CHAPTER 3 : COMPONENTS OF CURRICULUM

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

 Identify what influences people’s perception on education’s purposes.

 Describe how the educational philosophy of school is being developed.
 Explain the significance of considering aims, goals, and objectives to the process of
curriculum design and organization.
 Enumerate the major source of educational aims.
 Discuss the three domains of educational objectives and give an example of each type.
 Analyze the main criteria to consider when selecting curriculum content or subject matter
and learning experiences.

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF CURRICULUM DESIGN

1. Aims, goals, and objectives
2. Content or subject matter
3. Learning experiences
4. Evaluation

GENERATING AIMS
 Educational aims are lifetime aspirations. They are purposely stated generally because
they are developed for a general level of education and by the society. Mostly, aims are
considered to be developed at a system level such as an education department or in our
government documents like for example in our country, it is imbedded in the Philippine
Constitution, which states that all schools should aim to:

GENERATING AIMS
1. Inculcate patriotism and nationalism
2. Foster love of humanity
3. Promote respect for human rights
4. Appreciate the role of national heroes in the historical development of the country
5. Teach the right and duties of citizenship
 6. Strengthen ethical and spiritual values
7. Develop moral character and personal discipline
8. Encourage critical and creative thinking
9. Broaden scientific and technological knowledge and promote vocational efficiency

For Ronald Doll, educational aims should address the following:

1. Intellectual Aims (Cognitive)
2. Social Personal Aims (Affective)
3. Productive Aims

4 Types of Aims according to Ornstein and Hunkins

1. Physical
2. Aesthetic
3. Moral
4. Spiritual

GENERATING GOALS
 Like aims, educational goals are group expectations, and they make take weeks, months,
years to attain. Goals differ from aims in that they are attainable, yet many remain
unattained. Goals are group-oriented, the successful attainment of goals does not require
each and every student to succeed.

According to Evelyn Sowell, goals answer the question “What destination do you have in
mind for learners as far as a particular curriculum or subject is concerned?

Goals might include the following:

1. Students think critically
2. Students are diverse people
3. Students assume responsibility for their own learning
LEVEL OF GOALS
 Goals can be written at several levels of organization involving many curriculum
developers such as principal, teachers, subject specialists, teacher trainers, administrators
and others who may be involved in curriculum efforts on several levels at the same time.

GENERATING OBJECTIVES
 In the framework of educational aims and goals, it is essential to formulate more specific
objectives. Aims and goals are long-term while objectives are short-term. Objectives
refer to what is expected of students in daily activities. This can also be coined, as
performance objectives, for each objective refers to the ability of students to perform
selected tasks in one or more specific ways.
 Objectives should be clearly specified to understand and agree on. The wording of an
objective depends partly on its level of scope. Objectives may refer to general subjects or
grade, level, units, or lesson plans. Lesson plan objectives should clearly state the
intended outcomes, including performance criteria.
 Objectives must also be appropriate.
 Objectives should be arranged logically so as to make sense when units of instruction
and evaluation are being determined.
 Objectives require regular revision.

TYPES OF OBJECTIVES

1. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
- Also called “instructional objectives” or “intended learning outcomes.”
- It deals with what the student is intended to learn.
2. BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES
- These are objectives that can be understood in terms of observable and measurable
accomplishment.
- It deals with what the student will do in terms of subject content.
3. NONBEHAVIORAL GENERAL OBJECTIVES
- These are objectives which are not observable and measurable.
 - Use words such as appreciate, know, and understand.
- In this objective, learning is not about performance level but about inquiry.

TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

1. Cognitive – “about knowing”
2. Affective – “about attitudes and skills”
3. Psychomotor – “about skill”

COGNITIVE DOMAIN

 BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
- Developed by Benjamin S. Bloom at the University of Chicago in 1956.
- It is the first systematic approach that helped teachers write objectives at specified
objectives.

Lower Order Thinking Skills

1. Knowledge – the ability to recall.
2. Comprehension – the ability to understand.
3. Application – the ability to use an understood concept in a new situation.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

4. Analysis – the ability to separate a concept into its components in order for greater
understanding of how the parts affect the whole.
5. Synthesis – The ability to put understood parts together in order to create new meaning.
6. Evaluation – The ability to make a judgment.

