Curriculum Development: An Overview
Read the following curriculum development overview. This one is long. You might find that if you print it in draft mode on your printer it is less straining on the eyes.
Curriculum Development:
An Overview
INTRODUCTION
Ever since the term curriculum was added to educators' vocabularies, it has seemed to convey many things to many people. To some, curriculum has denoted a specific course, while to others it has meant the entire educational environment. Whereas perceptions of the term may vary, it must be recognized that curriculum encompasses more than a simple definition. Curriculum is a key element in the educational process; its scope is extremely broad, and it touches virtually everyone who is
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As Bennett (1926) indicates, Rousseau's "recognition of the fact that manual arts may be a means of mental training marked the beginning of a new era of education."
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, apprenticeship began a steady decline. The great demand for cheap, unskilled labor obviously could not be met through apprenticeship programs, and many newly established industrial firms did not desire persons with such extensive training as was provided through the traditional learner-artisan relationship. However, as the Industrial Revolution progressed, owners and managers soon began to realize that skilled workers would be a definite asset to an organization. This increased demand almost seemed to correspond with the rapid decline of formal apprenticeship programs in many skilled areas.
Toward Systematic Curriculum Development
Perhaps one of the earliest forms of systematic curriculum building in career and technical education may be attributed to Victor Della Vos, director of the imperial Technical School of Moscow. At the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876, Della Vos demonstrated a new approach to teaching the mechanical arts that "became a catalyst for career and technical education in the United States" (Lannie, 1971). Rather than leaning through conscious imitation, the Russian system
The word curriculum can mean something different to different people, even to different teachers who use the term almost daily (Manning & Butcher, 2012). However, it boils down to curriculum being what a student learns, both in terms of core subject content, as well as though social activity and elective/activity courses. However, there has often been a disconnect between different states and districts over what exactly should be in the curriculum for various grades and what is needed to prepare students for life beyond school, as well as providing little basis for comparing the US to other countries. That’s where Common Core State Standards (CCSS) come in. According to Teaching in the Middle School (2012), the Common Core standards were created in an attempt to provide curriculum standards that are “rigorous, internationally benchmarked, and aligned with college and work expectations”. Since its implementation in 2009, 42 US states and the District of Columbia have integrated the standards into their curriculums. (Core Standards, 2015)
Curriculum is a slippery term with different definitions. According to van den Akker (2004), curriculum is a Latin word which means a course or a track that have to follow. It is referred as the central learning activity and the plan for learning.
Curriculums are the roadmaps for schools which provide purpose and direction for administrators, educators, parents, and students. Curriculum typically refers to, “the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, which includes the learning standards or learning objectives they are expected to meet; the units and lessons that teachers teach; the assignments and projects given to students; the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readings used in a course; and the tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluate student learning.” (Curriculum, 2015, para. 1) Curriculums may come in many shapes and forms, whether they’re purchased as a package at the school or district level or they’re created or refined by educators and
The purpose of the Comprehensive Curriculum Project (CCP) is to analyze the myriad of issues that have arisen over the last few years revolving around curricula and its use in the classroom, school, and district. With the 2010 state adoption of the Common Core, educators experienced many different transitional issues and developmental issues revolving around the curricula. In order to develop a deeper understanding of these issues it is important to conduct interviews, look at the Teacher Working Conditions survey, and to analyze local organizational models that might affect the transition to the new standards.
Curriculum, as stated by Glickman (2014) “is the what of instruction”. Additionally, Ornstein and Hunkins, (as cited by Glickman, Gordon and Ross-Gordon, 2014) have listed the elements of the curriculum and they “are sequence and continuity, scope and balance”. The mastery with which a teacher can incorporate the elements of the curriculum in instruction is categorized by levels. The levels of teacher involvement in curriculum implementation are described and exemplfied
Curriculum is so much more than the paper copy of lessons and activities that we receive as teachers, but before this course I never really thought of curriculum as
For Curriculum it does not matter the religion or the nationality, children are educated into particular modes which can make sense of their experiences and the environment around them, and also into a set of behavioral expectations, skills and knowledge, which the society requires for its future.
Brady and Kennedy (2010) define the term curriculum as ‘the means by which young people and adults gain the essential knowledge, skills and attributes they need to be productive and informed citizens in a democratic society.’ However the term has many varied definitions, it can be described as being the subject matter, the overall plan for teaching or the outcome of what is taught (Wiles, 2005). Marsh and Willis (cited in Marsh, 2009, p. 3) break curriculum down into three individual areas of ‘planned curriculum’, the objectives and aims, ‘enacted curriculum’, how the objectives are
This report summarizes my findings after evaluating the curriculum of Natchez-Adams School District. I was granted access to the curriculum by Dr. Delarious Stewart, Curriculum Director for the Natchez-Adams School District. This report is designed to reflect how the curriculum is aligned with state and district standards. A curriculum is vital to promoting the success of all students because it is the content that is being taught in the school district. For this reason, the person or persons designing and developing the curriculum must understand the many different facets of an effective curriculum. I will present my findings in the following paragraphs.
In formal education, a curriculum (; plural: curricula,) is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults.
A course curriculum incorporates learning the experience of a wide range of student learning. Curriculum proves why schools surpass other schools, they outshine in particular areas to demonstrate confidence, hands-on skills, visual and audio material and technology. If a school has a good curriculum they will become a stimulating and energetic environment for development so students can make exceptional advancement and succeed with high standards. Every curriculum should focus on learning outcomes and objectives. A good curriculum should contain diversity, meet all learning styles and innovative technology.
Developing a curriculum is a difficult process, moreso when an educator has to keep in mind the number of students they are trying to reach. At the secondary level, it is not uncommon for a teacher to be responsible for 150 or more students. Each of these students presents a unique and trying task for educators who want to help students learn. Students have different modalities for which they gain knowledge, and it is the teacher’s job to engage those
A curriculum is any planned educational experience. Ideally, the learning objectives should incorporate the acronym “SMART”: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Targeted to the learner. Systematic Curriculum and Instructional Development (SCID) is a successful model for curriculum development customized to complement the needs of career and technical educators as well as business and industry trainers. It has five phases: design, development, implementation, evaluation. Since curriculum reflects the models of instructional delivery chosen and used, some might indicate that curriculum could be categorized according to the common psychological classifications of the four families of learning theories “Social, Information Processing, Personalist, and Behavioral” as defined by Cortes (1981). Cortes
Curriculum is hardly new in fact it dates way back to ancient Greece and the famous Aristotle’s (384BC- 322BC) who was a Greek philosopher. A student of Plato came up with the categorisation of knowledge, which I will be discussing later on in the commentary. So curriculum has been around for years, but the way we understand
According to Blaise and Nuttall (2011), to understand curriculum, we must first understand what is meant by the term curriculum. Within curriculum there are five key concepts, they are the intended curriculum The Intended curriculum is the curriculum that the teachers want the children to experience in order to develop particular knowledge, skills, and attitudes. (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 82). The enacted curriculum is what teachers want students to experience. important reason why the intended curriculum is enacted differently from teacher to teacher, from classroom to classroom, is that a key part of a teachers work is to interpret the official curriculum, taking into account a wide range of variables that are specific to their classroom and school setting.