EFN 4201: Introduction

to Curriculum Theory
and Development La Shanna Anderson
(B.Ed., M.A)
University of Guyana
What is the importance of curriculum design in teaching
and learning?

Teachers ensure that learning

experiences are meaningful and The curriculum establishes the
relevant. Teachers understand the foundation of what students are
progression of learning in order to expected to know, do and
make effective decisions, bridge understand through their
transitions, scaffold and support educational experiences.
each student toward success.
What is the importance of curriculum
design in teaching and learning?

The ultimate goal for curriculum

Teachers apply learning standards to design is to deepen learning and
engage students in flexible and support students in gaining
relevant learning experiences that important core competencies such
encourage them to pursue their as critical and creative thinking,
passions while building a sense of skillful communication, and
personal identity. demonstrating care for self and
others.
What is Contextual Teaching and
Learning?

t draws upon students' diverse

Contextual teaching and
skills, interests, experiences,
learning involves
and cultures and integrates
making learning meaningful to
these into what and how
students by connecting to the
students learn and how they
real world. I
are assessed.
Contextual learning motivates and
encourages the learners to
introspect and explore their
talent and learning. What is
contextual
In TOK (Theory of Knowledge)
sessions, the learners learn the learning
concept of primary knowledge
and shared knowledge.
why is it
important
Primary knowledge is what you
call as your own. Shared
in teaching?
knowledge is what comes from
other’s experiences.
What is a contextual curriculum?

• A contextual curriculum provides a new model for instructional delivery and

the development of student competencies that are required in the
contemporary work environment.
 • Curriculum design identifies the elements of
a curriculum, states what their relationships
are to each other, and indicates the
Curriculu principles of organization and requirement
m Design of that organization for the administrative
conditions under which it is to operate.

(Hilda-Taba, 1962)
 Johnson (1969) identified three notions of curriculum design as:

CURRICUL an arrangement of selected and ordered learning outcomes

UM intended to be achieved through instruction

DESIGN an arrangement of selected and ordered learning experiences

to be provided in an instructional situation

a scheme for planning and providing learning experiences.

 Curriculum development is defined as planned, a purposeful,
progressive, and systematic process to create positive

Curriculum improvements in the educational system.

Developme
nt Curriculum development is not only about the school, the learners,
and the teachers. It is also about the development of society in
general.

It is defined as the process of selecting, organizing, executing, and

evaluating learning experiences on the basis of the needs, abilities
and interests of the learners and the nature of the society or
community.
Curriculum The development of an effective curriculum guide is a multi-step,
ongoing and cyclical process.
Developme
nt Process

The process progresses from evaluating the existing program, to

designing an improved program, to implementing a new program
and back to evaluating the revised program.
 Co Id A
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Components of an Cu Iss g
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Curriculum lu an e
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Development m
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Process A Planning: 1
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 Articulating a Program Philosophy

B
Articulating Defining Program, Grade-Level and Course Goals

and Developing and Sequencing of Grade-Level and

Developing Course Objectives

: Identifying Resource Materials to Assist with

Program Implementation

Developing and/or Identifying Assessment Items

and Instruments to Measure Student Progress
 9. Putting the New Program into Practice

C. D. Evaluating:
Implementin
g:
10. Updating the Program

11. Determining the Success of the Program

 There are various types of curriculum that can
be developed:
• Subject centered or teacher centered
curriculum
Types of • Learner centered curriculum
Curriculu • Task centered or activity centered
curriculum
m
• Objective centered curriculum
• Correlated curriculum
• Core curriculum
• Integrated curriculum
A Guide to
Curriculum Purposes, Practices,

Development: Procedures
What is a Curriculum Guide?

A curriculum guide is a structured document that delineates

the philosophy, goals, objectives, learning experiences,
instructional resources and assessments that comprise a
specific educational program

Additionally, it represents an articulation of what students

should know and be able to do and supports teachers in
knowing how to achieve these goals.
Qualities
To be effective, a guide must earn acceptance by teachers and must be deemed educationally valid by parents
and the community at large. This acceptance will be far easier to attain when the curriculum guide is:

of an consistent with what is known about child growth and development;

effective
Curriculu compatible with the general philosophy of the school system;

m Guide based upon clear convictions about teaching and learning;

representative of instructional activities to meet the needs of students with varying

abilities and needs;
Qualities articulated from nursery through secondary;

of an easy to use by all educators;

effective
Curriculu filled with samples, examples, and suggested resources;

m Guide developed collaboratively by a broadly-based committee of teachers and other

interested stakeholders; and

linked to teacher evaluation goals and professional development.

