Dimensions and principles of curriculum design
- 1. DIMENSIONS AND PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM DESIGN CURRICULUM DESIGN - provide clear relationship between and among the different elements of the curriculum: Objectives, Contents, Activities and Evaluation Curricularists suggest to view a design from the following dimensions: Scope, Sequence, Continuity, Integration, Articulation and Balance Dimensions of Curriculum Design: Scope It refers to the “coverage of the curriculum” The scope of the curriculum can be divided into “chunks” called units, subunits, chapters and sub – chapters. It is defines as all the content, topics, learning experiences and organizing threads compromising the educational plan. (Tyler in Ornstein,2004) It does not only refer to the cognitive content but also the affective and psychomotor content. Dimensions of Curriculum Design: Sequence vertical relationship among curricular areas the occurrence and reoccurrence of content and experiences so that students will have opportunities to connect and enrich their understanding of the curriculum presented or experienced Principle for Sequence according to Smith, Stanley and Shores (1957) 1. Simple to complex learning – has consonance with developmental theories of learning and cognition. 2. Prerequisite learning – means that there are fundamental things to be learned ahead. 3. Whole to part learning – has a relations to gestalt. 4. Chronological learning – closely allied to history, political science or world events. Five Major Principles for Organizing Content according to Posner and Rudnitsky (1994) 1. World – related sequence a. Space – spatial relations will be the basis for the sequence. b. Time - content is based from the earliest to the more recent. c. Physical attributes – refers to the physical characteristics of the phenomena 2. Concept – related sequence – reflects to the physical organization of the conceptual world. a. Class relations Class concept refers to the group or set of things that share common practices. a. Propositional relations Proposition – a statement that asserts something. Sequence – arranged so that evidence is presented ahead before proposition 3. Inquiry – related sequence - based on the scientific method of inquiry. 4. Learning – related sequence based on psychology of learning a. Empirical prerequisites Sequence is based primarily based on empirical studies where the prerequisite is required before learning the next level. b. Familiarity Prior learning is important in sequence. c. Difficulty Easy content is taken ahead than the difficult one. d. Interest Contents and experience that stimulate interest are those that are novel. Dimensions of Curriculum Design: Continuity vertical manipulation or repetition of curriculum components Bruner’s Spiral Curriculum Dimensions of Curriculum Design: Integration linking of all types of knowledge and experiences contained within the curriculum plan enables the individual to comprehend knowledge as unified Dimensions of Curriculum Design: Articulation Vertical Articulation - depicts the relationships of certain aspects in the curriculum sequence to lessons, topics, or courses appearing later in the program’s sequence Horizontal Articulation - refers to the association between or among elements occurring simultaneously Dimensions of Curriculum Design: Balance - giving appropriate weight to each aspect of the design so that distortions do not occur Guidelines in Curriculum Design Curriculum design committee should involve teachers, parents, administrators and even students School’s vision, mission, goals and objectives should be reviewed and used as a basis of curriculum design The needs and the interests of the learner, in particular, should be considered. Alternative curriculum design should consider advantages and disadvantages in terms of costs, scheduling, class size, facilities and personnel required The curriculum design should take into account cognitive, affective, psychomotor skills, concept and outcomes. Reportedby:Jesica D.Mendoza BSED IV