Curriculum Design and Development Part II This Week’s Topic Specific Types of Curriculum Designs

Three Types of Curriculum Designs Subject-Centered Learner-Centered Problem-Centered

Subject-Centered Designs Subject design Discipline design Broad fields design Correlation design Process design

Subject Design Oldest school design and best known Reflects a mental discipline approach to learning Subjects that comprise this curriculum design include language (reading, writing, grammar, literature), mathematics, sciences, history, and foreign languages. Current attention on “standards” reflects the subject design Assumes that subjects are best outlined in textbooks Critics say the design stresses content and neglects students’ needs, interests, and experiences

Discipline Design Became popular during the 1950s and reached its zenith in the mid-1960s. Advocates of this approach believe that the school is a microcosm of the world of intellect and that the disciplines reflect that world. The manner in which content is to be learned is suggested by the methods scholars use to study information in their fields (e.g., students in history would approach the subject matter as would a historian). Emphasis on disciplines reflects Jerome Bruner’s classic book, The Process of Education. One should organize the curriculum according to the structure of the discipline. Bruner argued that students are able to comprehend the fundamental principles of any subject at almost any age—such understanding does not need to wait until adolescence or adulthood. Critics state that the greatest shortcoming of this design is that is causes schools to ignore the vast amount of information that cannot be classified as disciplined knowledge (e.g., vocational education, aesthetics).

Broad Fields Design Also goes by the name “interdisciplinary design” as it attempts to integrate content that appears to fit together logically. For example, separate social sciences of geography, economics, political science, anthropology, sociology, and history were fused into social studies. Linguistics, grammar, literature, composition, and spelling were collapsed into language arts. This design allows “hybrid” types of knowledge to be created and incorporated into the curriculum. Critics view the issue of breadth versus depth as a problem.

Correlation Design This design attempts to identify ways in which subjects can be related to one another while still maintaining their identity as subjects. For example, the two most frequent correlated subjects are English literature and history at the secondary level and language arts and social studies at the elementary level. While studying a period in history, students in their English class read novels that relate to the same time period. The greatest challenge lies in finding time for teachers to plan lessons cooperatively.

Process Design This design stresses the learning of general procedures, general processes not specific to any particular discipline, but applicable to all. The numerous curricula for teaching critical and creative thinking exemplifies this procedural design. There exists a belief that a certain set of skills or processes are common to thinking, regardless of subject, domain, or purpose. The common goal of the curricula is to teach those processes.

Learner-Centered Designs Child-centered design Experience-centered design Radical design Humanistic design

Child-Centered Design The student must be active in his or her environment. (Learning should not be separated from the ongoing lives of students, as is often the case with the subject-centered designs). When subject matter is presented, it is no longer separated into narrow divisions, but is integrated around units of experience or social problems. It is common for teachers and students to participate in planning the curriculum, its purpose, the activities, and the materials to be used.

Experience-Centered Design Closely resembles the child-centered design in that it uses the concerns of children as the basis for organizing the children’s school world. However, they differ in their view in that the interests and needs of children cannot be anticipated, and therefore, a curriculum framework cannot be planned for all children. The notion that a curriculum can not be preplanned, that everything has to be done on the spot by each teacher reacting to each child makes this design a challenge to implement. FYI--While Dewey believed that experience was a starting point for further learning and that students’ interests had to be considered, he was never an advocate of making the child’s interest actually the curriculum or placing the child in the role of curriculum decision maker.

Radical Design An underlying assumption of this design is that current society is corrupt, repressive, and unable to cure itself. Schools have used their curricula to control and to indoctrinate individuals into a particular cultural view rather than to educate and emancipate them. This design draws upon the ideas of critical theorists. Emancipation is the goal of education. Students need to gain awareness, competencies, and attitudes to enable them to take control of their lives.

Humanistic Design Curriculum should be designed to stress human potential and to enable the student to be involved in the “process of becoming.” A key influence on this particular curriculum design has been Abraham Maslow and his theoretical concept of self-actualization. This approach adds the affective component to the conventional subject matter curriculum.

Problem-Centered Designs Life-situation design Core design Social problems, reconstructionist design

Life-Situation Design This design was part of the recommendation of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education, sponsored by NEA in 1918 Deals with the life situations of health, worthy home membership, vocation, citizenship, leisure, and ethical character. This design has three assumptions: 1) persistent life situations are crucial to a society’s successful functioning and that it makes educational sense to organize a curriculum around them; 2) students see direct relevance to what they are studying if the content is organized around aspects of community life; 3) students will be directly involved in improving society. Problem-solving is heavily emphasized in this design.

Core Design This design is centered on general education and is based on problems arising out of common human activities. The curriculum is carefully planned before the students arrive, but with the notion that adjustment can be made if necessary. This design is usually taught in a block-time format, whereby two or more normal periods for teaching the core component are scheduled together. Problems are selected by either the teacher or students.

Social Problems, Reconstructionist Design This design has the primary purpose of engaging the learner in analyzing the many severe problems confronting humankind. The exact content and objectives are to be decided by those who actually create the curriculum. The curriculum is to engage students in a critical analysis of the local, national, and international community. Also, attention is to be given to the political practices of business and government groups and their impact on the economic realities of the workforce.

Three Types of Curriculum Designs Subject-Centered Learner-Centered Problem-Centered **Most curriculum designs are modifications and/or interpretations of these three designs. **Information on these slides taken from the following text: Ornstein, A., & Hunkins, F. (2008). Curriculum foundations, principles, and issues (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.