The Curriculum Development
Process

The development of an effective curriculum guide is a multi-

step, ongoing and cyclical process.

The process progresses from evaluating the existing program,

to designing an improved program, to implementing a new
program and back to evaluating the revised program.
 • 1. Planning
Convening a Curriculum Development Committee.
Componen • Such a committee, consisting primarily of teachers
who represent the various schools and grade levels
ts of an in a district, administrators, members of the public
Effective and perhaps students, becomes the driving force for
curriculum change and the long-term process of
Curriculum implementing the curriculum.
Developme • It is critical that an effective, knowledgeable and
respected chairperson lead such a committee and it
nt Process includes knowledgeable and committed members
who gradually become the district's de facto
“experts” during the development phases of the
process as well as the implementation phases.
Planning

• Identifying Key Issues and Trends in the Specific Content Area (Research).
• The first step in any curriculum development process involves research that
reviews recent issues and trends of the discipline, both within the district
and across the nation.
• This research allows a curriculum committee to identify key issues and
trends that will support the needs assessment that should be conducted and
the philosophy that should be developed.
 • Committee members should:
• examine what is currently being taught in the
Identifying curriculum
• examine state and national standards in the
Key Issues discipline.
• be provided with recent district and national results
and Trends in and be familiar with the instructional materials and
assessments in use throughout the program.

the Specific • become familiar with newly available instructional

materials –particularly those that may eventually
Content be adopted to help implement the new curriculum.
• also broaden their perspective and gather
Area…cont’d information by visiting other school systems that
are recognized leaders in education.
3. Armed with a common set of understandings that arise from
the identification of issues and trends, a curriculum

Assessin development committee is wise to conduct a needs

assessment to best ascertain the perceptions, concerns and
desires of each of the stakeholders in the process.

g Need
and
Issues Regardless of the theory or model followed, curriculum
developers should gather as much information as possible.
 This information should include the desired outcomes or

3.
expectations of a high quality program, the role of assessment,
the current status of student achievement and actual program
content.

Assessin
g Need The information should also consider the concerns and
attitudes of teachers, administrators, parents and students.

and
Issues The data should include samples of assessments, lessons from
teachers, assignments, scores on state standardized tests,
textbooks currently used, student perception and feedback
from parents.
The information, commonly gathered through
surveys, structured discussions and test data, most
frequently includes:

teacher analysis of the present curriculum to

identify strengths, weaknesses, omissions and/or
problems;

sample lessons that illustrate curriculum

implementation;

sample assessments that illustrate the

implementation of the curriculum;

identification of what teachers at each grade level

perceive to be the most serious issues within the
curriculum;
a detailed analysis of state and local test data, grade-level criterion-referenced
test data and course final examination results;

suggestions for change and improvement generated by meetings with

teachers, guidance counselors and administrators; and

parent and other community members concerns and expectations for the
program obtained through surveys and invitational meetings

An excellent resource for conducting a needs assessment may be found in various publications of the Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development (www.ascd.org) and discipline specific professional organizations.

The data collected from the needs assessment in conjunction with information obtained from research and
various resources become the basis upon which the entire written curriculum -from philosophy to goals to
assessment –is then built.
4. Articulating and Developing

Articulating a Nursery to Secondary Program Philosophy. These fundamental questions guide the overarching philosophy of the program.

Why learn (specific discipline)?

Upon what guiding principles is our program built?

What are our core beliefs about teaching and learning in (specific discipline)?

What are the essential questions?

How will we use assessment to improve the program and student learning?
The
-provides a unifying framework that justifies and gives direction
to discipline based instruction.

Program
Philosop
-After having studied curriculum trends and assessed the
current program, curriculum developers should be ready to
construct a draft philosophy guiding the program.

hy
-A philosophy or set of beliefs should be more than just "what
we think should be happening," but rather "what our
curriculum is actually striving to reflect."
 • Each goal is broadly conceived, to provide for continuous
growth Nursery-Secondary and into adult life.
• Each goal grows logically out of the philosophy of the specific
discipline and the linkage is clear.
Effective • Each goal grows out of a district goal and the linkage is clear.
• The goals are comprehensive enough to provide the basis for a
Program quality program for all learners at all places on the learning
continuum.
Goals • The goals include each of the outcomes suggested by the
philosophy.
• Each goal is realistic.
• There is a manageable number of goals (usually between 4-8).
• Each goal lends itself to developing one or more objectives.
5. Developing If the philosophy and goals of a curriculum represent the
guiding principles of the curriculum, then the grade-level and
and course objectives represent the core of the curriculum.

