APPROACHES TO

CURRICULUM
DESIGNING
 DESIRED LEARNING
OUTCOMES

• Identify some curriculum designs and

approaches to the design

• Analyze the approaches in the light of how

these are applied in the school setting
TYPES OF CURRICULUM
DESIGN

•Subject-Centered
•Learner-Centered
•Problem-Centered
 1. Subject-Centered
• It focuses on the content of curriculum
• It corresponds mostly to the textbook
• School hours are allocated to different school
subjects
• It aims for excellence in the specific subject
discipline content
• It has some variations which are focused on the
individual subject, specific discipline, and a
combination of subjects or discipline which are
a broad field or interdisciplinary.
 Subject design
• Oldest and the most familiar design for teachers, parents, and
the for the others
• It has an advantage because it is easy to deliver
• Textbooks and other written and support instructional materials
are commercially available
• Teachers are familiar with the format
• However, sometimes learning is so compartmentalized
• It stresses so much on the content and forgets about students’
natural tendencies, interests, and experiences
• Teachers become the dispensers of knowledge and the learners
are simply the empty vessel
• This is a traditional approach to teaching and learning
 Discipline design
• This is related to the subject design
• It focuses on academic disciplines
• Discipline refers to the specific knowledge learned
through a method which the scholars use to study a
specific content of their fields
• Teachers should teach how the scholars in the
discipline will convey the particular knowledge
• It is often used in college
• It moves higher to a discipline when the students
are more mature and are already moving towards
their career path.
 Correlation design
• It links separate subject designs in order to
reduce fragmentation
• Subjects are related to one another and still
maintain their identity
• To use correlated design, teachers should
come together and plan their lessons
cooperatively.
 Broad field/interdisciplinary
• A variation of the subject-centered design
• It was made to cure the compartmentalization of
the separate subjects and integrate the contents
that are related to one another
• Sometimes called as holistic curriculum
• It draws around themes and integration
• It is similar to thematic design, where a specific
theme is identified and all other subject areas
revolve around the theme.
 2. Learner-Centered
• It is the center of the educative process
• The emphasis is strong in the elementary level, however
more concern has been placed on the secondary and even
the tertiary level
• In high school, the subject or content has become the
focus
• In college level, the discipline is the center
• Both levels still recognize the importance of learner in
the curriculum.
• Examples of design are child-centered, experience-
centered, and humanistic.
 Child-centered design
• It is attributed to the influence of John Dewey, Rousseau,
Pestallozi, and Froebel.
• It is anchored on the needs and interests of the child
• The learner is not considered as passive individual but one
who engages with his/her environment
• One learns by doing
• Learners actively create, constructs meanings, and
understanding
• Learners interact with the teachers and environment
• There is a collaborative effort on both sides to plan lessons,
select content, and do activities together
• Learning is a product of the child’s interaction with the
environment.
 Experience-centered
• Similar to the child-centered design
• Believes that the interests and the needs of the learners cannot
be pre-planned.
• Experiences of the learners become the starting point of the
curriculum, the school environment is left open and free
• Learners are made to choose from various activities that the
teacher provides
• Learners are empowered to shape their own learning from the
different opportunities given by the teacher
• Different learning centers are found, time is flexible, and
children are free to make options
• Activities revolve such as touching, feeling, imagining,
constructing, relating, and others.
 Humanistic design
• Key influence in this design is Abraham Maslow and Carl
Rogers
• Maslow’s theory of self-actualization explains that a person
who achieves this level is accepting of self, other, and nature;
simple, spontaneous and natural; open to different experiences;
possesses empathy and sympathy towards the less fortunate
• The person can achieve this state of self-actualization later in
life but has to start the process while in school
• Carl Rogers believed that a person can enhance self-directed
learning by improving self-understanding, the basic attitude to
guide behavior.
• The development of self is the ultimate objective
of learning
• It stresses the whole person and the integration of
thinking, feeling, and doing
• It considers the cognitive, affective, and the
psychomotor domains to be interconnected and
must be addressed in the curriculum
• It stresses the development of positive self-
concept and interpersonal skills.
 3. Problem-Centered
• Draws on social problems, needs, interests, and
abilities of the learners
• Various problems are given emphasis
• Such as life situations, contemporary life
problems, areas of living, and many others
• Content cuts across subject boundaries and must
be based on the needs, concerns, and abilities of
the students. Examples of design are the life-
situations design and core problem design.
 Life-situation design
• The contents are organized in ways that allow students to
clearly view problem areas
• It uses the past and the present experiences of learners as a
means to analyze the basic areas of living
• The pressing immediate problems of the society and the
students’ existing concerns are utilized
• Herbert Spencer’s curriculum writing emphases were
activities that sustain life, enhance life, and in rearing children
• Maintain the individual’s social and political relations and
enhance leisure, tasks, and feelings
• Connection of subject matter to real situations increases the
relevance of the curriculum.
 Core problem design
• It centers on general education and the
problems are based on the common human
activities
• Central focus includes common needs,
problems, and concerns of the learners
• Popularized by Faunce and Bossing in
1959
• Presented ways on how to proceed using
core design of a curriculum.
 Steps…
1. Make group consensus on important problems.
2. Develop criteria for selection of important problem.
3. State and define the problem.
4. Decide on the areas of study, including class grouping.
5. List the needed information for resources.
6. Obtain and organize information.
7. Analyze and interpret the information.
8. State the tentative conclusion.
9. Present a report to the class individually or by group.
10. Evaluate the conclusions.
11. Explore other avenues for further problem solving.