ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

Submitted By : Shahrukh Mazhar

Submitted To: Dear Sir Muhammad Ameer Imran

COURSECODE: 0838

Level: M.A (SPEACIAL. EDU)

ID :19PRP01370

Curriculum Development and Instruction

Assignment no 1
Q.1 Discuss the meaning and significance of curriculum development.
Ans: Curriculum development is the multi-step process of creating and improving a course taught at a school
or university. While the exact process will vary from institution to institution, the broad framework includes
stages of analysis, building, implementation, and evaluation. Curriculum development is defined as planned, a
purposeful, progressive, and systematic process to create positive improvements in the educational system.
Every time there are changes or developments happening around the world, the school curricula are affected.
There is a need to update them to address the society’s needs. People taught their children knowledge and skills
to survive by catching fish or hunting animals for food during ancient times. They had no formal education
during that time, but their children learned and acquired the knowledge and skills for survival. During that time,
they already had a curriculum that other educators call as, the saber-tooth curriculum. This type of curriculum
refers to a kind of curriculum that existed during ancient times in which the purpose of teaching was for
survival.
However, when the effects of discoveries and inventions became inevitable, ancient people’s way of life had
changed for the better. As a result, education became formal, and curriculum development evolved as
systematic, planned, purposeful, and progressive.

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Curriculum development has a broad scope because it is not only about the school, the learners, and the
teachers. It is also about the development of society in general.
In today’s knowledge economy, curriculum development plays a vital role in improving a country’s economy. It
also provides answers or solutions to the world’s pressing conditions and problems, such as threats to the
environment, issues on politics, socio-economic problems, and other issues related to poverty, climate change,
and sustainable development.
There must be a chain of the developmental process to develop a society. First, the school curriculum,
particularly in higher education, must be designed to preserve its national identity and ensure its economy’s
growth and stability. Thus, the president of a country must have a clear vision for his people and the nation.
In addition to providing benefits for teachers, curriculum development is a useful structure for learners.
Curriculum development allows teachers to take a thoughtful and methodical approach to determine what
students will be required to learn. The early phases of the process involve deep research and analysis to ensure
that students get the best education possible.
First, there are generally two types of curriculum models: the product model and the process model. The model
you choose to follow will influence the steps you'll take to develop the course.
Entire textbooks have been written on these long-standing models, but here's a brief explanation of each to
make sure everyone is on the same page:
• Product model. Also known as the objectives model, this model focuses on evaluations, outcomes,
and results. It determines what learning has occurred. If you need to develop a curriculum that
prioritizes standardized test scores, you'll need to adhere to the product model. Generally, this model
is thought to be more rigid and more difficult to adapt to your students' unique needs, but it does
provide quantitative learning assessments.
• Process model. This model focuses on how learning develops over time. There's an emphasis on
how the students are learning, and what thoughts they have throughout the process. This approach is
more open-ended and considers the overall growth and development of a student rather than their
performance on an exam.
Consider the characteristics of each model as well as any institutional requirements you need to adhere to. You
may already have a strong preference for one of the two! It is also possible to develop a curriculum that values
both product and process.
Once you've determined what type of curriculum you want to create, it's time to choose an approach. There are
three widely accepted methodologies for curriculum design:
• Subject-centered
• Problem-centered
• Learner-centered

