Introduction Curriculum organization Subject-Centered Curricula Subject-Area Approach to Curriculum: Perennialist and Essentialist Approaches to Curriculum Back-to-Basics Approach to Curriculum Core Approach to Curriculum Student-Centered Curricula Activity-Centered Approaches, Relevant Curriculum, Humanistic Approach to Curriculum Alternative or Free Schools Programs, Values-Centered Curriculum Issues in Curriculum Development Instructional Approaches

1. Foundations of
Education
Chapter 14
1
Lecturer: Vath Vary
Tel: 017 471 117
Email: varyvath@gmail.com
Curriculum and
Instruction

2. Contents
1. Introduction
2. Curriculum organization
3. Subject-Centered Curricula
 Subject-Area Approach to Curriculum: Perennialist and Essentialist
Approaches to Curriculum
 Back-to-Basics Approach to Curriculum
 Core Approach to Curriculum
4. Student-Centered Curricula
 Activity-Centered Approaches, Relevant Curriculum, Humanistic Approach to
Curriculum
 Alternative or Free Schools Programs, Values-Centered Curriculum
5. Issues in Curriculum Development
6. Instructional Approaches
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3. Introduction
Roles of schools in America:
- to teach children to think
- to socialize them,
- to alleviate poverty and inequality,
- to reduce crime,
- to perpetuate our cultural heritage,
- and to produce intelligent, patriotic
citizens.
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4. Definition of Curriculum
Curriculum is ….
planned experiences
provided through instruction
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Curriculum is continuously modified as:
- education goals are revised,
- student populations change,
- social issues are debated,
- and new interest groups emerge.

5. Chapter Questions
■ How does curriculum content
reflect changes in society?
■ In what ways is curriculum
organized?
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6. MR. VATH VARY 6
Two perspectives
on curriculum
Subject
(subject-centered;
cognitive)
a body of
content or
subject matter
Students
(student-centered
; psychological)
Student needs and
attitudes; process–how
the student learns and the
classroom or school climate.

7. Subject-Centered Curricula
 Emphasizes the subject to be taught.
 Subjects as a logical basis for organizing and interpreting learning
Teachers are trained as subject matter specialists.
 Textbooks and Teaching materials are usually organized by subject.
Advantage:
Leads to achievement outcomes or products.
Disadvantages:
A mass of facts and concepts is learned in isolation;
Reduces life experiences of the students and fail to
consider students’ needs and interests;
Teachers control the lesson with little student input.
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Subject-
Centered
Curricula
subject-area
approach back-to-
the core
curriculum

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Subject-Area Approach to Curriculum
 Traditional subject-area approach:
 7 liberal arts of classical Greece and Rome: grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, and music.
Modern subject-area approach:
Treat each subject as a specialized, largely autonomous body of
knowledge;
Subjects referred to Basics, essential for all students.
 Elementary education: Three Rs (Mathematics, Reading, Writing)
 Secondary education: English, history, science, and mathematics
 Vocational education: business mathematics and physics
A Newer term, Exploratory subjects:
◦ subjects that students may choose from a list of courses designed to suit a wide range
of learning styles, needs, and interests.
◦ Subjects: study skills, computer science, creative writing, and drama

10. Perennialist and Essentialist Approaches to Curriculum
Perennialist
3Rs, Latin, logic for
elementary school
and adding classics
for secondary school
Essentialist
3Rs for elementary schools;
English (grammar, literature, and
writing), mathematics, sciences,
history, foreign languages and
geography for high school
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Curriculum:
focus on rigorous intellectual training, through the study of certain
subjects and educational meritocracy–high academic standards and a rigorous
system of grading and testing to help schools sort students by ability
Main purpose of education is the cultivation of the intellect and of certain
timeless values concerning work, morality, and family living

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Back-to-Basics Approach to Curriculum
Focus on teaching 3Rs and so-called solid subjects: English,
history, science, mathematics
Emphasize the importance of mastery of basic subjects.
 e.g., students are required to pass a statewide exit test before receiving a high-
school diploma.
Advantage:
Student is taught the skills required for basic literacy.
Disadvantage:
Emphasis on basics will suppress students’ creativity and
shortchange other domains of learning, encouraging conformity and
dependence on authority.

