1. What is curriculum?

Curriculum is a design PLAN that fosters the purposeful, proactive organization, management and assessment of interactions among the teacher, the learners, and the content knowledge we want students to acquire. 2. List four characteristics of a formal curriculum? A curriculum has the following characteristics: 1) It comprises the experiences of children for which the school is responsible. 2) It has content. 3) It is planned. 4) It is a series of courses to be taken by students. 3. Explain the differences between the formal, informal, actual and core curricula? Formal Curriculum : represents the presented, formal learning experiences as per the objectives of the curriculum or syllabus. Informal Curriculum: represents the learning experiences students acquire values that cannot be categorised in the formal or informal curriculum. Actual Curriculum: represents what students actually learn from both the formal and hidden curricula. Core Curriculum: is not an independent type of curriculum. It refers to the area of study, courses or subjects that students must understand in order to be recognised as educated in the area. In other words, core refers to the heart of experiences every learner must go through. The learner has no option but to study the prescribed course or subjects.

4. What can students learn from the hidden curriculum? Some learning experiences students acquire from the hidden curriculum include the following: Positive Learning Experiences Patience Respect Diligence Reliability Negative Learning Experiences Impatience Disrespect Peer influence (however, this may also be a positive influence)

5. Which learning experiences can you classify under the co-curriculum activities in schools? Co-Curriculum (Extra-mural) activities in schools could include the following: a. cultural activities, such as music, drama or dance classes or performances b. sports teams c. clubs for students with special interests d. visits to the school from story tellers or community leaders.

6. List four elements of a curriculum? The curriculum has four elements that are in constant interaction: 1) purpose (goals and objectives) 2) content or subject matter 3) methods or learning experiences 4) evaluation. 7. Curriculum Perspectives: Zewii (1984), cited in Gatawa (1990: 21), states that what goes into the curriculum depends heavily on the curriculum perspectives. The table that follows summarises the perspectives as they relate to the learner, teacher, method and curriculum.
Curricul um Philosop hy Rationalis t Curriculum Perspective Learner Teacher Method Curriculum

True knowledge is achieved by the mind. Knowledge is a series of revelations. True knowledge is derived from evidence. Authentic knowledge comes through the senses. Knowledge is hypothetical and changing constantly. Knowledge is experienced. Knowledge cannot be imposed on the learner. Knowledge is a personal activity. Knowledge is socially constructed. Knowledge is personal and subjective. Knowledge is ones own unique perception of ones world. Education should be less formal. Curricula should be diverse, not common for all

Recipient of informati on Recipient of informati on Experienc es knowledg e

Source of ideas, facts and information Demonstra tor of process Researcher , project director

Drilling Lecturing Subjectbas ed Lecturing Teachercen tred Inquiry Participator y Problemsol ving

Subject matter of symbol and idea Subject matter of the physical world Problem solving Hypothetica l Subject to change Problems Projects. Subject matter of choices Not rigid

Empiricist

Pragmatis t

Existentia list

Ultimate chooser, search for personal identity

Facilitator of choices

Inquiry Discovery

* Adapted from Beach, D. M., and Reinhatz, J. (1989: 106). Supervision: Focus on Instruction. New York: Harper and Row.

8. Give brief definitions of the following views in curriculum decisionmaking? a) Rationalist b) Empiricist c) Pragmatist d) Existentialist. Briefly the four views in curriculum decision-making are presented below. a) Rationalists believe that true knowledge is achieved by the mind and knowledge is a series of revelations.

b) Empiricists believe that true knowledge is derived from evidence and authentic knowledge comes from the senses. c) Pragmatists believe that knowledge changes constantly, is experienced, cannot be imposed on learners, is a personal activity and is socially constructed. d) Existentialists believe that knowledge is personal and subjective and depends on ones own unique perception of the world. Education should be less formal, and the curriculum should be diverse 9. Which curriculum perspective holds that: a b c d knowledge is personal and subjective? knowledge is based on evidence? teachers are sources of ideas and information? learners must experience knowledge? Existentialist Empiricist Rationalist Pragmatist