Sequencing
of Grade-
Level and
Course The specific grade-level and course objectives include clear
expectations for what each learner is expected to know and
Objectives. be able to do and how it will be measured.
 • Is the objective measurable and how will it be
measured?
• Is the objective sufficiently specific to give the reader a
clear understanding of what the student should be able
to do, without being so detailed as to make the
statement labored or the objective trivial?
• Is the objective compatible with the goals and
The committee philosophy of the program and the real and emerging
should consider needs of students?
several key • Is the objective realistic and attainable by students?
questions to
identify, select, • Are appropriate materials and other resources
write and sequence available to make the objective achievable?
objectives:
 • an example of what is meant by each objective;
• suggest instructional techniques and strategies
Curriculu for teaching specific objectives;
m guides • suggest appropriate instructional materials that
support instruction of specific objectives;
should • examples of how to differentiate instruction and
provide modify curriculum materials to meet the needs
of high performing and/or highly interested
the students;
following: • information on how the objectives can be
evaluated;
• suggest interdisciplinary links, such as literature
connections.
 6. Identifying Resource Materials to Assist with Program
Implementation

An effective curriculum guide goes beyond a listing of objectives As teachers and programs move away from a single textbook approach
and employ a broad range of supplementary materials, instructional
and identifies suggested instructional resources to help answer
modules for particular units, computer software and the like, it is
the question, “What instructional materials are available to help increasingly important that the curriculum guide suggests and links
me meet a particular objective or set of objectives?” available resources to curriculum objectives.
7. Developing
and/or • In many cases, a set of grade-level criterion-
Identifying referenced tests, performance based tasks
Assessment and course final examinations that answer
Items and concretely the question, "How will I know
Instruments that my students know and are able to do
what is expected of them?" holds an entire
to Measure curriculum together.
Student
Progress.
This piece of the curriculum development process helps Essentially the assessment piece of a curriculum is what
to focus instruction and ensures the often elusive, but drives curriculum. The assessments measure not only
critical, alignment of curriculum, instruction and student progress, but also the effectiveness of the goals
assessment. and objectives of the curriculum in meeting student needs.
Common grade-level, course criterion-referenced assessments
and performance based assessments should be created along
with the curriculum and become part of the curriculum guide
itself.

The assessments should include clear performance

expectations and a rubric that clearly defines the expectations
for students and teachers alike.

They help to clarify exactly what the grade or course objectives

mean and provide a common standard for evaluating how
successfully they are achieved.
 Putting the New Program into Practice

8. Curriculum
Implementati
on
Instead of assuming that the process ends with the
publication of a new guide, an effective curriculum committee
continues to oversee the implementation, updating and
evaluation of the curriculum
 It is important to remember that any innovation introduced
into a system -including a new curriculum –requires time and
support to be fully implemented.

Implementi
ng First, teachers need time and opportunities to become aware
of the new curriculum and its overall design, particularly how
it differs from the past.

Then teachers need time and opportunities to become familiar with the new
curriculum -often school or grade level sessions that focus on those specific
parts of the curriculum for which individuals are responsible.
 Implementing

Next, teachers need at least It is not unusual for this period to take It is critical that the curriculum
up to two years before the new development committee, resource
two years to pilot the new curriculum is fully implemented and teachers and principals are aware of
curriculum and new materials comfortably integrated into day-to-day this process and are available to
in their classrooms. practice. nurture it.
 Updating the New Program.

One of the most common methods of periodically updating a These approaches are invaluable professional
curriculum guide is through grade-level meetings designed to share
materials, activities, units, assessments and even student work that
development opportunities wherein teachers assume
support the achievement of the curriculum goals that were unknown or ownership of the curriculum they are responsible for
unavailable when the guide was first developed. implementing.
 • Determining the Success of the New
Program.
• The curriculum development cycle ends and
9. then begins again with a careful evaluation
of the effectiveness and impact of the
Curriculu program. Using surveys, focused discussions
m and meetings, a curriculum development
committee needs to periodically gather data
Evaluation on perceptions of program strengths,
weaknesses, needs, preferences for
textbooks and other materials, and topics or
objectives that do not seem to be working
effectively.
This information should be gathered from data that represents
overall student performance that is linked closely to daily
instruction.

