The document outlines key concepts in curriculum development principles: - It defines curriculum, curriculum development, planning, implementation, evaluation and revision. - Curriculum development aims to continuously improve learning experiences for students and is influenced by changes in society. - Principles that guide curriculum development come from various sources and exist on a spectrum from established truths to hypotheses. - Ten axioms are presented that curriculum developers use as guidelines, such as the need for change, reflecting the times, and starting curriculum planning from the current state.

1. CHAPTER 2:
PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
Developing the Curriculum
Eighth Edition
Peter F. Oliva
William R. Gordon II

2. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
2-2
AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER YOU
SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
• Describe the ten axioms for curriculum
development discussed in this chapter.
• Illustrate in what way the curriculum is influenced
by changes in society.
• Describe limitations affecting curriculum changes in
a school system and within which curriculum
workers must function.

3. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
• Education is one of the institutions the human race
has created to serve certain needs, and, like all
human institutions, it responds or should respond
to changes in the environment. The institution of
education is activated by a curriculum that itself
changes in response to forces affecting it.

4. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
2-4
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
• The curriculum is perceived as a plan for the learning
experiences that young people encounter under the
direction of the school.
• This process of keeping the curriculum running
smoothly is commonly known as curriculum
development.
• The preliminary phase, when the curriculum workers
make decisions and take actions to establish the
plans that teachers and students will carry out, is
known as curriculum planning.

5. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
2-5
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
• Curriculum implementation is defined as the
translation of plans into action.
• Those intermediate and final phases of
development in which results are assessed and
successes of both the learners and the programs
are determined is known as curriculum evaluation.

6. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
2-6
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
• Curriculum revision is used to refer to the process
for making changes in an existing curriculum or to
the changes themselves and is substituted for
curriculum development or curriculum
improvement.

7. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
2-7
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
• Key Point: Through the process of curriculum
development we can discover new ways for
providing more effective pupil learning experiences.
The curriculum developer continuously strives to
find newer, better, and more efficient means to
accomplish this task.

8. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
2-8
TYPES OF CURRICULUM
DEVELOPERS
• Some curriculum developers excel in the
conceptualizing phase (planning), others in
carrying out the curricular plan
(implementation), and still others in assessing
curriculum results (evaluation).

9. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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TYPES OF CURRICULUM
DEVELOPERS
• To the weary professional curriculum worker, it
sometimes seems that every federal, state, and
local legislator is a self-appointed, self-trained
curriculum consultant who has his or her own pet
program to promulgate.

10. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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• What has led so many people to be dissatisfied
with so much of what education is all about? Why
is the status quo rarely a satisfactory place to be?
And why does it turn out, as will be illustrated, that
yesterday’s status quo is sometimes tomorrow’s
innovation? For answers to these questions some
general principles of curriculum development
should be considered by teachers and specialists
who participate in efforts to improve the
curriculum.
TYPES OF CURRICULUM
DEVELOPERS

11. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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• Principles serve as guidelines to direct the activity
of persons working in a particular area.
• Curriculum principles are derived from many
sources:
○ Empirical data
○ Experimental data
○ The folklore of curriculum, composed of
unsubstantiated beliefs and attitudes
○ Common sense
SOURCES OF CURRICULUM PRINCIPLES

12. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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SOURCES OF CURRICULUM PRINCIPLES
• Unless a principle is established that is irrefutable
by reason of objective data, some degree of
judgment must be brought into play. Whenever
judgment comes into the picture, the potential for
controversy arises.
• Consequently, some of the principles for curriculum
development provoke controversy, while others are
generally accepted as reasonable guidelines.

13. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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TYPES OF PRINCIPLES
• Curriculum principles may be viewed as whole
truths, partial truths, or hypotheses. While all
function as operating principles, they are
distinguished by their known effectiveness or by
degree of risk.

14. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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• Types of guiding principles for curriculum
development:
○ Whole Truths
○ Partial Truths
○ Hypotheses
TYPES OF PRINCIPLES

15. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
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TEN AXIOMS
• Axiom 1. Change is both inevitable and necessary,
for it is through change that life forms grow and
develop.
• Axiom 2. A school curriculum not only reflects but
also is a product of its time.
• Axiom 3. Curriculum changes made at an earlier
period of time can exist concurrently with newer
curriculum changes at a later period of time.

16. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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TEN AXIOMS
• Axiom 4. Curriculum change results from changes
in people.
• Axiom 5. Curriculum change is effected as a result
of cooperative endeavor on the part of groups.
• Axiom 6. Curriculum development is basically a
decision-making process.
• Axiom 7. Curriculum development is a never-
ending process

17. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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TEN AXIOMS
• Axiom 8. Curriculum development is a
comprehensive process.
• Axiom 9. Systematic curriculum development is
more effective than trial and error.
• Axiom 10. The curriculum planner starts from
where the curriculum is, just as the teacher starts
from where the students are.

18. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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TEN AXIOMS
• Key Point: The investment of thought, time,
money, and work by previous planners cannot be
thrown out even if such a drastic remedy appeared
valid to a new set of planners since most
curriculum planners begin with already existing
curricula.

19. Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e.
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A FINAL THOUGHT:
• Curriculum change is a normal, expected
consequence of changes in the societal
environment. It is the responsibility of curriculum
workers to seek ways of making continuous
improvement in the curriculum.