7. List the main benefits of curriculum evaluation to the following stake holders? a) Planners - improved institution - identification of relevant resources for content and curriculum - determination of the appropriateness of the curriculum - identification of needs - improvement of learners and teachers - provision of feedback to society regarding the level to which goals and aims were achieved b) Employers - preparation of workers with relevant skills for the work force - trainable workers who know how to learn - knowledgeable workers c) Learners - improved performance, knowledge and skills - relevant content - access to appropriate learning experiences - increased opportunities d) Teachers - improved performance, knowledge and skills - better understanding of learner - increased confidence - improved material resources - improved working conditions - improved teaching content 1. What are the ten components of a comprehensive curriculum unit, lesson, or task? Content Assessment Introduction Teaching Strategies Learning Activities Grouping Strategies

Products Resources Extension Activities Modification : (Ascending Levels of Intellectual Demand)

2. Explain the Key Components of Comprehensive Curriculum?

Key Component s Introductor y Activities Definition Example

Explanation Content (Standards)

Explanation

Teaching Strategies

Learning Activities

An introduction sets the stage for a A high quality introduction will unit. Components may include: (1) include all six elements, as well as a focusing question, (2) a needs an advance organizer that provides assessment to determine students students with information that they prior knowledge,interests, and can use to help assess their learning preferences (3) a teaser or acquisition of the units learning hook to motivate students (4) goals information about the relevance of the goals and unit expectations, (5) information about expectations for students, and (6) consideration of students interests in or experiences that connect with the unit topic. A high quality introduction will include all six elements, as well as an advance organizer that provides students with information that they can use to help assess their acquisition of the units learning goals Content is what we want students Exemplary standards incorporate to know, understand, and do as a big ideas, enduring result of our curriculum and understandings, and skills of a instruction. Standards are broad discipline. Additionally, they statements about what grade-level provide clarity, power, and students should know and be able authenticity for teachers and to do. students. Content is the most important of the key features of a curriculum plan because it provides teachers with a clear understanding of what students are supposed to know, understand, and be able to do as a result of their participation in a lesson, unit, or course of study to support meaningful learning. Effective content delineates a learning sequence that fosters development of ascending levels of expertise as students progress through the grades Teaching strategies are methods Beneficial teaching methods are teachers use to introduce, explain, closely aligned to learning goals, demonstrate, model, coach, guide, varied, promote student transfer, or assess in the involvement, and provide support, classroom. feedback, and scaffolding for learners. One of the most important tasks in designing curriculum is the selection of teaching activities, sometimes referred to as methods or pedagogy. Teaching strategies or techniques are methods that educators use to instruct students or connect them with the content. These strategies forward the learning goals within a curriculum unit and place the teacher in the role of facilitator, trainer, coach, or model of learning. A units learning activities are Effective learning activities are those cognitive experiences that aligned with the learning goals and

Explanation

Grouping Strategies

Explanation

Resources

Assessment s

Explanation

help students perceive, process, efficiently foster cognitive rehearse, store, and transfer engagement (i.e., analysis, critical, knowledge, understanding, and practical, and creative thinking) skills. integrated with the learning goal. Learning activities are the tasks that we design for students to develop the knowledge, understandings, and skills specified in the content goals. They should help students perceive, process, rehearse, store and transfer new information and skill. Assessments are varied tools and Well-designed grouping strategies techniques teachers use to are aligned with the learning goals. determine the extent to which Effective grouping strategies are students have mastery of learning varied and change frequently to goals. accommodate students interests, questions, learning preferences, prior knowledge, or learning rate and zone of proximal development. Group membership changes frequently based upon learning goals and assessment of student learning. Grouping strategies enable teachers to arrange students in configurations most likely to enhance the acquisition of content and skills. A wide variety of grouping strategies should be used during the teaching of an instructional unit. Resources are materials that Exemplary resources are varied in support learning during the format and link closely to the teaching and learning activities. learning goals, students reading These resources will be varied to and comprehension levels, and accommodate student differences, learning preferences. learning preferences, and interests. Resources should include print and non print sources, and human resources. Resources represent sources of knowledge that students and teachers will use to interact with the content goals. Efforts should be made to collect resources that provoke thinking and promote clarity of understanding about content goals. Teachers should consider using print (i.e., biographies, poems, fiction, maps, charts, primary and secondary sources, etc.), non-print (i.e., paintings, photographs, experiments, events, videos, equipment, music, etc.), and human (content-area experts, older students, parents, community members, university personnel, business personnel, etc.) resources to help students interact with the content goals in many ways. It is important for a teacher to also select a variety of resources that can be used by students with varying readiness levels. Appropriate resources that meet student interests, preferences, and readiness levels help to ensure that all students have materials that they can use to help support their learning. Assessments are varied tools and Well-designed assessments are techniques teachers use to diagnostic, aligned with the learning determine the extent to which goals, and provide a high ceiling, as students have mastery of learning well as a low baseline, to ensure goals. that all students learning can be measured. They are used before, during, and after instruction. Highquality assessments inform instruction Effective standards documents also contain information that helps teachers align content standards with appropriate assessment strategies and criteria formats ensuring student growth over time. Assessment tasks

