Curriculum Development

and
Instruction (Code -6503)
(Master of Education)

Prepare by Faisal Mahmood Sulehria Sialkot

Under the Kind Supervision of
Respected Madam Sidra Rizwan
UNIT-05
CURRICULUM
DESIGN
 CONCEPT OF CURRICULUM DESIGN
• A curriculum design is a framework or plan of action for
preparing a course of study or a set of students’ experiences.
It is a deliberate process of devising, planning and selecting
the elements, techniques and procedures of curriculum.
Curriculum design is a method of thinking.

• A curriculum design is the result of curriculum decision.

Curriculum design may be defined as the substance and

organization of goal and culture content so arranged as to
reveal potential progression through levels of schooling.
 Categories of Curriculum Designs
Curriculum developers, drawing upon their
personal experiences, their preferred conception of
curriculum and their understanding of curriculum
drawn from the curriculum foundations, have
constructed curricula according to designs, which
may be categorized as:
• Subject-centered designs.
• Learner-centered designs.
• Problem-centered designs.
• Core designs.
 Categories of Curriculum Designs (Contd)
Subject-centered Designs
This group of designs revolve around the teaching of an established
body of content that has been derived from the accumulated wisdom
of the academic disciplines. Content considerations are the basis for
decisions about the horizontal and vertical, dimensions of the
curriculum while other curriculum elements have considerably less
impact. Three related, though distinct, designs have emerged.

Learner-centered designs
Supporters of these curriculum designs generally view society in
democratic terms and perceive individuals as being ‘naturally good’.
Hence, learner-centered designs emphasize individual development
and their approach to organizing the curriculum emerges from needs,
interest and purposes of students.
 Categories of Curriculum Designs (Contd)
Problem-centered designs
These curriculum designs direct learners to focus their attention on, and
attempt to resolve, problems of living that are both individual and social in
nature. As this is such an enormous task, considerable variations in the
nature of problems to be studied may be found. Themes might include
persistent life situations, contemporary social problems, and personal
concerns of youth, major social functions and worldwide problems such as
peace and environment.

Core learning designs

The notion behind a core design, usually called a core curriculum, is that
there exists a set of common learnings (knowledge, skills and values) that
should be provided to all learners in order to function effectively in a
society. The core concept, however, does vary considerably in
interpretation and one writer has suggested that it is possible to
distinguish no less than six forms of the core .
 The Functions of a Conceptual Framework for Curriculum Design

Only a few scattered remarks are available in the curriculum

literature about the functions of a curriculum theory or a
conceptual framework in designing curriculum. Herrick uses the
term “curriculum theory” and suggests three chief functions of
such a theory:
• To identify the critical issues or points in curriculum
development, and the generalizations, which underlie them.

• To point out the relationship, which exists between these

critical points and their supporting structure.

• To suggest the approaches that need to be made to resolve

these critical issues.
 CRITICAL PROBLEMS OF CURRICULUM DESIGN
Critical problems of the curriculum design are:
• General versus special education design.
• Maintaining relationship among curriculum
component.
• Problems of scope and sequence. -
• Identification of organizing centers.
• The problem of balance.
 (Contd)

General Versus Special Education Designs

The initial consideration in curriculum design is the determination of
whether the focus is to be on general or special education, or both. We
have indicated elsewhere that general and special education are not
discrete, that elements of both occur in all curricula, regardless of their
intent. However, it is important for design purposes to establish clearly
if the curriculum is chiefly to train for specific skills and knowledge or to
educate for community participation and human development.
Maintaining Relationship among Curriculum Components
Another major problem area in curriculum design has to do with
maintaining a relationship among the four components of curriculum,
aims, goals, and objectives, content, learning activities, and evaluation.
To begin with, it takes a good deal of keen observation and clear
.thinking just to maintain a good correspondence between long-range
aims or goals and the more immediate contributory objectives to be
stipulated in the design.
 (Contd)
Problems and Scope of Sequence
A third critical problem of curriculum design centers on the two basic
dimensions introduced at the beginning of the unit: horizontal and vertical
organizations, or, in the terminology of the curriculum field, scope and
sequence. Scope, it will be recalled, refers to the extent and arrangement of
curriculum elements that occur at the same time, while sequence describes
their progressive, level-to'-level organization over a period of time.