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Generally, the steps to curriculum development will fall into a rough framework that mirrors many instructional
design approaches. Each process looks something like this:
• Analysis
• Design
• Selecting
• Formation
• Review
For the best results, you'll want to choose a framework that looks at these steps as a cycle rather than a linear
process. This ensures you can continue revising your curriculum even once your course is underway. With so
many steps to follow, curriculum development is not a simple or easy process. Instructors across all education
levels may also face additional obstacles that make the process more difficult or time-consuming.
Some of these challenges include:
• Institutional requirements. You may need to conform to standards set by your state's board of
education or by institutional administration. This may mean covering material that will be assessed by
standardized tests, requiring you to incorporate product-focused curricular elements. Or it may mean
including certain types of course objectives.
• Long waits for development experts. Your institution may have trained curriculum experts on staff to
help professors with course development. Unfortunately, there is usually a much higher demand than
these small teams have the capacity for, leading to long wait times.
• Gathering relevant required materials. Once the curriculum is mostly outlined, instructors will need
to search for the right required materials to align with course objectives. Often, it's difficult (and
sometimes impossible) to find an option that is affordable for students and works well for your course.
This is too often the case with both textbooks and e-textbooks from traditional publishers, but new
options like custom digital course materials can alleviate these concerns.
Between the many challenges and the complex steps involved, many instructors may feel they aren't up to the
task of developing an effective curriculum on their own. In this case, an expert course content creator could help
simplify and streamline the process. Most kinds of widely standardized curriculum fall under the subject-
centered approach. It's the most common approach used throughout K-12 schools in the U.S, but it's also found
throughout college classrooms, especially in large 1000-level lecture classes.
When you hear the term "core curriculum," it's referring to a subject-centered approach. While this model
intends to create equal learning experience across different schools and classes, it doesn't always work out that
way in practice.
Because this approach is not student-centered, it can lead to a lack of engagement and potentially lower
performance. Additionally, this approach leaves little room for cross-subject connections.

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This approach aims to provide students with relevant real-world skills. Learners are taught how to look at a
problem and come to a solution. Some benefits of this approach are an increased emphasis on critical
thinking, a focus on collaboration, and more innovation in the classroom. Students still learn key skills and
knowledge, but with additional context.
We use these steps to build affordable, dynamic, and engaging learning materials that meet the needs of both
students and professors. While we focus primarily on building custom course materials, these steps can also be
applied for a more comprehensive curriculum overhaul.
Step 1: Analyze
Like any strong curriculum development process, our design strategy begins with a thorough exploration of the
needs of both instructors and students. In this stage, we work to understand the instructor's current instructional
practices so that we can create targeted materials.
Step 2: Research
Next, we dive deep to find resources that cover the relevant educational subjects and fulfill the objectives of the
course. Based on what we find; we can also identify areas for overall curriculum improvement based on the
needs of students.

Step 3: Design
Our custom design process ensures a dynamic and engaging flow for each course. We'll develop the layout,
design, and flow of content to align with the instructor's existing teaching process.
Step 4: Curate
We leverage content from a variety of sources, including:
• Peer-reviewed open source content
• Instructor created content
• Custom Skyepack-created content
• Third-party licensed content
Our curation process ensures professors can use the best content available—without having to conduct any of
the time-consuming searches.

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Step 5: Build
Based on the data and content we gathered in the previous steps, we build the course. The process is a
collaborative one, so the instructor gets insight into the entire process, as well as the ability to review and revise
the course.
Step 6: Launch
We launch the course with day-one access for students and easy access to (human) tech support. And
remember, this is an iterative process, so launch day isn't the end of the road. We encourage each professor to
get feedback from students so we can make continuous improvements to the course.
Q.2 explained the need for sociological foundation of curriculum.
Curriculum bring about social change and social factors have an influence on curriculum. A country, like
Pakistan, may teach Islamic literature as a part of school curriculum, but a secular country like India can’t teach
any religious literature.
Therefore, curricular planners have to be concerned about social factors and the way they can be used to plan
and develop responsibility to social problems. We as curriculum planners, need to be concerned about
characteristic of present society as well as expected future social features.
Social Foundations of Education draws upon several disciplines and fields to examine education, namely
history, philosophy, comparative/ international education, cultural studies, sociology, and political science.
Social Foundations inquiry helps to sharpen students’ capacities to understand, analyze, and explain educational
issues, policies, and practices in order to improve education.
Thus, the purpose of Social Foundations study is to draw upon these humanities and social science disciplines to
develop students’ interpretive, normative, and critical perspectives on education, both inside and outside of
schools (Council for Social Foundations of Education, 1996, 2004). The development of such perspectives
helps educators to “exercise sensitive judgments amidst competing cultural and education values and beliefs”
(CSFE, 1996).
Rather than reducing education to a formula for best practice, courses in the Social Foundations of Education
challenge students to think deeply about the relationships between education (formal and informal) and
society(ies) at large. Social Foundations encourages educators to use “critical judgment to question educational
assumptions and arrangements and to identify contradictions and inconsistencies among social and educational
values, policies, and practices”
Each perspective or method of inquiry is described as follows:
Interpretive perspective: Students use concepts and theories from the humanities and social sciences to examine
educational phenomena. Social Foundations perspectives (comparative, cultural, historical, and philosophical)
are applied to examine and analyze an educational aspect or issue and these perspectives affect the meaning and
interpretation of that educational issue.

