Curriculum

EDSU533
Course Introduction:
Curriculum Planning

Three Elements of Curriculum
 “WHO?”
 The Learner
 “WHAT?”
 The Content
 Subject Matter
 “HOW?”
 The Process of Instruction
 Kinds of Planned Learning Opportunities
WHO?
WHAT? HOW?
From “Who Am I in the Lives of Children?”
Feeny, Christensen, Moravick

Based on Vision of Society
Vision translated into Learning
Experiences
 What do you believe is worth knowing?
 What do you know about the learners
and their development?
 What do you know about subject
matter?

Educational Pendulum
 Is emphasis on nature and interests of the
learner? OR
 Is emphasis on the subject matter to be taught?
 Importance for you as an educator
 Stand firm for what you believe in
 Emphasize developmentally appropriate
practice
 Today’s backlash shifts focus to less student-
sensitive practice Feeny, Christensen, Moravick

What is Curriculum?
 Experienced Curriculum
 “Curriculum is what happens.”
 What the student experiences and perceives
during the day
 Planned or unplanned
 Planned Curriculum
 Planned learning experiences
 Know what to teach – CONTENT
 Know how to teach it - PEDAGOGY

Content - What Should be Taught?
 Essential knowledge changes throughout
history and culture
 Dictated by social and political pressure
 Current California subjects considered
“CORE”
 English-Language Arts*
 Mathematics*
 History-Social Science
 Science*
 Visual and Performing Arts
*Currently Tested!
Should we
teach only
what’s tested?

Curriculum is Product of Time
Influenced by social and political forces
 Early 20th
century
 European immigrants arrived
 Emphasized acquisition of American language,
customs, values
 Today’s curriculum
 Mirrors cultural diversity of current society
 Reflects importance of families and culture in
children’s learning
 Echoes concerns with violence and values

Plato’s Academy Recommended
Course of Study
 “The exact sciences would first be studied for ten
years to familiarise the mind with relations that can
only be apprehended by thought.”
 Arithmetic
 Plane and solid geometry
 Astronomy
 Harmonics
 Five years would then be given to the still severer
study of dialectic - the art of conversation, of
question and answer.
 According to Plato, “dialectical skill is the ability to
pose and answer questions about the essences of
things.
 “The dialectician replaces hypotheses with secure
knowledge, and his aim is to ground all science, all
knowledge, on some 'un-hypothetical first principle'.”
Different CORE
Curriculum and
Instructional Strategies

John Dewey - 1897
“If education is life, all life has, from the
outset, a scientific aspect, an aspect of art
and culture, and an aspect of
communication. It cannot, therefore, be
true that the proper studies for one grade
are mere reading and writing, and that at a
later grade, reading, or literature, or
science, may be introduced. The progress
is not in the succession of studies but in
the development of new attitudes towards,
and new interests in, experience.”
Science
Art and Culture
Communication

Progressive Education of the Early
20th
Century
 Philosophy and Education are identical, both
involving the practical, experimental attempt to
improve the human condition.
 Major impact on the concept of the democratic
American education ideal.
 Views the mind as a problem solver.
 People are naturally exploring, inquiring entities
and learn through direct experience.
 Student must master the scientific method.

Education for Democracy
 Value of knowledge resides in the ability to solve
human problems.
 Subject matter provides information and
methodologies for finding solutions.
 The teacher is an intellectual guide or facilitator
in the problem solving process.
 School is a democratic society in itself, preparing
students for community life.
 Group activities and group problem solving to
prepare for solving world problems.

What knowledge is important today?
“If knowledge doubles every year or two, we
certainly cannot multiply the number of
hours or teach twice as quickly. Some
choice, some decisions about what can be
omitted, is essential.”
The first dilemma:
What should be taught?
Howard Gardner – 2001
From Multiple Intelligences after Twenty Years
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG_MI_after_20_years.pdf

Howard Gardner
 What should be highlighted: facts, information? data? If so,
which of the countless facts that exist?
 Subject matters and disciplines--if so, which ones?
 Which science, which history?
 Should we nurture creativity, critical thinking?
 If there is to be an additional focus, should it be arts,
technology, a social focus, a moral focus?
 If you try to have all of these foci, you would break the
backs of students and teachers, even given a demanding
elementary and secondary school curriculum. (2001)

The Invention of Education
Howard Gardner (2001)
 One of the most magnificent of human inventions is the
Invention of Education--no other species educates its
young as do we.
 At this time of great change, we must remember the
ancient value of education and preserve it—
 Not just facts, data, information, but
 Knowledge, Understanding, Judgment, Wisdom.
 We must use the ancient arts and crafts of education to
prepare youngsters for a world that natural evolution could
not anticipate and which even we ourselves as conscious
beings cannot fully envision either.

