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education, community-building and change

What is curriculum? Exploring theory and practice

Curriculum theory and practice.the organization of schooling and further education has long been associated with the idea of a curriculum.  but what actually is curriculum, and how might it be conceptualized we explore curriculum theory and practice and its relation to informal education..

Contents : introduction ·  curriculum as transmission · curriculum as product ·  curriculum as process ·  curriculum as praxis · curriculum and context · curriculum and informal education · further reading · links  · how to cite this article

The idea of curriculum is hardly new – but the way we understand and theorize it has altered over the years – and there remains considerable dispute as to meaning. It has its origins in the running/chariot tracks of Greece. It was, literally, a course. In Latin curriculum was a racing chariot; currere was to run. A useful starting point for us here might be the definition offered by John Kerr and taken up by Vic Kelly in a standard work on the subject. Kerr defines curriculum as, ‘All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school. (quoted in Kelly 1983: 10; see also, Kelly 1999). This gives us some basis to move on – and for the moment all we need to do is highlight two of the key features:

L earning is planned and guided . We have to specify in advance what we are seeking to achieve and how we are to go about it.

The definition refers to schooling. We should recognize that our current appreciation of curriculum theory and practice emerged in the school and in relation to other schooling ideas such as subject and lesson.

In what follows we are going to look at four ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice:

1. Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted . 2. Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students – product . 3. Curriculum as process . 4. Curriculum as praxis .

It is helpful to consider these ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice in the light of Aristotle’s influential categorization of knowledge into three disciplines: the theoretical , the productive and the practical .

Here we can see some clear links – the body of knowledge to be transmitted in the first is that classically valued as ‘the canon’; the process and praxis models come close to practical deliberation; and the technical concerns of the outcome or product model mirror elements of Aristotle’s characterization of the productive. More this will be revealed as we examine the theory underpinning individual models.

Curriculum as a syllabus to be transmitted

Many people still equate a curriculum with a syllabus. Syllabus, naturally, originates from the Greek (although there was some confusion in its usage due to early misprints). Basically it means a concise statement or table of the heads of a discourse, the contents of a treatise, the subjects of a series of lectures. In the form that many of us will have been familiar with it is connected with courses leading to examinations – teachers talk of the syllabus associated with, say, the Cambridge Board  French GSCE exam. What we can see in such documents is a series of headings with some additional notes which set out the areas that may be examined.

A syllabus will not generally indicate the relative importance of its topics or the order in which they are to be studied. In some cases as Curzon (1985) points out, those who compile a syllabus tend to follow the traditional textbook approach of an ‘order of contents’, or a pattern prescribed by a ‘logical’ approach to the subject, or  – consciously or unconsciously – a the shape of a university course in which they may have participated. Thus, an approach to curriculum theory and practice which focuses on syllabus is only really concerned with content. Curriculum is a body of knowledge-content and/or subjects. Education in this sense, is the process by which these are transmitted or ‘delivered’ to students by the most effective methods that can be devised (Blenkin et al 1992: 23).

Where people still equate curriculum with a syllabus they are likely to limit their planning to a consideration of the content or the body of knowledge that they wish to transmit. ‘It is also because this view of curriculum has been adopted that many teachers in primary schools’, Kelly (1985: 7) claims, ‘have regarded issues of curriculum as of no concern to them, since they have not regarded their task as being to transmit bodies of knowledge in this manner’.

Curriculum as product

The dominant modes of describing and managing education are today couched in the productive form.  Education is most often seen as a technical exercise.  Objectives are set, a plan drawn up, then applied, and the outcomes (products) measured.  It is a way of thinking about education that has grown in influence in the United Kingdom since the late 1970s with the rise of vocationalism and the concern with competencies.  Thus, in the late 1980s and the 1990s many of the debates about the National Curriculum for schools did not so much concern how the curriculum was thought about as to what its objectives and content might be.

It is the work of two American writers Franklin Bobbitt (1918; 1928) and Ralph W. Tyler (1949) that dominate theory and practice within this tradition.  In The Curriculum  Bobbitt writes as follows:

The central theory [of curriculum] is simple.  Human life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific activities.  Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately for these specific activities.  However numerous and diverse they may be for any social class they can be discovered.  This requires only that one go out into the world of affairs and discover the particulars of which their affairs consist.  These will show the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of knowledge that men need.  These will be the objectives of the curriculum.  They will be numerous, definite and particularized.  The curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives.  (1918: 42)

This way of thinking about curriculum theory and practice was heavily influenced by the development of management thinking and practice.  The rise of ‘scientific management’ is often associated with the name of its main advocate F. W. Taylor.  Basically what he proposed was greater division of labour with jobs being simplified; an extension of managerial control over all elements of the workplace; and cost accounting based on systematic time-and-motion study.  All three elements were involved in this conception of curriculum theory and practice.  For example, one of the attractions of this approach to curriculum theory was that it involved detailed attention to what people needed to know in order to work, live their lives and so on.  A familiar, and more restricted, example of this approach can be found in many training programmes, where particular tasks or jobs have been analyzed – broken down into their component elements – and lists of competencies drawn up.  In other words, the curriculum was not to be the result of ‘armchair speculation’ but the product of systematic study.  Bobbitt’s work and theory met with mixed responses.  One telling criticism that was made, and can continue to be made, of such approaches is that there is no social vision or programme to guide the process of curriculum construction.  As it stands it is a technical exercise.  However, it wasn’t criticisms such as this which initially limited the impact of such curriculum theory in the late 1920s and 1930s.  Rather, the growing influence of ‘progressive’, child-centred approaches shifted the ground to more romantic notions of education.  Bobbitt’s long lists of objectives and his emphasis on order and structure hardly sat comfortably with such forms.

The Progressive movement lost much of its momentum in the late 1940s in the United States and from that period the work of Ralph W. Tyler, in particular, has made a lasting impression on curriculum theory and practice.  He shared Bobbitt’s emphasis on rationality and relative simplicity.  His theory was based on four fundamental questions:

1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?

3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?

4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?  (Tyler 1949: 1)

Like Bobbitt he also placed an emphasis on the formulation of behavioural objectives.

Since the real purpose of education is not to have the instructor perform certain activities but to bring about significant changes in the students’ pattern of behaviour, it becomes important to recognize that any statements of objectives of the school should be a statement of changes to take place in the students.  (Tyler 1949: 44)

We can see how these concerns translate into a nicely-ordered procedure:  one that is very similar to the technical or productive thinking set out below.

Step 1 : Diagnosis of need Step 2 : Formulation of objectives Step 3 : Selection of content Step 4 : Organization of content Step 5 : Selection of learning experiences Step 6 : Organization of learning experiences Step 7 : Determination of what to evaluate and of the ways and means of doing it. (Taba 1962)

The attraction of this way of approaching curriculum theory and practice is that it is systematic and has considerable organizing power.  Central to the approach is the formulation of behavioural objectives – providing a clear notion of outcome so that content and method may be organized and the results evaluated.

There are a number of issues with this approach to curriculum theory and practice. The first is that the plan or programme assumes great importance.  For example, we might look at a more recent definition of curriculum as: ‘A programme of activities (by teachers and pupils) designed so that pupils will attain so far as possible certain educational and other schooling ends or objectives (Grundy 1987: 11). The problem here is that such programmes inevitably exist prior to and outside the learning experiences.  This takes much away from learners.  They can end up with little or no voice.  They are told what they must learn and how they will do it.  The success or failure of both the programme and the individual learners is judged on the basis of whether pre-specified changes occur in the behaviour and person of the learner (the meeting of behavioural objectives).  If the plan is tightly adhered to, there can only be limited opportunity for educators to make use of the interactions that occur. It also can deskill educators in another way.  For example, a number of curriculum programmes, particularly in the USA, have attempted to make the student experience ‘teacher proof’.  The logic of this approach is for the curriculum to be designed outside of the classroom or school, as is the case with the National Curriculum in the UK.  Educators then apply programmes and are judged by the products of their actions.  It turns educators into technicians.

Second, there are questions around the nature of objectives.  This model is hot on measurability.  It implies that behaviour can be objectively, mechanistically measured.  There are obvious dangers here – there always has to be some uncertainty about what is being measured.  We only have to reflect on questions of success in our work.  It is often very difficult to judge what the impact of particular experiences has been.  Sometimes it is years after the event that we come to appreciate something of what has happened.  For example, most informal educators who have been around a few years will have had the experience of an ex-participant telling them in great detail about how some forgotten event (forgotten to the worker that is) brought about some fundamental change.  Yet there is something more.

In order to measure, things have to be broken down into smaller and smaller units.  The result, as many of you will have experienced, can be long lists of often trivial skills or competencies.  This can lead to a focus in this approach to curriculum theory and practice on the parts rather than the whole; on the trivial, rather than the significant.  It can lead to an approach to education and assessment which resembles a shopping list.  When all the items are ticked, the person has passed the course or has learnt something.  The role of overall judgment is somehow sidelined.

Third, there is a real problem when we come to examine what educators actually do in the classroom, for example.  Much of the research concerning teacher thinking and classroom interaction, and curriculum innovation has pointed to the lack of impact on actual pedagogic practice of objectives (see Stenhouse 1974; and Cornbleth 1990, for example).   One way of viewing this is that teachers simply get it wrong – they ought to work with objectives.  I think we need to take this problem very seriously and not dismiss it in this way.  The difficulties that educators experience with objectives in the classroom may point to something inherently wrong with the approach – that it is not grounded in the study of educational exchanges.  It is a model of curriculum theory and practice largely imported from technological and industrial settings.

Fourth, there is the problem of unanticipated results.  The focus on pre-specified goals may lead both educators and learners to overlook learning that is occurring as a result of their interactions, but which is not listed as an objective.

The apparent simplicity and rationality of this approach to curriculum theory and practice, and the way in which it mimics industrial management have been powerful factors in its success.  A further appeal has been the ability of academics to use the model to attack teachers:

I believe there is a tendency, recurrent enough to suggest that it may be endemic in the approach, for academics in education to use the objectives model as a stick with which to beat teachers.  ‘What are your objectives?’ is more often asked in a tone of challenge than one of interested and helpful inquiry.  The demand for objectives is a demand for justification rather than a description of ends… It is not about curriculum design, but rather an expression of irritation in the problems of accountability in education.  (Stenhouse 1974: 77)

So what are the other alternatives?

Curriculum as process

We have seen that the curriculum as product model is heavily dependent on the setting of behavioural objectives.  The curriculum, essentially, is a set of documents for implementation.  Another way of looking at curriculum theory and practice is via process.  In this sense curriculum is not a physical thing, but rather the interaction of teachers, students and knowledge.  In other words, curriculum is what actually happens in the classroom and what people do to prepare and evaluate.  What we have in this model is a number of elements in constant interaction.   It is an active process and links with the practical form of reasoning set out by Aristotle.

Perhaps the two major things that set this apart from the model for informal education are first, the context in which the process occurs (‘particular schooling situations’); and second, the fact that teachers enter the classroom or any other formal educational setting with a more fully worked-through idea of what is about to happen.  Here I have described that as entering the situation with ‘a proposal for action which sets out essential principles and features of the educational encounter’.

This form of words echoes those of Lawrence Stenhouse (1975) who produced one of the best-known explorations of a process model of curriculum theory and practice. He defined curriculum tentatively: ‘A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice’. He suggests that a curriculum is rather like a recipe in cookery.

It can be criticized on nutritional or gastronomic grounds – does it nourish the students and does it taste good? – and it can be criticized on the grounds of practicality – we can’t get hold of six dozen larks’ tongues and the grocer can’t find any ground unicorn horn!  A curriculum, like the recipe for a dish, is first imagined as a possibility, then the subject of experiment.  The recipe offered publicly is in a sense a report on the experiment.  Similarly, a curriculum should be grounded in practice.  It is an attempt to describe the work observed in classrooms that it is adequately communicated to teachers and others.  Finally, within limits, a recipe can varied according to taste.  So can a curriculum.  (Stenhouse 1975: 4-5)

Stenhouse shifted the ground a little bit here.  He was not saying that curriculum is the process, but rather the means by which the experience of attempting to put an educational proposal into practice is made available.  The reason why he did this, I suspect, is that otherwise there is a danger of widening the meaning of the term so much that it embraces almost everything and hence means very little.  For example, in a discussion of the so-called ‘youth work curriculum’ (Newman & Ingram 1989), the following definition was taken as a starting point: ‘those processes which enhance or, if they go wrong, inhibit a person’s learning’. This was then developed and a curriculum became: ‘an organic process by which learning is offered, accepted and internalized’ (Newman & Ingram 1989: 1). The problem with this sort of definition, as Robin Barrow (1984) points out, is that what this does is to widen the meaning of the term to such an extent that it just about becomes interchangeable with ‘education’ itself.  More specifically, if curriculum is process then the word curriculum is redundant because process would do very nicely!   The simple equation of curriculum with process is a very slap-happy basis on which to proceed.

We also need to reflect on why curriculum theory and practice came into use by educators (as against policy-makers).  It was essentially as a way of helping them to think about their work before, during and after interventions; as a means of enabling educators to make judgments about the direction their work was taking.  This is what Stenhouse was picking up on.

There are a number of contrasts in this model of curriculum theory and practice as compared with the product model.  First, where the product model appeals to the workshop for a model, this process model looks to the world of experimentation.

The idea is that of an educational science in which each classroom is a laboratory, each teacher a member of the scientific community…  The crucial point is that the proposal is not to be regarded as an unqualified recommendation but rather as a provisional specification claiming no more than to be worth putting to the test of practice,  Such proposals claim to be intelligent rather than correct.  (Stenhouse 1975: 142)

Thus, in this sense, a curriculum is a particular form of specification about the practice of teaching.  It is not a package of materials or a syllabus of ground to be covered.  ‘It is a way of translating any educational idea into a hypothesis testable in practice.  It invites critical testing rather than acceptance’ (Stenhouse 1975: 142).

Second, and associated with the above, given the uniqueness of each classroom setting, it means that any proposal, even at school level, needs to be tested, and verified by each teacher in his/her classroom ( ibid : 143).  It is not like a curriculum package which is designed to be delivered almost anywhere.

Third, outcomes are no longer the central and defining feature.  Rather than tightly specifying behavioural objectives and methods in advance, what happens in this model of curriculum theory and practice is that content and means develop as teachers and students work together.

Fourth, the learners in this model are not objects to be acted upon.  They have a clear voice in the way that the sessions evolve.  The focus is on interactions.  This can mean that attention shifts from teaching to learning.  The product model, by having a pre-specified plan or programme, tends to direct attention to teaching.  For example, how can this information be got over?  A process approach to curriculum theory and practice, it is argued by writers like Grundy (1987), tends towards making the process of learning the central concern of the teacher.  This is because this way of thinking emphasizes interpretation and meaning-making.  As we have seen each classroom and each exchange is different and has to be made sense of.

However, when we come to think about this way of approaching curriculum in practice, a number of possible problems do arise.  The first is a problem for those who want some greater degree of uniformity in what is taught.  This approach to the theory of curriculum, because it places meaning-making and thinking at its core and treats learners as subjects rather than objects, can lead to very different means being employed in classrooms and a high degree of variety in content.   As Stenhouse comments, the process model is essentially a critical model, not a marking model.

It can never be directed towards an examination as an objective without loss of quality, since the standards of the examination then override the standards immanent in the subject.  This does not mean that students taught on the process model cannot be examined, but it does mean that the examinations must be taken in their stride as they pursue other aspirations.  And if the examination is a by-product there is an implication that the quality the student shows in it must be an under-estimate of his real quality.  It is hence rather difficult to get the weak student through an examination using a process model.  Crammers cannot use it, since it depends upon a commitment to educational aims.  (Stenhouse 1975: 95)

To some extent variation is limited by factors such as public examinations.  The exchange between students and teachers does not float free of the context in which it arises.  At the end of the day many students and their families place a high premium on exam or subject success and this inevitably enters into the classroom.  This highlights a second problem with the model we have just outlined – that it may not pay enough attention to the context in which learning takes place (more of this later).

