CURRICULUM

ORGANIZATION AND
DESIGN

Curriculum Organization
Process of selecting curriculum elements from

the subject, the current social life and the

students experience then designing the
selected curriculum elements appropriately so
they can for the curriculum structure and
type.

Criteria for effective Curriculum

Organization:

Continuity
Sequence
Integration

Curriculum Designs
A curriculum design is a framework or plan of

action for preparing a course of study or a set

of students experiences .It is a deliberate
process of devising, planning and selecting
the elements, techniques and procedures of
curriculum. Curriculum design is a method of
thinking.

Importance of Curriculum Designs

Curriculum design involves the creation of the set of

operating principles or criteria, based on theory, that guide

the selection and organization of content and the
methodology used to teach that content .With the
accelerated rate of social change, schools are preparing
youth for adulthood in a society not yet envisioned by its
members .Hawleys words still ring true: its not a question
of whether or not to change , but whether or not we can
control the way we are changing. We are living in an Alice in
an Wonderland world where you have to run just to stay
where you are .To get anywhere you have to run even faster
than that. The pieces on the chess board keep changing and
the rules are never the same.

Models of Curriculum
Designs
An effective curriculum must be built on a solid

philosophical foundation that answer the question of

what educational purposes the school should seek to
achieve. The classical model for curriculum design,
proposed by Tyler in 1949,asked four questions of
curriculum planners:
What educational purposes should the school seek to
attain?
What educational experiences can be provided that
are likely to help attain these purposes?
How can these educational experiences be effectively
organized?

How can we determine whether these

purposes are being attained?

Tylers steps for curriculum design included
stating objectives, selecting learning
experiences, organizing the experiences, and
evaluating results. Tylers model is most
closely aligned with the educational purposes
of preserving the social order and teaching
skills and competencies needed to function
effectively in society.

Principles of Curriculum Designs

The problems of curriculum change become the

criteria for determining the desirability of a curriculum.

A list of the problems of curriculum development,
recapped and stated as criteria, following:
Be consistent with the conceptual framework and
implement the conceptual framework commitments.
Derive and test its concepts and theories in teaching
process.
Respond to the educational needs of society and the
immediate concerns of students.
Cope with the knowledge explosion and the short
half-life of scientific knowledge

Use the logical, precise, effective, and efficient

educational technology that is currently available.

Use teaching personnel in the most economical and
efficient way (time, energy and money).
Enable utilization of cognitive teaching input.
Provide for student testing of learned behaviour in
real situation.
Produce a graduate capable of delivering creative
teaching care for the next fifteen to twenty years.
Spend a reasonable length of the time
accomplishing the goals of the curriculum.

Steps in Curriculum
Design
Fiorno and Nowak suggest the following steps in curriculum

design:
(1)Identification of the problem.
(2)Diagnosis of the problem.
(3)Search for alternative solutions.
(4)Selection for the best solutions.
(5)Ratification of the solution by the organization.
(6)Authorization of the solution.
(7)Preparation for adopting of the solution.
(8)Adoption of the solution.
(9)Direction and guidance of the staff.
(10)Evaluation of the effectiveness of the solution

Categories of Curriculum Designs

Subject-Centered Curriculum
Activity/Experience based curriculum
Core curriculum

Subject Centered Designs

Subject centered curriculum is a rigid curriculum , based

on specific courses, which mandates specific amounts of

material to be covered over special periods of time
regardless of student abilities or interests. Subject
centered curriculum assign the greatest importance to
subject matter rather than to the students .It consists of
having students in classes for one subjects at a time such
as mathematics for 45 minutes, science for 45 minutes.
And history for 45 minutes. Three related designs have
emerged from subject centered designs:
Subject design
Academic Disciplines design
Broad Fields design

This is probably the oldest and most widely used

form of curriculum organization found in schools and

educational systems .This is based on the
classification and organization of subjects matter
into discrete groups, which we have called
subjects .These groupings, which have become
known as school subjects, were initially based on
evolving divisions of labour in research that
produced physics , history, literature and
mathematics and so forth. In more recent times
practical areas such as typing , home economics and
industrial arts have become accepted as subjects.

