Lesson 2

Approaches to Curriculum
Designing
Introduction
• As a teache has to be a curriculum
designer, curriculum implementor
and a curriculum evaluator.
These threefold functions are embedded
in the teaching profession.
Types Curriculum Design
Models
1. Subject-centered design model
Henry Morrison & William Harris
• Focuses on the content of the curriculum
• Centered design corresponds mostly on textbooks
• Aim for excellence in the subject matter content
• School hours allocated to subjects: Science,
Mathematics, Language, Social Studies, PE & others
a. Subject design
• Oldest and the most familiar design for
teachers, parents, laymen and advocates.
• Easy to deliver
• Complementary books are written & support
instructional materials are commercially
available
• drawback – learning is so compartmentalized –
neglecting students’ natural tendencies,
interests and experiences
b. Discipline design
• Focuses on academic disciplines – referring to
specific knowledge
• Learned through a method which the scholars
use to study a specific content in their fields
• Often used in college
c. Correlation design
• Links separate subject designs in order to
reduce fragmentation
• Subjects are related to one another but each
maintains its identity
• ex.
• English literature and social studies correlate well in
elementary level
d. Broad field design/interdisciplinary

• Prevent the compartmentalization of subjects

& integrate the contents that are related to
each other
• Sometimes called holistic curriculum
– Broad field design draws around themes
and integration
2. Learner-Centered Design
• Among the progressive educational
psychologists, the learner is the center of the
educative process.
• Very strong in elementary level
• More concern in the secondary even in the
tertiary levels
a. Child-centered design
• Anchored on the needs and interests of the
child
• Learner learns by doing
• Learners interact with the teachers &
environment
• Collaborative effort between teachers &
students on planning lessons
b. Experience-centered design
• Believes that the interests and needs of
learners cannot be pre-planned
• Time is flexible and children are free to make
options
• Activities revolve around different emphasis
such as touching, imagining
relating & others
c. Humanistic design
• Development of self is the ultimate objective
of learning
• It considers the cognitive, affective and
psychomotor domains to be interconnected
and must be addressed in the curriculum
3. Problem-Centered Design

• Draws on social problems, needs, interest and

the abilities of the learners
• Emphases on life situations, contemporary
life problems, areas of living & many others
a. Life-situations design

• Pressing immediate problems of the society

and the students' existing concerns are
utilized
• The connection of subject to real situations
increases the relevance of the curriculum
b. Core problem design
popularized by Faunce and Bossing (1959)
• Centers on general education and the
problems are based on common human
activities
• Central focus includes common needs,
problems and concerns of the learner.
 Approaches to
Curriculum Design
Child or Learner-Centered Approach

• based on the underlying philosophy that the

child or the learner is the center of the
educational process
• Curriculum is constructed based on the needs, interests,
purposes and abilities of the learner
• Refer to example
• Guided by some principles (p.55)
Subject-Centered Approach

• Anchored on a curriculum design which

prescribes separate distinct subjects for every
educational level: basic education, higher
education or vocational-technical education.
• Guided by some principles (p.55)
• Refer to example
Problem-Centered Approach
• based on a design which assumes that in the
process of living, children experience
problems.
• Problem solving enables the learners to
become increasingly able to achieve complete
or total development as individuals
• Characterized by some views and beliefs
•Group activity 1 whole sheet of paper -
Answer activity 1 p. 56-57

•Individual work – 1 half crosswise –

answer self-check in p. 57
End of the Lesson