Third, there is the ‘problem’ of teachers.   The major weakness and, indeed, strength of the process model is that it rests upon the quality of teachers.  If they are not up to much then there is no safety net in the form of prescribed curriculum materials.  The approach is dependent upon the cultivation of wisdom and meaning-making in the classroom.  If the teacher is not up to this, then there will be severe limitations on what can happen educationally.  There have been some attempts to overcome this problem by developing materials and curriculum packages which focus more closely on the ‘process of discovery’ or ‘problem-solving’, for example in science.  But there is a danger in this approach.  Processes become reduced to sets of skills – for example, how to light a bunsen burner.  When students are able to demonstrate certain skills, they are deemed to have completed the process.  As Grundy comments, the actions have become the ends; the processes have become the product.  Whether or not students are able to apply the skills to make sense of the world around them is somehow overlooked (Grundy 1987: 77).

Fourth, we need to look back at our process model of curriculum theory and practice and what we have subsequently discussed, and return to Aristotle and to Freire.  The model we have looked at here does not fully reflect the process explored earlier.  In particular, it does not make explicit the commitments associated with phronesis.  And it is to that we will now turn.

Curriculum as praxis

Curriculum as praxis is, in many respects, a development of the process model.  While the process model is driven by general principles and places an emphasis on judgment and meaning making, it does not make explicit statements about the interests it serves.   It may, for example, be used in such a way that does not make continual reference to collective human well-being and to the emancipation of the human spirit.  The praxis model of curriculum theory and practice brings these to the centre of the process and makes an explicit commitment to emancipation.   Thus action is not simply informed, it is also committed.  It is praxis.

Critical pedagogy goes beyond situating the learning experience within the experience of the learner: it is a process which takes the experiences of both the learner and the teacher and, through dialogue and negotiation, recognizes them both as problematic…  [It] allows, indeed encourages, students and teachers together to confront the real problems of their existence and relationships… When students confront the real problems of their existence they will soon also be faced with their own oppression. (Grundy 1987: 105)

We can amend our ‘curriculum as process’ model to take account of these concerns.

In this approach the curriculum itself develops through the dynamic interaction of action and reflection. ‘That is, the curriculum is not simply a set of plans to be implemented, but rather is constituted through an active process in which planning, acting and evaluating are all reciprocally related and integrated into the process’ (Grundy 1987: 115). At its centre is praxis : informed, committed action.

How might we recognize this? First, I think we should be looking for practice which does not focus exclusively on individuals, but pays careful attention to collective understandings and practices and to structural questions.  For example, in sessions which seek to explore the experiences of different cultural and racial groups in society, we could be looking to see whether the direction of the work took people beyond a focus on individual attitudes.  Are participants confronting the material conditions through which those attitudes are constituted, for example?

Second, we could be looking for a commitment expressed in action to the exploration of educators’ values and their practice.  Are they, for example, able to say in a coherent way what they think makes for human well-being and link this with their practice?  We could also be looking for certain values – especially an emphasis on human emancipation.

Third, we could expect practitioners committed to praxis to be exploring their practice with their peers.  They would be able to say how their actions with respect to particular interventions reflected their ideas about what makes for the good, and to say what theories were involved.

Curriculum in context

To round off this discussion of curriculum we do need to pay further attention  to the social context in which it is created.  One criticism that has been made of the praxis model (especially as it is set out by Grundy) is that it does not place a strong enough emphasis upon context.  This is a criticism that can also be laid at the door of the other approaches.  In this respect the work of Catherine Cornbleth (1990) is of some use.  She sees curriculum as a particular type of process.  Curriculum for her is what actually happens in classrooms, that is, ‘an ongoing social process comprised of the interactions of students, teachers, knowledge and milieu’ (1990: 5).  In contrast, Stenhouse defines curriculum as the attempt to describe what happens in classrooms rather than what actually occurs.  Cornbleth further contends that curriculum as practice cannot be understood adequately or changed substantially without attention to its setting or context.  Curriculum is contextually shaped.   While I may quibble about the simple equation of curriculum with process, what Cornbleth does by focusing on the interaction is to bring out the significance of context.

First, by introducing the notion of milieu into the discussion of curriculum she again draws attention to the impact of some factors that we have already noted.  Of especial significance here are examinations and the social relationships of the school – the nature of the teacher-student relationship, the organization of classes, streaming and so on.  These elements are what are sometimes known as the hidden curriculum.  This was a term credited to Philip W. Jackson (1968) but it had been present as an acknowledged element in education for some time before.  For example, John Dewey in Experience and Education referred to the ‘collateral learning’ of attitudes that occur in schools, and that may well be of more long-range importance than the explicit school curriculum (1938: 48).  A fairly standard (product) definition of the ‘hidden curriculum’ is given by Vic Kelly.  He argues it is those things which students learn, ‘because of the way in which the work of the school is planned and organized but which are not in themselves overtly included in the planning or even in the consciousness of those responsible for the school arrangements (1988: 8). The learning associated with the ‘hidden curriculum’ is most often treated in a negative way.  It is learning that is smuggled in and serves the interests of the status quo.  The emphasis on regimentation, on bells and time management, and on streaming are sometimes seen as preparing young people for the world of capitalist production.  What we do need to recognize is that such ‘hidden’ learning is not all negative and can be potentially liberating. ‘In so far as they enable students to develop socially valued knowledge and skills… or to form their own peer groups and subcultures, they may contribute to personal and collective autonomy and to possible critique and challenge of existing norms and institutions’  (Cornbleth 1990: 50). What we also need to recognize is that by treating curriculum as a contextualized social process, the notion of hidden curriculum becomes rather redundant.  If we need to stay in touch with milieu as we build curriculum then it is not hidden but becomes a central part of our processes.

Second, by paying attention to milieu, we can begin to get a better grasp of the impact of structural and socio-cultural process on teachers and students.  As Cornbleth argues, economic and gender relations, for example, do not simply bypass the systemic or structural context of curriculum and enter directly into classroom practice.  They are mediated by intervening layers of the education system (Cornbleth 1990: 7).  Thus, the impact of these factors may be quite different to that expected.

Third, if curriculum theory and practice is inextricably linked to milieu then it becomes clear why there have been problems about introducing it into non-schooling contexts like youth work; and it is to this area which we will now turn.

Curriculum as the boundary between formal and informal education

Jeffs and Smith (1990; 1999) have argued that the notion of curriculum provides a central dividing line between formal and informal education.  They contend that curriculum theory and practice was formed within the schooling context and that there are major problems when it is introduced into informal forms of pedagogy.

The adoption of curriculum theory and practice by some informal educators appears to have arisen from a desire to be clear about content.  Yet there are crucial difficulties with the notion of curriculum in this context. These centre around the extent to which it is possible to have a clear idea, in advance (and even during the process), of the activities and topics that will be involved in a particular piece of work.

At any one time, outcomes may not be marked by a high degree of specificity.  In a similar way, the nature of the activities used often cannot be predicted.  It may be that we can say something about how the informal educator will work.  However, knowing in advance about broad processes and ethos isn’t the same as having a knowledge of the programme.  We must, thus, conclude that approaches to the curriculum which focus on objectives and detailed programmes appear to be incompatible with informal education. ( Jeffs & Smith 1990 : 15)

In other words, they are arguing that a product model of curriculum is not compatible with the emphasis on process and praxis within informal education.

However, process and praxis models of curriculum also present problems in the context of informal education.  If you look back at at our models of process and compare them with the model of informal education presented above then it is clear that we can have a similar problem with pre-specification.  One of the key feature that differentiates the two is that the curriculum model has the teacher entering the situation with a proposal for action which sets out the essential principles and features of the educational encounter. Informal educators do not have, and do not need, this element.  They do not enter with a clear proposal for action.  Rather, they have an idea of what makes for human well-being, and an appreciation of their overall role and strategy (strategy here being some idea about target group and broad method e.g. detached work).  They then develop their aims and interventions in interaction.  And what is this element we have been discussing?  It is nothing more nor less than what Stenhouse considers to be a curriculum!

The other key difference is context.  Even if we were to go the whole hog and define curriculum as process there remain substantive problems.  As Cornbleth (1990), and Jeffs and Smith (1990, 1999) have argued, curriculum cannot be taken out of context, and the context in which it was formed was the school.  Curriculum theory and practice only makes sense when considered alongside notions like class, teacher, course, lesson and so on.  You only have to look at the language that has been used by our main proponents: Tyler, Stenhouse, Cornbleth and Grundy, to see this.  It is not a concept that stands on its own.  It developed in relation to teaching and within particular organizational relationships and expectations.  Alter the context and the nature of the process alters .  We then need different ways of describing what is going on.  Thus, it is no surprise that when curriculum theory and practice are introduced into what are essentially informal forms of working such as youth work and community work, their main impact is to formalize significant aspects of the work.   One of the main outcome of curriculum experiments within youth work has been work, for example in the field of health promotion, which involve pre-specified activities, visiting workers, regular meetings and so on.   Within the language of youth work these are most often called programmes or projects ( Foreman 1990 ).  Within a school they would be called a course.

What is being suggested here is that when informal educators take on the language of curriculum they are crossing the boundary between their chosen specialism and the domain of formal education.  This they need to do from time to time.  There will be formal interludes in their work, appropriate times for them to mount courses and to discuss content and method in curriculum terms.  But we should not fall into the trap of thinking that to be educators we have to adopt curriculum theory and practice.  The fact that so many have been misled into believing this demonstrates just how powerful the ideas of schooling are.  Education is something more than schooling.

We have explored four different approaches to curriculum theory and practice:

Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted . Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students – product . Curriculum as process . Curriculum as praxis .

In a number of respects these different bodies of curriculum theory and practice link to the four main forces in North American curriculum-making in the twentieth century: the liberal educators; the scientific curriculum makers; the developmental/person-centred; and the social meliorists (those that sought more radical social change) (after Kliebart 1987).

We shouldn’t push the similarities too far – but there are some interesting overlaps – and this does alert us both to the changing understanding and to shifting policy orientations over time.

For the moment we are having to operate within a policy environment that prizes the productive and technical. Furthermore, the discourse has become so totalizing that forms of education that do not have a curricula basis are squeezed. The temptation is always there to either be colonized by curriculum theory or adopt ways of describing practice that do not make sense in terms of the processes and commitments involved. Kleibart’s analysis provides us with some hope – things will change. However, there is no guarantee that they will move in a more edifying direction.

Further reading and references

I have picked out some books that have the greatest utility for those concerned with informal education and lifelong learning.

Caffarella, R. S. (1994) Planning Programs for Adult Learners. A practical guide for educators, trainers and staff developers , San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 248 pages. Just what the title says – but has the advantage of many manuals in this area in that the underlying model is dynamic and interactive and avoids some of the problems with linear planning models. Clearly written with plenty of worksheets etc.

Griffin, C. (1987) Curriculum Theory in Adult and Lifelong Education , London: Croom Helm. 218 pages. Explores the use of curriculum theory and practice in non-school settings. Particular attention is paid to Illich, Freire, Gelpi etc.

Grundy, S. (1987) Curriculum: Product or Praxis , Lewes: Falmer. 209 + ix pages. Good discussion of the nature of curriculum theory and practice from a critical perspective. Grundy starts from Habermas’ theorisation of knowledge and human interest and makes use of Aristotle to develop a models of curriculum around product, process and praxis.

Houle, C. O. (1972) The Design of Education , San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 323 pages. Influential statement of theory and practice with regard to a fundamental structure for program design. Identifies basic situations (eleven in all) in which programs are planned and discusses their operation.

Kliebard, H. M. (1987) The Struggle for the American Curriculum 1893 – 1958 , New York: Routledge. 300 + xvii pages. A cracker of a book which charts the development of different curricula traditions and the political and social context in which they arose. He unpicks suspect notions such as ‘progressive education’ and demonstrates how Dewey in particular is positioned outside the main competing traditions. The movement between mental discipline, child centredness, scientific curriculum making (Taylorism) and social meliorism provides a very helpful set of insights into the theory and process of curriculum making within adult education.

Knowles, M. S. (1980) The Modern Practice of Adult Education. From pedagogy to andragogy 2e, Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Cambridge/Prentice Hall. 400 pages. Pretty much the standard US work on practical program design in the 1970s and 1980s. Based around Knowles’ assumptions concerning the way adults learn with some leanings to behaviouralism. Part one explores the emerging role and technology of adult education; Part two organizing and administering comprehensive programs of adult education; and Part three reflects on helping adults learn. Extensive appendices provide various exhibits and additional models. See also Knowles (1950) Informal Adult Education. A guide for administrators, leaders and teachers , New York: Association Press (272 pages) for an early but still useful review of program design and implementation within an NGO (Chicago YMCA).

Langenbach, M. (1988) Curriculum Models in Adult Education , Malibar: Krieger. 228 pages. Argues that adult educators must have a sound understanding of program design. Reviews different models of curriculum theory and practice (largely US) and assesses some specific areas of practice such as continuing professional education and literacy education.

Ross, A. (2000) Curriculum: Construction and critique , London: Falmer Press. 187 + xiii pages. Helpful overview of the history of curriculum development in Britain

Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development , London: Heinemann. 248 + viii pages. Classic statement of a process approach to the theory and practice of curriculum making. Chapters explore the nature of the curriculum problem; the content of education; teaching; the school as an institution; behavioural objectives and curriculum development; a critique of the objectives model; the process model; evaluation; a research model of curriculum development; the teacher as researcher; and the school and innovation.

Thornton, S. J. and Flinders, D. J. (eds.) (1997) The Curriculum Studies Reader , London: Routledge. 416 pages. Excellent collection of 30 readings that provides both a sample of enduring work and more recent material around curriculum theory and practice. Includes: Bobbitt, Dewey, Counts, Kliebard, Eisner, Jackson, Schwab, Greene, Freire, McLaughlin, Ravitch, Glazer, Apple, Lieberman and more.

Tyler, R. W. (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction , Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 128 pages. Important discussion of product-oriented curriculum building. The process is clear from the chapter titles: what educational purposes should the school seek to attain? How can learning experiences be selected which are likely to be useful in attaining these objectives? How can learning experiences be organized for effective instruction? How can the effectiveness of learning experiences be evaluated? How a school or college staff may work on curriculum building.

Wragg, T. (1997) The Cubic Curriculum, London: Routledge. 120 + x pages. Put aside the naff tittle – this book provides an accessible model of cur riculum building that attempts to incorporate a ‘vision of the future’; a recognition that there are escalating demands on citizens, a belief that (children’s) learning must be inspired by several influences; and lastly that it is essential to see the curriculum as much more than a mere collection of subjects and syllabuses. Wragg’s ‘cubic curriculum’ has three dimensions: subject matter; cross-curricular themes and issues that influence children’s general development; and the different methods of teaching and learning that can be employed. The concern is to provide a model for practice – so the book is a bit lightweight with regard to competing conceptualizations of curriculum and alternatives to curriculum thinking.

Aristotle (1976) The Nicomachean Ethics (‘Ethics’),  Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Barnes, J. (1976) ‘Introduction’ to Aristotle The Nicomachean Ethics (‘Ethics’),  Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Barrow, R. (1984) Giving Teaching back to Teachers. A critical introduction to curriculum theory , Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books.

Blenkin, G. M. et al (1992) Change and the Curriculu, , London: Paul Chapman.

Bobbitt, F. (1918) The Curriculum ,  Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Bobbitt, F. (1928) How to Make a Curriculum , Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Carr, W. & Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming Critical. Education, knowledge and action research , Lewes: Falmer Press

Cornbleth, C. (1990) Curriculum in Context , Basingstoke: Falmer Press.

Curzon, L. B. (1985) Teaching in Further Education. An outline of principles and practice 3e, London: Cassell.

Dewey, J. (1902) The Child and the Curriculum , Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Dewey, J. (1938) Experience and Education , New York: Macmillan.

Eisner, E. W. (1985) The Art of Educational Evaluation , Lewes: Falmer Press.

Foreman, A. (1990) ‘Personality and curriculum’ in T. Jeffs. & M. Smith (eds.) (1990) Using Informal Education.  An alternative to casework, teaching and control? Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Also in the archives .

Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed , Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Grundy, S. (1987) Curriculum: product or praxis? Lewes: Falmer Press.

Jackson, P. W. (1968) Life in Classrooms , New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Jeffs, T. & Smith, M. (eds.) (1990) Using Informal Education.  An alternative to casework, teaching and control? Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Jeffs, T. J. and Smith, M. K. (1999) Informal Education. Conversation, democracy and learning , Ticknall: Education Now.

Kelly, A. V. (1983; 1999) The Curriculum. Theory and practice 4e, London: Paul Chapman.

Stenhouse, L. (1975) An introduction to Curriculum Research and Development , London: Heineman.

Newman, E. & G. Ingram (1989) The Youth Work Curriculum , London: Further Education Unit (FEU).