Products

Extension Activities

Modificatio ns for Learner Need (Ascending the Level of

determine the extent to which students have acquired the knowledge, understanding, and/or skills embedded within a performance standard or content goal. These tasks provide tangible evidence of student understanding and growth before, during, and at the end of a segment of instruction. Therefore, assessment should be varied. Products are performances or work Powerful products are authentic, samples created by students that equitable, respectful, efficient, provide evidence of student aligned to standards and diagnostic. understanding and learning. Products can represent daily or short-term student learning, or can provide longer-term culminating evidence of student knowledge, understanding, and skill. Highquality products often double as assessment tools. Products produce tangible evidence of student learning. On the other hand, products are can also be part of a learning activity. Thus products are strongly linked to learning activities, content, and assessment. Products should be used to measure student growth over time, to monitor and adjust instruction in order to promote student success, and as a basis for evaluating how well students can explain, interpret, apply, and transfer the essential content that has been identified in the unit. Products can take many forms: tests, worksheets, journals, performances, problem solving solutions, explanations, reflections and many others. Exemplary products are aligned to content goals, authentic, equitable, and diagnostic. Prior to the development of a product, students should have clear expectations for the knowledge and understanding that must be represented in the product, skills that must be used in completing the product, and habits of work that they should use to complete the product. Extension activities are preplanned Powerful extension activities or serendipitous experiences that provide for student choice. They emerge from learning goals and relate in some way to the students interests. content/standards, are open-ended, authentic, and generate excitement for and investment in learning. Extension activities are preplanned or serendipitous experiences that teachers orchestrate for individuals, small groups, or the entire class and that expand the basic unit plans. They emerge from the units content goals as well as students interests and questions. Extensions can occur at any time during a unit. They may be of short duration, or may require more extensive time. For example, a teacher who was working on a unit that includes exploration of genetics and DNA found a webquest on the Internet that extended her unit of study and asked students to play the role of legislators in passing a law that would permit cloning. To use this resource in her instructional unit, she decided that she would have the students work on this activity during Center Time to help students apply what they had come to understand about genetics and DNA when considering the social and ethical implications of this knowledge. Extension activities can be used to promote the transfer and application of content goals to real world contexts and problems, to blend students interests and areas of expertise with content goals, and to connect content goals in one discipline to other disciplines or to other topics. Teachers can enhance learning by Well-designed modification optimizing the match between the strategies are closely aligned with curriculum and students unique the learning goals and students learning needs. One kind of interests, questions, preferred modification represented in the learning modes, product Parallel Curriculum Model is preferences, prior knowledge and/or

Intellectual Demand)

referred to as Ascending Levels of learning rate. Intellectual Demand. The most effective modifications in response to learner need are proactive rather than reactive on the part of the teacher. That is, the teacher assesses and observes students to understand as fully as possible their readiness of current curriculum goals, their interests, how they learn best, their sense of self-efficacy, and their motivational patterns. Preassessment tools, classroom discussions, student products, and dayto-day interactions among students are several ways that teachers find out how to make modifications for students and to develop more than one path to the critical learning goals of the instructional unit.

