Components of curriculum and curricular approaches

Aims of Primary education( education act of 1892).
In the elementary level, schools through their curricula must aim to: Provide understanding and establish abilities, mindsets, values vital to individual development and necessary for residing in and contributing to a developing and altering society; Provide discovering experiences which increase the kid’s awareness of and responsiveness o the modifications in the society; Promote and heighten understanding, recognition with and love for the nation and individuals to which he belong; and Promote work experiences which establish orientation to the world of work and prepare the student to take part in sincere and gaining work.

Aims of Secondary education.

In high school or secondary level, academic curricula aim to: Continue to promote the objectives of primary education; and Discover and enhance the various aptitudes and interests of students in order to equip them with skills for efficient venture and or to prepare them for tertiary schooling.

Aims of tertiary education.
Tertiary education refers to institution of higher learning formal education based on the curricula of the various courses.

-It is the assisting post around which all educational efforts including curricula ought to be directed. EXAMPLE.
1. A design carrying out high school where students are equipped with understanding, skills and strength of character to understand their possible to the maximum.

School’s mission

School’s mission statement, spells out how it tends to carry out its Vision. -The mission targets to produce the kind of persons the students will become after having been educated over a certain period of time. EXAMPLE

1.Commits to the total development of individuals for life adjustment and to the upliftment of the economically deprived but deserving students through quality instruction, updated facilities and curricula responsive to the needs of the times.

School’s goals
The school’s vision, and mission are further translated into goals which are broad statements or intents to be accomplished. EXAMPLE
1.Build a strong foundation of skills and concepts
2.Efficient and effective administration responsive of the needs of the university and community.

Educational objectives
Benjamin Bloom and Robert Mager
Defined educational objectives in two ways:
1.Explicit formulations of the ways in which students are expected to be changed by the educative process,
2. Intent communicated by statement describing a proposed change in learners. Objectives direct the change in behavior which is the ultimate aim of learning.

Three(3) big domains of objectives
Cognitive Domain (Bloom et al 1956)
– domain of thought process
1.Knowledge-recall, remembering of prior learned materials in terms of facts, concepts, theories and principles.
2.Comprehension-ability to grasp the meaning of material.
3.Application-the ability to use learned material in new and concrete situation.
4.Analysis-ability to break down material into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood.
5.Synthesis-ability to put parts together to form a new whole.
6.Evaluation-ability to pass judgment on something based on given criteria.

Affective Domain(Krathwohl, 1964)
Domain of valuing, attitude and appreciation
1.Receiving-student’s willingness to pay attention to particular event, stimuli or classroom activities.
2.Responding-active participation on the part of the students.
3.Valuing-concerned with the worth or value a student attaches to a particular phenomena, object or behavior.
4.Organization-concerned with bringing together different values and building value system.
5.Characterization by a value system or value complex-developing a lifestyle from a value system.

Psychomotor Domain(Simpson,1972)
-domain of the use of psychomotor attributes.

1.Perception-use of sense organ to guide motor activities.
2.Set-refers to the readiness to take a particular type of action.
3.Guided response-concerned with the early stages in learning complex skills.
4.Mechanism-responses have become habitual. Performance skills are with ease and confidence.
5.Complex overt responses-skillful performance with complex movement patterns.
6.Adaptation-skill well developed that the ability to modify is very easy.
7.Origination-refers to creating new movements patterns to fit the situation.

Component 2

CURRICULUM CONTENT OR SUBJECT MATTER
Curriculum Specialists
Content or subject –another term for knowledge.
-It is a compendium of facts, concepts generalization, principles and theories.
-This is the subject centered view of the curriculum.
Gerome Bruner “knowledge is a model we construct to give meaning and structure to regularities in experience.

Example of the broad subject areas or general education.
Communication Arts
-It include skills in listening ,speaking, reading and writing as well as the effective use of language in daily living. Social Studies
-Include basic elements of Geography, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics,Civics,Political Science and Psychology.

What subject matter will be taught in the different clusters in order to achieve the ogjectives? What criteria should be used in selecting the content?

Here are some criteria which can be utilized in the selection of subject matter content or knowledge for the curriculum.
1.Self-sufficiency
-According to Scheffler (1970) the prime guiding principles for content selection is helping the learners to attain maximum self-sufficiency in learning but in the most economical manner. 2.Significance
-When content or subject matter will contribute to basic idea, concepts ,principles and generalization to achieve the overall aim of the curriculum.
3.Validity
-The authenticity of the subject matter.
4.Interest
-For learner-centered curriculum,this the key.A learner will value the content it it is meaningful to him or her.
5.Utility
-Usefulness of the content or subject matter may be relative to the learner who is going to use it.
6.Learnability
-Subject matter should be within the range of the experiences of the learners.
7.Feasibility
– The subject matter or content be learned within the time allowed, resources available, expertise of the teacher and the nature of the learners.

There are other considerations that may be used in the selection Of the learning content. As a guide, subject matter or content can be selected for use if these are:

a. frequently and commonly used in daily life;
b. suited to the maturity levels and abilities of students;
c. valuable in the meeting need and the competencies of a future career;
d. important in the transfer of learning.

