Dimensions and Principles of Curriculum Design

Dimensions of Curriculum Design

• Scope

• Sequence

• Continuity

• Integration

• Articulation

• Balance

1. Scope

• All the content, topics, learning experiences, and organizing threads comprising the educational plan. (Tyler in Ornstein, 2004).

• It does not only refers to the cognitive content but also affective and psychomotor.

• Broad, limited, simple, general are the words used to describe the scope.

• Decision making of the teacher is needed.

Considerations in Determination of Scope:

• Curricular coverage

• Time

• Diversity

• Maturity of the learners

• Complexity of content

• Level of education

• In simple words, scope is the coverage of the

curriculum.

Scope of the Curriculum can be divided into chunks:

• Units

• Sub-units

• Chapters

• Sub-chapters

Take note:

• Each Chunk is guided by the general curriculum objectives or goals.

• Division of the content may use deductive principle.

• Arrangement of scope is inductive. • Content Outline of the Curriculum may follow

some design: √ Thematic √ Linear √ Logical

2. Sequence

• A particular order in which related events, movements, or things follow each other.

• Vertical relationship among the elements to provide continuous and cumulative learning

• Contents and experiences are arrange in hierarchical manner where the basis can either be logic of the subject matter or on the developmental patterns of growth of the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.

4 Principles for Sequence: (Smith, Stanley and Shore, 1957)

• Simple to Complex Learning – content & experiences are organized from simple to complex, concrete to abstract, easy to difficult.

• Prerequisite Learning- there are fundamental things to be learned ahead.

• Whole to Part Learning – overview before the specific content or topics. Related to gestalt principle.

• Chronological learning – the order of events is made as a

basis of sequencing the content and experiences.

Five Major Principles for Organizing Content in Units: (Posner and Rudnitsky, 1994)

World-related Sequence

Concept-related Sequence

Inquiry-related Sequence

Learning-related Sequence

Utilization-related Sequence

World-related Sequence

• A. Space – spatial relations will be the basis for the sequence.

• B. Time – from the earliest to the most recent.

• C. Physical Attributes – the physical characteristics of the phenomena such as age, shape, size, brightness & others.

Concept-related Sequence

• how ideas are related together in logical manner.

• A. Class relations – group or set of things that share common practices.

• B. Propositional relations – a statement that asserts something

Inquiry-related Sequence

• based on the process of generating, discovering & verifying knowledge, content and experiences are sequenced logically and methodically.

Learning-related Sequence

• How people learn. • A. Empirical Prerequisites – 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 – use interesting contents and experiences to boost their appetite in learning

3. Continuity

• Vertical repetition and recurring appearances of the content provide continuity in the curriculum. This process enables the learner to strengthen the permanency of learning and development of skills.

• Gerome Bruner calls this “spiral curriculum”.

For learners to develop the ideas, these have to be developed and redeveloped in a spiral fashion in increasing depth and breadth as the learners advance.

• “Spiral Curriculum” – content is organized according to the interrelationship between the structure of the basic ideas of a major discipline. (Gerome Bruner)

4. Integration

• “Everything is integrated and interconnected. Life is a series of emerging themes.” This is the essence of integration in the curriculum design. Organization is drawn from the world themes from real life concerns.

• Subject matter content or disciplined content lines are erased and isolation is eliminated.

5. Articulation

• Can be done either vertically or horizontally. • In vertical articulation, contents are arranged

from level to level or grade to grade so that the content in a lower level is connected to the next level.

• Horizontal articulation happens at the same

time like social studies in grade six is related to science in grade six.

6. Balance

• Equitable assignment of content, time, experiences and other elements to establish balance is needed in curriculum design. Too much or too little of these elements maybe disastrous to the curriculum. Keeping the curriculum “in balance” requires continuous fine tuning and review for its effectiveness and relevance.

Guidelines in Curriculum Design

Pointers:

• 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 bases for curriculum design.

• The needs and the interests of the learners, in

particular, and the society, in general, should be considered.

• Alternative curriculum design should consider advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost, scheduling, class size, facilities and persona; required.

• The curriculum design should take into account cognitive, affective, psychomotor, concepts and outcomes.