What is the Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM)? Definition The Parallel Curriculum Model is a set of four interrelated designs that can be used singly, or in combination, to create or revise existing curriculum units, lessons, or tasks. Each of the four parallels offers a unique approach for organizing content, teaching, and learning that is closely aligned to the special purpose of each parallel The Parallel Curriculum Model proposes the possibility of developing appropriately challenging curriculum using one, two, three, or four parallel ways of thinking about course content. The term parallel indicates several formats through which educators can approach curriculum design in the same subject or discipline. Parallel should not be taken to mean that the formats or approaches must remain separate and distinct in planning or in classroom use. The model does not purport to be a recipe, and it cannot be prescriptive. It is important to also note that the parallel curricula described in the Parallel Curriculum Model can be used in any order. In addition, it is important to recall that the parallels can be used singly or in combination. What are the Four Facets of Qualitatively Differentiated Curriculum (The Parallel Curriculum): 1. Core: The essential nature of a discipline 2. Connections: The relationships among knowledge 3. Practice: The applications of facts, concepts, principles, skills, and methods as scholars, researchers, developers, or practitioners 4. Identity: Developing students interests and expertise, strengths, values, and character A curriculum writer may choose to focus on one or more of the parallels to construct a curriculum unit depending on the purpose of the unit. What is the Theoretical Underpinnings of the Parallel Curriculum Model? Curriculum design should.. 1. Respect the unique characteristics of the learner; 2. Be organized around the structure of knowledge; 3. Reflect content selection and procedures that will help maximize the transfer of knowledge, understanding, and skill; 4. Select content (representative topics) that best represent the essential structure of the discipline; and 5. Place a premium on the development of process skills, the appropriate use of methodology within content fields, and consider goals or outcomes in terms of concrete and abstract products. Explanation: Delineating the underpinnings for a theory of qualitatively differentiated curriculum is a challenging task. First and foremost, the theory must be

able to show how curriculum for advanced students extends beyond what constitutes appropriate curriculum for all students. Next, the theory needs to take into account differences between two general types of curriculum: required or prescribed curriculum and curriculum that has its roots in the interests and learning preferences of students. Finally, a theory that supports differentiated curriculum for gifted learners should provide authors of ccurriculum with enough guidance to help ensure that materials, tasks, and products exemplify the principles around which the theory has been developed. What are the purposes for the Parallel Curriculum Model? 1. Provides teachers with a comprehensive framework with which they can design, evaluate, and revise existing curriculum 2. Improves the quality of the curriculum units, lessons, and tasks 3. Enhances the alignment among the general, gifted, and special education curricula 4. Increases the authenticity and power of the knowledge students acquire and their related learning activities 5. Provides opportunities for continuous professional, intellectual, and personal growth 6. Offers teachers the flexibility to achieve multiple purposes 7. Reinforces the need to think deeply about learners and content knowledge 8. Uses high quality curriculum as a catalyst for observing and developing abilities in learners 9. Allows flexibility to address varying needs and interests of learners 10. Explain steps in curriculum design in relation to models of curriculum.
Models The Objectives Model Steps/ Procedure The objectives model of curriculum design contains content that is based on specific objectives. These objectives should specify expected learning outcomes in terms of specific measurable behaviours. Unlike the objectives model, this model does not consider objectives to be important.

1. agreeing on broad aims which are analysed into objectives, 2. constructing a curriculum to achieve these objectives, 3. refining the curriculum in practice by testing its capacity to achieve its objectives, and 4. communicating the curriculum to the teachers through the conceptual framework of the objectives. (Gatawa,1990: 30)
Using this model presupposes that: 1. Content has its own value. Therefore, it should not be selected on the basis of the achievement of objectives. 2. Content involves procedures, concepts and criteria that can be used to appraise the curriculum. 3. Translating content into objectives may result in knowledge being distorted. 4. Learning activities have their own value and can be measured in terms of their own standard. For

The Process Model

Tylers model

The model is linear in nature, starting from objectives and ending with evaluation.

Wheelers model

Kerrs model.

Wheelers model for curriculum design is an improvement upon Tylers model. Instead of a linear model, Wheeler developed a cyclical model. Evaluation in Wheelers model is not terminal. Findings from the evaluation are fed back into the objectives and the goals, which influence other stages. Most of the features in Kerrs model resemble those in Wheelers and Tylers models. However, Kerr divided the domains into four areas (Urevbu, 1985: 23

this reason, learning activities can stand on their own.(Gatawa, 1990: 31) Tylers model for curriculum designing is based on the following questions: 1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? 2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes? 3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organised? 4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? Wheeler contends that: 1. Aims should be discussed as behaviours referring to the end product of learning which yields the ultimate goals. 2. One can think of these ultimate goals as outcomes. 3. Aims are formulated from the general to the specific in curriculum planning. This results in the formulation of objectives at both an enabling and a terminal level. 4. Content is distinguished from the learning experiences which determine that content.