Identification of Organizing Centers

. A fourth problem of curriculum design, i.e. the problem of determining the
organizing centers of the curriculum, is related to scope and sequence
problems insofar as it defines to some extent scope and sequence
possibilities. We. are already somewhat familiar with a variety of macro design
organizing centers as a result of our discussion of representative curriculum
designs. Among others, we should briefly recall the separate subject, the
broad field, the learner’s need, and the contemporary social problem as
typical organizing centers.
 (Contd)
The Problem of Balance

A fifth problem of curriculum design is the one that has

been alluded to above: the problem of maintaining
balance in the curriculum. Balance, of course, means
ensuring that appropriate weight is given to each aspect
of the design so that distortions due to overemphasis
and under emphasis do not occur. It is not worthy that
most designs are remarkably weak in this respect.
 MAJOR TYPES/PATTERNS OFCURRICULUM DESIGNS
Perhaps the most useful existing classification available today is
the one developed by Luces. In this classification, school forms
are separated by function. Six major types of school design,
and their rationale, are presented:

Conservative liberal arts

. Educational technology
Humanistic

Vocational
Social reconstruction

Deschooling
 MAJOR TYPES/PATTERNS OFCURRICULUM DESIGNS (Contd)
Conservative Liberal Arts
This traditional form or design is based on the belief that a human being’s
unique and distinctive quality is intellect, and that the quest for
knowledge is the natural fulfilment of such an intellect. In short, the
highest purpose in life is to engage in the process of inquiry; to move
from ignorance to truth, from confusion to enlightenment.

Educational Technology
Education in the current decade will experience a technological
atmosphere. The technological instruments - personal computers, fax
machines, versatile copy units - offer the possibility of significant
alternations in the teaching-learning act as we know it Research,
communication, training - all are targets of the proliferation of gadgets
and hardware. More important for planners, such technology also
suggests an exit point for the spiraling costs of financing public education.
 MAJOR TYPES/PATTERNS OFCURRICULUM DESIGNS (Contd)
Humanistic
Such designs generally feature student-centered curriculums and
instructional patterns and a decentralization of authority and organization.
Human curriculum designs have deep roots in American education and
have taken numerous forms in this century. In such programmer there is a
shift in atmosphere towards understanding, compassion, encouragement,
and trust.

Vocational
A fourth curriculum design present in the last century has been one
concerned with vocation and economic aspects of living. Such programs
general go under either the traditional terni vocational education, or the
broader and newer term, career education.
 MAJOR TYPES/PATTERNS OFCURRICULUM DESIGNS (Contd)
Social Reconstruction .
A fifth curriculum design found in the United States in the last century had as its main
theme, social reconstruction. The conception of the school, as a vehicle for social
improvement was not new. Arguments for this type of school were made in the 1930s by
members of the social reconstruction wing of the Progressive Education Association.
Harold Rugg, for example, spoke of the .
changes impending in (fid American society and encouraged the schools to influence
social changes. He outlined characteristics of a needed curriculum in the 26th National
Society for the Study of the Education Yearbook.

Deschooling
As strange as it sounds, it is possible to design the de-schooling of public schools. Through
purposeful organization, of lack of it, it is possible to de- emphasize or disestablish the
public school programs and the formality of education by redirecting resources to
alternatives. While early efforts in such designs sought to free the learner from
bureaucracy and control by the institution of the school, more recent attempts have
attempted to de-school in order to replace public education with economic or political
alternatives.
 Steps in Curriculum Design
Feyereisen, Fiomo and Nowak (1970) suggest the following steps in
curriculum design:

• Identification of the problem.

• Diagnosis of the problem.
• Search for alternative solutions.
• Selection for the best solutions.
• Ratification of the solution by the organization.
• Authorization of the solution:
• Use of the solution on a trial basis.
• Preparation for adoption of the solution.'
• Adoption of the solution.
• Direction and guidance of the staff.
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of the solution.
 Benefits of Curriculum Design
• It focuses attention on goals.
• It improves the probability of success.
• It improves economy of time and efforts.
• It facilitates communication and coordination of
projects.
• It reduces stress.