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Normative perspective: Students examine education in relation to differing value orientations and assumptions
about schooling and education. Educational issues, policies, and practices are examined in light of differing
value positions and students engage in reflection and development of their own values about education (Kubow
& Fossum, 2007).
Critical perspective: Students develop the ability to question the contradictions and inconsistencies among
educational values, policies, and practices.
These perspectives are not only important to the development of pre-service and in-service educators but also
central to the professional standards promoted by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
(NCATE) and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Thus, all preparation
programs for prospective teachers and other professional educators must include study in the Social
Foundations of Education.
Principle #1: The educator has acquired a knowledge base of resources, theories, distinctions, and analytic
techniques developed within the humanities, the social sciences, and the foundations of education. That is, the
educator has developed habits of using this knowledge base in evaluating and formulating educational practice.
Principle #2: The educator understands and can apply normative perspectives on education and schooling. That
is, the educator understands and employs value orientations and ethical perspectives in analyzing and
interpreting educational ideas, issues, and practices.
Principle #3: The educator understands and can apply critical perspectives on education and schooling. That is,
the educator has developed habits of critically examining educational practice in light of this knowledge base.
Principle #4: The educator understands how moral principles related to democratic institutions can inform and
direct schooling practice, leadership, and governance. That is, the educator understands how knowledge from
Social Foundations of Education illuminates the conditions that support education in a democratic society.
Principle #5: The educator understands the significance of diversity in a democratic society and how that bears
on instruction, school leadership, and governance. That is, the educator understands how social and cultural
differences originating outside the classroom and school affect student learning and how educational
understanding includes sensitivity to human potentials and differences.
Principle #6: The educator understands how philosophical and moral commitments affect the process of
evaluation at all levels of schooling practice, leadership, and governance. That is, the educator can articulate
the moral and philosophical assumptions underlying evaluation measures or processes.
Critical interdisciplinary examination of schooling, society, and cultural diversity in the United States. Inquiry
into the origins of contemporary ideas, issues, and problems through the disciplines of history and philosophy,
and analysis grounded in the social sciences on the relationships between schooling, diversity, and institutional
issues in a globalizing society.
Q.3 Describe how culture influence curriculum?

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Culture is the content of education. Thus education has to draw its content from culture. Education transmits
culture through formal and informal curriculum. Formal curriculum comprises of the various subjects taught
such as languages, mathematics, physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences, technical subjects and
Religious studies.For culture to be transmitted, it must have content. The values that the school transmits can be
seen as the culture of the society. It is culture that forms the content of education.
In promoting culture therefore, the school curriculum through the various subjects promotes and enhances the
learning of culture. The subjects taught transmit certain values:
Society must provide its members with the tools of communication language become crucial for education.
Kenyan schools teach English and Kiswahili as the major languages of communication
Society must teach its members skills and knowledge related to material culture. Disciplines like agricultural
science, natural sciences, vocational education are taught in schools.
Aesthetic values are taught through arts, music among others.
Spiritual or moral education is taught through religion and by precept.
Members of the society learn about their environment by studying geography and natural sciences.
Individual learn how to live in society through study of history, sociology, anthropology, government
procedures and laws, political science and others.
Schools therefore transmit the culture of the day. For example in Kenya today through the 8-4-4 system of
education, emphasis is on technical and agricultural subjects for the purposes of enhancing self-employment.