Taba, H. (1962) Curriculum Development: Theory and practice , New York: Harcourt Brace and World.

Tyler, R. W. (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction , Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Usher, R. & I. Bryant (1989) Adult Education as Theory, Practice and Research. The captive triangle , London: Routledge.

Acknowledgements:  Picture: rubber bands by eek the cat. Sourced from Flickr and reproduced here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)  Licence. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eek/76924263

How to cite this article : Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000) ‘Curriculum theory and practice’ The encyclopedia of pedagogy and informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm .

© Mark K. Smith 1996, 2000

Last Updated on June 4, 2018 by infed.org

Created by the Great Schools Partnership , the GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION REFORM is a comprehensive online resource that describes widely used school-improvement terms, concepts, and strategies for journalists, parents, and community members. | Learn more »

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The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program. In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school, but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools. Depending on how broadly educators define or employ the term, 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. An individual teacher’s curriculum, for example, would be the specific learning standards, lessons, assignments, and materials used to organize and teach a particular course.

When the terms curriculum or curricula are used in educational contexts without qualification, specific examples, or additional explanation, it may be difficult to determine precisely what the terms are referring to—mainly because they could be applied to either all or only some of the component parts of a school’s academic program or courses.

In many cases, teachers develop their own curricula, often refining and improving them over years, although it is also common for teachers to adapt lessons and syllabi created by other teachers, use curriculum templates and guides to structure their lessons and courses, or purchase prepackaged curricula from individuals and companies. In some cases, schools purchase comprehensive, multigrade curriculum packages—often in a particular subject area, such as mathematics—that teachers are required to use or follow. Curriculum may also encompass a school’s academic requirements for graduation, such as the courses students have to take and pass, the number of credits students must complete, and other requirements, such as completing a capstone project or a certain number of community-service hours. Generally speaking, curriculum takes many different forms in schools—too many to comprehensively catalog here.

It is important to note that while curriculum encompasses a wide variety of potential educational and instructional practices, educators often have a very precise, technical meaning in mind when they use the term. Most teachers spend a lot of time thinking about, studying, discussing, and analyzing curriculum, and many educators have acquired a specialist’s expertise in curriculum development—i.e., they know how to structure, organize, and deliver lessons  in ways that facilitate or accelerate student learning. To noneducators, some curriculum materials may seem simple or straightforward (such as a list of required reading, for example), but they may reflect a deep and sophisticated understanding of an academic discipline and of the most effective strategies for learning acquisition and classroom management .

For a related discussion, see hidden curriculum .

Since curriculum is one of the foundational elements of effective schooling and teaching, it is often the object of reforms, most of which are broadly intended to either mandate or encourage greater curricular standardization and consistency across states, schools, grade levels, subject areas, and courses. The following are a few representative examples of the ways in which curriculum is targeted for improvement or used to leverage school improvement and increase teacher effectiveness:

  • Standards requirements: When new learning standards are adopted at the state, district, or school levels, teachers typically modify what they teach and bring their curriculum into “ alignment ” with the learning expectations outlined in the new standards. While the technical alignment of curriculum with standards does not necessarily mean that teachers are teaching in accordance with the standards—or, more to the point, that students are actually achieving those learning expectations—learning standards remain a mechanism by which policy makers and school leaders attempt to improve curriculum and teaching quality. The Common Core State Standards Initiative , for example, is a national effort to influence curriculum design and teaching quality in schools through the adoption of new learning standards by states.
  • Assessment requirements: Another reform strategy that indirectly influences curriculum is assessment, since the methods used to measure student learning compel teachers to teach the content and skills that will eventually be evaluated. The most commonly discussed examples are standardized testing and high-stakes testing , which can give rise to a phenomenon informally called “teaching to the test.” Because federal and state policies require students to take standardized tests at certain grade levels, and because regulatory penalties or negative publicity may result from poor student performance (in the case of high-stakes tests), teachers are consequently under pressure to teach in ways that are likely to improve student performance on standardized tests—e.g., by teaching the content likely to be tested or by coaching students on specific test-taking techniques. While standardized tests are one way in which assessment is used to leverage curriculum reform, schools may also use rubrics and many other strategies to improve teaching quality through the modification of assessment strategies, requirements, and expectations.
  • Curriculum alignment: Schools may try to improve curriculum quality by bringing teaching activities and course expectations into “ alignment ” with learning standards and other school courses—a practice sometimes called “curriculum mapping.” The basic idea is to create a more consistent and coherent academic program by making sure that teachers teach the most important content and eliminate learning gaps that may exist between sequential courses and grade levels. For example, teachers may review their mathematics program to ensure that what students are actually being taught in every Algebra I course offered in the school not only reflects expected learning standards for that subject area and grade level, but that it also prepares students for Algebra II and geometry. When the curriculum is not aligned, students might be taught significantly different content in each Algebra I course, for example, and students taking different Algebra I courses may complete the courses unevenly prepared for Algebra II. For a more detailed discussion, see coherent curriculum .
  • Curriculum philosophy: The design and goals of any curriculum reflect the educational philosophy—whether intentionally or unintentionally—of the educators who developed it. Consequently, curriculum reform may occur through the adoption of a different philosophy or model of teaching by a school or educator. Schools that follow the Expeditionary Learning model, for example, embrace a variety of approaches to teaching generally known as project-based learning , which encompasses related strategies such as  community-based learning  and authentic learning . In Expeditionary Learning schools, students complete multifaceted projects called “expeditions” that require teachers to develop and structure curriculum in ways that are quite different from the more traditional approaches commonly used in schools.
  • Curriculum packages: In some cases, schools decide to purchase or adopt a curriculum package that has been developed by an outside organization. One well-known and commonly used option for American public schools is International Baccalaureate , which offers curriculum programs for elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Districts may purchase all three programs or an individual school may purchase only one, and the programs may be offered to all or only some of the students in a school. When schools adopt a curriculum package, teachers often receive specialized training to ensure that the curriculum is effectively implemented and taught. In many cases, curriculum packages are purchased or adopted because they are perceived to be of a higher quality or more prestigious than the existing curriculum options offered by a school or independently developed by teachers.
  • Curriculum resources: The resources that schools provide to teachers can also have a significant affect on curriculum. For example, if a district or school purchases a certain set of textbooks and requires teachers to use them, those textbooks will inevitably influence what gets taught and how teachers teach. Technology purchases are another example of resources that have the potential to influence curriculum. If all students are given laptops and all classrooms are outfitted with interactive whiteboards, for example, teachers can make significant changes in what they teach and how they teach to take advantage of these new technologies (for a more detailed discussion of this example, see one-to-one ). In most cases, however, new curriculum resources require schools to invest in professional development that helps teachers use the new resources effectively, given that simply providing new resources without investing in teacher education and training may fail to bring about desired improvements. In addition, the type of professional development provided to teachers can also have a major influence on curriculum development and design.
  • Curriculum standardization: States, districts, and schools may also try to improve teaching quality and effectiveness by requiring, or simply encouraging, teachers to use either a standardized curriculum or common processes for developing curriculum. While the strategies used to promote more standardized curricula can vary widely from state to state or school to school, the general goal is to increase teaching quality through greater curricular consistency. School performance will likely improve, the reasoning goes, if teaching methods and learning expectations are based on sound principles and consistently applied throughout a state, district, or school. Curriculum standards may also be created or proposed by influential educational organizations—such as the National Science Teachers Association or the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics , for example—with the purpose of guiding learning expectations and teaching within particular academic disciplines.
  • Curriculum scripting: Often called “scripted curriculum,” the scripting of curriculum is the most prescriptive form of standardized, prepackaged curriculum, since it typically requires teachers to not only follow a particular sequence of preprepared lessons, but to actually read aloud from a teaching script in class. While the professional autonomy and creativity of individual teachers may be significantly limited when such a curriculum system is used, the general rationale is that teaching quality can be assured or improved, or at least maintained, across a school or educational system if teachers follow a precise instructional script. While not every teacher will be a naturally excellent teacher, the reasoning goes, all teachers can at least be given a high-quality curriculum script to follow. Scripted curricula tend to be most common in districts and schools that face significant challenges attracting and retaining experienced or qualified teachers, such as larger urban schools in high-poverty communities.

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Definitions of Curriculum

  • A brief answer is hard to give as curriculum can be both written and unwritten. Essentially, curriculum is what the school is attempting to teach, which might include social behaviors as well as content and thinking skills.
  • A course of study that will enable the learner to acquire specific knowledge and skills.
  • A curriculum consists of the "roadmap" or "guideline" of any given discipline. Both the philosophy of teaching of the instructors as well as of the educational institution serve as two of the principles upon which a curriculum is based.
  • A curriculum is the combination of instructional practices, learning experiences, and students' performance assessment that are designed to bring out and evaluate the target learning outcomes of a particular course.
  • A detailed plan for instruction set by policy-makers.
  • A selection of information, segregated into disciplines and courses, typically designed to achieve a specific educational objective.
  • As applied to education, curriculum is the series of things that students must do and experience by way of developing abilities to do the things well that adults do in life; and to be in all ways the people that they should be as adults.
  • Curriculum encompasses a variety of technical and non technical courses that are required to complete a specific degree.
  • Curriculum includes everything that takes place, and everything that does not take place, within the purview of the school.
  • Curriculum is a framework that sets expectations for student learning. It serves as a guide for teachers, a roadmap if you will, that establishes standards for student performance and teacher accountability.
  • Curriculum is a group of courses offered in a particular field of study.
  • Curriculum is a set of courses (offered by an educational institution) that are required to complete an area of specialization.
  • Curriculum is a set of courses that comprise a given area or specialty of study. I see curriculum as the framework of content or ingredients that relate to that given area of study. Curriculum often conjures up words such as format, guidelines, content of "what to teach," and "what the student needs to learn." I see curriculum in both formal and informal ways, i.e., as a body of related information that an educator needs to convey, but with latitude in the strategies that an educator may use to convey the information.
  • Curriculum is all of the courses of study offered ( science, math, reading, etc.) and those guidelines for teaching and learning set forth for a particular educational institution.
  • Curriculum is any criteria, element, aspect, that aids in children's learning.
  • Curriculum is specifically what you teach within each discipline and at each level.
  • Curriculum is the "floor plan" or blueprint for what is going to be taught/learned/experienced ... in the academic classroom over a period of time.
  • Curriculum is the delivery component of an institutions' educational mission, values, and theory of learning. It should follow in-depth discussions regarding "what a student should learn" and "how a student can best learn."
  • Curriculum is the expectations for what will be taught and what students will do in a program of study. It includes teacher-made materials, textbooks, and national and state standards.
  • Curriculum is the gathered information that has been considered relevant to a specific topic. It can always be changed or added to in order to become relevant to the times.
  • Curriculum is the goals, assessments, methods, and materials used to teach a particular skill or subject. I include thinking under "skill."
  • Curriculum is the guidelines by which different content matters are taught and assessed.
  • Curriculum is the outline of concepts to be taught to students to help them meet the content standards.
  • Curriculum is what is taught in a given course or subject.
  • Curriculum refers to an interactive system of instruction and learning with specific goals, contents, strategies, measurement, and resources. The desired outcome of curriculum is successful transfer and/or development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
  • Everything that is written, taught and tested in an educational program of study.
  • General course design or syllabus, including goals and standards for proficiency.
  • Guidelines for course instruction with attention to content, teaching style and academic standards.
  • I feel that curriculum is anything which is planned and designed to sequentially improve students' knowledge and skills.
  • I guess curriculum represents the courses offered for any educational program. The curriculum's design is based on what past/current educators believe is important for students to know. Importance may be based on content that is covered in the course which is (1) competitive with other institutions (2)usable in the future career, or (3) what the school/faculty feel is an interesting topic to cover. I'm sure there are other reasons for importance but none come to mind at this time.
  • I suppose that my definition would speak not only to the objectives of the school program and the means by which those goals are to be reached, it would also include the philosophical construct underlying the goals and methods. For example, late in my career as a math teacher I became very interested in having the students "feel" mathematics. I wanted the students to experience the "why's" and "how's" that would build a higher level of understanding. In my view, curriculum is more than just what is done, it's WHY it's done ? on a deeper level than just to cover the text or get the kids to pass the DSTP.
  • I think of curriculum in two ways. One: the organized method of placing nursing and related courses to meet the goal of successful completion of the nursing program competencies. The other view I have about curriculum is organizing courses around a faculty adopted conceptual framework. The faculty develop concepts and subconcepts. From this framework the course objectives/ competencies and learning activities are developed. There is a logical progression of learning.
  • In a spectrum from abstract to concrete, curriculum lies in the fuzzy middle. The curriculum is sandwiched between abstract standards (usually content-based) and super-practical lesson plans and activites. Curriculum embodies the "what" and, explicity or implicitly, the "how" of teaching. Although usually containing "what" is to be taught, curriculum directly suggests or indirectly implies how it should be taught. For example, a curriculum with an inordinate amount of targets and content to be taught is more likely to be taught in a traditional (discussion or lecture-centered) approach than in a constructivist (pedagogy) approach.
  • Officially, curriculum is the formal delineation of what is to be taught and how it is to be taught. Beyond that, however, there lots of questions and caveats regarding the formal, written curriculum as compared to the curriculum as actually delivered in the classroom. Is there, for example, a difference between what a school's official curriculum and another "hidden curriculum" representing what the system or the teacher "really" wants students to learn? If there is no formal curriculum document but students are still learning good things from teachers, is it meaningful to say that there is a de facto curriculum that has somehow come about to fill the void? To what extent is methodology a matter of formal curriculum and to what extent is it a matter of individual teacher academic freedom?
  • On a concrete level, curriculum is that list of "stuff" we ask students to do to demonstrate learning and outcomes. It's also the list of "stuff" that we want to tell them.    On a less concrete--but even more important--level, curriculum is the philosophy that drives us to create the "stuff" above. That is, I think that curriculum is, at its best, a collection of "stuff" that is derived from carefully thinking about the big picture. What do we want students to know and how will it be relevant to them once they're gone? If it's not relevant to them, then the question is whether they became better thinkers. And if they are better thinkers, then I'd wager that the "stuff" was driven by the principles behind it (and not the other way around)
  • Personally I think curriculum is a kind of design, setup, offering, or arrangement of subjects and courses.
  • Scope and sequence or essential concepts and content that required in educational programs. Curriculum includes methods and materials used in delivery of essential content.
  • Technically "curriculum" may be considered the "what" of an education-however it is I think intertwined with the "how" or the pedagogy/theory (of method) as well.
  • The course an academic program follows.
  • The curriculum is the program of instruction. It should be based on both standards and best practice research. It should be the framework that teachers use to plan instruction for their students.
  • The dictionary definition of "curriculum" is the following: all the courses of study offered at a university or school. I totally don't agree with that. This would be a good definition for someone who is not in education to understand. I believe that it is more specific In my line of work objectives, performance indicators, philosophies and ways to approach these objectives are all aspects under the scope and sequence of a curriculum.
  • the structure and/or materials used to convey information to students.
  • The written curriculum is a plan of what is to be taught. It is a focus for what teachers do. Dr. Fenwick English, Purdue University, believes there are three types of curriculum: written, taught, and tested. They must be the same.
  • What we teach, both written and unwritten
  • Health Science
  • Business Education
  • Computer Applications
  • Career Readiness
  • Teaching Strategies

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Digital Curriculum

What Is a Curriculum and How Do You Make One?

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January 7th, 2020 | 19 min. read

What Is a Curriculum and How Do You Make One?

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Any new CTE teacher has a lot to learn when transitioning from a career in the industry.

You know the concepts and knowledge, but it can be tough to feel comfortable when you didn't learn the basics of being a teacher in the traditional sense.

As a CTE curriculum developer , we've heard that new CTE teachers are often unaware of what certain words or phrases in the educational space mean.

One of the most common terms that can cause confusion for new teachers is the word "curriculum."

"Curriculum" can mean a lot of different things to different people involved in education.

Teachers may use the term “curriculum” to refer to the information they teach throughout a class.

Teachers may also search the Internet or ask their colleagues for “more curriculum,” which means the teacher is looking for more resources to use in a classroom setting. 

Finally, a school, institution, or district can refer to their standards or class sequence as “curriculum.”

All of these variations makes it difficult to know what a curriculum really is.

In this article, we'll explore the standard definition of "curriculum" and how to create a curriculum on your own.

You'll also discover how a digital curriculum can make your life easier as a new teacher.

