Curriculum Definitions

• Curriculum is defined as prescriptive or descriptive
• Prescriptive curriculum defines what "ought" to happen

Definitions of Curriculum

• 1902 John Dewey: Curriculum is a continuous reconstruction
• 1918 Franklin Bobbitt: Curriculum includes all experiences, directed and undirected
• 1927 Harold O. Rugg: Curriculum is a succession of experiences maximizing lifelikeness for the learner
• 1935 Hollis Caswell & Doak Campbell: Curriculum is all experiences children have under teacher guidance
• Ralph Tyler: Curriculum encompasses all learning experiences planned and directed
• 1967 Robert Gagne: Curriculum is a sequence of content units enabling schools to achieve educational goals
• James Popham & Eva Baker: Curriculum includes all planned learning outcomes
• J. L. McBrien & R. Brandt: Curriculum is a written plan outlining what students will be taught
• Indiana Department of Education: Curriculum is the planned interaction of pupils with content, materials, resources, and processes to evaluate educational objective attainment
• Hollis Caswell & Doak Campbell: Curriculum includes all experiences children have under the guidance of teachers
• Thomas Hopkins: Curriculum is learnings each child selects, accepts, and incorporates for subsequent experiences
• W. B. Ragan: Curriculum includes all experiences of the child for which the school accepts responsibility
• Glen Hass: Curriculum involves the actual experiences and perceptions each learner has in their education program
• Daniel Tanner & Laurel Tanner: Curriculum reconstructs knowledge and experience for learner growth
• D. F. Brown: Curriculum is concerned with student school experiences that improve skills
• E. Silva: Curriculum emphasizes what students can do with knowledge for 21st-century skills

Types of Curricula

• Recommended Curriculum: Recommended by scholars, associations, and reform commissions, includes policy requirements from federal and state governments
• Written Curriculum: Intended to ensure educational goals are accomplished
• Supported Curriculum: Reflected in resources allocated
• Taught Curriculum: Varies in consistency with the written curriculum
• Tested Curriculum: Assessed through teacher-made, district-developed, and standardized tests
• Learned Curriculum: Changes in values, perceptions, and behavior from school experiences

Components of the Curriculum

• Curricular policies: Rules, criteria, and guidelines to control curriculum development
• Curricular goals: Long-term educational outcomes schools aim to achieve
• Field of study: Organized learning experiences over a multiyear period
• Program of study: Total learning experiences for a group of learners over a multiyear period
• Course of study: Learning experiences within a field of study over a specified period (year, semester, quarter) for academic credit
• Unit of study: Subset of a course of study, lasting 1-3 weeks
• Lesson: Learning experiences lasting 20-90 minutes, focusing on a few objectives

Curriculum Types; Mastery, Organic and Enrichment

• Mastery learnings: Basic and structured
• Organic learnings: Basic but unstructured
• Enrichment curriculum: Teacher-added content of interest to students

Hidden aspects of the Curriculum

• Hidden curriculum: Schools impart more than just knowledge
• Constants: Intrinsic to schools as cultural institutions
• Variables: Changed by educators
• Organizational Variables: Decisions about teacher assignment and student grouping
• Social-System Variables: School climate and culture
• Culture Variables: Interconnectedness and care within the school community

Foundations of Curriculum

Philosophical Foundations

• Studying philosophy helps define personal beliefs and values
• Idealism: Reality is that which exists mentally, matter is an illusion
• Realism: The world is viewed in terms of objects and matter
• Pragmatism: Importance given to change and processes, value lies in actual consequences
• Existentialism: Values are human-derived, humans should have freedom of choice and be responsible for those choices
• Perennialism: Advocates for permanent knowledge with moral and spiritual foundations
• Progressivism: A protest against perennialist thinking
• Essentialism: Rooted in idealism and realism, critique of progressive thought
• Reconstructionism: Education reconstructs society

Sociological Foundations

• Curriculum development must consider the social setting and its influence
• Social pressures shape student experiences in educational institutions

Societal Influence

• Society educates the young through various means, even without formal schooling
• Contemporary society changes rapidly, requiring constant adjustment
• Family, structures of is viewed as the basis of complex social fabric

Input from stakeholders

• Students: Post-secondary students should mature and provide educational aims
• Parents: They should be involved and take responsibility for their children and their inputs should be noted when developing educational aims
• Educators: The teachers, administrators and public leaders, must assume responsibility in developing educational aims and priorities
• Researchers: Use of objective data is important for providing objective data concerning issues and trends.
• Community members: The community is important, and their support in the formulation of priorities should be considered significant.
• Business community: They should be represented due to influence on economics, politics, interest, outcomes of education, development in human resources/ technologies industrial output
• Political officials: They should be enlisted due to the parallel interest in education policy and politics
• Pressure groups: People organize or promote in groups themselves

Psychological Foundations

• Focus on learning theories: behaviorist (stimulus response), cognitivist (learner in total environment), and phenomenology (affective domain)
• Basic human needs: Physical and mental health, acceptance, belonging, security, and status
• Self-actualization: Individuals' need for self-fulfillment

Curriculum Development

• Developmental tasks: Tasks that lead to happiness and future success
• Early 20th-century curriculum: Shift from sectarian to liberal education
• Mental discipline was replaced by utilitarian thought and scientific inquiry
• The curriculum had a tendency to become less interdisciplinary
• Primary importance came to be the needs and interests of students