This document provides an overview of theories of curriculum design. It discusses three basic curriculum designs: subject-centered designs, learner-centered designs, and problem-centered designs. Subject-centered designs include subject designs, discipline designs, broad-fields designs, correlation designs, and process designs. Learner-centered designs cover child-centered design, experience-centered design, romantic/radical design, and humanistic design. Problem-centered designs focus on life-situations designs and reconstructionist design. Guidelines for curriculum design include forming a committee and gathering data to inform the design process.

1. THEORIES OF
CURRICULUM DESIGN
SGDC5013 Curriculum & Pedagogy
Group B (Presentation 3)
Prof. Madya Dr. Abdull Sukor Shaari
By:
Mohd Mursyid Alam 814063
Ikhsan Bin Megat Halim 814539
For more informattion, visit:-
theoriesofcurriculumdesign.blogspot.com

2. Contents
1. Curriculum Design
2. Sources of Curriculum Design
3. Conceptual Framework
4. Guidelines for Curriculum Design
5. Three Basic Curriculum Designs
a) Subject-Centered Designs
b) Learner-Centered Designs
c) Problem-Centered Designs

3. 1. Curriculum Design
 In designing Curriculum, we must:-
◦ Consider Philosophical & Learning
Theories
◦ Determine if
1. Our decision is parallel with basic belief
concerning people
2. What & How they should learn
3. How they should use their acquired
knowledge

4.  Curriculum Design is concerned with 4
basic parts
1. Objectives
 What Should be done?
2. Content
 What Subject Matter should be included?
3. Learning Experiences
 What instructional strategies, resources, &
activities should be employed?
4. Evaluation
 What methods & instruments should be
used to judge the results of the

5.  Curriculum Designs draws
from:-
1. Knowledge Theory
2. Social Theory
3. Political Theory
4. Learning Theory

6. 2. Sources of Curriculum
Design
a) SCIENCE as a source
◦ Contains only observable, quantifiable
elements
◦ Priority: Problem solving & Thinking
strategies
◦ Emphasis: Learning How to learn
◦ Why?: Knowledge increase so rapidly,
the only constant seems to be the
procedures by which we process
knowledge. Thus, “Learning How to
Learn”.

7. b) SOCIETY as a source
◦ Draw ideas from analysis of the social
situation
◦ Operates within social, economic, & political
contexts
◦ Priority: Address Students’ unique needs ->
diverse social groups
◦ Emphasis: Collaboration among diverse
individuals & groups
◦ Why?: School is an agent of society, -> we
must consider current & future society.

8. c) MORAL DOCTRINE as a source
◦ Considering the relationship between
Knowledge & People’s Spirituality.
◦ Guided by Religious Texts
◦ Priority: Questions about the nature of the
world, the purpose of life, what it means to
be human & knowledgeable
◦ Emphasis: Develop empathy & compassion,
consider&promote welfare of others,
welcome different viewpoints
◦ Why?: Allow for a blending of truth, faith,
knowledge, ethics, thought, and action.

9. d) KNOWLEDGE as a source
◦ The Primary source of curriculum
◦ “What knowledge is of most worth?”
◦ Priority: Rethink:-
 What knowledge is of most worth?
 For whom is this knowledge of value?
 Is there any knowledge that must be possessed
by the majority?
 What intellectual skills must be taught?
◦ Challenges: Knowledge is exploding
exponentially
◦ Why?: Knowledge should be a discipline,
have a particular structure & methods

10. e) THE LEARNER as a source
◦ Curriculum derived from Our knowledge of
Students.
 How: They learn, form attitudes, generate
interest, develop values
◦ Priority: Seeks to empower Students & foster
their individual uniqueness.
◦ Emphasis: Draw ideas from psychological
foundations, especially how minds create
meaning
◦ Why?: Every learner is unique, educational
environment physically affect brain
development.

11. 3. Conceptual Framework -
Organizations
1. Horizontal Organization
 Combining:-
HISTOR ANTHROPOLOGY
SOCIOLOG
Y Y
CREATE A
“Contemporary Studies” Course

12. 2. Vertical Organization
 Eg: - “Social Studies”
“The Family” (First Grade)
“The Community” (Second Grade)
 Same topics are addressed in different
grades, but increasingly higher difficulty.
 Eg:- Mathematical concept of “set”.
English concept of “composition”

13. 5. Guidelines for Curriculum
1.
Design
Create a curriculum design committee
2. Create a schedule meetings to make
curriculum design decisions
3. Gather data about educational issues and
suggested solutions
4. Process data on available curriculum
designs, compare cost, scheduling,
students characteristics and academic
strengths, learning environments,
whether community accept the design.

14. 5. Schedule time for reflection on the design
6. Schedule time for revision of the design
7. Explain the design to educational
colleagues, community members, if
appropriate, students.

15. 6. Three Basic Curriculum
Designs
A. Subject-Centered Designs
B. Learner-Centered Designs
C. Problem-Centered Designs

16. A. Subject-Centered Designs
1. Subject Designs
2. Discipline Designs
3. Broad-Fields Designs
4. Correlation Designs
5. Process Designs

17. 1. Subject Designs
 Oldest and Best known
 Related to “Textbook treatment” &
“Teachers as SME”
 Exists whenever there are stress on
standards & accountability to schools
 Strength:-
◦ Introduces students to essential knowledge of
society
◦ Easy to deliver, textbook&materials
comercially available

18.  Weaknesses:-
◦ Disempowers students to choose the
content which is most meaningful to them
◦ Presented without consideration of
context
◦ Fails to foster social, psychological, &
physical development
◦ Neglects students needs, interest and
experiences
◦ Foster students passivity

19. 2. Discipline Designs
 Focus on the academic disciplines
◦ Students would approach history as a historian
would
◦ Investigate biological topics by following
procedures used by biologists.
 Stress on understanding the conceptual
structures & processes of the disciplines
 Strength: Students master the content areas
& able to independently continue their
learning
 Weaknesses: A lot of knowledge cannot be
classified as “disciplined”.