Read Your Ultimate Guide to Digital Curriculum

The Definition of Curriculum

A curriculum is a collection of lessons, assessments, and other academic content that’s taught in a school, program, or class by a teacher.

With that in mind, a standard curriculum typically consists of the following parts:

  • Purpose Statement : What will this curriculum achieve?
  • Outcome Statement : What will students be able to do with this information?
  • Essential Resources : What will you use to teach your class and what will students use to learn?
  • Strategy Framework : What teaching approach will you use?
  • Verification Method : How will you know that you’re effectively teaching?
  • Standards Alignment : How well do you adhere to federal, state, and school standards for your course?
  • Course Syllabus : What will you teach and when?
  • Capstone Project : What final accomplishment will your students use to prove what they’ve learned in your class?

Now that you know what a curriculum is, let's dive into how you can create each part of it.

1. Purpose Statement

01-curriculum-purpose-statement

The first part of a well-made curriculum is a statement of its purpose.

A purpose statement is a brief explanation of the need that your class fulfills at your school, community, or education as a whole.

Purpose statements work best when they’re simple. As the old adage suggests, the best ideas are the ones that you can express in a single sentence.

Whether you need one sentence or five, it’s important to keep your purpose statement concise for the sake of your colleagues, administrators, or even classroom evaluators.

If you’re having a hard time wording your purpose statement, you can try answering a handful of questions to get started:

  • Why do students need to know the information in your class?
  • How will your class prepare students for their futures?
  • What makes your class different from other classes in your school?

Answering any of the above questions (or all of them) will at least help you   discover   your purpose statement, if not write it completely.

For example, students may need the information in   your class on soft skills   so they can practice career essentials.

That’ll impact their future ability to earn and maintain a job.

Your class may be different from others by focusing on soft skills like communication, professionalism, and more.  

Then, once you have your purpose statement, you can move onto the next important statement! 

2. Outcome Statement

02-curriculum-outcome-statement

Outcome statements are similar to purpose statements in that they convey why your class is important.

However, outcome statements are different because they focus on what you want students to know   after   the class concludes.

For example, you may pioneer   a digital literacy class in your middle school .   Your outcome statement — and the goals you have for your students — could include:

  • Demonstrating safe use of online resources
  • Identifying whether an online source is trustworthy
  • Committing to   stand against the epidemic of cyberbullying

It’s important to note that these goals are all   in addition   to the grades you’d give in any other typical class.

Students will still have to complete lessons, homework, formative assessments, summative assessments, and other projects that are graded.

But that’s standard for any class! As a result, you don’t need to say you’ll use “grades” as a measure of whether students have met your class’s goals.

Instead, your goals should be directly related to your class, how it functions, and how your students’ lives will improve as a result.

Once you have your outcome statement down on paper, it’s time to start thinking about your class’s details!  

3. Essential Resources

03-curriculum-essential-resources

Your class’s essential resources include anything you need for your students to teach everything in your class.

For traditional classrooms, this section of the curriculum is easier than others because it includes a short list of textbooks, notebooks, and   maybe   writing utensils.

For modern classrooms, this list can get surprisingly long — sometimes with dozens of items!

That’s because modern classrooms have a demand for teaching the same material in multiple ways. This allows teachers to accommodate students who learn differently without leaving any of them behind the rest of the class.

In addition to simple notebooks, textbooks, and writing utensils, you may also discover that you need:

  • Internet access
  • Visual aids
  • Interactive screens / Smartboards
  • Game materials
  • Other rooms in your school

This is just a sample listing — you may discover that you need   more   classroom materials as you develop your curriculum!

There’s nothing wrong with that. If you only have a rough idea of the teaching resources you’ll need for a class, you can always come back to this section after you complete the rest of your curriculum.

Once you’ve completed this section, it’s time to discuss   how   you’ll teach your class!

4. Strategy Framework

04-curriculum-strategy-framework

Some of the most common strategy frameworks and teaching strategies include:

  • Online learning
  • Blended learning
  • Cooperative learning
  • Differentiated instruction

Gamification

We’ll start with the oldest and most well-known form of education in the world —   lecture .

Every teacher has experienced (and probably delivered) lectures.

Lectures commonly take the form of an educator standing in front of their students and delivering information orally.

Teachers may choose to use visual aids like whiteboards, chalkboards, smartboards, or demonstration materials, but these resources all revolve around the lecture itself.

Lectures are considered the standard in education because they’ve been used since before Socrates. Essentially, it’s the classical way to teach students of any age.

But there’s an issue with that — students today use much more advanced technology than the students of Ancient Greece.

As a result, lectures aren’t always the best course of action for a modern classroom.

Fortunately, modern technology offers you a lot of alternatives — including online learning.

Online Learning

Online learning means you’re using education tools that exist on the Internet to help teach your students.

Sometimes, these tools are called “cloud-based” education solutions because they’re accessible 24/7 from your web browser.

Online learning is a great way to reach students who are both experts and amateurs when it comes to using technology.

That’s because these online tools are designed to be as simple as possible while offering an outstanding educational experience.

Online learning works great for delivering videos, graphics, activities, self-paced lessons, and other teaching resources into a classroom.

Online learning is also a cornerstone teaching strategy in a larger educational concept — blended learning.

Blended Learning

Blended learning is the practice of using multiple teaching strategies   in a single class.

So when you use lecture, online learning, and textbooks to teach your students, you’re technically teaching with blended learning!

Blended learning is an effective education strategy because it teaches students the same information in multiple ways.

Some students are auditory learners. Others are visual learners. Still others are hands-on learners!

By practicing blended learning, you acknowledge these differences in your students’ learning preferences and create ways to help all of your students learn.

That way, you don’t leave any of your students behind!

You can even go the extra mile with blended learning and include a highly-specialized form of teaching that also allows your students to socialize with one another.

This strategy is called cooperative learning!

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is the practice of creating small groups of students in your class and having them teach one another.

The core of   cooperative learning   is based on trust and accountability. Students learn different parts of a large concept and teach that information to one another.

That way, every student gets a strong idea of a concept while meeting and interacting with their peers.

At the end of a cooperative learning session, it’s important for you to pull your entire class back together to talk about what they learned.

As the different groups speak, you can correct any misinformation that different students may have acquired.

Altogether, you just helped your students learn a new concept while meeting one another and taking responsibility for a portion of their education!

This kind of work can also be helpful if you want to use our next teaching strategy — differentiated instruction.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated instruction means tailoring your teaching strategy to students’ individual learning needs.

Differentiated instruction   is often used interchangeably with the concept of an individualized education plan (IEP).

In a nutshell, this means you reach out to students based on how they learn best.

So if they retain information best while using a computer, you have a student use a computer to learn the same material that you lecture to the rest of the class.

For students who learn better by reading, you can print out pages related to your lesson.

You can even seek out (or create) games that help students learn in an increasingly-popular process called gamification.

Gamification is the process of taking your classroom materials, turning them into a contest of some kind, and having students participate according to a set of rules.

One of the most commonly-used gamification methods is a simple   Jeopardy   game where students or teams get points by answering questions correctly.

Math teachers may play “around the world” with flash cards in their classes. Health science teachers may create a game around building a skeleton for   human anatomy and physiology .

Regardless of how you choose to help students learn, gamification is proven to improve long-term information retention in students of any age.

It’s just another fun way to add variety to your classroom!

At the end of the day, all of these teaching strategies can help your students learn.

When you choose your method (or methods), there’s another crucial component to your curriculum that you need.

You need to figure out how you’ll verify that your students are learning!

5. Verification Method

05-curriculum-verification-method

You have   dozens   of options when it comes to figuring out how you want to gauge student progress in your classroom.

However, two methods stick out above all of the others in terms of effectiveness and popularity.

These two methods are called   formative assessments and summative assessments .

Here’s how they work!

Formative Assessments

Formative assessments work best when you use them to evaluate how much (or how well) a student is learning in a class.   You’re examining how well students are “forming” information and connections in their brains.

Formative assessments are great because they let you see how well your students learn without grading them for every single assignment they complete.

You can have a lot of fun with formative assessments too! Because they’re not always graded, formative assessments can go in almost any direction, including:

  • Presentations
  • Group activities

The main goal of formative assessments is understanding what your students do and don’t know.

This gives you essential information to incorporate in review activities when you get closer to the end of a unit or marking period.

If most of your students struggle with a certain topic, you know you have to go over it with students before the class ends.

If one or two students struggle, then you can approach them on an individual basis to   customize a remediation plan   for them.

Then, whenever you conclude a major portion of your class, you can use a summative assessment to see what students have learned!

Summative Assessments

Summative assessments work best when you use them to evaluate   what   a student has learned in a class.   You’re testing the “summary” of all information that students have learned throughout a unit or marking period.

Summative assessments tend to be more rigid when it comes to your options because they require objective criteria for you to grade.

As a result, teachers use summative assessments like:

  • Final exams
  • Written reports
  • Essays / papers
  • End-of-class projects

All of these summative assessment options come with answer keys or grading rubrics for the sake of quantifying   what   students have learned in your class.

These grades are often weighed more heavily in comparison to other factors like classroom participation and homework.

In many classes, students don’t pass the course unless they get a satisfactory mark on their summative assessments.

Naturally, it’s up to you to determine how much you want to weigh these assessments. The most important part of summative assessments is a clear vision into what your students have learned.

This is especially important if you work in a state that has a lot of standards and requirements for classes you teach!

6. Standards Alignment

06-curriculum-standards-alignment

Most of the time,   you’ll get a list of standards from your state   department of education to guide you in the information they’re supposed to teach students.

This information varies from state to state since public education is so heavily based on the state level.

You may also get a list of standards from your district or even your immediate supervisor that ensures you teach the same information as a teacher in another school.

Overall, standards ensure a degree of uniformity in curriculum for important topics.

That’s why so many health science and computer applications classes have strict standards — every class in the state needs to teach the same fundamental information for students to succeed later in life!

If you’re having a hard time finding your state, district, or school standards, check first with your immediate supervisor.

If that doesn’t work, you can always ask your colleagues or contact your district office.

Once you’ve found your standards, it’s time to   map your curriculum to those standards   so you ensure you’re teaching the information that’s required.  

Curriculum maps are tricky to create, if you’ve never made one before. It’s phenomenally helpful for most teachers because a curriculum map shows you exactly what you need to teach, when, and the materials you need to teach it.

In other words, a curriculum map makes your upcoming marking period easier!  

Once you have your curriculum mapped to your standards, it’s finally time to jump into   what   you’ll teach in your class by creating your course syllabus.

7. Course Syllabus

07-curriculum-course-syllabus

A syllabus is typically an extensive document, detailing each lesson to be taught, the day on which lessons will be taught, the homework to be assigned, and the expectations of students at the end of each unit.

As a result, the syllabus is the area where   most   teachers spend the bulk of their time in planning. It takes a lot of time and energy to create a document that showcases exactly how your class will work day by day.

This is even more stressful if you teach a semester- or year-long course that covers a wealth of information.

If you’ve never created a full syllabus before, check with a peer, mentor, or supervisor to see if they have a template you can use.

If that’s not available, you can always check out   resources like Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) for their syllabus templates .

Before you finish your syllabus, you have one exceptionally important part of your curriculum to flesh out in extreme detail.

That’s because the final part of a curriculum is designed to challenge your students and drive home the point of your entire class in one fell swoop.

You have to decide on your capstone project!

8. Capstone Project

08-curriculum-capstone-project

The most common capstone project is a cumulative final exam. Other options include   certification exams , presentations, and graded projects. 

The most important part of your capstone project is the explanation of why this project proves a student’s learning progress in a class.

What is the quantifiable metric you’ll use to gauge whether your students have learned?

When that metric is applied to your capstone project, why are you confident that your students have succeeded in their learning goals?

Those questions are all great to answer in your curriculum, and they give your administrator and students an excellent insight into the culmination of your course.

With your capstone project detailed in the final portion of your curriculum, you can take a breath.

You’re done!

That all probably took you a long time if you did it by hand.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had a faster way?

Digital Curriculum: The Modern Way to Teach

what-is-a-curriculum-footer

But it takes so long to create — especially the syllabus and capstone project!

If you want to shave   hours   off of that process, digital curriculum is your solution!

A digital curriculum is an online tool that helps you plan, teach, and assess your students all from one convenient system.

With it, you can create classes, map out your marking periods, engage students with activities, and show pre-made lessons that align to state standards.

Best of all, you get   hundreds of curriculum hours of content to fill the classes you need to teach!

Want to learn more? Download this free eBook to discover if digital curriculum is a good fit for your classes:

Curriculum Design and Development Essay

Introduction.

Curriculum development is a concept that has attracted a lot of discussion in respect to the way it can be appropriately defined. According UNESCO and IIEP (2006), there is no single definition of curriculum development. Most definitions focus on the syllabi and learning materials. The broader definitions consider that curriculum is concepts that include other factors within and outside the school systems.

Traditionally, curriculum was referred to as a group of courses that formed part of the school’s education program. This refers to the approved courses that have to be accomplished so that a student can be promoted to the next educational level.

As the world continues to modernize its education systems, various definitions have been developed to explain the concept of curriculum development. Therefore, curriculum can be defined as the organization of sequences of learning outcomes. The sequences are entrenched in the education system of a country, and are aimed at achieving quality education (UNESCO and IIEP, 2006).

Schools and colleges have designed curriculums to develop the skills of students. This is aimed at achieving various professional requirements in the changing modern world. Therefore, the need for superior skills has contributed to the need for curriculum development in education systems worldwide. Curriculum development has been described as the process of planning aspects that are taught within an educational institution.

Curriculum development is done to match the school courses and programs to the skills of students (Hedden, 2012). The aim is to develop a curriculum that provides educational sustainability in the long run; thereby achieving the goals of national development.

Curriculum development focuses on major and minor topics and courses that contribute to the students’ career development. Curriculum development refers to a wide range of discussions by different professions and organizations that make decisions concerning learning experiences. Such decisions need to be integrated in a national, regional, or local education system to ensure sustainable development (Braslavsky, n.d.).

Curriculum development varies from country to country. The process can be controlled from a national level by the ministry of education or individual states as the case in some federal countries (Braslavsky, n.d.). Centralized countries usually apply a top-down approach in the development of curriculum. In this regard, the curriculum is presented to teachers who, once they adopt it, should teach the learners. Eventually, the curriculum is evaluated by all the parties concerned.

According to Braslavsky (n.d.), the society can control the process of drive curriculum development. This is referred to as the bottom-up curriculum development. The responses collected by teachers and other education officials are evaluated, and standards are set to develop the curriculum further. This system is mostly used by decentralized governments.

Professional organizations that influence curriculum decisions

The curriculum being developed should address the issues of relevance, sequence, and integration in a given community’s set up (Stabback, 2007). Therefore, the process can be influenced by various professional organizations that ensure that the curriculum meets the diverse, fundamental, national, economic, social, communal and personal objectives without any form discrimination.

The organizations are usually composed of individuals from a common profession or specialization. Over the years, these organizations have actively participated in curriculum development to ensure sustainability of education institutions. This is done with the aim of expanding knowledge and skills to students (Hedden, 2012). Some organizations that influence curriculum development include: Accountants Association, Professional Engineering organizations, and the National Councils of Teachers.

Curriculum design and development

The process of curriculum development involves the design and development of integrated plans for learning, how to implement and evaluate the plans, and checking the outcome. Designing the curriculum involves critical analysis of the teaching and learning framework.

The purpose of the design stage is to elucidate certain action plans for achieving the curriculum objectives. The process is done professionally and technically to avoid any overlap between the topics and the course. This results to the development of syllabuses that focus on certain areas or subjects.

The ultimate result of the process is usually a coherent flow of topics regarding the courses offered in education institutions. Curriculum development ensures that students receive integrated and coherent learning experience that contributes towards personal, academic, and professional learning experience (Stabback, 2007).

Various steps are involved in the process of designing and developing curriculum. These steps are majorly followed when a new curriculum is required, or when curriculum reforms are indispensable. Curriculum development involves step-by-step contextual scan and research of relevant best practices.

Consultations with various stakeholders followed by development of a curriculum framework are conducted before syllabuses are accepted. The accepted plans are then implemented, and proper monitoring is established to check whether everything concerning the curriculum is accurate. The review and amendment of the contents is necessary for the whole process to succeed.

The process is systematic and has a clear focus on sub-systems to avoid disastrous outcomes and waste of resources. Having a systematic process in the development of the curriculum enables the elimination of any potential loop holes. At the same time, this articulates the international standards benchmarks (Stabback, 2007).