 REVISED BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

- In 1990’s, Lorin Anderson, Bloom’s former student, together with a team of cognitive
psychologists revisited Bloom’s Taxonomy. This led to Aderson’s Taxonomy in 2001.
Lower Order Thinking Skills
1. Remembering – Retrieving relevant knowledge from long term memory.
 2. Understanding – Constructing meaning from oral, written and graphic message.
3. Applying – Carrying out or using procedure in order for implementation.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

4. Analyzing – breaking material down into parts in order to determine how each part is
related to one another.
5. Evaluating – making judgments based on criteria and standards.
6. Creating – putting information together in an innovative way.

AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

 KRATHWOHL’S TAXONOMY
- Is demonstrated by behaviors indicating attitudes of awareness, interest, attention, and values of
concern, and responsibility, ability to listen and respond in interaction with others, and ability to
demonstrate those attitudinal characteristics or value which are appropriate to the test situation
and the field of study.

1. Receiving – Learner is willing to pay attention and open to the experience.

2. Responding – Learner actively responds and participates.
3. Valuing – Learner attach values and express personal opinions.
4. Organization – Learner develops value system and reconcile internal conflicts.
5. Characterization by Value Set - Value system is internalized and controls behavior.

PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN

 DAVE’S TAXONOMY
- Includes five different levels of skill, from the most basic to the most advanced. Dave’s five
levels of skill represent not so much different kind of skills but rather different degrees of
competence in performing a skill.

1. Imitation – Learners learn by copying actions of others.

 2. Manipulation – Learners reproduce activity from instruction or memory.
3. Precision – Learners’ performance becomes more exact and action are more precise.
4. Articulation – Learner can perform several skills together in a harmonious way.
5. Naturalization – Unconscious mastery if activity and related skills at strategic level.

 SIMPSON’S TAXONOMY

- Simpson’s psychomotor domain is comprised of utilizing motor skills and coordinating them.
Simpson’s taxonomy has a focus toward the progression of mastery of a skill from observation to
invention.
1. Perception – ability to use sensory cues to guide motor activities.
2. Set – Refers to the readiness to take a particular action.
3. Guided Response – concerned with the early stages in learning complex skills. Imitation
and trial and error are some ways of doing.
4. Mechanism – Learned responses have become habitual. Performance skills are with ease
and confidence.
5. Complex Overt Response – Skillful performance and with complex movement patterns
6. Adaptation – Skills well developed and can be modified to fit special requirements.
7. Origination – Creating new movement patterns to fit a particular situation.

 HARROW’S TAXONOMY

- Harrow’s taxonomy is organized according to the degree of coordination including involuntary

responses as well as learned capabilities.

1. Reflex Movements – Learning in response to stimuli.

2. Basic Fundamental Movement – inherent movement patters which are formed by
combining of reflex.
3. Perceptual Abilities – Interpretation of various stimuli that enable one to make
adjustments to the environment.
 4. Physical Activities – require endurance, strength, vigor, and agility which produces a
sound, efficiently functioning body.
5. Skilled Movements – the result of the acquisition of a degree of efficiency when
performing a complex task.
6. Non-discursive communication – is communication through bodily movements ranging
from posture to gestures, creative movements facial expressions, act a part in play
through sophisticated choreography.

Content or Subject matter

• Content is defined as:

- the information to be learned in school.

- another term for knowledge ( a collection of facts, concepts, generalization, principles,

& theories)

- content comes in any form (audio, text and videos) and it informs, entertains,
enlightens, or teaches who consume it.

EXAMPLE

• COMMUNICATION ARTS - Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and effective

use of language.

• MATHEMATICS - Numeric and computation skills, geometry and measurement,

algebra.

• MUSIC - Basic music theory, practice in listening, singing, playing musical instruments.

THE CONTENT IS:

• United with the goals and objectives of the basic education curriculum.

• Responds to the needs of the learner.

• Fully and deeply covers the essential to avoid the “mile-wide-and-inch-deep” impression.
 • That is of use to the learners.

• Content go beyond facts.

• Subject matter or content integrates the cognitive, skill, and affective components.

