Lesson 1 - Concepts, Nature, and Purposes of Curriculum

Curriculum – dynamic process

- Listing of subjects
- Total learning experiences
e.g. PCSPE, SOUTELE, PCER, NCBTS
- can be viewed as a field of study
- made up of foundations (philosophical, historical, psychological, and societal
foundations)

Curriculum from Different Points of View

1. Traditional Points of View of Curriculum

- body of subjects or subject matter;
Course of study and syllabus
-Written documents or a plan of action in accomplishing goals

Robin M. Hutchins – permanent studies (basic education)

Arthur Bestor – an essentialist

- mission of the school should be intellectual training
- should focus on the fundamental intellectual disciplines

Joseph Schwab – academic discipline (ruling doctrine) is the sole source of curriculum
- divided into chunks of knowledge

Phenix – consist entirely of knowledge

2. Progressive Points of View of Curriculum

Progressivist point of view – listing of school subjects, etc…do not make a curriculum
-can only be called curriculum if the written materials are actualized by the learner

John Dewey’s definition of experience and education

- reflective thinking is a means that unifies curricular elements.
- Thought is not derived from action but tested by application
Caswell and Campbell – all experiences of children have under the guidance of teachers
- Shared by Smith, Stanley and Shores (sequence of potential experiences set up in the
schools for the purpose of disciplining children and youth in group ways of thinking
and acting).

Marsh and Willis – experiences in the classroom which are planned and enacted by the teacher,
and also learned by the students

Points of View on Curriculum Development

Development – connotes changes which are systematic

- Should be purposeful, planned and progressive
2 models:

1. Ralph Tyler – Four Basic Principles / Questions

a. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?
b. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?
c. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?
d. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained or not?

2. Hilda Taba – linear model

- advocacy was grassroots approach
- 7 major steps:
a. Diagnosis of learners needs and expectations of larger society
b. Formulation of learning objectives
c. Selection of learning content
d. Organization of learning content
e. Selection of learning experiences
f. Organization of learning activities
g. Determination of what to evaluate and the means of doing it

The three interacting processes in curriculum development are

a. planning
b. implementing
c. evaluating
Types of Curriculum Operating in Schools
- Described by Allan Glatthorn (2000)

WHAT SLR?
1. Written Curriculum – appears in school, district, division or country documents
- course of study or syllabi
- made by curriculum experts with participation of teachers
- pilot-tested or tried out
- e.g. BEC, written lesson plan (with objectives and planned activities)

2. Hidden Curriculum - unintended curriculum

- not deliberately planned but may modify behaviour or influence learning outcomes
- e.g. peer influence, school environment, physical condition, teacher-learner interaction, mood
of the teachers

3. Assessed Curriculum – which is tested and evaluated

- series of evaluations (to determine the extent of teaching or to tell if the students are progressing)
- assessment tools (PPT, portfolio)

4. Taught Curriculum – what teachers implement or deliver in the classrooms and schools
- activities are put into action in order to arrive at the objectives or purposes of the written
curriculum
- varies according to the learning styles of students and the teaching styles of teachers

5. Supported Curriculum
-resources – textbooks, computers, audio-visual materials, lab equipment, playground, zoos, and
other facilities

6. Learned Curriculum – when the students actually learn and what is measured
- learning outcomes (results of the tests and changes in behaviour – COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE,
OR PSYCHOMOTOR) achieved by the students

7. Recommended Curriculum
- proposed by scholars and professional organizations
-DepEd, CHED, DOST, PAFTE, BIOTA

Major Foundations of Curriculum (commonly accepted foundations)

A. Philosophical – aim/role/focus/curriculum trends ON Perennialism, Essentialism,
Progressivism, and Reconstructionism
- helps in answering what schools are for, what subjects are important, how students should learn
and what materials and methods should be used
- in decision making, philosophy provides the starting point
- life experiences, common beliefs, social and economic background and education
e.g. John Dewey (1916) looks at “education as a way of life”
- Ralph Tyler’s framework of Philosophy in Relation to School Purposes
i. use of philosophy
ii. use of psychology of learning
iii. studies of contemporary life
iv. suggestions from subject specialists
v. studies of learners
B. Historical

i. Franklin Bobbit - “The Curriculum” 1918

-presented science as curriculum
-prepares students for adult life
-objectives with corresponding activities should be grouped and sequenced

ii. Werret Charters - presented science as curriculum

-listing of objectives match with corresponding activities
-teacher plans the content and activities

iii. William Kilpatrick – purposeful activities

-child-centered
-both teacher and student plan the activities
-develops social relationships and small group instruction

iv. Harold Rugg- develop the whole child (child-centered)

-should produce OUTCOMES
-emphasized social studies
-teacher plans curriculum in advance

v. Hollis Caswell – organized curriculum around social functions

-set of experiences and learner’s interest

vi. Ralph Tyler – science; extension of school’s philosophy

-based on students’ needs
-related to instruction
-organized subject matter and emphasized problem solving
-to educate generalists and not specialists

C. Psychological – Behaviorist, Cognitive, and Humanistic; unifies elements of the learning

process
-how should curriculum be organized to enhance learning?
-what is the optimum level of students’ participation in learning various contents of the
curriculum?

i. Behaviorist Psychology - association

-Edward Thorndike – connectionism; influenced Tyler and Taba
-Ivan Pavlov – classical conditioning
-B.F.Skinner – operant conditioning
-Albert Bandura- modelling and observation theory
-Robert Gagne – hierarchical learning or sets of behaviour and five learning outcomes
*intellectual skills or “knowing how”
*information or “knowing what”
*cognitive strategies or learning skills
*motor skills
*attitudes, feelings and emotions learned through experiences

ii. Cognitive Psychology

-how do learners store information?
-how do they retrieve data and generate conclusions?
-how they monitor and manage thinking
-logical method of organizing and interpreting learning that is rooted in the tradition of subject
matter
-Jean Piaget – Cognitive development stages
-Lev Vygotsky – Social constructivism
-Howard Gardner – Multiple intelligences
- Felder and SilveMrman –learning styles
-Daniel and Goleman – Emotional intelligences
iii. Humanistic Psychology
-how learners can develop their human potential
-not recognized by traditional psychologists
-concerned with the PROCESS, PERSONAL NEEDS, PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING AND
ENVIRONMENTAL SITUATIONS
-Gestalt psychology- wholeness of the problem
-Abraham Maslow – human needs
-Carl Rogers- non-directive lives

D. Social
schools
-address more complex and interrelated societies and the world
- address diversity, explosion of knowledge, school reforms and education for all

Relationship of curriculum and society:

-curricula should reflect and preserve the culture of society and its aspirations
-society should also imbibe the changes brought about by the formal institutions