ELEMENTS OF CURRICULUM

A curriculum has a structure which is made up of elements. An element is one of the essential parts or units of a whole curriculum.

Curriculum elements are:

1.      Aims, goals, objectives

2.      Subject-matter content

3.      Learning materials & resources

4.      Methods; Learning experiences/Learning activities/ Teaching activities

5.      Assessment/evaluation

We shall therefore explain the meaning of each of these terms.

1.Aims

Are based on the social aspirations of society and therefore express the societal values expected. Thus, aims are equated to purpose and serve a visionary function of a society. They establish the philosophy of education that would in the long run serve societal needs. Consequently, aims may be defined as broad or general statements that provide direction or intent to educational action. For that reason, aims help in guiding and directing educational planning and so curriculum development is based on them. All curriculum activities are hence tied to aims of education.

Since aims have a global quality and a broad framework they are usually written in amorphous terms such as learn, know, understand and appreciate which are not directly measurable e.g.

1.                  to train men and women to appreciate cultural and moral achievement of humankind

2.                  To provide men and women with vocational skills that will enable them to be self reliant

There are four dimensions of aims:

Intellectual – Focus on development of intellect.

Social – Deal with interpersonal relationships.

Personal – Dealing with self development.

Productive – Address economic aspects of the society, both micro and macro economics.

2. Goals

These constitute of more specific application of aims. Therefore Goals are more specific than aims. Goals have an end in mind so that particular purposes can be achieved. So goals provide destination. However they indicate what is expected to be accomplished from particular effort by a group or all students in general and rather than the achievement of individual students.

EXAMPLES OF EDUCATIONAL GOALS IN TANZANIA:

3.Objectives

Definition: Statement of performance to be demonstrated by a learner. The objectives of each area therefore may be viewed as refined statements or a detailed elaboration of the major goals. Such objectives are therefore more immediate and SMART. Consequently they are derived from instructional goals and stated in measurable and observable terms.

In contrast to educational aim and goal, the objective element of the curriculum is more operational and observable. At the end of the teaching procedure, the teacher or any external evaluator can refer back to the objective to determine if the procedure was effective. Objectives are the learning destination toward which the teacher tries to bring the learner to.

Writing behavioral objectives

A behavioural objective should indicate:

-  Behaviour expected (action verbs!)

-  Conditions under which student behaviour is to be demonstrated

-  Degree of mastery

For example:

Educators use ABCD as guide on how to formulate behavioral objectives

A = Stands for audience or the students. There is a need to direct or target the objective towards a known participant, e.g., “For all the first year students to . . . . . . .”

B = Stands for Behavior or an overt/visible activity the students should be doing if learning indeed has taken place. If stated in an overt behavioral terms, it is easy to measure if change had taken place. e.g.  “First year students to enter a statement in the computer.”

C = For condition or the assumption and parameters that have to be provided by the teacher so that the students will feel the experience. E.g., given a working PC, all first year students should be able to enter a statement in it.

D = for degree of visible achievement. This is commonly referred to as quantifiable indicator of learning. E.g., given a working PC, all first year students must be able to enter a statement in the computer allowing 5% error.

In writing objectives, we should consider the various Domains of learning, proposed by Benjamin Bloom. These Domains of learning are:

• Cognitive Domain– Focused on Intellectual Dimension (mind) 

• Affective Domain – Includes emotions, feelings, and attitudes

• Psychomotor Domain – referring to muscular skills or physical aspects of learning.

Benjamin Bloom went further and offered a detailed classification of objectives in the cognitive domain. The Taxonomic levels are: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

KEY TASK WORDS are indicative of the levels of thinking

As we plan curricula, we need to incorporate the various levels of learning, from the lowest level of knowledge, to the higher levels of evaluation.

Why do we need objectives?

• They guide decisions about selection of content and learning experiences.

• They clarify what skills and abilities are to be developed at what levels.

• They enable the teacher to communicate with students what they need to achieve; and make accountability and evaluation easier.

1.They set the limits for what is to be taught and learned

Sources of Educational Objectives

Generally, there are three main sources of objectives:  the learners, society and subject matter. Let’s examine each:

1.                  Learners as sources of Objectives

    (i) Learners’ Physical Needs

Curriculum developers should ask themselves what the physical needs of students are as members of the human community. Examples of universal human needs include food, clothing, shelter and good health, among others.

Generally, all students have the same physical needs globally. To meet students’ physical needs therefore means that educational objectives should be formulated specifically to cater for areas of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help meet those needs.

(ii) Sociological Needs

All students possess sociological needs which schools must strive to satisfy. These include affection from home, school and peers; acceptance, belonging, success, security, status and respect. Social needs of students must therefore form one of the basis for formulating educational objectives.

        (iii) Psychological Needs

The psychological aspects of learners’ e.g. emotional needs should be taken into consideration in deriving educational objectives. Of special importance are needs of those who are in special circumstances, those with disabilities such as mental, specially gifted children, emotionally disturbed, and retarded children. Curriculum must address these situations for all children to benefit from education. Curriculum should be derived from what we know about the learner---how he learns. Forms attitudes, generates interests, and develops values

     (iv) How to identify needs

Information about the needs of learners can be obtained by using the following methods among others.

1.                  Social investigation approach can be used – this may involve teachers’ observations;

2.                  Student interviews can be very helpful in providing the required data on students’ needs and interests, and their expectations of what to expect from school;

3.                  Parent interviews can also be used to provide further information about their children;

4.                  Questionnaires could be used to provide useful information on some aspects which interviews could not provide.