Society, culture and education are strictly interrelated and each one is necessary for the continued existence of
the others. Society has the responsibility of producing and preparing its members well to keep the society going.
To do this, it expresses its culture and teaches it. In this way, transmitting culture becomes education itself, as
education is not possible without a living culture and society
Education transmits culture in a number of ways, for example;
1. Teaching languages for education that is, tools for communication e.g. Kiswahili, English and others.
2. Knowledge and skills in material culture are taught in agriculture, natural sciences, vocational and
technological courses.
3. Aesthetic values are taught through Art courses for example, Music, Fine art and others.
4. Spiritual and moral education is taught through religious studies, social studies among others.
5. Mastery of the physical environment is taught through Geography.
6. Learning how to co-exist in society is taught through social studies, history, sociology and anthropology.
7. Improvement on the physical environment through courses in building and surveying
8. Regulations, maintenance and continued survival of society through good government and study of
procedures for social control.
9. Defense against external and internal forces through the study of military science.

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One of the factors that an effective curriculum must consider is the ideology of a society or nation. An ideology
is a way of thinking which forms a basis for an economic or political system. The ideology of the nation will
determine the curriculum a country will offer and this will change the way people perceive things. Ideology can
be described as the strong beliefs and ideas that a society possesses. Changes in ideological perspectives in
society also influence the effectiveness of a curriculum and thus must be considered in any well-meaning
curriculum planning, development and implementationprocess. Kelly (2006:99) agrees with this and says
"Curriculum planning must be a commitment to an ideology of knowledge, of education, of society and of
humanity". Thus society's needs and aspirations must be considered in an effective curriculum, a curriculum
must respond to the needs and challenges that society is faced with. What people believe, their ideas and goals
must be taken care of by the curriculum planners. For example, in the early when Zambia gained her
independence, humanism the ideology of the new government was embedded in the education curriculum
system
Secondly, in 1990 the transformation of the country to a multi-party system, privatization and liberalization was
the new government ideology and so it was included in the curriculum in accordance with the shift from the
former humanistic ideological philosophy that existed before. Such a consideration does help in the effective
implementation of a curriculum that must consider such a critical change in society.
Political changes in society must also be considered in order to formulate an effective curriculum. Politics is a
science of governing people. David (1992:41) states that "As education and training have moved up the political
agenda, we have witnessed the entry of industry and politics into 'secret garden' of education. Indeed politics
does find itself influencing the effectiveness of education in a great deal. Politics of a nation does determine the
curriculum to be followed and this is usually dependant on the political situation in the country at any given
time. Such a political influence would affect the education system. Declarations by political parties in power
influence the curriculum. For example, the revised curriculum dubbed the ‘two'two pathways' curriculum that is
being piloted in technical secondary schools proposed by the new Zambian ruling party, the Patriotic front
(Mulenga 2014). This education system is aimed at providing two pathways as the name suggests. One will be
an academic stream aimed at nurturing the learners who are academically gifted and biased and the other a
vocational stream for those who might not be academically gifted but are are gifted with hands-on skills. Such
changes have been necessitated by the political situation prevailing in the nation and will continue to affect the
curriculum.
Societal changes also influence the curriculum and must be considered as such. A society is an organisation of
people with particular interest or purpose. The particular interest people have determined a curriculum to
follow. For example, the people of North-western province value pineapple production thus the emphasis on the
production of pineapples in the agriculture would be more appropriate there.
Because education is one of the pillars of a society, a lot of political effort and expertise is put into the
development and improvement of educational systems. With the support of donors such as the World Bank, the

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International Monetary Fund, UNESCO, and national governments, many international cooperation projects
have been initiated to support educational improvement in developing countries. To achieve these overarching,
ambitious goals of educational change and improvement, multi-faceted, wide-ranging strategies are necessary
(Plomp & Thijs, 2002; Thijs, De Feiter, & Van den Akker, 2002), in particular in the domain of curriculum
development. In this study, curriculum is defined in its almost classic form as ‘a plan for learning’ (Taba, 1962)
and curriculum development as (Van den Akker, 2003): ‘usually a long and cyclic process with many
stakeholders and participants; in which motives and needs for changing the curriculum are formulated; ideas are
specified in programs and materials; and efforts are made to realize the intended changes in practice’ (p. 2). In
order to achieve effective curriculum reform that establishes changes in educational practices, methodical and
context-sensitive curriculum development is essential. Throughout the years, many models have been
introduced to depict the various curriculum development activities included in the curriculum development
process.
Q.4 Write short note on:
a. Content objectives
Culture is basically the customs, beliefs and the way of living shared by a particular
society/community/country. It refers to the values and norms shared by a specific group of people.