Teams of teachers responsible for the specific discipline could

accomplish this by sharing samples of assessments,
performance tasks, student work, lessons and instructional
practices related to the curricula.
• A detailed review and analysis of
quantitative and qualitative
information on the program's
impact and on people's
perceptions of its strengths and
weaknesses forms the foundation
for the next round of curriculum
development and improvement.
Definition
• Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) is a conception of
teaching and learning that helps teachers relate subject
matter content to real world situations and motivates
students to make connections between knowledge and its
applications to their lives as family members, citizens, and
workers.
 CTL:
• A conception of teaching and learning that helps
teachers relate subject matter content to real world
Contextua situations and motivates students to make connections
between knowledge and its applications to their lives as
l Teaching family members, citizens, and workers… (Berns&
Erickson, 2001)
and • Berns& Erickson suggest CTL incorporates such strategies
as problem solving, self-directed learning, learning from
Learning peers, learning in real situations, and authentic
assessment.
(CTL) • CTL brings together a variety of contemporary and
traditional teaching strategies and learning principles.
• CTL’s primary source appears to be the philosophy and
practice of progressive education, Piagetian
developmental theory,
 Colonel Francis Parker, then superintendent of the Quincy(MA)
schools in 1875, had put into practice one of the most
Historical contextual curriculums of the time and encouraged his
teachers to incorporate experience-based activities in each of

and the major content areas year by year.

Philosophi
cal Roots
of CTL Students learned math through solving actual arithmetic
problems that they would encounter every day. Rather than
memorizing rules of grammar, students developed reading and
literacy skills through an early form of whole language
teaching.
 • Geography skills were developed by working
with locations familiar to the students
instead of studying distant sites the students
Historical had never encountered. School attendance
and increased and test scores rose dramatically
as compared with past performance and
Philosophi with the scores of other schools in the
cal Roots country. In the early days of progressive
education, Parker showed how crucial
of CTL contextual experiences are to student
learning.
The • A teach in a learning environment that
supports contextual teaching and learning
Teacher’s (CTL) has a significant role in the design of
curriculum and instruction because
Role ultimately even pre-packaged, standardized,
scripted, and externally dictated content has
to be put into context for the student if any
significant, meaningful learning is going to
occur.
Curriculum Design Perspective
for CTL

From the curriculum design This means identifying the

perspective, the curriculum designer characteristics of a CTL
must become knowledgeable about environment to determine if a
the context within which the CTL curriculum design or redesign is
design will be created. appropriate or desirable.
 • The Curriculum Audit: The curriculum audit
assesses the context in which the existing
curriculum design is operating and helps
Why Design determine if there are systemic variables that
either enhance or inhibit the likelihood that
Curriculum curricular goals and objectives will be met.
and • The audit should follow a logical process that
Instruction for can be described and articulated so that a
Contextual school or district can see exactly where the
Teaching and curriculum design is succeeding or failing and
thus determine which actions need to be taken
Learning? to redesign and/or restructure the curriculum
that has been implemented and taught.
 • Curriculum Mapping: The major purpose behind
curriculum mapping is to articulate, vertically and
horizontally the major concepts, skills, attitudes, and
Why Design values and link them to the goals and objectives of
Curriculum the curriculum either on a micro-level(classroom) or a
macro-level (school or district). These will then be
and correlated with the means of formative (classroom-
Instruction for based) evaluation and summative (school/school
district)evaluation to determine if the curriculum
Contextual aligns properly. The extent to which these elements
Teaching and are synchronized (or not synchronized) will provide a
clear picture of what essential questions will need to
Learning? be articulated to guide the curriculum design or
redesign.
 Since the advent of high-stakes testing and the emphasis on
national and state standards as a basis for judging school
effectiveness, administrators and teachers have felt considerable
pressure to align the school curriculum with the state and
national assessments that most states have legislated
Curriculum
Alignment:
The curriculum context for this process is at the macro-
level(school or school district) because the intention is to either
match the curriculum to the test(back-loading) or to make the
test fit the curriculum by designing the curriculum first (front-
loading)
What is • According to Hull “contextual learning
contextual theory says that learning occurs only when
students process new information or knowledge
learning in such a way that it makes sense in their frame
theory? of reference (Hull, 1995).
What is learning context and example?

• Learning context is defined as the situation in which something is learned

or understood, a situation that can impact how something is learned or
what is taught. An example of learning context is the
external learning environment including the quality of equipment and
facilities and the training level of the teacher.
 • Contextual Learning (CL) is a learning system
that ties brain actions to crating patters that
CONTEXTUA have meaning. CI does it by connecting
academic content to the context of real life.
L LEARNING This is very important because it helps to
store not only short-term memory, which
students usually easily forget, but it also
help to store long term memory which will
help them to apply these memories to their
job obligations later in their life
(Davtyan,2014)
Contextu
al The 7 Principles:

Teaching
and
Learning • Inquiry
(CTL): •
•
Constructivism
Questioning
• Learning Community
• Modeling
• Reflection
• Authentic Assessment
 Constructivism
Contextua
l Teaching • Constructivism is the process of build or develop new
and knowledge in students' cognitive structure based on
experience.
Learning
(CTL): The
7
Inquiry

Principles
• The second principle is the inquiry in contextual learning. That
is, the learning process is based on a search and discovery
through a process of thinking systematically.
 Questioning
Contextua
l Teaching • Learning is basically asking and answering questions. Questioning
and can be regarded as a reflection of the curiosity of every individual,
while answering the questions reflects a person's ability in thinking.