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Core Approach to Curriculum
Core Curriculum (1940s):
Students study two closely related subjects taught by the same
instructor: math and science, or English and social studies
The teacher organizes instructional units in an interdisciplinary
manner, showing how diverse subjects relate to one another.
 This approach, called block scheduling (a block of time for math and a block for
science)
New core curriculum (core subjects approach, 1980s),
students learn a common body of required subjects central to
the education of all students.
Subjects: humanities, communication and language skills, science, math, and
technology

13. Core Approach to Curriculum
Advantage:
Academic core courses may be appropriate for
students who are committed to improving their
high school performance and pursuing a college
degree.
Disadvantage
is similar to back-to-basics curriculum.
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14. Student-Centered Curricula
 Emphasize student interests and needs,
including the affective aspects of learning.
 Dewey tried to emphasize the need for balance
of subject matter with student interests and
needs.
 Encourage childhood self-expression.
Advantage:
 Allow students to have their own creativity
and freedom.
 Students are intrinsically motivated.
Disadvantage:
 Overlook important cognitive content.
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15. MR. VATH VARY 15
Student-
centered
curriculum
activity-
centered
approaches
relevant
curriculu
m
humanistic
approach
alternative
or free
schools
values-
centered
curricula

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Activity-Centered Approaches
purposeful, real-life experiences/activities tied to a student’s needs and
interests:
Emphasized
 problem solving and active student participation;
 socialization and the formation of stronger school–community ties
Activities:
 Group games,
 Dramatizations,
 Story projects,
 Field trips,
 Social enterprises,
 Interest centers.

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Relevant Curriculum
Emphasize skills and knowledge that is relevant to modern society.
 More concern on relevance to the students’ personal needs and interests
 Less concern on social changing conditions
Requirement for a relevant curriculum:
1) Individualize instruction through such teaching methods as independent inquiry
and special projects.
2) Revise existing courses and develop new course on such topics of student concern as
environmental protection, drug addiction, urban problems, and cultural pluralism.
3) Provide educational alternatives (such as electives, minicourses, and open
classrooms).
4) Extend the curriculum beyond the school walls e.g. distance learning and field trips.

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Humanistic Approach to Curriculum
Emphasizes affective: attitudinal or emotional in addition to
cognitive outcomes
Humanists:
emphasize more than affective processes and seek higher domains of
spirit, consciousness, aesthetics, and morality.
stress more meaningful relationships between students and teachers;
student independence and self-direction; and greater acceptance of
self and others
Teachers help learners to cope with their psychological needs
and problems and facilitate self-understanding among
students.

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Alternative or Free Schools Programs
are private or experimental institution with parent and teacher
dissatisfaction with public schools
 Schools features much student freedom, noisy classrooms, and a learning
environment, often unstructured, where students are free to explore their interests.
A second type are public schools which adapt their systems to fit for
students who have discipline or learning problems.
 provide a more flexible approach to learning;
 stress greater collaboration among staff members and between staff and students in
terms of both curriculum and instructional methods
 restructured schools—schools reorganized around improved student achievement,
effective teaching, and improved school organization.
Disadvantage:
Students have little cognitive learning and lack discipline and
order.

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Values-Centered Curriculum (character education)
 places special emphasis on moral and ethical
issues.
Promoting Multicultural education
Stress diverse cultures and ethnic experiences and appreciation and
respect for cultures other than one’s own.
Teach basic values as honesty, responsibility, courtesy, self-
discipline, compassion, tolerance, and respect for the rights of
others.

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Issues in Curriculum Development
The process of developing curriculum:
1) Assessing learners’ needs and capabilities:
gifted, and talented students, college-bound students, and those who
wish to enter the work force.
2) Selecting or creating the instructional materials and activities.

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Issues in Curriculum Development
Factors that influence on curriculum
choices:
a.College admission standards.
b.Textbooks (pros & cons)
c. Censorship

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Issues in Curriculum Development
Benefits of Textbooks
 provide teachers with an outline for planning lessons;
 summarize a great deal of pertinent information;
 enable the student to take home most of the course material in a convenient
package;
 provides a common resource for all students to follow;
 include pictures, graphs, maps, and other illustrative material that
facilitate understanding;
 and include other teaching aids, such as summaries and review questions.
Furthermore, textbook authors and publishers are increasing efforts to create
materials that help teachers reach state standard

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Issues in Curriculum Development
Drawbacks of Textbooks
 Disregard local issues or community problems
 Omit the topics that might cause controversy or upset potential audience or
interest group
 Aim for the greatest number of “average” students,
 Fail to meet the needs and interests of any particular group or individual
 contain a large SUPERFICIAL quantity of data, so discourage conceptual
thinking, critical analysis, and evaluation
 most quickly become outdated.
 are expensive and oftem are used long after they should have been
replaced.

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Issues in Curriculum Development
Censorship
 “limit what students shall read.”
 Why censor?
 Censoring instructional material that:
 contains political or economic messages, obscenity, sex, nudity, profanity,
slang or questionable English, ethnic or racially sensitive material;
 could be interpreted as antifamily, antireligious, or anti-American;
 uses commercial videos and unsupervised Internet access,

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Instructional Approaches
Although educators differ in the definition of curriculum,
most recognize that curriculum and instruction are
interrelated.
To carry out the curriculum, one must rely on instruction—
programs, materials, and methods. Even more than
with curriculum approaches, most teachers incorporate a
variety of instructional strategies in their classes.