In organizing or putting together the different learning contents- Palma,1992

PRINCIPLES
BALANCE
-Curriculum content should be fairly distributed in depth and breadth of the particular learning area or discipline. ARTICULATION
-When each level of subject matter is smoothly connected to the next, glaring gaps and wasteful overlaps in the subject matter will be avoided. SEQUENCE
-The logical arrangement of the subject matter.

INTEGRATON
-The horizontal connections are needed in subject areas that are similar so that learning will be related to one another. CONTINUITY
-The constant repetition, review and reinforcement of learning.

COMPONENT 3
CURRICULUM EXPERIENCES

This section will link instructional strategies and methods to curriculum experiences, the core or the heart of the curriculum -The instructional strategies and methods will put into action the goals and use the contents in order to produce an outcome. -The action are based on planned objectives, the subject matter to be taken and the support materials to be used. Teaching methods ( time-tested methods,inquiry approaches,contructivist and others). Educational activities( field viewing, conducting experiments, interacting with computer programs, field trips and other experiential learning)

Some guide for the selection and use of methods
1.Teaching methods are means to achieve the end.They are used to translate the objectives into action.
2.There is no single best teaching method. Its effectiveness will depend on the learning objectives, the learners and skill of the teacher.
3.Teaching methods should stimulate the learners desire to develop the cognitive,affective ,psychomotor, social and spiritual domain of individual.
4.In the choice of the teaching methods, learning styles of the students should be considered.
5.Every method should lead to the development of the learning outcomes in the three domains:cognitive,affective and psychomotor.
6. Fexibility should be a consideration in the use of the teaching methods.

COMPONENT 4
CURRICULUM EVALUATION
Worthen and Sanders
-all curricula to be effective must have the element of evaluation. Curriculum evaluation
-refer to the formal determination of the quality, effectiveness or value of the program, process, product of the curriculum. Tuckman(1985)
-define evaluation as meeting the goals and matching them with the intended outcomes.

Model of evaluation
Stufflebeams’s CIPP
-In CIPP, the process is continuous and is very important to curriculum managers like principals, supervisors, department head, deans and even teachers. C-context
I- Input
P-Process
P-Product

Context
-refers to the environment of the curriculum. The real situation where the curriculum is operating is its context. Input
-refers to the ingredients of the curriculum which include the goals, instructional strategies, the learners, the teacher, the contents and all the material needed. Process
-refers to the ways and means of how the curriculum has been implemented.. Product
-indicates if the curriculum objectives accomplishes its goals.

Suggested plan of action for the process of curriculum evaluation

1.Focus on one particular component of the curriculum.
-Will be the subject area,the grade level,the course,or the degree program? Specify the objectives of evaluation.
2.Coolect or gather the information.
-Information is made up of data needed regarding the object of evaluation
3.Organize the information.
This step will require coding,organizing,storing and retreiving data for interpretation.
4.Analyze information
-An appropriate way of analyzing will be utilized.
5.Report the information
-The result of evaluation should be reported to specific audiences. Reporting can be done formally in conference with stakeholders, or informally through roundtable discussions and conversations.
6.Recycle the information for continuous feedback, modification and adjustments to be made.

CURRICULAR APPROACHES

Behavioral Approach

Frederick Taylor
Anchored on the behaviorist principles, behavioral approach to curriculum is usually based on a blueprint. in the blueprint, goals and objectives are specified, contents and activities are also arranged to match with learning
objectives.

Managerial approach
The managerial approach became a dominant curriculum approach in the 1950’s and 1960’s.The principal is the curriculum leader at the same time instructional leader who is supposed to ne the general manager. The general manager sets the policies and priorities, establishes the direction of change and innovation, and planning and organizing curriculum and instruction. Curriculum managers look at curriculum changes and innovations a they administer the resources and restructure the schools.

Some of the roles of the Curriculum supervisors
(Ornstein and hunkins,2004)
1.Help develop the school’s education goals.
2.Plan curriculum with students,parents,teachers and other stakeholders.
3.Design programs of study by grade levels.
4.Plan or schedule classes or school calendar.
5.Prepare curriculum guides or teacher guides by grade level or subject area.
6.Help in the evaluation and selection of textbooks.
7.Observe teachers.
8.Assist teachers in the implementation of the curriculum.
9.Encourage curriculum innovation and change.
10.Develop standards for curriculum and instructional evaluation

System approach
The system approach to curriculum was influenced by system theory. In this approach the parts of the total school district or school are examined in terms of how they relate to each other. The organizational chart of the scholl represents a systems approach. George Beauchamp

-The system theory of education see the following to be of equal importance are 1.adminstration 2.counseling 3.curriculum 4.instruction and 5.evaluation

Humanistic approach
This approached is rooted in the progressive philosophy and child-centered
movement. This approach considers the formal or planned curriculum and the informal or hidden curriculum. It considers the whole child and believes that in curriculum the total development of the individual is the prime consideration. The learner is at the center of the curriculum