The role of technology in curriculum development

Technology plays a great role in curriculum development around the world. Over the years, technology has played a significant role in the world education curriculums. This has been viewed as the greatest improvement that curriculum development has ever witnessed. Computers have become a means of information delivery where web curricula and online modules are the common technologies that have positively transformed curriculum development (Ali, 2008; Scholl, 2001).

Technology has supplemented the delivery of learning resources due to the growing number of publication and technological breakthroughs in research. Today, technological advancement offers standardized instructions and learning environment that is familiar and can be accessed from any destination (Ali, 2008).

This has resulted in greater satisfaction amongst learners since they can share and access common resources. Technology has also reduced the time spent for curriculum development in a considerable manner as compared to the previous ways of curriculum development. Efficiency has also been achieved in the development of the curriculum as compared to traditional methods that required a lot of time (Scholl, 2001).

School-wide Curriculum development initiative

The Ministry of Education is charged with the responsibility of undertaking extensive curriculum research. This is aimed at collecting relevant responses about what should be changed, introduced, or done away with to improve the curriculum.

This involves consultation from parents, teachers, education officials, administrators, and professional bodies among other stakeholders. The findings are then submitted to the special curriculum review committee that analyzes the process before agreeing on the areas and subjects that need to be addressed.

Proper measures are established to ensure that the plans are implemented. In addition, proper checks are instituted to evaluate the progress of the plans (Braslavsky, n.d.). The close monitoring of the process facilitates further amendments to the curriculum.

The major challenges experienced during curriculum development can be classified into three categories. This includes internal, social, and external challenges. With regard to internal challenges, the curriculum development experiences the challenge to conform with the requirements by the ministry.

These requirements are important to the schools. The culture usually impacts the process, demanding for changes that recognize its values and norms. External forces may also prevail in curriculum development to ensure that the proposed curriculum addresses issues of international concern such as health, science, and human rights (Stabback, 2007).

Curriculum development is a complex process that requires commitment of the organization responsible and the various stakeholders. The process should be conducted with transparency and systematically so that the outcomes of the whole process become credible.

The curriculum developed should embrace modern developments in technology. It should also adhere to the internationally accepted standard of an efficient curriculum. This ensures proper integration of the education system of the country.

Ali, I.I. (2008). Role technology & educational research in curriculum development . Web.

Braslavsky, C. (n.d). The Curriculum . Web.

Hedden, H.B. (2012). Professional and trade organizations . Web.

Scholl, F.J. (2001). Case studies: Using Technology to Improve Curriculum Development: The Technology Source Archives The Technology Source Archives at the University of North Carolina. Web.

Stabback, P. (2007). Guidelines for Constructing a Curriculum Framework for Basic Education.Presented at the Regional Workshop “What basic education for Africa?” Kigali, Rwanda – 25-28 September 2007 UNESCO-IBE . Web.

UNESCO and IIEP. (2006). Guidebook for planning education in emergencies and reconstruction . Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning.

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What Exactly Is Curriculum?

By: Lindsey Oh & Ray Rozycki on August 8th, 2017

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What Exactly Is Curriculum?

Curriculum Strategy & Adoption  |  Classrooms

I recall one distinct shocking moment as a new teacher. It was when a mentor teacher was onboarding me. She walked me to my classroom, opened a cabinet door rather proudly, showed me two shelves filled with textbooks and supplementary materials (worksheets, assessment guides, etc.) and said, “This is your 6th grade math curriculum.”

CTA---Curriculum Adoption Service

I ended up making my own materials -- video content, cross-curricular lessons, and others -- to aid in the “curriculum.” All the while focusing on this key question: “What skills do I need to equip them with for their success in 6th grade and higher, both in and outside their classroom life?”

Since then, I’ve developed a passion for the meaning of curriculum. Here is what I believe curriculum is and is not:  Curriculum is not a textbook, nor the materials, videos and worksheets that help us instruct students. It is the knowledge and skills that students are expected to learn as they progress through our school system . The books my mentor teacher showed me should have been a piece of the puzzle, not the completed puzzle.

Download our Curriculum Adoption Process Framework

As instructional materials come of age and permit educators greater opportunities for personalization and more tools and approaches to present material to students, our focus on curriculum in schools needs to shift. My mentor teacher used static print materials and worksheets as her tools to deliver instruction and prepare her students for their next steps in life. With today’s technology and the accessibility of dynamic content, we need to be focusing our curriculum discussions (and decisions) less around static materials and the tools to present information. Rather, we should focus our energy towards conversations about identifying opportunities and connections that help our students build the skills, processes and habits which enable them to be productive contributors of the 21st century society.

Curriculum Adoption Process Blog Series 1

Out of this fundamental belief about curriculum, we have developed the core pillars to anchor your thinking, as you look at revising what curriculum means in your school system. For each area, we have identified essential questions to answer:

  • Policy & Oversight -- What is the vision, common understanding, roles and responsibilities of the personnel involved in the curriculum process?
  • Written, Taught & Tested Curriculum -- What are the timelines, expectations and standards for what is to be written, taught and tested to ensure students’ knowledge and skills required in a certain subject area?
  • Accessibility & Support --  Are proper rollout plans and support systems in place to ensure a successful curriculum change?
  • Evaluation & Revision -- Are there plans to ensure success and fidelity of the new curriculum plan?
  • Cyclic Resource Adoption -- Are the resources that aid in delivering the curriculum being properly and regularly updated and purchased as needed?

Stay tuned for our next post on how these pillars can help ensure a successful curriculum adoption for 21st century learning. In the meantime, I’d encourage you to have a conversation with your curriculum team about your current definition of curriculum, and what you believe the critical factors are for a successful curriculum adoption process. Share your thoughts with us via Twitter or email .

Curriculum Adoption Process Framework

More Curriculum Adoption reading

Blog: The Core 4 Elements of Personalized Learning

Blog: Personalizing within the Curriculum: High Quality Instructional Materials as a Lever for Student-Centered Learning

Blog: Selecting Digital Content for Your School: A How-To Guide

Blog: Want to Build a Successful Curriculum Blueprint? Here's Our Recipe

Blog: Critical Questions to Ask When Building a Life-Changing Curriculum Process

Blog: Relevant content makes personalizing learning easier

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6 Module 6: Curriculum Planning

what is your own definition of curriculum essay

Guiding Questions for Module 6:

  • What resources are available to teachers to plan the curriculum?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of Understanding by Design as a model for curriculum planning?
  • What is Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy and how does it help teachers construct questions and objectives?
  • How do effective teachers plan clear, coherent, and standards-based lessons?
  • How do effective teachers plan clear, coherent, and standards-based mini-units?

Introduction to Planning

Even teachers who taught in the one-room schoolhouses had to answer basic questions about the curriculum.

Today, teachers are not alone in creating their curriculum. A variety of resources exist—state and national standards, textbooks, district-level curriculum guides, statements from professional organizations, and even other teachers within your building. One of the great joys of teaching is planning a lesson, unit, or course and having it succeed—knowing students have learned the right stuff, in best ways, for good reasons.

Planning clear, age-appropriate, engaging instruction is essential to becoming an effective teacher. All teachers must answer WHAT, HOW, and WHY questions about the curriculum. What is most important to teach?  Why? How will content be organized and structured? Why? What strategies are best suited to teach a certain idea or skill?  Why? How will I assess student progress and mastery? Why?

This chapter is designed to help inform your curricular judgments.

Overview of Planning

Instructional planning occupies a central part of  the life of every teacher. Every teacher, of any subject, at any level must make decisions about the curriculum. And, every teacher plans the curriculum in a unique way. The lesson or unit plans of veteran teachers are often focused on a few core elements whereas the plans of a novice tend to include a little more detail. Your professors also require that you plan in more detail than you will when you have your own classroom; your lesson and unit plans allow us to “see” and “hear” your emerging ideas as a teacher. Without sufficient detail, we cannot provide adequate feedback, coaching, and guidance. This is the one time in your career when you are able to benefit from the scrutiny, wisdom, and experience of mentors who all want the same goal: for you to become a great teacher! So, take instructional planning seriously as it requires you to synthesize and apply important ideas in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Models of Curriculum Planning

If you took a survey of 100 teachers and asked how they planned the curriculum, you are likely to get 100 unique responses. In time, you will formulate your own model, applying principles and ideas that make the most sense to you and your circumstances, based on your experience and wisdom of practice.

Teachers must consider planning at a variety of different levels. The most general level of planning is at the course level—what do I want students to gain from this course? What knowledge, skills, and dispositions are of most worth?

Course planning is important—it helps teachers carefully consider their long-range goals. Within courses, teachers must consider how their courses will be organized into smaller units. Instructional units are typically two to three weeks of instruction focused on a single theme or question. Teachers must also consider specific lessons that will comprise each unit.

For effective teachers, instruction is purposeful and intentional; never aimless or accidental. Effective teachers carefully consider what content and skills they will teach, how the material will be organized, how students will learn, and what will constitute evidence of student learning.

One of the most prominent models of curriculum planning is known as Understanding by Design , developed Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins. The model requires teachers to ask and answer a number of practical questions:

  • What is most important for students to learn?
  • What are my short- and long-term goals?
  • What essential questions will we be asking and answering?
  • How will I know if students have learned?
  • How is the content best organized?
  • How will students learn this content best?

Read Understanding by Design White Paper from Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development and watch a two-part video from Grant Wiggins explaining his model of planning.

For a practical example read: Sumrall, William, and Kristen Sumrall. 2018. “Understanding by Design.” Science & Children 56 (1): 48–54.

Essential Questions

One of the most challenging parts of the Understanding by Design model is formulating essential questions. Essential questions help students and teachers focus on the most important information in the most interesting ways. Some of the basic elements of writing effective essential questions include:

  • Aiming at the philosophical or conceptual foundations of a discipline
  • Having ideas or issues recurring naturally throughout one’s learning
  • Raising other important questions, often across subject-area boundaries
  • Having no one obvious right answer
  • Being framed to provoke and sustain student interest

Watch the following video to gain additional insights into framing essential questions.

Practical Principles

In addition to operating within some model, teachers also plan the curriculum with certain principles in mind. Years ago, I (Tom Vontz) sat down and constructed a “top ten (twelve) list” of planning principles—big ideas that guided planning decisions:

  • Plan with students in mind.
  • Instructional planning is an inexact science.
  • Teachers enjoy various degrees of autonomy in planning and implementing the curriculum.
  • The beginning and ending of courses, units, and lessons are very important to the learning process.
  • Assemble resources before you attempt to start planning.
  • Remember the big picture/long-range goals.
  • Vary instructional strategies.
  • Plans should be considered tentative.
  • As a guide to instruction and learning, strive for CLARITY in planning.
  • Plan with assessment and evaluation in mind.
  • Keep plans simple.
  • Save your plans and stay organized.

What principles do you think are the most or least important on the list?

What additional principles would you include on your own list?

Maximizing Resources

Students sometimes ask us, “What is the best lesson you ever taught?” We tend to think of lessons that made some real difference in the life of a student.  Many of  the most memorable moments in our teaching careers had less to do with us than the experiences we arranged for our students. Most of those experiences required an artful use of resources—arranging for a Holocaust survivor to visit school, conducting an archaeological investigation at a local cemetery, or conducting authentic research.

One characteristic of effective teachers is knowing how to maximize the resources available to them. When effective teachers encounter new things, they begin to visualize how they might use them in their classes. The local retirement home becomes a source of local oral historical research; the river on the edge of town becomes data for a lesson on water pollution; a generic software program is transformed into a compelling game for students.

We begin by analyzing the most common and prominent resource in the K-12 classroom: the textbook. How can teachers squeeze the most from the textbooks they are provided?

Of course, there are lots of general criteria teachers use to evaluate their textbooks.  Is the content organized well?  Is the writing lively and interesting? Does the textbook use interesting, controversial, and relevant examples? Is the textbook visually appealing? Does the textbook provide multiple perspectives? Does the textbook invite higher levels of thinking? Is the textbook age appropriate?

Within each of your subject areas, you might also add additional criteria. For example, a teacher of civics and government may well decide that he or she is concerned with having a textbook that helps students conceptualize important ideas such as constitutionalism, democracy, human rights, representative government, and civil society. Watch a critique of textbook publishers below.

What general and subject-specific criteria do you expect from your textbooks?

How well do textbooks align with standards in your content area?

How will you use the textbook in your classroom?

Non-traditional Resources

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement:

“Non-traditional and new-media resources hold a great deal of promise to maximize student learning.”

As resources, all textbooks are incomplete. Even the best textbooks need to be supplemented with additional resources that bring ideas and skills to life. Watch the brief video below that describes how an anthropologist at DePaul University, Jane Baxter, transformed mobile technology and access to local cemeteries into deep learning for her students.

Speaking of  resources, while you will certainly find some great ideas for decorating your classroom on share sites such as Pinterest, make sure you extend your search. Include sites with content supported by Common Core or state standards, research-based practices (look at the citations in the reference list), or activities created by curriculum specialists when looking for lesson- or behavior-based classroom activities.

However, if you do stumble across something that seems credible on Pinterest, follow up by clicking on the link and investigating the planning/preparation, purpose, and research behind the thumbnail image.

To get you started, here are a few examples of credible online sources to find curricular materials and activities:

  • Readwritethink
  • Smithsonian for Educators
  • Kids Discover Online
  • Annenberg Learning
  • Teaching Channel

Brainstorm a list of specific resources you might use with your students.

Lesson Planning

Although practicing teachers need to carefully plan courses and the units of instruction within each course, as beginning pre-service teachers, we will focus on the most basic component of planning: the lesson.

Like most other important issues in teaching and learning, there is no single, agreed-upon best model for lesson planning. Most teachers eventually develop their unique way of lesson planning. You may hear people talk about the Gagne Model or the Hunter Model or the 5E Model. . . . All of these models are based on some similar characteristics.

In CIA, we are asking that you use a simple and straightforward model of lesson planning that contains the following elements:

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

ACCOMMODATIONS

BEGINNING OF A LESSON

MIDDLE OF A LESSON 

END OF A LESSON

Simple guidelines for each of these parts are provided below. . .

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Kansas State University

STANDARDS: 

  • Write out (i.e., cut and paste) the specific Standards, Benchmarks, and Indicators the lesson will address.
  • Choose 1 or 2 specific ideas or skills on which to focus the lesson.
  • Make sure everything in the lesson focuses on these aspects of the standards.

OBJECTIVES: 

  • Correct Example-The student will compare the colonists’ vs. British perspectives on the American Revolution.
  • Incorrect Example-The student will read the chapter and discuss the American Revolution.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS:

  • Write 4-5 interesting, engaging, open-ended, and meaningful questions you might ask during the lesson.

MATERIALS: 

  • List all the materials required for instructing this lesson.
  • Cite resources (basal publisher, website, children’s book) where applicable.
  • Attach supporting documents (student handouts, overheads, examples, etc.) if they are available.
  • Indicate how technology is used in planning and enhancing instruction.
  • Do not list materials that are customary parts of the classroom (e.g., whiteboard)

ACCOMMODATIONS:

  • In what ways will you adjust the lesson plan to the unique needs of individual learners?
  • If you are planning a lesson prior to having students, how might you accommodate an individual learner?

BEGINNING OF LESSON:

  • Clearly describe how you will gain and focus student interest.
  • Your goal is to create a “need to know.”
  • This part of the lesson should last approximately 3-5 minutes.

MIDDLE OF LESSON: 

  • Instructional activities and assessment align with stated objectives.
  • Key concepts are explained and/or modeled
  • opportunities for students to practice, process or participate
  • planned transitioning
  • application of learning/assessment
  • procedures are developed in[…]”

END OF A LESSON:

  • Clearly describe what you and the students will do to close the lesson.
  • A well planned and executed lesson ending asks students to demonstrate their knowledge or skills in some new way and allows the teacher to assess student achievement of the lesson objectives.”

Writing Objectives

Effective teachers are purposeful–they begin planning with a clear idea of what they want students to know, be able to do, or feel. Teachers write objectives at different levels of generality–course, unit, and lesson. Objectives or outcomes provide focus and clarity to student learning and help to guide instructional practice. Carefully planning for student learning by writing clear and challenging objectives, however, should not limit spontaneity, constrain creativity, or restrict the teacher’s ability to adjust instruction based upon assessment of student learning.

