Curriculum: Foundations, Principals, and IssuesAllen C. Ornstein and Francis P. Hunkins, 2013

Chapter 6

CURRICULUM DESIGN

Horizontal and Vertical Organization

Horizontal Organization combines, classifies, and categorizes related subject areas to form a unified content matter. Exposes students to multiple subject areas. For example: History + anthropology + sociology + geography = Social StudiesVertical Organization – curricular elements in a sequence. For example: In second grade students identify unit fractions as parts of a whole; In third grade students add and subtract unit fractions; In fourth grade students compare and order fractions with like denominators and like numerators

(Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

Things to remember…A curriculum design should achieve: Scope – a curriculum’s depth of content; all of the content, topics, learning experiences and the links between them; curriculums horizontal organizationSequence – deciding on what content should come first within a hierarchy of developmental goals how it should be built upon Continuity – recurring and continuing opportunity to practice and develop skills in which students have already been pre-exposed.Integration – linking and exposing the relationship between all types of knowledge and experiences contained within a curricular plan. Emphasizes horizontal relationships among topics. Articulation – the relationship between vertical and horizontal aspects of the curriculum. Linking information between courses along a continuum of learning. Balance – applying appropriate weight to each aspect of the curriculum.

(Ornsten and Hunkins, 2013).

Major Curriculum Designs

In order to design curriculum, one must have an understanding of what it means to educate as well as the purpose of education. With so many different visions, opinions, and new discoveries in brain research, deciding upon a direction for which to structure a curriculum can be an overwhelming task. Fortunately for educators, there are foundations in place to guide us towards selecting the best design for our population’s needs. We can decide between Subject Centered, Learner Centered, and Problem Centered curricular structures and choose a design based on our educational philosophies (Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

Subject Centered DesignsSubject Design (Essentialism + perennialism) – Separate subjects with subject specialists. Easy to deliver with corresponding textbooks. With an increase in knowledge and field specialists, areas have increased over time, i.e. English is broken down into literature, grammar, writing, speech, reading, linguistics.

Discipline Design (Essentialism + perennialism) – Appeared after WWII. Slightly more organized version of Subject Design. Focuses on academic disciplines of science, mathematics, English, history, and certain other subjects.

Broad-fields Design (Essentialism + progressivism) – A version of Subject Design; blended two or more subject areas to give students a more broad view of subject matter within shorter lengths of time.

Correlation Design (Progressivism + essentialism) – A combination or median of the Broad-fields and subject Designs. Combines certain related subjects but keeps them separated. While learning about the American Revolution in history class, in Literature students might read a novel set within the same time period.

Process Design (Progressivism) – separate subjects; students learn through process and procedures. Students learn about subject matter through processes by which those who study the content as a profession. For example: Students learn history from the point of view of the historian.

(Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

Learner Centered Designs

Child-centered Design (Progressivism) – promotes active learning; design is based on student’s lives, needs, and interests (with educational value). Student’s interests are studied and a curriculum is planned accordingly.

Experience-centered Design (Progressivism) – closely resemble child-centered design; curriculum is not pre-planned. Teachers create a stimulating environment where students learn through exploring and watching others learn.

Radical Design (Reconstructionism) – goal is to encourage student awareness of inequities in society. Radicals believe that schools are being used and operate to control the minds of our youth. Radical curricular design intends to break that mold and encourage students to restructure society.

Humanistic Design (Reconstructionism + existentialism) – students learn what students want to learn, with emphasis on learning for pleasure. Encourages self-understanding.

(Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

Problem Centered Designs

Life-situations Design (Reconstructionism) – students learn through the study of real life situations and problems. Focus on problem-solving procedures. Involves the integration of subject matter.

Reconstructionist Design (Reconstructionism) – encourages social action geared toward reconstructing society. The purpose of this style of curriculum is to engage students to analyze the local, national, and international community and its problems.

(Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

Chapter 7Curriculum Development

Call me a traditionalist, but at this point, with the relatively narrow scope on curriculum my current knowledge and experience permits me to have, I can’t see any way in which a Nontechnical-Nonscientific model could be relevant in the 21st century, at least within a mass education system. From my point of view, many nontraditional, subjective curricular structures seem well in theory, however, they have one critical common flaw. That is—from my own perspective—they require extraordinary individuals to create, and extraordinary individuals to effectively implement. Extraordinary because undergraduate programs aren’t designed to provide educators with adequate knowledge and exposure to such curricular models. Therefore, in order to gain an understanding to even implement, let alone construct an effective nontechnical-nonscientific curricular model, one must undergo further analysis beyond what’s required to obtain a teaching license. Furthermore, it would be difficult to ensure validity without an objective method of evaluation.

I believe that an effective curriculum must begin with clear, objective goals, guidelines, and structure in order to function in today’s society that can only be achieved from a Technical-Scientific model. In order to ensure effective instruction within a school district, curriculum must be predetermined. Even without the influence of high stakes testing, there should be some form of accountability for all members of an education system.

(Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

What Dangers are there in equating goals and standards?

“[According to Evelyn Sowell, goals answer the question: “What destination do you have for learners as far as a particular curriculum or subject is concerned.”]” (Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013.; Sowell 1996.)

Goals and Standards, although often stated as equals, are different from one another. The major difference being, that Goals are more general than Standards. Goals do not state a measurable outcome within. Although both state an intended outcome in regards to a long-term event, Standards are measurable outcomes and align more precisely with objectives, or measurable short term behaviors required to meet a Standard (Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

What are the central criteria to consider when selecting curriculum content?

When selecting curriculum content, there are a number of items one must keep in mind. Foremost, as stated by Yong Zhao:

a) The selected content should reflect the culture of the students

b) Content should be relatable to a global society.

c) Content should be useful and meaningful. Therefore it must provide knowledge that relates to student concerns.

(Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013; Zhao, 2009).

Criteria for Selecting ContentAlthough the amount of weight applied to each may vary depending on philosophy, a degree of consideration must be applied to each of the following criteria when selecting curriculum content.

Self Sufficiency – Within the allotted time frame for instruction, are students able to demonstrate content knowledge on their own or with the identified amount of assistance?

Significance – Does the content relate to the overall goals or standards within the curricular structure?

Validity – Is the content accurate, and will it remain accurate for an extended time? Is the content applicable to a vast array of uses?

Interest – Is the content relatable to the learner? Are the learners interested in the content?

Utility – How useful will the content be within 21st century society? Will learners be able to apply content to a life skill?

Learnability – Is the content socially and developmentally appropriate for its intended learners?

Feasibility – Is the selected content able to be completed within the allotted time frame? Are the money, resources, and specialized staff available to implement the selected content? Does the content fit within the legal, social, and political framework of the community? (Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013).

References

Ornstein, A., & Hunkins, F. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles,

and issues. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Sowell, E. (1996). Curriculum: An integrative introduction. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 1996, p.20.

Zhao, Y. (2009). Catching up or leading the way. Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.