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Instructional
Approaches
Individualized
instruction
Cooperative
Learning
Mastery
Instruction
Critical
Thinking
Computerized
Instruction

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Individualized Instruction
The approach tries to provide a one-to-one student–
teacher or student–computer relationship.
Students proceed at their own rate with carefully
sequenced and structured instructional materials, and
usually with an emphasis on practice and drill.
Teachers prepared an individual plan for every student, based on a
diagnosis of the student’s needs in each skill or subject.
Students worked toward specific proficiency levels.
Objectives were stated in behavioral terms.
Teachers gave students individualized learning tasks and continually
evaluated their progress.

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Cooperative Learning
Cooperation among participants helps
build:
1.positive and coherent personal identity,
2.self-actualization and mental health,
3.knowledge and trust of one another,
4.communication with one another,
5.acceptance and support of one another, and
6.wholesome relationships with a reduced
amount of conflict.

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Cooperative Learning
 Cooperative rather than competitive learning is also gaining
acceptance as an important way to instruct students. In the
traditional classroom structure, students compete for teacher
recognition and grades.
 The same students tend to be “winners” and “losers” over the years
because of differences in ability and achievement.
 High-achieving students continually receive rewards and are motivated
to learn, whereas low-achieving students continually experience failure
(or near failure) and frustration.
 The idea of cooperative learning is to change the traditional structure by
reducing competition and increasing cooperation among students, thus
diminishing possible hostility and tension among students and raising the
academic achievement of all.

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Cooperative Learning
Cooperation among participants helps
build:
1.positive and coherent personal identity,
2.self-actualization and mental health,
3.knowledge and trust of one another,
4.communication with one another,
5.acceptance and support of one another, and
6.wholesome relationships with a reduced
amount of conflict.

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Cooperative
learning
approaches
Student-Teams
Achievement Divisions
(STAD)
• Teams are composed of four or five members, preferably four
(an arrangement that contradicts other research indicating that
groups of four tend to pair off).
• Teams are balanced by ability, gender, and ethnicity. Team
members provide assistance and feedback to each other and
receive a group performance score on quizzes. They also
receive recognition via bulletin boards, certificates, special
activities and privileges, and letters to parents.
• The teams are changed every five or six weeks to give
students an opportunity to work with others and to give
members of low-scoring teams a new chance.
Team-
Assisted Individualization
(TAI).
• The TAI approach puts more emphasis
on mastery of particular skill sheets and
on individual diagnosis through pre- and
post-testing.
• Students first work on their own skill
sheets and then have their partners or
team members check their answers and
provide assistance.

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Mastery Instruction
• Mastery approaches are based on the central argument that nearly all
public school students can learn much of the curriculum at practically
the same level of mastery.
• Although slower students require a longer time to learn the same
materials, they can succeed if their initial level of knowledge is
correctly diagnosed and if they are taught with appropriate methods
and materials in a sequential manner, beginning with their initial
competency level.
• To accomplish this goal, you would focus attention on small units of
instruction and use criterion-referenced tests to determine whether a
student has the skills required for success at each step in the learning
sequence.

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Critical Thinking
• We speak of critical thinking and thinking skills, a
teachable form of Intelligence, to denote problem-
solving ability.
• Lipman seeks to foster thirty critical thinking skills, generally designed for
elementary-school grades. These skills include understanding concepts,
generalizations, cause–effect relationships, analogies, part–whole and whole–
part connections, and applications of principles to real-life situations.
• Lipman’s strategy for teaching critical thinking has children spend a
considerable portion of their time thinking about thinking (a process known as
metacognition) and about ways in which effective thinking is distinguished from
ineffective thinking.

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Computerized Instruction
• Computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Suppes defined three levels of
CAI: practice and drill, tutoring, and dialogue.
 At the simplest level, students work through computer drills in
spelling, reading, foreign languages, simple computations, and so forth.
 At the second level, the computer acts as a tutor, taking over the
function of presenting new concepts. As soon as the student shows a
clear understanding, he or she moves to the next exercise.
 The third and highest level, dialogue, involves an interaction between
the student and the computer.
 The student can communicate with the machine—not only give
responses but ask new questions—and the computer will
understand and react appropriately.

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Computerized
Instruction
• Distance Education
• refers to the many ways in which
schools make use of this technology.
• Technological knowledge and skills will
be essential components in the
preparation and repertoire of all
teachers.

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Any questions?