Types of Objectives/Outcomes

Two main types of learning objectives or outcomes exist– behavioral objectives and descriptive objectives . Behavioral objectives state what is to be learned in language that specifies observable behavior. An example of a behavioral objective at the level of lesson would be:

Given a list, students will be able to list five problems of government under the Article of Confederation with 100% accuracy.

Descriptive objectives clearly describe what students are to learn without using language that specifies observable behavior. An example of a descriptive objective at the level of lesson would be:

By the end of the lesson, students will explain the problems of government under the Articles of Confederation.

Depending upon the nature of  the subject you teach, you may utilize both types of outcome statements to guide student learning and your teaching. However, descriptive objectives are most common and are the type we will use in CIA.

Objectives/Outcomes Across Domains of Learning

Although there are various ways to classify learning outcomes, one common way was developed by Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues (1956). Bloom classified learning outcomes into three types: cognitive (i.e., knowledge), psychomotor (i.e., skill), and affective (i.e., attitude). Typically, most K- 12 learning objectives are aimed at the cognitive and psychomotor domains.

Levels of Generality and Specificity

One of the challenges to writing clear and effective learning outcomes or objectives is selecting the appropriate level of generality or specificity. Course objectives are the most general statements of student learning; lesson objectives are the most specific; and unit objectives fall between the two extremes. It is important for teachers to be able to clearly and concisely express the outcomes of student learning at all  three levels. The examples at the end of this handout illustrate these three levels.

Tips for Writing Effective Learning Objectives

Learning objectives/outcomes should. . .

  • Be clear, easy to understand, and unambiguous;
  • Guide the selection of content and pedagogy;
  • Be written for student learning, NOT teacher behavior;
  • Focus on the ends (i.e., goals), NOT the means (i.e., learning activities);
  • Promote learning across various domains (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitudes);
  • Promote a range in levels of understanding and/or performance (e.g., higher-order thinking);
  • Be relevant to the local curriculum and/or state standards;
  • Be developmentally appropriate for the age and background of learners (e.g., both challenging and attainable); and
  • Utilize active verbs.

Examples of Clear Learning Objectives

Course Objective (Psychomotor)

By the end of grade three, students will. . .

become more proficient thinkers, careful writers, critical readers, and better able to discuss important and controversial issues.

Unit Objective (Affective)

By the end of the unit, students will. . .

appreciate the importance of citizen participation in a democracy.

Lesson Objective (Cognitive)

By the end of the lesson, students will. . .

compare and contrast authority and responsibility.

Blooms Revised Taxonomy

One useful tool the teachers commonly use to think about and classify learning objectives and questions is Bloom’s revised taxonomy.

Scroll through the brief sketch of the taxonomy below.

Beginning/Middle/End of an Effective Lesson

Like a good burger, like a good movie, like a good basketball game, a good lesson…an effective lesson…has three main parts: Beginning, middle, and end.

And like a burger, a movie, and a basketball game, when you assemble all the right ingredients such as objectives, questioning approaches, and activities, you get an effective lesson.

So, to get us started, time travel again. How did your super-amazing/cool/effective teacher in elementary, middle, or high school start his or her lessons? With a thought-provoking question? Bell work? A brief introductory activity? Why was it successful? You may not have noticed at the time, but as you reflect upon it today, did those lessons include a distinctive beginning, middle, and end?

The Beginning

So, how do you start? What are your goals for the beginning?

• Get their attention

• Get them to put away their cell phones

• Get them to stop talking to their friends

• Get them motivated to learn

You need a solid beginning. Wasting time at the beginning of your lesson signals to the students that there is, indeed, time to waste. And, so they gladly help you waste it. Some of those time-wasters can be taking attendance or lunch count or handing out papers and other materials. You need a system to get those necessary tasks done efficiently and effectively without losing teaching time.

You also need some way of capturing student interest and focusing it on your learning objectives. All lesson plan models ask teachers to plan for a good beginning. Lesson introductions are also called “anticipatory sets” or the “lesson hook.”

Read Richard Curwin’s “ Your Lesson’s First Five Minutes: Make them Grand ” and watch the video below.

Once you’ve established that class has begun and you’ve gotten their attention, you’ll be moving into the heart of your lesson–where students approach the content in full force…through activities to help them learn. Some principles are listed below:

Variety is important within and across lessons. Kids do not want to do the same thing every day or spend the entire class doing one thing. Lesson middles should include a variety of strategies and activities.

Research-based Teaching strategies are valuable components of any lesson. We will discuss here more thoroughly in Module 8, but you should considering how to incorporate:

  • Identifying similarities and differences
  • Summarizing and note taking
  • Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
  • Homework and practice
  • Nonlinguistic representations
  • Cooperative learning
  • Setting objectives and providing feedback
  • Generating and testing hypothesis
  • Questions, cues, and advance organizers

Pacing can be an issue in the implementation of a lesson. The lesson can move too quickly or too slowly, and both can be equally problematic. Much like the fairy tale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the pacing needs to be just right.

Staying task-oriented and ensuring learning time are key to helping your students move through the lesson smoothly while addressing the objectives you’ve established for that lesson. And that includes managing time and keeping students focused. Check out the video below for helpful tips and examples.

Transitions from one activity–or portion of an activity–to another can be another stumbling block in the middle of your lesson. It’s that transition time where students can waste time, get distracted with other things, or generally just not understand that time in a classroom is a valuable thing.

And, finally, don’t overlook the power of your own enthusiasm. Students want to know that you’re excited about the lesson, and they’ll reflect the enthusiasm they see in you…and the tone of your voice…and your facial expressions and body language.

The End…Sort Of

The thing about meaningful lessons is that they usually have meaningful endings. But how do you accomplish such an ending? The best lesson endings ask the students to demonstrate their new knowledge or skills in some novel way. Just like lesson beginnings, there is no one correct way to end a lesson. Think about some of the more accomplished teachers that you’ve had through the years. How did they wrap things up? How did they actively engage students and check for understanding?

Some possibilities:

  • Lead a brief discussion on key ideas
  • Ask students to write two interesting, open-ended questions that could be answered from material in the lesson.
  • Have students present the results or a project or activity

Check out a teacher’s description of the end of the lesson, which is also known as lesson closure.

  • What are some things you can do if you notice the pacing of your lesson is too fast and you’re going to end up with several minutes of idle time between the end of the lesson and the bell?
  • What is one specific idea for beginning your future class? Why do you think it would be an effective way to start the class period?

EDCI 702: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Copyright © 2020 by Thomas Vontz and Lori Goodson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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  • Understanding Curriculum

Curriculum is the essence of any education system. Education is the transfer of knowledge, attitudes and skills from one generation to the next generation but the curriculum “reflects (the) forms of knowledge, habits of thinking, and cultural practices that a society considers important enough to pass on to succeeding generations” (Triche, 2002, p. 1). Therefore, knowing about curriculum is essential for teachers. This guide will help you in understanding the concept of curriculum. 

This guide is an extract from doctoral study entitled “Curriculum audit: Analysis of curriculum alignment at secondary level in Punjab” (by Abdul JabbarBhatti, research fellow at International Islamic University Islamabad) 

Various books and journals (online as well as offline) were consulted to get different aspects of curriculum (see reference below). Personal professional knowledge and judgment also helped in identifying important concepts. 

Achilles, C. M., Finn, J. D., Prout, J., & Bobbit, G. C. (2001). Small classes big possibilities. The School Administrator, 54 (9), 6-15.

Allington, R. L. (2002). You Can't Learn Much from Books You Can't Read. Educational Leadership, 60 (3), 16-19. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/495/

Bhatti, A. J. (2015). Curriculum audit: Analysis of curriculum alignment at secondary level in Punjab (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan.

Berliner, D. C. (1984). The half-full glass: A review of research on teaching. In P. L. Hosford (Ed.), Using what we know about teaching . Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Bobbit, F. (1918). The curriculum. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Bruner, J. S. (1960). The process of education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Caswell, H. L. & Campbell, D. S. (1935). Curriculum development . New York: American Book Company

Cornbleth, C. (1990). Curriculum in context. New York: Falmer. Danielson, C. (2002). Enhancing student achievement: A framework for school improvement.

Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Dewey, J. (1902). The child and the curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Doll, R. C. (1996). Curriculum improvement: Decision making and process , (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Eisner, E. W., Vallance, E. (1974). Five conceptions of curriculum: Their roots and implications for curriculum planning. In E. W. E. E. Vallance (Ed.), Conflicting Conceptions of Curriculum (pp. 1-18). Berkley, PA: McCutchan Publishing.

Ellis, A. K. (2004). Exemplars of curriculum theory . Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Farber, S., & Finn, J. (2000). The effect of small classes on student engagement. Paper presented at annual AREA meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Giroux, H. A., Penna, A. N. & Pinar, W. (1981). Curriculum & instruction : alternatives in education . Berkeley, Calif.: McCutchan Pub. Corp.

Glatthron, A. A., Boschee, F. & Whitehead, B. M. (2006). Curriculum leadership: Development and implementation. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Good, C. V. (Ed.). (1988). Dictionary of education , 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Goodson, I. F. (2010). Curriculum reform and curriculum theory, in J. Arthur & I. Davies (Eds.) The Routledge education studies reader . London: Routledge.

Gordon, C. W. (1957). The social system in the High School. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

Hopkins, L. T. (1941). Interaction: The democratic process . Boston: D. C. Heath.

Johnson, M. Jr. (1967). Definitions and models in curriculum theory. Educational theory 17 (2).

McNeil, J. D. (2006). Contemporary curriculum in thought and action (6th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Nussbaum, M. (2000). Women and human development: The capabilities approach . Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Psifidou, I. (2007). International trends and implementation challenges in secondary education curriculum policy: the case of Bulgaria (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Rugg, H. O. (1927). Curriculum making: Past and present. In C. Davis (1927). Our evolving high school curriculum. Yonkers-on –Hudson, New York: World Book.

Saylor, J. G., Alexander, W. M. &Lewis, A. J. (1981). Curriculum planning for better teaching and learning , (4th ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Tanner, D. &Tanner, L. (1995). Curriculum development: Theory into practice , (3rd ed.). New York: Merrill.

Triche, S. S. (2002). Reconceiving curriculum: An historical approach (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Louisiana. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov02/vol60/num03/You-Can%27t-Learn-Much-from-Books-You-Can%27t-Read.aspx

Turner, J. R. (2003). Ensuring what is tested is taught: Curriculum coherence and alignment . Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service.

Tyler, R. W. (1957). Curriculum then and now . In Proceedings of 1956 Invitational conference on testing problems. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

Wolk, S. (2010). What should students read? Phi Delta Kappan, 91 (7), 8–16. 

Definitions of Curriculum

The term curriculum has been defined in so many ways that it has become a hard to pin down term (Psifidou, 2007 p. 17). Different philosophies of education, divergent learning theories, and different approaches and theories of curriculum have contributed to the establishment of assorted definitions of curriculum. However, this variety in definitions of curriculum does not indicate its ambiguity but its comprehensiveness and richness of its scope. Actually, each definition communicates a particular aspect or characteristic of curriculum adding its depth and breadth. Some educationists think that curriculum is confined to content as it is “a systematic group of courses or sequences of subjects” (Good, 1988, p. 157), others consider it to consist of “the formal and informal content and process by which learners gain knowledge and understanding, develop skills, and alter attitudes, appreciations, and values under the auspices of school” (Doll, 1996, p. 15). Some think it to be an “output of the ‘curriculum development system’ and an input to the ‘instructional system’” (Johnson, 1967, p. 130), some others consider it to be a “plan for providing sets of learning opportunities for persons to be educated” (Saylor, Alexander & Lewis, 1981, p. 8), and some others suggest that curriculum includes the “entire range of experiences, both directed and undirected, concerned with unfolding the abilities of the individual” (Bobbit, 1918, p. 43) or “all experiences children have under the guidance of teachers” (Caswell & Campbell, 1935, p. 66). 

Ellis (2004, pp. 4-5) has grouped these definitions into two categories developed further below:

1. Prescriptive definitions

2. Descriptive definitions 

Prescriptive definitions

Some definitions are prescriptive because these define curriculum as “how things ought to be” in the schools. These definitions acknowledge the dominant role of the institution or teacher who is influencing the learners. Here, the institution or teacher is responsible for transforming the learners’ personality in such a way that it is accepted by the society. Educationists like Dewey, Rugg, Tylor, and Triche give a prescriptive definition of curriculum: when they suggest that

  • Curriculum is revamping of child’s experience to “the organized body of truth” (Dewey, 1902, p. 11)

• Curriculum is sum of “all the learning experiences planned and directed by the school” (Tyler, 1957, p. 79)

• Curriculum is purposeful and embodies “a society’s past, present and future beliefs” (Triche, 2002, p. 1). 

Descriptive definitions

Some definitions are descriptive because these define curriculum as “how things are” in the schools. In these definitions, educationists put the learners in focus and define things happening with respect to the learners. Some definitions of this category are given below.

  • Curriculum includes everything which the learner willingly receives and assimilates so that it shapes his future behaviour (Hopkins, 1941)
  • Curriculum is the “interaction” of students with the teacher, knowledge and environment (Cornbleth, 1990).
  • Curriculum causes a change in the learner’s knowledge and experience that helps the learner in managing situations around him wisely (Tanner & Tanner, 1995, p. 189). 

Types of Curriculum

The diversity in curriculum definition also continues to exist in describing its types. Different writers have used different terminology and categories of curriculum. However, it is interesting that many curriculum specialists have used different terminology for the same type of curriculum. Figure1 gives an outline of different types of curriculum. 

Figure 1: Types of curriculum

Recommended Curriculum (also known as Ideological Curriculum)

The Recommended Curriculum is the name given to the curriculum construed by the educational stakeholders at the national level. It is more general and usually consists of policy guidelines. It actually reflects the impact of “opinion shapers” such as:

  • policy makers
  • educationists
  • professional associations
  • legislators. 

The Recommended Curriculum provides a basic framework for the curriculum. It identifies the key learning areas. It specifies the boundaries as well as the destination. So, it guides the curriculum coordinator in formulating the academic standards to be achieved through various teaching-learning programmes. National educational policy is a form of Recommended Curriculum. 

Written Curriculum (also known as Enacted curriculum or Curriculum)

The Written Curriculum is the curriculum that is sanctioned and approved for classroom delivery. It represents society’s needs and interests . It translates the broad goals of the “Recommended Curriculum” into specific learning outcomes. Glatthron, Boschee, and Whitehead (2006, p. 9) note that the “Written Curriculum” is specific as well as comprehensive and it indicates:

  • Rationale of curriculum
  • General goals to be realized
  • Specific objectives to be achieved
  • The sequence of objectives
  • Kinds of learning activities

The Written Curriculum is authentic where it is product of visionary educators and where it has deep and life-lasting effect on the learners (Wolk, 2010). The Written Curriculum can be (a) generic or (b) specific to region. The generic “Recommended Curriculum” is usually developed at national level and is used at variety of educational settings. On the other hand, region specific curriculaare developed for a particular site usually district. 

The Written Curriculum is a practicable plan as it is result of compromise between the ideals recommended by the experts and the real situations suggested by the teachers, pupils and parents. Therefore, it is essential that teachers must have a clear understanding of the Written Curriculum to interpret the demands of curriculum as enacted in government documents. Moreover, the professional development of teachers must be aligned with the Written Curriculum. 

Supported Curriculum

The Supported Curriculum is the curriculum supported by available resources. Such resources include both human (teachers) as well as physical (such as textbooks, workbooks, audio visual aids, teacher guides, grounds, buildings, library books and laboratory equipment). The Supported Curriculum not only plays a vital role in developing, implementing, and evaluating the curriculum, it also affects the quantity and nature of the learnt content (Glatthron, Boschee, & Whitehead, 2006, pp. 10-14).

Research indicates that teacher-student ratio (e.g. Achilles, Finn, Prout, & Bobbit, 2001; Danielson, 2002; Farber & Finn, 2000), the allocation of amount of time for a particular subject, and the quality of the textbooks (Allington, 2002) play a key role in students’ learning. These are all elements of Supported Curriculum. 

Taught Curriculum (also known as Operational Curriculum):

The curriculum that is delivered by the teachers to the students is termed as Taught Curriculum. Teachers, being the chief implementers of curriculum, occupy a crucial role in curriculum decision making. Taking the students into consideration, they decide how to achieve the intended learning outcomes. They decide the distribution of time to a particular activity/content. Even the external pressures like external exams cannot limit their freedom to exercise their own philosophy of instruction. In some countries teachers are given considerable authority regarding curriculum, instruction and choice of instructional resources, in others these choices are limited. 