Learning
(CTL): The
7
Learning Community

Principles
• In the contextual teaching and learning CTL) implementation
of learning communities can be done by applying learning
through study groups
 Modeling
Contextua
l Teaching
and • Modeling is a learning process as an example to demonstrate
something that can be emulated by every student.

Learning
(CTL): The
7
Reflection

Principles
• Reflection is the process of settling the experience has been
learned that is done by re-sorting events or events that have
gone through the learning
Contextua
l Teaching Authentic Assessment

and
Learning
(CTL): The
7
Principles • Authentic assessment is the process by the teacher to gather
information about the students learning progress. This
assessment is needed to determine whether students are
actually learning or not.
CTL and
There is some relationship between the CTL concept and the
concept of life skill education :

Life Skill
Educatio
n • CTL is one embodiment of the concept of life skills education
• context used in the CTL is expected true - true to form or enhance the
skills of students,
• students' skill formation in the form of a paradigm constructivist life
skills education is a program where students skills that students have
to be willing and brave to face the problems of life and naturally
without feeling pressured, then proactively and creatively search for
and find a solution so that eventually able to overcome.
 General life skill

Here are 5
aspects of life self awareness

skills that will thinking skill

be achieved
with the social skill
concept of
life skills that Specific life skill

are divided
into two academic skill

categories
vocational skill
 These questions help focus the curriculum designer’s effort on
why students need to learn the content and how that content
can be contextualized for the learner.

Even when the curriculum is mandated and the textbooks are

selected by country wide committees, the classroom teacher still
Essential has to provide a context for the content or the learning will be
largely meaningless for the student.

Questions
The curriculum maps and essential questions tell the teacher
and students what is important, what are the priorities, and
what is the balance among learner, societal, and content needs.

By using such processes as the curriculum audit, curriculum

alignment and curriculum mapping, the designer will be able to
articulate clearly the essential elements of the curriculum and
why they are important.
 A statement of purpose clearly articulates why the curriculum is
important and necessary for the learner to learn. It also reflects
how the designer perceives the learner, society, and knowledge
(content) needs and the balance among those needs in the
curriculum design.
Moving from
Essential
Questions to
Statements In preparing to write a statement of Purpose for a curriculum
of Purpose design, the sources of needs (learner, society, content) will be
balanced according to which source the design will emphasize.
The context for which the curriculum is being designed will
largely dictate the balance reflected in the Statement of Purpose.
Moving CTL design should place content/knowledge needs within the
context of learner and societal needs.
from
Essential
Questions
to
Statements Content is made meaningful through its usefulness for and
relevance to addressing both the individual needs of the learner
of Purpose and the problems faced by society either locally, nationally, or
globally.
 Eisner and Vallance(1979) presented five different
orientations:
Orientations • (a)Academic rationalism

to • (b)Development of cognitive processes

• (c)Personal relevance
Curriculum • (d)Social adaptation/reconstruction
• (e)Curriculum as technology (technology itself is a
context)

• A, b, c,and d presents multiple perspectives on teaching

and learning and the roles societal, learner, and
content/knowledge needs play in creating context.
 Academic Rationalism: How a learner acquires information and
the thinking skills required to use that information effectively
are of primary importance in this orientation.
Orientations
to Cognitive Processes Orientation: Students become skilled at

Curriculum
using the scientific method, problem solving and decision-
making strategies, and critical thinking skills.

Societal Adaptation: suggests that curriculum should provide

experiences that enable learners to fit into society successfully.
It also stresses the importance of the learner as a change
agent.
Orientations to Curriculum

Personal Relevance: The learner’s needs tend to dominate

over societal or knowledge/content needs.

Curriculum as Technology: As a process approach, curriculum

technology differs from cognitive processes in its focus of
attention. It is concerned not with the processes of knowing or
learning, but with the technology by which knowledge is
communicated and "learning" is facilitated.
Reference
• Davtyan, R. (2014, April). Contextual learning. In Asee 2014 Zone I
Conference (pp. 3-5). USA: niversity of Bridgeport.