GUIDE IN THE SELECTION OF CONTENT IN THE CURRICULUM:

1. Frequently and commonly used in daily life;

2. Appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners;

3. Valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of a future career;

4. Related with other subject areas; and

5. Important in the transfer of learning.

CRITERIA FOR CONTENT SELECTION

1. Self-sufficiency – According to Scheffler (1970) the prime guiding principle for the
content selection is helping the learners to attain maximum self-sufficiency in learning
but in the most economical manner.
2. Significance
It is significant if:
 When content or subject matter will contribute to basic ideas, concepts, principles, and
generalization to achieve the overall aim of the curriculum.
 It will develop learning abilities, skills, processes and attitude.
 It will develop the cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills of the learners
 The cultural aspects will be considered

3. Validity – it relates to the authenticity of the content selected. This refers to the relevance
of the stated learning experience to the stated goals of the curriculum;

4. Interest- the content should suit the personality and intellectual capabilities of the
students.
  Is the content interesting to the learner? Or can the content be made interesting to
learners?

5. Utility – it is concerned with the usefulness of the content.

• Here the question is whether the content selected is useful i.e. will lead to the acquisition
of skills and knowledge that are considered useful by society?

6. Learnability- this criteria emphasizes on the optimal placement and appropriate

organization and sequencing of the content.

7. Feasibility- means full implementation of the subject matter. It should consider the real
situation of the school, the government, and the society, in general. Students must learn
within the allowable time and the use of resources available. Do not give them a topic that is
impossible to finish.

CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Learning experiences (teaching methods and learning activities) are selected to interpret the
aims, goals and objectives of the curriculum plan. It embraces all the activities of teachers
necessary to motivate student behavior and eventually, their learning.

The criteria for selecting learning experiences are derived from the principles of learning:

1. Validity
2. Comprehensiveness
3. Variety
4. Suitability
5. Balance and Continuity
6. Relevance

Learning activities

- Learning activities are those which allow students to engage actively with the content.
 When choosing type of activities, consider:
1. What knowledge/skills do you wants the students to have at the end of the course?
2. Do you want to integrate additional collaborative activities, case studies, problem-
solving, etc?
3. Do you want to simply keep the students busy, or do you want the activities to
promote deeper learning.

Sequence of activities

1. Before Class Activities

2. In Class Activities
3. Out-of-Class Activities

Methods

- Are the means or ways that we use to teach material (content) to our students. Our choice
of methods depends on what we want to teach, who we are teaching, and the level of
competence expected.

Types of Teaching Methods

 Inquiry Method

- The inquiry approach is more focused on using and learning content as a means to
develop information-processing and problem-solving skills. The system is more
student centered, with the teacher as a facilitator of learning.

 Discovery Approach

- Discovery learning takes place in problem solving situations where the learner draws
on his own experience and prior knowledge and is a method of instruction through
which students interact with their environment by exploring and manipulating
objects, wrestling with questions and controversies, or performing experiments.

 Lecture Method
 - Is the most commonly used method of teaching science. It is a teacher controlled and
information centered approach in which the teacher works as a sole- resource in
classroom instruction.

 Small Group Discussion

- Small group discussions are a great way to get students to engage with each other
without the fear of having to address a large group.

 Role Playing
- Role-play is a technique that allows students to explore realistic situations by
interacting with other people in a managed way in order to develop experience
and trial different strategies in a supported environment.
-
 Field Work

- Fieldwork experience is an integral element of developing research skills in several

disciplines. By participating in fieldwork, students can apply the research skills they
have developed during their classroom learning.

SELECTING EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Patrick Slattery noted “ education is a human activity that is affected by the environment “. It is a
placed in which individual affects their inner experiences.

John Holt- pointed out space “creates activity”, it allows students “to generate placs and moods”.

Learning Environment - the place where teaching and learning take place in the most effective
and productive manner. It consist of the classroom and all the instructional features and non-
threatening classroom climate needed in planning and implementing all teaching and learning
activities.

Brian Castaldi -suggested that curriculum planners must consider educational environments
in which curricula are experienced.
4 criteria that educators should employ when designing curriculum environments.

1. Adequacy - refers to planned spaces.

2. Suitability - relates to planned activities.

3. Efficiency - refers to operational and instructional effectiveness.

4. Economy - refers to cost-effectiveness. It deals with the cost of teaching some part of the
curriculum in the environment provided.

While Lang has furnished another list of criteria for optimal educational space, these are:

1. Volume - refers to a space’s, size, and shape.

2. Illumination - refers to the light present in the educational environment.

3. Temperature - rarely considered in curriculum planning, yet learning is impeded by

excessive heat or cold.

4. Communication - refers to the ways that classroom spaces can be arranged and linked to
areas outside the classroom.

5. Material finishes - Lang describes “ human beings react emotionally to color, texture, and
shape.