on teaching for intelligence and on the
development of intellectual character.
• Ron Ritchhart borrowed this term from Tishman to cluster particular
dispositions requisite for effective and productive thinking.
Intellectual character goes beyond a listing of abilities and the speed
of enactment of those abilities, or the retrieval of detailed
information. In Ritchhart’s thinking, intellectual character “recognizes
the role of attitude and affect in everyday cognition and the
importance of developed patterns of behavior.” Intellectual character
encompasses sets of dispositions that actually shape and activate
intellectual behavior
Types of Curriculum Design
• Learner-Centered Design
-Child-Centered Design
-Experience-Centered Design
-Romantic (Radical)Design
-Humanistic Design
II. Learner-Centered Design
• All curricularists wish to create curricula valuable to students.
• Progressives advocated what have come to be called learner-centered
designs.
• Students, under the guidance of teachers, are free to get absorbed in an
activity, as William Doll denotes, to actually craft their own experience. In
the learnercentered designs, a theme emerges that students are the
designers, the makers of what they are experiencing.
• Teachers cannot create experiences; teachers can provide opportunities for
potential experiences, but the actual experiences only occur and develop
when teachers enable and allow students to, as Doll notes, “plunge into
subject matter, to see, feel, experience its aesthetic qualities—to explore
the spirit of the subject.”
A. Child-Centered Design
• Advocates of child- or student-centered design believe that students
must be active in their learning environments and that learning
should not be separated from students’ lives, as is often the case with
subject-centered designs. Instead, the design should be based on
students’ lives, needs, and interests. Attending to students’ needs and
interests requires careful observation of students and faith that they
can articulate those needs and interests. Also, young students’
interests must have educational value.
B. Experience-Centered Design.
• Experience-centered curriculum designs closely resemble child-
centered designs in that children’s concerns are the basis for
organizing children’s school world. However, they differ from child-
centered designs in that children’s needs and interests cannot be
anticipated; therefore, a curriculum framework cannot be planned for
all children.
• The notion that a curriculum cannot be preplanned, that everything
must be done “on the spot” as a teacher reacts to each child, makes
experienced-centered design almost impossible to implement. It also
ignores the vast amount of information available about children’s
growth and development—cognitive, affective, emotional, and social.
C. Romantic (Radical) Design
• More recently, reformers who advocate radical school
modification have stressed learner-centered design.
These individuals essentially adhere to Rousseau’s
posture on the value of attending to the nature of
individuals and Pestalozzi’s thinking that individuals
can find their true selves by looking to their own
nature.
D. Humanistic Design
• Abraham Maslow’s concept of self-actualization heavily influenced
humanistic design. Maslow listed the characteristics of a self-actualized
person:
• (1) accepting of self, others, and nature;
• (2) spontaneous, simple, and natural;
• (3) problem oriented;
• (4) open to experiences beyond the ordinary;
• (5) empathetic and sympathetic toward the less fortunate;
• (6) sophisticated in interpersonal relations;
• (7) favoring democratic decision-making; and
• (8) possessing a philosophical sense of humor
Types of Curriculum Design
• Problem-Centered Design
-Life-Situations Design
-Reconstructionist Design
III. Problem-Centered Design

• It focuses on real-life problems of

individuals and society. Problem-centered
curriculum designs are intended to reinforce
cultural traditions and address unmet needs
of the community and society. They are
based on social issues.
A. LIFE-SITUATIONS DESIGN
• Life-situations curriculum design can be traced back to the 19th
century and Herbert Spencer’s writings on a curriculum for complete
living.
• Spencer’s curriculum emphasized activities that
• (1) sustain life;
• (2) enhance life;
• (3) aid in rearing children;
• (4) maintain the individual’s social and political relations; and
• (5) enhance leisure, tasks, and feelings
B. Reconstructionist Design
• Educators who favor reconstructionist design believe that the
curriculum should foster social action aimed at reconstructing society;
it should promote society’s social, political, and economic
development. These educators want curricula to advance social
justice.
• George Counts believed that society must be completely reorganized
to promote the common good. The times demanded a new social
order, and schools should play a major role in such redesign.
Points to Consider when Contemplating Curriculum Design
– Ornstein and Hunkins 2009

➢Reflect on philosophical educational, and curriculum assumptions

with regards to the goals of the school
➢Consider your students’ needs and aspirations
➢Consider the various design components and their organization
➢Sketch out the various design components to be implemented
➢Cross check your “selected” design components
(objectives, content, learning experiences, and evaluation approaches)
against school mission
➢Share your curriculum design with a colleague
QUIZ 1
• 1. The smooth flow of the curriculum on both vertical and horizontal dimensions, it is the
way in which curriculum components occurring later in program’s sequence related to
those occurring earlier.
2. Absence of disruption in the curriculum overtime.
3. The breadth and depth of curriculum content- at any level or at any given time.
4. Students must obtain and use knowledge in ways that advance their personal, social
intellectual goals.
5. Is linking all types of knowledge and experiences contained within the curriculum plan.
6. It is concerned with the order of topics overtime.
Part 2
Sources Curriculum Design
Part 3
Curriculum Design Qualities
Part 4
Types of Curriculum Design
Assignment
1. Give the types of curriculum designs and its curricular emphasis,
strengths, and weaknesses.
Types of Curricular Strengths Weaknesses
Curriculum Design Emphasis

2. Make an example of designing a curriculum. Follow the 6 steps

given by Group 3. Choose from Grade 6, Science subject.
3. Follow up assignment: Look for 2 policies that influenced
curriculum and instruction in the Phils.