Culture influences how we see the world, how we see the community that we live in, and how we communicate
with each other. Being a part of a culture influences our learning, remembering, talking and behaving. Therefore
culture determines to a great extent the learning and teaching styles also.
How is culture important for the child?
• · Culture teaches values, beliefs and traditions.
• · It influences the social interaction with parents, siblings, peers and teachers.
• · It influences their language and communication.
Culture-based education is an approach in which teaching and learning happen based on the values, norms,
beliefs and practices that are the foundation of any culture. Harvard Professor Jerome Bruner notes “Culture
shapes mind, it provides us with the tool kit by which we construct not only our world but our very construction
of ourselves and our powers”.
This is why culture-based education gains importance.
In education, students with diverse backgrounds and cultures are often marginalised because they are exposed to
a curriculum with one predominant cultural bias. It does not cater to the culture that they are familiar with and
are a part of. This is why it is important to create a curriculum that incorporates diverse perspectives. The
teaching and learning process must respond to physical, social and cultural preferences of the children.

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Teachers are the most important aspects of culture-based learning as they should work towards motivating
students to achieve not only academically, but also socially, culturally, psychologically and spiritually. The
influences of cultural environment are necessary for the educators because of its role in learning. They need to
find mechanisms to incorporate cultures and languages in their teaching practises.
Culturally-responsive educators should recognise the full potential of each student irrespective of their cultural
background and provide the challenges necessary for them to achieve their full potential. They must be aware of
their students’ primary languages, background, and culture to construct a curriculum that will be relevant to
their students’ lives. They need to modify their curriculum to include their students’ different cultural
backgrounds to create a more positive and productive school experience for them. Building upon students’
culture and heritage not only benefits students’ academic progress but also empowers them as individuals.
Teachers need to engage their students in team-building activities in the class rooms where students can learn
about each other’s different cultures and learn to respect them too. Children are able to reflect upon not only
their culture but culture in general.

A culturally responsive class room is one where the students feel respected and safe to learn and participate. It is
a place where they develop a sense of pride and self-esteem. When they view their cultures being promoted at
school they feel included in their school community empowering them and creating a sense of pride for their
cultural heritage. Students here perform better academically and also grow up to be more independent and
active citizens when they learn in an environment where their language and culture are valued.
Now that nearly all universities across the world have international students, educators are now becoming
increasingly aware of how different cultural backgrounds of the students affect their learning and hence the
urgent need for culture-based learning is now felt more than ever.
b. Process objectives
A process objective is not a destination; rather, it is the route you want to take to get there. If you want to
improve your writing, for example, your process objective might be to publish one blog article per week and
learn from the criticism you receive. The goal is to write 12 articles per month.
This distinction is critical since it’s easy to overlook the reality that these objectives aren’t all or nothing.
Consider that for a moment. It’s been stated that working smart, not hard, is the key to success.
Objectives are the specific measurable results of the initiative. Objectives specify how much of what will be
accomplished by when. For example, one of several objectives for a community initiative to promote care and
caring for older adults might be: "By 2024 (by when), to increase by 20% (how much) those elders reporting
that they are in daily contact with someone who cares about them (of what)."
There are three basic types of objectives. They are:

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 • Process objectives. These are the objectives that provide the groundwork or implementation necessary to
achieve your other objectives. For example, the group might adopt a comprehensive plan for improving
neighborhood housing. In this case, adoption of the plan itself is the objective.
• Behavioral objectives. These objectives look at changing the behaviors of people (what they are doing
and saying) and the products (or results) of their behaviors. For example, a neighborhood improvement
group might develop an objective for having an increased amount of home repair taking place (the
behavior) and fewer houses with broken or boarded-up windows (the result).
• Community-level outcome objectives. These are often the product or result of behavior change in many
people. They are focused on change at the community level instead of an individual level. For example,
the same neighborhood group might have an objective of increasing the percentage of people living in
the community with adequate housing as a community-level outcome objective.
It's important to understand that these different types of objectives aren't mutually exclusive. Most groups will
develop objectives in all three categories.
Objectives should be S.M.A.R.T. + C.:
• Specific. That is, they tell how much (e.g., 10%) of what is to be achieved (e.g., what behavior of whom
or what outcome) by when (e.g., by 2025)?
• Measurable. Information concerning the objective can be collected, detected, or obtained.
• Achievable. It is feasible to pull them off.
• Relevant to the mission. Your organization has a clear understanding of how these objectives fit in with
the overall vision and mission of the group.
• Timed. Your organization has developed a timeline (a portion of which is made clear in the objectives)
by which they will be achieved.
• Challenging. They stretch the group to set its aims on significant improvements that are important to
members of the community.
Q.5 critically examine the consensual procedure for content selection.
The micro curriculum employs the seven criteria for the selection of subject matter below. For the macro
curriculum, the subjects needed for the curricular program or course comprise the content.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
To help learners attain maximum self-sufficiency most economically is the central guiding principle of subject
matter or content selection (Scheffler, 1970) as cited by Bilbao et al. (2008). Although the economy of
learning implies less teaching effort and less use of educational resources, students gain more results. They can
cope up with the learning outcomes effectively.
This criterion means that students should be given a chance to experiment, observe, and do field study. This
system allows them to learn independently.

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 With this principle in mind, I suggest that there should be a one-day independent learning activity each week for
a high school curriculum or preparatory year. However, this should be carefully planned by the teacher. When
the students return, they should present outputs from the activity.
SIGNIFICANCE
The subject matter or content is significant if it is selected and organized to develop learning activities, skills,
processes, and attitudes. It also develops the three domains of learning, namely the cognitive, affective, and
psychomotor skills, and considers the learners’ cultural aspects. Particularly, if your students come from
different cultural backgrounds and races, the subject matter must be culture-sensitive.
In short, select content or subject matter that can achieve the overall aim of the curriculum.
VALIDITY
Validity refers to the authenticity of the subject matter or content you selected. Make sure that the topics are not
obsolete.
For example, do not include typewriting as a skill to be learned by college students. It should be about the
computer or Information Technology (IT).
Thus, there is a need to regularly check the curriculum’s subject matter or contents and replace it if necessary.
Do not wait for another five years to change it.
INTEREST
This criterion is valid to the learner-centered curriculum. Students learn best if the subject matter is interesting,
thus makes it meaningful to them.
However, if the curriculum is subject-centered, teachers have no choice but to finish the pacing schedule
religiously and only teach what is in the book. This approach explains why many students fail in the subject.
UTILITY
Another criterion is the usefulness of the content or subject matter. Students think that a subject matter or some
subjects are not necessary to them. They view it as useless. As a result, they do not study.
Here are the questions that students often ask:
▪ Will I need the subject in my job?
▪ Will it give meaning to my life?
▪ Will it develop my potentials?
▪ Will it solve my problem?
▪ Will it be part of the test?
▪ Will I have a passing mark if I learn it?
Students only value the subject matter or content if it is useful to them.
LEARNABILITY

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The subject matter or content must be within the schema of the learners. It should be within their experiences.
Teachers should apply theories in the psychology of learning to know how subjects are presented, sequenced,
and organized to maximize students’ learning capacity.
FEASIBILITY
Feasibility means the full implementation of the subject matter. It should consider the school’s real situation, the
government, and society in general. Students must learn within the allowable time and the use of resources
available. Do not give them a topic that is impossible to finish.
For example, you have only one week left to finish the unit, but the activities may take a month for the students
to complete. Thus, this requirement is not feasible.

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