20. 3. Broad-Fields Design
 Aka interdisciplinary design
 Focus: Give student a sweeping
understanding of ALL content areas,
integrate contents that fit together logically
 Eg:-”geography,economics,political
science, anthropology, sociology, history”-
>”social Studies”
 Strength: Simple, Students learn wide
area of knowledge.
 Weaknesses: The depth of knowledge is
insufficient.

21. 4. Correlation Design
 In the middle of “Separate Subjects” &
“Total Content Integration”
 Attempts to identify ways to relate
subjects, but maintain their separate
identities.
 Eg: (Science&Math)
(Literature&History)
 Strength: Innovative & Attractive
 Weaknesses: Time Consuming,
Teachers often separate departments,
Scheduling difficulties

22. 5. Process Designs
 Urge students to learn the “process of
obtaining knowledge”
 Eg: Biological procedures to learn biology,
ethnographic procedures to study culture
& society
 Strength: SS as a meaning maker,
enables to analyze reality, create
frameworks by which to arrange derived
knowledge.
 Weaknesses: Difficult to analyze validity of
students’ conclusion individually.

23. B. Learner-Centered Designs
1. Child-Centered Design
2. Experience-Centered
Design
3. Romantic (Radical) Design
4. Humanistic Design

24. 1. Child-Centered Design
 Students must be active in their learning
environments.
 Design based on students lives, needs,
interest
 Belief: effective learning did not require
strict discipline, child’s innate tendency
to become engaged with interesting
knowledge
 Organized around human impulses: to
socialize, to construct, inquire,
experiment, express/create.

25. 2. Experience-Centered
Design
 A curriculum that is not pre-planned, done
“on the spot”
 Why?: child’s needs and interests cannot
be anticipated
 Students design their own learning,
construct & revise their knowledge through
direct participation & active observation
 Teachers design potential experiences for
students to consider
 Search for starting points, interest->linked
to formalized knowledge

26. 3. Romantic (Radical) Design
 Students must learn ways of engaging in a
critique of knowledge
 Learning is reflective, it is not externally
imposed by someone in power
 Radicals view society as deeply flawed &
believe that schools used curriculum to
control & indoctrinate, not to educate &
emancipate
 Students must accept responsibility for
educating themselves & demand freedom

27. 4. Humanistic Design
 Emphasized human potential, empowering
students by actively involving the in their
own growth
 Teachers must permit students to feel,
value, grow
 Teacher provide environments that
encourages genuineness, empathy, &
respect
 Students approach problems with flexibility
& intelligence, work cooperatively but do
not need other’s approval

28.  Mistakes are accepted as part of the
learning process
 Cognitive, affective, and psychomotor
domains are interconnected
 Weaknesses:
◦ Over emphasizes the individual, ignoring
society’s needs
◦ Require teachers with great skills &
competence in dealing with individuals

29. C. Problem-Centered Designs
 Focuses on real-life problems of
individuals & society
1. Life-Situations Designs
2. Reconstructionist Design

30. 1. Life-Situations Designs
 Focus on problem-solving procedures
 The content is organized in ways that
allow students to clearly view problem
areas
 Uses learner’s past & present experiences
to get them to analyze the basic aspects
of living
 Starting point: Student’s existing concerns,
society’s pressing problems
 Weaknesses: Tends to indoctrinate youth
to accept existing conditions, thus

31. 2. Reconstructionist Design
 Provide students with learning
requisite for altering social, economic,
& political realities
 Curriculum should foster social action,
aimed at reconstructing society
 Encourages industrial & political
changes
 Students should be involved in
creating a more equitable society.

32. Design Curricular Underlying Source Spokespeople
Emphasis Philosophy
Subject Separate Subjects Essentialism Science Harris, Hutchins
Perennialism Knowledge
Discipline Scholarly disciplines Essentialism Knowledge, Science Bruner, Phenix,
Perennialism Schwab, Taba
Broad-Fields Interdisciplinary Essentialism Knowledge, Society Broudy, Dewey
subjects and Progressivism
scholarly disciplines
Correlation Separate subjects, Essentialism Knowledge Alberty and Alberty
disciplines linked but Progressivism
identities maintained
Process Procedural Progressivism Psychology, Adams, Dewey,
Knowledge of various Knowledge Papert
disciplines, ways of
thinking
Child-Centered Child’s interest & Progressivism Child Dewey, Kilpatrick,
needs Parker
Experience Child Interest & Progressivism Child Dewey, Rugg,
Experiences Schumaker
Radical Child Interest & Reconstructionism Child, Society Freire, Habermas,
Experiences Holt, Illich
Humanistic Experiences, interest, Reconstructionism, Psychology, Child, Combs, Fantini,
needs of Existentialism Society Maslow, Rogers
person&group
Life-Situations Life(social) Problems Reconstructionism Society Spencer
Reconstructioni Focus on society and Reconstructionism Society, Eternal Apple, Brameld,