Curriculum Design and Evaluation

Curriculum Design and Implementation

• Curriculum Objectives: Objectives are the intended outcomes of teaching and learning. They guide the selection of content and teaching methods.
• Importance of Teaching Methods:
  • Methods translate objectives into action.
  • There is no one best method, effectiveness depends on objectives, learners, and teacher skills.
  • Methods should stimulate development of cognitive, affective, psychomotor, social, and spiritual domains.
  • Teacher should consider learning styles when selecting methods.
  • Methods should aim for learning outcomes across cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.
  • Flexibility in method use is important.

Curriculum Evaluation

• Based on the work of Worthen and Sanders (1987), effective curriculum includes an element of evaluation.
• Tuckman (1985) defines evaluation as aligning goals with intended outcomes.
• Curriculum Elements:
  • Context: The learning environment.
  • Input: Components of the curriculum such as goals and strategies.
  • Product: The outcomes achieved through curriculum implementation.
  • Evaluation process: The assessment of student knowledge and behaviors.

Steps for Conducting Curriculum Evaluation

1. Focus on a specific curriculum component and define evaluation objectives.
2. Collect data related to the evaluation objective.
3. Organize the collected information or data.
4. Analyze the organized information.
5. Report the findings to the class.
6. Recycle the information for continuous feedback, modification, and adjustments.

Curriculum Goals and Objectives

• The overall objectives of curriculum are to:
  • Promote national identity, cultural consciousness, moral integrity, and vigor.
  • Train skilled individuals for national development.
  • Develop professional leadership.
  • Advance knowledge through research and apply new knowledge for improving human life and adjusting to societal changes.
• Institutions are guided by their vision, mission, and goals.

Vision, Mission, and Goals

• Vision: A clear concept of what the institution aims to become in the future. It provides the focal point for the school staff, faculty, and students.
  • Example: Bulacan State University seeks to be a progressive, knowledge-generating institution, globally recognized for excellence in instruction, pioneering research, and responsive community engagement.
• Mission: How the institution intends to achieve its vision. It focuses on the type of individuals students will become after being educated at the institution.
  • Example: Bulacan State University aims to produce highly competent, ethical, and service-oriented professionals who contribute to sustainable socio-economic development.
• Goals: Broad statements of intent to be accomplished. Derived from the needs of learners, society, and the fund of knowledge.
  • Example: Build a strong foundation of skills and concepts.

Educational Objectives

• Definitions:
  • Educational objectives are specific statements about what learners are expected to achieve.
  • Benjamin Bloom and Robert Mager define educational objectives as explicit statements about how students are intended to change through education, and as intents communicated through statements describing a proposed change in learners.

Domains of Educational Objectives

• Cognitive Domain (Bloom et al., 1956): Focuses on thought processes.
  • Knowledge: Recall of facts and concepts.
  • Comprehension: Ability to grasp the meaning of material.
  • Application: Ability to use learned material in new situations.
  • Analysis: Ability to break down material into components.
  • Synthesis: Ability to combine parts into a new whole.
  • Evaluation: Ability to make judgments based on criteria.
• Affective Domain (Krathwohl, 1964): Focuses on values, attitudes, and appreciation.
  • Receiving: Willingness to pay attention to events, stimuli, or activities.
  • Responding: Active participation.
  • Valuing: Attaching worth or value to phenomena, objects, or behaviors.
  • Organization: Bringing together different values and building a value system.
  • Characterization by a value or value complex: Developing a lifestyle based on a value system.
• Psychomotor Domain (Simpson, 1972): Focuses on the use of psychomotor attributes.
  • Perception: Using senses to guide motor activities.
  • Set: Readiness to take action.
  • Guided Response: Early stages of learning a complex skill.
  • Mechanism: Habitual responses; skilled performance with ease and confidence.
  • Complex Over-Responses: Skillful performance with complex movement patterns.
  • Adaptation: Ability to modify skills based on new situations.
  • Origination: Creation of new movement patterns to fit the situation.

Curriculum Content or Subject Matter

• Definition: Curriculum content is a compendium of facts, concepts, generalizations, principles, and theories.
• Knowledge as a Fund of Information: Content is a repository of human knowledge accumulated over time through discovery and invention.
• Knowledge as Learner-Centered: Content is related to the individual's personal and social world and how they define reality.

Guiding Principles for Content Selection

• Feasibility: Content should be attainable within the time allowed, resources available, teacher expertise, and learners' abilities.
• Additional Considerations:
  • Frequency and relevance to daily life: Content should be frequently used and relevant to everyday experiences.
  • Maturity and ability levels: Suitable for students' developmental levels.
  • Career relevance: Valuable for future career needs and competencies.
  • Interdisciplinary connections: Related to other subject areas.
  • Transferability: Promotes the application of learning in various situations.

Principles for Organizing Curriculum Content

• Balance (Palma, 1992): Content should be distributed fairly across the breadth and depth of a subject area.
• Articulation: Each level of the subject matter should connect smoothly to the next, avoiding gaps and overlaps.
• Sequence: The logical arrangement of subject matter, including the deepening and broadening of content in higher levels.
• Integration: Connections between similar subject areas to facilitate learning.
• Continuity: The ongoing application of knowledge, skills, and values in daily living.

Curriculum Experience and Instructional Strategies

• Curriculum Experience: The heart of the curriculum, where instructional strategies and methods are put into action.
• Instructional Strategies: Convert the written curriculum into instruction, involving both teachers and learners in facilitating learning.
• George Beauchamp's System Theory of Education: Equally important elements are:
  • Administration
  • Counseling
  • Curriculum
  • Instruction
  • Evaluation
• Humanistic Approach: Rooted in progressive philosophy and child-centered education. Considers both formal planned and informal hidden curriculum. Emphasizes the holistic development of the individual, centering learning on the individual student.
• Curriculum Types:
  • Curriculum as content: The body of knowledge to be taught, encompassing specific subjects.
  • Curriculum as product: Expressed in the form of learning outcomes.
  • Curriculum as process: What happens in the classroom and how curriculum is prepared, implemented, and evaluated.

Guiding Principles for Curriculum Process

• Curriculum process as a means to achieve the end: Teaching methods and strategies are tools.
• No single best process: Effectiveness varies based on learning outcomes, learners, materials, and the teacher.
• Stimulating development: Encourages growth in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.
• Consider learning and teaching styles: Methods should be chosen with styles in mind.
• Learning outcomes across domains: Aim for outcomes in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.
• Flexibility in process: Adapt methods as needed.
• Focus on both teaching and learning: Essential processes for effective curriculum implementation.
• Curriculum as praxis: Actions that embody qualities such as commitment to well-being; pursuit of truth; and respect for others.