5.                  Tests and school records will throw light on skills and knowledge of various students in schools.

b)  Society as a source.

Society is a crucial source of educational objective for the following reasons:

1.                  The School is an agent of society, thus the school should draw on its ideas for the curriculum through analysis of the social situation

1.                  The school is supposed to prepare the youth for life in society. Hence the school curriculum should reflect what goes on in society. E.g. cultural aspects of society should be incorporated.

2.                  Society provides support for education, e.g. in funding resources etc and should therefore be consulted in curriculum planning.

3.                  Education should address the myriad of problems and cultural issues in society such as unemployment, health issues such as HIV/Aids, and other vices such as corruption.

4.                  Curriculum design can only be completely understood if it is contextualized socially, economically, and politically

4)  Content/ subject matter

Content is what is intended to be learned. In curriculum content is the body of knowledge, skills and attitudes that the teacher intends to pass on to the students or wants the students to develop. Content therefore outlines the desired attitudes and values and cherished skills;

Content is divided into subject topics, sub-topics and the detailed subject matter. Such content is determined by prevailing theories of knowledge. The choice of content should follow the objectives of the curriculum.

Universities perform research to expand the knowledge-base of the profession or widen the general state of the art, science and technology. Such outputs of research should also be channeled to and enrich content thus making the curriculum more dynamic and up-to-date.

Subject specialists are crucial in the process content selection. This is because they are the “custodians” of knowledge. Text books are also written by subject specialists among other reasons. You should note that the curriculum content must be applicable to the solution of the problems affecting the society which uses it.

5-Learning materials & resources

“In their public and wide meaning, educational resources and tools include any things necessary for learning of students”. Course books have been recognized as the organized content for students. There are also a lot of required materials and educational resources for providing students with a research chance and regulating their own program”

Environment  includes  a  lot  of  educational materials  and  resources  as  the  best encouragements  for  recognition  of different processes”.

“Sometimes any lack of facilities may cause an obstacle or failure of creativity training programs in a class.  In most cases, these shortages will have destructive effect on the interests and motivation of students for taking part in these programs.

Instructional media should be analyzed because of their fundamental importance as key ingredients in the learning environment. The full range of educational technology, including hardware such as equipment and software or courseware such as instructional materials, should be examined and selected in terms of multiple criteria. Provision should be made for instructional media that are useful in all areas of instruction and for special media needed in particular area. A variety of printed materials, audio-visual materials, community resources, learning packages, multi-media sets of materials and multi-level materials should be considered.

6. Methods / Teaching Activities

Method is how the content element should be taught or how the experience should structure so that the student will acquire and discover the content. It is the procedure of instruction that can take place not only in school but also outside-in the industry, society, community and at home.

Therefore methods deal with teaching and learning experiences. Flexible teaching methods facilitate learning.

Many educational philosophers, among them, Dewey and Whitehead, believed that application of theory and principle should not be delayed to a much later time but should be experienced here and now. They also believed that activities must be relevant to the real world. The teaching procedure in a curriculum should attempt to bridge academics with industry and society, theory with practice. Thus there should be a reinforcement, supplementation and complementation among the different methods of instruction such as; lecture, discussion, apprenticeship, library work, independent study, individual and group work.

7. Learning activities

“Suitable  activities  of  this  process  belong  to  those  who  may  invite  the  students  for  effective  and  active occupation  including: Making  any  thing,  interview,  finding  their  required  items  and  organizing  the  learning  resources. These activities may assist the students in finding their educational goals”.

 “… Furthermore, since it is not acceptable for students to do a lot of homework, it may cause their lack of interests in other activities including creative activities which may need mental calmness”.

Extra Curricular Activities

In our previous discussion, we referred to extra-curricular activities as outside the curricular structure. Being a variable, extracurricular activities influence attainment of the educational aim as they tend to reinforce and strengthen teaching of content and values.

8. Evaluation

House (1993) sees evaluation as the determination of the worth or value of something. Curriculum evaluation is a process of establishing the extent to which curriculum objectives have been achieved.

In the developing world, the processes of evaluation are typical of Tyler’s Objective Model by which a curriculum is viewed in terms of products.  Knowledge is seen as something similar to a product that is manufactured. The product of the learning experience is judged against the objectives as good or poor.

The overarching intention for doing this is therefore to enable the assessor to determine whether curricula objectives are being achieved or not. This implies that task or item developers should be familiar with the objectives and topics of the syllabus they are testing on.

Diagnostic, formative and summative evaluations are needed to determine the needs of students assess progress towards objectives during instruction and appraised the outcomes of instruction at the end of given periods. A brad and comprehensive program of evaluation is needed in which a variety of instruments and techniques are used to evaluate the conceptual, process, skill, and effective outcomes of instruction.

 Evaluation is used to:

5.   Give feedback to the planners, learners, teachers and society; and 

6.Provide a rationale for making changes.

7.   Check on the suitability and the appropriateness of the curriculum in answering social needs;

8.                  Select appropriate content based on the aims and objectives of the curriculum;

9.                  Check the effectiveness of methods and learning experiences used;

You should note that in conducting evaluations, judgments must be made regarding outcomes of the whole learning process. See more diagrams on Bloom’s taxonomy towards the end of the handout.