Academic Discipline
Design
This approach to organizing curriculum is essentially a

post second world war phenomenon ,gaining greatest

support in the inherent organization of content, as is the
subject design, the academic discipline design
emphasizes the role played by those distinct entities
called academic disciplines .In a school setting, the
content of this design would focus on what an
academician does, that is ,how a biologist , historian , or
a mathematician research is done , how that research is
carried out , how data are analysed, how research is
reported , and so forth. The result , it is hoped ,is that
the school would produce mini versions of academic
disciplinarians.

Broad Fields Design

This third design was developed to overcome

a perceived weakness in the subject design

that was evident in the nineteenth and the
early twentieth centuries .Broad field design
was deemed more suited to younger learners.
The broad fields design is commonly found in
primary and lower secondary schools.

Common Feature in 3 Subject

Center Designs:
Collection and organization of all contents into

subjects or subjects-like groupings.

Subjects are clearly defined and
distinguished.
A hierarchy of subjects is commonly found
according to their perceived value.
Methodology applied and practised is largely
teacher-centered and expository in nature

Advantages:
The advantages of subject-centered

curriculum are:
Students like it , they are used to it and it fits
their idea of what school should be.
What students learn , they learn well.
This approach is efficient in a field in which
resources for staff development are scant.

Disadvantage
The disadvantages of subject-centered

curriculum are:
Teachers wouldnt be able to innovate their
teaching style to help students learn in a
creative way.
Students simply memorize what they need to
know in order to pas a test , instead of
actually learning it.
Teachers are teaching the students to think
inside the box in order to pass the exams.

Activity/ Experienced Based

Curriculum:
This approach is based on determine the

genuine needs and interests of learner , which

in turn form the basis of the curriculum. An
important claim of this approach is that people
only learn what they experience. According to
M.K Gandhi ,education is the development of all
the aspects i.e. body mind and spirit . So mind
without activities can not develop the
personality perfectly .so education must give
importance to activities. Education ,which has
no link with life is meaningless.

Activities:
Physical Activities:
These activities aim at physical development

of the child .it includes physical training

,games and sports.
Environmental Activity:
These activities includes nature study
,excursion, survey,social visit. These activities
develop civic sense and love for nature in
children.

Constructive Activity:
With these activities love for work dignity of

labor , production efficiency may be

developed. Handwork craft repairing of tools
belong to this category of activities.
Aesthetic activity:
Music ,arts creative crafts are included in this
type of activities. These provide opportunities
for self-expression and development of inborn
creative faculties.

Community Activity:
These Activities aim at community

development and include community

projects ,first aid ,social service , etc these
activities also help in the socialization of the
child. The teacher can provide information
regarding history, geography ,and economics
with the help of these activities.

Advantages:
Advantages of Activity based curriculum are:
The most important feature of Activity based curriculum is

learning by doing .so this method can fulfill the natural

urge of a growing child on one hand also can help them
learn their lesson.
The method also promote better understanding of a lesson
among students as they learn the lesson by practicing the
task themselves.
It inspires the students to apply their creative ideas
,knowledge and mind in solving problems.
It also helps learner psychologically as the can express
their emotions through active participation in something
useful.

Disadvantage:
Activity curriculum method require long term

planning with details of the whole process

before engaging the learners, the teacher has
to make sure that all students have sufficient
knowledge and skills regarding the task they
are going to perform .so this method can not
be used on a regular and daily basis as it
involves a lengthy procedure.
The objective of this method can be only be
fulfilled if the planning of the lesson is flawless.

Limitations
Activity curriculum attaches too much

importance on activities. It neglects other

activities needed for intellectual development
of the child.
Personal supervision is needed for every
activity which is not possible in school.
Activity curriculum is not applicable to all
stages of education.

Core Curriculum
The notion behind a core design, usually called a core

curriculum, is that there exists a set of common learnings

(knowledge, skills and values) that should be provided to all
learners in order to function effectively in a society .The core
concept, however, does vary considerably in interpretation
and one writer has suggested that it is possible to distinguish
no less than six forms of the core design. For our purposes, it
is sufficient to understand that a curriculum may be
organized around the idea of a core as a set of learnings
essential foe all students. The emphasis of this approach to
core curriculum was that all students would experience a set
of common and essential learnings that were necessary for
learners to function effectively in society.

Benefits of Curriculum
Design
It
It
It
It

Focuses Attention On Goal.

Improves the Probability of Success.
Improves economy of Time and efforts.
Facilitates Communication And Coordination
of Projects.
It Reduces Stress.