Learned Curriculum (also known as Experienced Curriculum)

All the changes occurred in the learners due to their school experience are called the Learned Curriculum. It is the curriculum that a learner absorbs or makes sense of as a result of interaction with the teacher, class-fellows or the institution. It includes the knowledge, attitudes and skills acquired by the student. Many educationists have defined curriculum as everything the learner experiences. This emphasizes the dominance of the learner in the curriculum and excludes all that which has no effect on the learner. Thus, only the learned curriculum becomes the curriculum. 

Assessed Curriculum (also known as Tested Curriculum)

The curriculum that is reflected by the assessment or evaluation of the learners is called the Assessed Curriculum. It includes both formative and summative evaluation of learners conducted by teachers, schools, or external organizations. It involves all the tests (teacher- made, district or standardized) in all formats (such as portfolio, performance, production, demonstration, etc.). The assessed curriculum is significant as it enables the stakeholders to evaluate the impact of Written and Taught curricula upon the learners. It determines the level of the Learned Curriculum. Research (e.g. Berliner, 1984; Turner, 2003) indicates that the mismatch between Assessed and Taught Curricula has serious consequences. 

Hidden Curriculum

Gordon (1957) was first to identify that a part of the Learned Curriculum was due to unintended results of activities or efforts of the institutions. This is called the hidden curriculum. It is unintentional because the teachers as well as other members of the educational institution convey messages that are not part of the officially approved curriculum. For example, the behaviour and attitude of the teachers may affect the students. Moreover, it may also be the unintentional consequence of some act. An example of Hidden Curriculum occurs when a student (dis)likes some teacher’s teaching strategy and consequently begins (dis)liking the subject taught by that teacher. Both positive and negative messages are included in the hidden curriculum. McNeil (2006, p.193) admits that Hidden Curriculum is “part of school ethos” and controls much of the students’ learning, behaviour and social conduct. 

Null Curriculum (also known as Excluded Curriculum)

The Null Curriculum is that which is not taught. Sometimes the teacher ignores some content or skill, deliberately or unknowingly. A teacher may consider some idea unimportant and ignore it. Similarly, teacher may avoid detailed description of some topic for the one or other reason, for example, evolution in Biology. Sometimes also, the learner fails to learn certain knowledge, skills or attitude for various reasons. 

Curriculum Conceptions

Several theoretical frameworks have been proposed for designing or adapting curriculum. Curriculum experts like Eisner and Vallance (1974) and Giroux, Penna, and Pinar (1981) have critically analysed these different conceptions of curriculum. McNeil (2006) categorized different conceptions of curriculum in to following four groups:

Humanistic Curriculum

Social reconstructionist curriculum, systemic curriculum.

  • Academic Curriculum 

The learner as human being has prime significance for the Humanistic Curriculum which aims at development and realization of complete human personality of the student. The humanistic curriculum does not take student as subservient to society, history or philosophy but as a complete entity. The humanistic curriculum experts suggest that if education succeeds in development of needs, interests, and aptitudes of every individual, the students will willingly and intelligently cooperate with one another for common good. This will ensure a free and universal society with shared interests rather than conflicting ones. Thus humanists stress on individual freedom and democratic rights to form global community based on “common humanity of all people”.

The Humanistic Curriculum is based on the belief that the education that is good for a person is also best for the well being of the nation. Here, the individual learner is not regarded as a passive or at least easily managed recipient of input. S/he is the choosing or self-selecting organism. To design the Humanistic Curriculum, we have to focus on the question “What does the curriculum mean to the learner?” Self-understanding, self-actualization, and fostering the emotional and physical well being as well as well as the intellectual skills necessary for independent judgment become the immediate concern of the Humanistic Curriculum. To the humanists, the goals of education are related to the ideals of personal growth, integrity, and autonomy. Healthier attitudes towards self, peers, and learning are among their expectations. The concept of confluent curriculum and curriculum for consciousness are the important types of humanistic curriculum. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseaue, Kant, and Pestalozzi are some of the great humanists of the world history. 

Social Reconstructionists are dissatisfied with the social, political and economic order of society and take curriculum as vehicle for reconstruction of the society. They advocate a curriculum which gives vision of an ideal society and ensures “reconstruction” of present society on the basis of that vision. The Reconstructionists suggest that curriculum should confront the learners with issues which mankind face and this curriculum should develop in learners the ability of critically analysing these issues and finding out the possible solutions. Consequently, the learners will develop deep understanding of the society and they will strive for better social order. Social adaptation and social reconstruction approaches are very important here. The social adaptation approach refers to awareness of students about the social problems and giving the students solutions of these problems. On the other hand, social reconstruction refers to developing in students critical awareness of social problems and seeking changes in basic structure of society to improve the real world. The Social Reconstructionists may be grouped into following categories: 

1. Freire’s social reconstructionism (Revolution) 

2. Neo-Marxists (Critical inquiry)

3. Futurolgists

For further reading please see: Schiro, M. S. (2013). Curriculum Theory Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns (2nd ed). SAGE Publications, Inc (pp.151-198). 

The Systemic Curriculum reflects a coherent systemic strategy for each level of the education system beginning from expectations to achievement. The important features of Systemic Curriculum or standard-based curriculum are:

1. Setting standards and learning outcomes for the students

2. Complete alignment among policies, curricular framework, instructional materials, classroom instruction and assessment

3. Reorganization of the whole education system for maximizing students’ achievement with respect to already specified learning outcomes

4. Evaluation of students’ achievements, identification of deficiencies and accountability of the concerned.

The basic concept behind systemic curriculum is having objectives, adopting measures to achieve these objectives, and assessing continually to see if all the elements are working harmoniously for achieving the specified objectives. The systemic curriculum is said to serve as egalitarian interests as it focuses on measures of equal access for all. It also facilitates in accountability of all the concerned educational stake-holders as it sets predetermined standards and efficiency of stake holders can be measured with respect to these standards. Here teacher tries to adhere to the already specified objectives or standards. 

For further reading please see: Margaret E. Goertz, M. E., Floden, R. E., & O’Day, J. (1995). Studies of Education Reform: Systemic Reform, Volume I: Findings and Conclusions. Link https://www2.ed.gov/PDFDocs/volume1.pdf 

Academic Curriculum

The advocates of Academic Curriculum believe that every academic discipline has a particular structure and curriculum should develop in students understanding of basic principles of that structure. By adopting that structure, the students would go more deeply into the knowledge, create more ideas, and validate their ideas. The learning gained through this process would also enable the learners to make use of acquired knowledge in other contexts. 

Bruner (1960) suggests that there may be following three kinds of structures in any discipline:

  • Organizational structure
  • Substantive structure
  • Syntactical structure 

The basic idea behind academic curriculum is to facilitate students in learning “how to learn?”. This curriculum tries to induce in students the methodology and procedure adopted by the specialists to discover new knowledge. This is done by introducing students to intellectually challenging situations to enable them understand and adopt the basic structure of the particular discipline. 

Levels of Curriculum Development

McNeil (2006, pp. 89-91) noted that curriculum may be developed at four levels:

1. Societal

2. Institutional

3. Instructional

4. Personal 

1. Societal level

At the societal level, curriculum is developed by the federal level agencies, boards of education, publishers, and curriculum reform committees. The curriculum developed at this level is mostly based on theoretical knowledge and is mostly reflection of the educational policy rather than field experience. However, school administrators, teachers, parents, and students are also usually consulted to make it more practical. It is prescriptive and general, giving less space for individuality or local needs. Here, the politicians, corporate leaders and organizations are more influential in shaping the curriculum. However, the curriculum is then developed by the professional experts such as curriculum specialists, subject specialists and psychologists. It serves the egalitarian interests and brings uniformity throughout the country. For achieving the advantages of this type of curriculum, efforts are required for maximum alignment at state, district, school, and classroom level. 

2. Institutional Level

Here, the curriculum is developed by the school administration and teachers. However, the students, parents as well as the local community may also be involved. Curriculum at the institutional level is more aligned to the institutional goals. The vocational and training schools often develop their own curriculum according to the nature of particular job or skill they are going to prepare students. 

3. Instructional Level

The instructional level curriculum is developed by the classroom teacher. The teacher sets the learning outcomes keeping in view his actual experience of the learners. It is based on practical knowledge of the learners and the locality. However, it may lack the depth and breadth. The effective teachers develop the curriculum that is also aligned to national policy and standards. 

4. Personal Level

Here, the learners are not passive recipient of knowledge them but they are choosing and self- managing learners. They construct their own meanings from their classroom experiences. This curriculum is challenging, but flexible, innovative and learner-friendly. It allows the learners to grasp clearly the learning goals and progress purposefully through active learning. 

Nussbaum’s (2000) concept of ‘practical reason’ and ‘affiliation’ is much important here. ‘Practical’ reason implies that the learners must reflect critically upon the plan of their life and formulate their personal goals. ‘Affiliation’ means having ability to live effectively with others and showing exemplary social interactions. This is possible when the learners are empowered to make decisions about themselves. The Magnet Schools in America (which offer diverse options to the students in choices of individualized curriculum) are examples of institutions where personal curriculum decisions are made. The Montessori approach which supports discovery learning and self-directed learning provides another example. 

Strength of Evidence

This study provides an overview of different interpretations of the concept of ‘curriculum’.You are welcome to comment and submit definitions and examples for consideration for inclusion.

Email  [email protected]

Transferability

The Editors see no reason that these definitions will not be understood in other settings.  A restricted understanding of the different forms the curriculum takes can prevent intended outcomes being achieved.

Areas for further research

If you are researching in this area, please let us know so that we can add this information to the guide. An important linked area is the aims of education. The findings reported in Bhatti’s theses indicate the importance of ensuring that the aims of education are aligned with the curriculum (all aspects) and the assessment experience of students. If a wholistic view is not taken by curriculum planners then the desired outcomes are not likely to be achieved. 

Editor’s comments

This is an example of carefully carried out research addressing examples of lack of alignment between curriculum, assessment and aims which can limit students’ achievement and the achievement of the goals of curriculum planners.

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Curriculum Design Explained + 5 Tips for Educators

what is your own definition of curriculum essay

Educators are always seeking out ways to bring energy into their classrooms and into their lessons. But regardless of grade level, creating engaging and relevant curricula that meets standards while also effectively teaching subject matter can feel like an impossible effort.

The good news for teachers is that there are resources out there to help them reinvigorate or simply refine their lessons. Whether they’ve been teaching for two years or 20, a cur riculum design refresher can help teachers find new, innovative ways to motivate their students. 

What is Curriculum Design & Why Is It Important?

Curriculum desig n is generally defined as “the deliberate organization of curriculum within a course or classroom. When instructors design their curriculums, they identify what will be done, who will do it and when, as well as what the objective of each course is. Curriculum design involves planning activities, readings, lessons, and assessments that achieve educational goals.”

Curriculum design is important because it centers a teacher’s practice based on individual needs in the classroom. Any curriculum development effort should focus on being an effective educator, as it involves rethinking lessons that already exist to re-envision what would better prioritize the needs of the students. The process of design and creation of new or revised curriculum brings fresh and up-to-date ideas to the classroom.

What is Curriculum Planning?

A component of curriculum design and development is curriculum planning — identifying and selecting teaching strategies and organizational methods based on individual student needs that will result in improved student growth and student learning outcomes. 

Curriculum planning should incorporate the 6 elements of effective teaching , from the Danielson Framework for Teaching :

  • Demonstrate knowledge of content and pedagogy;
  • Demonstrate the knowledge of students;
  • Set instructional outcomes;
  • Demonstrate knowledge of resources;
  • Design coherent instruction;
  • Design student assessments.

Curriculum Models: Product vs. Process

Curriculum models are the first step in curriculum development, and they help educators determine what type of curriculum design is appropriate for their students and their learning goals. They have long-existed and act as formulaic guides for teachers as they design their new or existing curricula.

Curriculum models have five areas they define:

  • Focus — Subject or student. Where is the emphasis?
  • Approach — Traditional or modern. What type of instruction will be used?
  • Content — Topic based or content based. How will units or strands be written?
  • Process — Formative or summative. How will assessments be used?
  • Structure — System, linear or cyclical. How often does the curriculum get reviewed?

From there, there are two models of curriculum development that are widely used today — the product model and the process model. The Journal of Education and Practice defines them as:

  • Product model: Product models emphasize the outcome of a learning experience. The product model of the curriculum leads to some kind of desirable end product. Examples given are knowledge of certain facts, mastery of specific skills and competencies, and acquisition of certain “appropriate” attitudes and values.
  • Process model: With process models, the emphasis is on learning acquired from experience of work and life, that is experiential learning. It comprises open-ended student activities with developing tendencies and capacities. The emphasis is on the quality of the learning as it takes place rather than on predetermined outcomes.

Think of it like this — the product model is assessment driven; like a target for the teacher and students to prepare toward the end of a unit. All the lessons that come before the product drive toward the end result. Whereas a process approach depends more on developing skills and revision of work based on continually assessing student needs.

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what is your own definition of curriculum essay

Types of Curriculum Design

There are three categories of curriculum design, differentiated by who or what the primary focus of the lessons will be. 

  • Focuses on a specific discipline/subject
  • Subject-centered curriculum design describes what needs to be studied and how it should be studied
  • Most common type of curriculum used in the U.S.
  • Downside — not student-centered, constructed without taking into account the specific learning styles of the students, which can reduce student engagement and motivation
  • Focuses on students’ own interests and goals
  • Acknowledges that students have individual learning styles, and therefore should not be subject to a standardized curriculum
  • Aims to empower learners to shape their education
  • Downside — it can create pressure on the educator to source materials specific to each student’s learning needs
  • Focuses on specific issues and their solutions
  • Teaches students how to be problem solvers
  • Considered an authentic form of learning because students are exposed to real-life issues, so they develop skills that are transferable to the real world
  • Downside — this format does not always consider individual learning styles 

Benefits of Utilizing Curriculum Design 

Educators are already asked to handle more than their fair share of tasks in their career, so if they’re going to add anything to their workloads, it must clearly improve things for them and their students. Thankfully, curriculum design benefits them both by:

  • Creating a curriculum with a purpose and concrete goals — a goal-oriented curriculum that has been crafted with student learning styles and outcomes in mind has been shown to improve participation, improve retention, foster collaborative learning and ultimately make learning more fun.
  • Ensures that standards are being met — While they don’t have to be the singular focus of curriculum design, educators do have to ensure that their subject matter is meeting standards and helping students successfully reach the benchmarks of their grade and age levels. With updated curriculum design, educators can more clearly demonstrate how their courses meet standards.
  • Improves the teaching process — When lessons or curricula have been in circulation for years, they can get stale for both the students and the teacher. With a refreshed curriculum design, educators can find new and exciting ways to teach the subject matter they’re passionate about, making their jobs more fun and students more engaged.
  • Improves student outcomes — With a curriculum that is learner-centered or problem-centered, the teaching methodologies are more likely to align with student learning styles which, in theory, should improve their performance in the classroom.

Curriculum Design Tips

Curriculum design should be an intentional process, and it can be guided by a teacher’s own experience, or perhaps in a workshop setting, or even part of a curriculum design course . Regardless of the inspiration, there are a few curriculum design tips all educators should keep in mind.

  • Identify student needs: A student-centered curriculum obviously must originate with students’ needs. However, even if they aren’t considering that type of curriculum design, teachers should have a clear understanding of these needs and use them as a compass as they revamp their course curriculum.
  • Have a clear set of goals: Clearly defined learning outcomes or course goals will help guide educators as they design new curriculum. These can be state standards, individual student goals or even goals for themselves as educators, but having identifiable benchmarks makes it easier to assess both student and educator success.
  • Acknowledge limitations: In an ideal world, teachers would have endless resources and time to ensure that all components of their lesson plans and overall curriculum are taught to completion. But in reality, there are limitations, in terms of bandwidth, class time, student abilities and more. When they are designing or updating course curriculum, teachers must acknowledge these limitations and ensure that realistic expectations are set.
  • Select your instructional methods — Choosing to redesign curriculum is an opportunity for educators to formulate lessons and strategies that play to their strengths. In planning out a refreshed course plan, they should select instructional methods that they enjoy, that are effective with students and that they are proficient in.
  • Establish an evaluation process — While curriculum design is an opportunity to play to one’s strengths, it is also an opportunity to reflect and more clearly see the effectiveness of certain teaching strategies. During this process, educators should implement a solid evaluation process that gives them high-quality feedback on their lessons and helps inform improvements for the next time.
  • Lastly, and most importantly, educators should consider taking a curriculum design course . In these courses, teachers are afforded the time to do the curriculum-enriching work for their school, district and classrooms that they may not have had during the school year. At the University of San Diego’s Division of Professional and Continuing Education, our experienced professional educators provide meaningful and timely feedback throughout our curriculum design program, centering each individual teacher’s needs based on their grade level, subject and coursework plan. At the end of the course, teachers are ready to inspire their students with a fresh, engaging new curriculum.

To learn more visit the University of San Diego’s Curriculum Design program

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Definition of curriculum

Did you know.

The Different Plural Forms of Curriculum

Curriculum is from New Latin (a post-medieval form of Latin used mainly in churches and schools and for scientific coinages), in which language it means “a course of study.” It shares its ultimate root in classical Latin, where it meant “running” or “course” (as in “race course”), with words such as corridor , courier , and currency , all of which come from Latin currere “to run.”

As is the case with many nouns borrowed directly from Latin, there is often some confusion as to the proper way to form its plural. Both curricula and curriculums are considered correct.

This word is frequently seen in conjunction with vitae ; a curriculum vitae (Latin for “course of (one’s) life”) is “a short account of one's career and qualifications prepared typically by an applicant for a position” – in other words, a résumé . Curriculum vitae is abbreviated CV , and is pluralized as curricula vitae .

Examples of curriculum in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'curriculum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

borrowed from New Latin, going back to Latin, "action of running, course of action, race," from currere "to run" + -i- -i- + -culum, suffix of instrument and place (going back to Indo-European *-tlom ) — more at current entry 1

1824, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing curriculum

curriculum vitae

Dictionary Entries Near curriculum

Cite this entry.

“Curriculum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curriculum. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

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The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay | Steps & Examples

An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.

There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are argumentative — they aim to persuade the reader of a particular position or perspective on a topic.

The essay writing process consists of three main stages:

  • Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.
  • Writing : Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.
  • Revision:  Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling, and formatting of your essay.

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Table of contents

Essay writing process, preparation for writing an essay, writing the introduction, writing the main body, writing the conclusion, essay checklist, lecture slides, frequently asked questions about writing an essay.

The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay .

For example, if you’ve been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you’ll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay , on the other hand, you’ll need to spend more time researching your topic and developing an original argument before you start writing.

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Before you start writing, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you’re going to say it. There are a few key steps you can follow to make sure you’re prepared:

  • Understand your assignment: What is the goal of this essay? What is the length and deadline of the assignment? Is there anything you need to clarify with your teacher or professor?
  • Define a topic: If you’re allowed to choose your own topic , try to pick something that you already know a bit about and that will hold your interest.
  • Do your research: Read  primary and secondary sources and take notes to help you work out your position and angle on the topic. You’ll use these as evidence for your points.
  • Come up with a thesis:  The thesis is the central point or argument that you want to make. A clear thesis is essential for a focused essay—you should keep referring back to it as you write.
  • Create an outline: Map out the rough structure of your essay in an outline . This makes it easier to start writing and keeps you on track as you go.

Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to discuss, in what order, and what evidence you’ll use, you’re ready to start writing.

The introduction sets the tone for your essay. It should grab the reader’s interest and inform them of what to expect. The introduction generally comprises 10–20% of the text.

1. Hook your reader

The first sentence of the introduction should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity. This sentence is sometimes called the hook. It might be an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement emphasizing the relevance of the topic.

Let’s say we’re writing an essay about the development of Braille (the raised-dot reading and writing system used by visually impaired people). Our hook can make a strong statement about the topic:

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

2. Provide background on your topic

Next, it’s important to give context that will help your reader understand your argument. This might involve providing background information, giving an overview of important academic work or debates on the topic, and explaining difficult terms. Don’t provide too much detail in the introduction—you can elaborate in the body of your essay.

3. Present the thesis statement

Next, you should formulate your thesis statement— the central argument you’re going to make. The thesis statement provides focus and signals your position on the topic. It is usually one or two sentences long. The thesis statement for our essay on Braille could look like this:

As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.

4. Map the structure

In longer essays, you can end the introduction by briefly describing what will be covered in each part of the essay. This guides the reader through your structure and gives a preview of how your argument will develop.

The invention of Braille marked a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Write your essay introduction

The body of your essay is where you make arguments supporting your thesis, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. Its purpose is to present, interpret, and analyze the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.

Length of the body text

The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60–80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8–10 pages.

Paragraph structure

To give your essay a clear structure , it is important to organize it into paragraphs . Each paragraph should be centered around one main point or idea.

That idea is introduced in a  topic sentence . The topic sentence should generally lead on from the previous paragraph and introduce the point to be made in this paragraph. Transition words can be used to create clear connections between sentences.

After the topic sentence, present evidence such as data, examples, or quotes from relevant sources. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how it helps develop your overall argument.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

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what is your own definition of curriculum essay

The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay. It should generally take up no more than 10–15% of the text . A strong essay conclusion :

  • Returns to your thesis
  • Ties together your main points
  • Shows why your argument matters

A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence that leaves the reader with a strong final impression.

What not to include in a conclusion

To make your essay’s conclusion as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid. The most common mistakes are:

  • Including new arguments or evidence
  • Undermining your arguments (e.g. “This is just one approach of many”)
  • Using concluding phrases like “To sum up…” or “In conclusion…”

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Checklist: Essay

My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length ).

My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.

My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.

I use paragraphs to structure the essay.

I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.

Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.

I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.

My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.

I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.

I have given an in-text citation for every quote or piece of information I got from another source.

I have included a reference page at the end of my essay, listing full details of all my sources.

My citations and references are correctly formatted according to the required citation style .

My essay has an interesting and informative title.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).

Your essay meets all the most important requirements. Our editors can give it a final check to help you submit with confidence.

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

  • An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
  • Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
  • A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

  • It gives your writing direction and focus.
  • It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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10.6 Definition

Learning objectives.

  • Determine the purpose and structure of the definition essay.
  • Understand how to write a definition essay.

The Purpose of Definition in Writing

The purpose of a definition essay may seem self-explanatory: the purpose of the definition essay is to simply define something. But defining terms in writing is often more complicated than just consulting a dictionary. In fact, the way we define terms can have far-reaching consequences for individuals as well as collective groups.

Take, for example, a word like alcoholism . The way in which one defines alcoholism depends on its legal, moral, and medical contexts. Lawyers may define alcoholism in terms of its legality; parents may define alcoholism in terms of its morality; and doctors will define alcoholism in terms of symptoms and diagnostic criteria. Think also of terms that people tend to debate in our broader culture. How we define words, such as marriage and climate change , has enormous impact on policy decisions and even on daily decisions. Think about conversations couples may have in which words like commitment , respect , or love need clarification.

Defining terms within a relationship, or any other context, can at first be difficult, but once a definition is established between two people or a group of people, it is easier to have productive dialogues. Definitions, then, establish the way in which people communicate ideas. They set parameters for a given discourse, which is why they are so important.

When writing definition essays, avoid terms that are too simple, that lack complexity. Think in terms of concepts, such as hero , immigration , or loyalty , rather than physical objects. Definitions of concepts, rather than objects, are often fluid and contentious, making for a more effective definition essay.

Writing at Work

Definitions play a critical role in all workplace environments. Take the term sexual harassment , for example. Sexual harassment is broadly defined on the federal level, but each company may have additional criteria that define it further. Knowing how your workplace defines and treats all sexual harassment allegations is important. Think, too, about how your company defines lateness , productivity , or contributions .

On a separate sheet of paper, write about a time in your own life in which the definition of a word, or the lack of a definition, caused an argument. Your term could be something as simple as the category of an all-star in sports or how to define a good movie. Or it could be something with higher stakes and wider impact, such as a political argument. Explain how the conversation began, how the argument hinged on the definition of the word, and how the incident was finally resolved.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your responses.

The Structure of a Definition Essay

The definition essay opens with a general discussion of the term to be defined. You then state as your thesis your definition of the term.

The rest of the essay should explain the rationale for your definition. Remember that a dictionary’s definition is limiting, and you should not rely strictly on the dictionary entry. Instead, consider the context in which you are using the word. Context identifies the circumstances, conditions, or setting in which something exists or occurs. Often words take on different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. For example, the ideal leader in a battlefield setting could likely be very different than a leader in an elementary school setting. If a context is missing from the essay, the essay may be too short or the main points could be confusing or misunderstood.

The remainder of the essay should explain different aspects of the term’s definition. For example, if you were defining a good leader in an elementary classroom setting, you might define such a leader according to personality traits: patience, consistency, and flexibility. Each attribute would be explained in its own paragraph.

For definition essays, try to think of concepts that you have a personal stake in. You are more likely to write a more engaging definition essay if you are writing about an idea that has personal value and importance.

It is a good idea to occasionally assess your role in the workplace. You can do this through the process of definition. Identify your role at work by defining not only the routine tasks but also those gray areas where your responsibilities might overlap with those of others. Coming up with a clear definition of roles and responsibilities can add value to your résumé and even increase productivity in the workplace.

On a separate sheet of paper, define each of the following items in your own terms. If you can, establish a context for your definition.

  • Consumer culture

Writing a Definition Essay

Choose a topic that will be complex enough to be discussed at length. Choosing a word or phrase of personal relevance often leads to a more interesting and engaging essay.

After you have chosen your word or phrase, start your essay with an introduction that establishes the relevancy of the term in the chosen specific context. Your thesis comes at the end of the introduction, and it should clearly state your definition of the term in the specific context. Establishing a functional context from the beginning will orient readers and minimize misunderstandings.

The body paragraphs should each be dedicated to explaining a different facet of your definition. Make sure to use clear examples and strong details to illustrate your points. Your concluding paragraph should pull together all the different elements of your definition to ultimately reinforce your thesis. See Chapter 15 “Readings: Examples of Essays” to read a sample definition essay.

Create a full definition essay from one of the items you already defined in Note 10.64 “Exercise 2” . Be sure to include an interesting introduction, a clear thesis, a well-explained context, distinct body paragraphs, and a conclusion that pulls everything together.

Key Takeaways

  • Definitions establish the way in which people communicate ideas. They set parameters for a given discourse.
  • Context affects the meaning and usage of words.
  • The thesis of a definition essay should clearly state the writer’s definition of the term in the specific context.
  • Body paragraphs should explain the various facets of the definition stated in the thesis.
  • The conclusion should pull all the elements of the definition together at the end and reinforce the thesis.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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  2. Instructions for Essay #3

  3. Follow your own definition of success

  4. Write your own definition of success🙏♥️ #motivation #kiteculture #love

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  1. Defining Curriculum and Instruction

    Definition of instruction. Instruction refers to the manner in which the teacher facilitates students to acquire knowledge and skills. It is a planned process through which an interaction takes place between two people or between an individual and technology. An instructor thus plays the role of providing support to the learners.

  2. Curriculum

    A curriculum is first of all a policy statement about a piece of education, and secondly an indication as to the ways in which that policy is to be realised through a programme of action. In practice, though, a curriculum is more than even this; it is useful to think of it as being much wider. As a working definition of a curriculum I would say ...

  3. What is curriculum? Exploring theory and practice

    The curriculum, essentially, is a set of documents for implementation. Another way of looking at curriculum theory and practice is via process. In this sense curriculum is not a physical thing, but rather the interaction of teachers, students and knowledge.

  4. My Personal Definition For School Curriculum Essay

    My Personal Definition For School Curriculum Essay. The meaning of the term' curriculum' is difficult to define. For school, Pratt (in Brady and Kennedy, 2014, p. 3) argues that curriculum can be 'an organized set of formal educational and training intentions'. For students, Marsh and Wills (in Brady and Kennedy, 2014, p.

  5. Curriculum Definition

    The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program. In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school, but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools. Depending on how broadly educators define or employ the term, curriculum typically refers to the knowledge and skills students are expected ...

  6. Definitions of Curriculum

    Curriculum refers to an interactive system of instruction and learning with specific goals, contents, strategies, measurement, and resources. The desired outcome of curriculum is successful transfer and/or development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Everything that is written, taught and tested in an educational program of study.

  7. My Definition of Curriculum

    I expected to see the answer in the great book entitled "Experience and Education" of Dewey (1938), but throughout his work, the word "education" always went with adjectives like ...

  8. What Is a Curriculum and How Do You Make One?

    Cooperative Learning. Cooperative learning is the practice of creating small groups of students in your class and having them teach one another. The core of cooperative learning is based on trust and accountability. Students learn different parts of a large concept and teach that information to one another.

  9. Curriculum design and development

    The process of curriculum development involves the design and development of integrated plans for learning, how to implement and evaluate the plans, and checking the outcome. Designing the curriculum involves critical analysis of the teaching and learning framework. The purpose of the design stage is to elucidate certain action plans for ...

  10. PDF CHAPTER 1 The Nature of Curriculum

    overview of the curriculum field and a set of concepts for analyzing the field. To accom-plish these related goals, the discussion that follows focuses on these outcomes: defining the concept of curriculum, examining the several types of curricula, describing the con-trasting nature of curriculum components, and analyzing the hidden curriculum ...

  11. What Exactly Is Curriculum?

    Here is what I believe curriculum is and is not: Curriculum is not a textbook, nor the materials, videos and worksheets that help us instruct students. It is the knowledge and skills that students are expected to learn as they progress through our school system. The books my mentor teacher showed me should have been a piece of the puzzle, not ...

  12. Module 6: Curriculum Planning

    Plan with students in mind. Instructional planning is an inexact science. Teachers enjoy various degrees of autonomy in planning and implementing the curriculum. The beginning and ending of courses, units, and lessons are very important to the learning process. Assemble resources before you attempt to start planning.

  13. Understanding Curriculum

    Understanding Curriculum. Curriculum is the essence of any education system. Education is the transfer of knowledge, attitudes and skills from one generation to the next generation but the curriculum "reflects (the) forms of knowledge, habits of thinking, and cultural practices that a society considers important enough to pass on to ...

  14. Curriculum Definition

    Curriculum. Curriculum is a standards-based sequence of planned experiences where students practice and achieve proficiency in content and applied learning skills. Curriculum is the central guide for all educators as to what is essential for teaching and learning, so that every student has access to rigorous academic experiences.

  15. Curriculum Essay

    Curriculum for Excellence aim is to make a difference in Scottish education by providing a consistent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 to 18. The purpose of the curriculum is to inspire the children to develop the four capacities • Successful learners • Confident individuals • Responsible citizens • Effective contributors.

  16. Curriculum Design Explained + 5 Tips for Educators

    Curriculum design should be an intentional process, and it can be guided by a teacher's own experience, or perhaps in a workshop setting, or even part of a curriculum design course. Regardless of the inspiration, there are a few curriculum design tips all educators should keep in mind.

  17. Curriculum Development: Overview Definition And Summary Essay

    The formal curriculum which normally refers to the Philosophy, Mission, Vision, Objectives of the school alongside with the subjects and the activities needed deliver the instruction. Lesson plans, session guides, modules, as well as syllabi are also considered part of the formal curriculum.

  18. Curriculum Definition & Meaning

    curriculum: [noun] the courses offered by an educational institution.

  19. Essays on School Curriculums

    This essay I'm writing is about values, values-infused curriculum, values education programme and ways in which values can be infused in a school curriculum. Values are our beliefs, the way we act, the way we think, our authority, how we feel towards situations, our families,... Values School Curriculums. 12.

  20. Definition of Curriculum Paper Free Essay Example

    Essay, Pages 2 (323 words) Views. 2817. In describing the definition of the curriculum there are several definitions. It can be described as a formal education, a planned interaction of pupils with structural content materials, and the curriculum as resources and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives and outcomes.

  21. The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay

    The essay writing process consists of three main stages: Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline. Writing: Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion. Revision: Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling ...

  22. Purpose Of Curriculum Essay

    The true definition of Curriculum is "The school experiences, both planned and unplanned, that enhance the education and growth of students" (Parkway). The purpose of curriculum in schools is to teach the children what they need to be taught for upcoming test. Curriculum helps teachers because it lets …show more content….

  23. 10.6 Definition

    Exercise 1. On a separate sheet of paper, write about a time in your own life in which the definition of a word, or the lack of a definition, caused an argument. Your term could be something as simple as the category of an all-star in sports or how to define a good movie. Or it could be something with higher stakes and wider impact, such as a ...