Global Responsibility
“As the events of the last century remind us, a Dark
Age can always descend upon us.”
 In the past, we could be satisfied with an education that:
 was based on the literacies
 that surveyed the major disciplines
 taught students about their own national culture
 For our students’ futures we now must:
 Prepare our students for interdisciplinary work
 Prepare our students for life in a global civilization.
 Keep alive the important values of Responsibility and
Humanity Gardner (2001)

Curriculum:
What do we teach?
 Recommended Curriculum
 Standards as defined by experts in their field
 Written Curriculum
 State standards and frameworks, local goals and
objectives
 Supported Curriculum
 Available materials
 Textbooks and software

Curriculum Content in California?
 Standards: What students need to know and be able
to do
 http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/index.asp
 Frameworks: Provide guidance for implementing the
standards adopted by the State Board of Education
 http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/allfwks.asp

Curriculum Planning Process
 What standards will you be meeting in
this unit?
 How will your learning objectives connect
to overall curriculum content standards?
 What are the essential questions you
want students to grapple with in this
process?
 What enduring understandings do you
want students to gain?

Essential Questions and
Curriculum Planning
 Focus on a broad topic of study
 Have multiple answers and perspectives
 Address “why” or “how”
 Help students see the “big picture”
 Answering such questions may take a lifetime!
 Answers may only be tentative
 Information gathering may take place outside of formal
learning environments
 Engage students in real life applied problem solving
 Essential questions lend themselves to multidisciplinary
investigations.
Wiggins & McTighe

Essential Questions
 Spark students’ curiosity and sense of
wonder
 Desire to understand
 Something that matters to them
 Answers to essential questions can NOT
be found
 Students must construct own answers
 Make their own meaning from
information they have gathered
 Create insight
 Answering essential questions can lead to
“enduring understandings.” Wiggins & McTighe

Enduring Understandings
Worth being
familiar with
Important to
know and be
able to do
Enduring
Understanding
Wiggins & McTighe

The Big Picture
 Big Ideas
 Core concepts
 Focusing themes
 On-going debates/issues
 Insightful perspectives
 Illuminating
paradox/problem
 Organizing theory
 Overarching principle
 Underlying assumption
Enduring
Understanding
s
Wiggins & McTighe

Curriculum Planning
for Enduring Understandings
 How will you know that students learned what you
expected them to learn?
 What types of assessment might be most reliable in
determining student understanding or level of
proficiency?
 What kinds of activities will result in students being
able to develop those skills and gain understanding?
 What skills do your students need to develop in order
to gain enduring understanding?
 How will you motivate students to think critically and
explore essential questions?
 How will you engage your students in this topic?
 How do you hook them in with your “anticipatory set”?

Understanding by Design:
Backwards Design
 Desired Results: What will the
student learn?
 Acceptable Evidence: How
will you design an
assessment that accurately
determines if the student
learned what he/she was
supposed to learn?
 Lesson Planning: How do you
design a lesson that results in
student learning?
Identify
Desired
Results
Determine
Acceptable
Evidence
Plan learning
experiences
and instruction
Wiggins & McTighe

Identify Desired Results and
Determine Acceptable Evidence
 Designing your Assessment
 Desired Results: What will students say or do to show you
objectives were met? (presentation, debate, research paper, essay,
etc.)
 Acceptable Evidence: What will you collect to show student’s
learning? (papers, portfolios, observations, work samples,
photographs, videos, etc.)
 Assessments are the products or performances that
demonstrate student learning
 Assessments are what the student does (the actual product
or performance), not the evaluation tool used to assess the
product.

Planning Instruction
How do you plan your lessons?
Backwards Design to Lesson Planning
 How will you measure student learning?
 What is the overall purpose of the lesson?
 Who will participate?
 What content standard will be met?
 What are your learning objectives?
 What are the activities that will get you
there?
 How can you engage students and keep
them motivated?

Planning Instruction
 What do you need to teach this unit?
 Materials
 Space
 Time
 Resources
 What do you do? How? When?
 Introduction – How do you get them interested?
 Procedure – What will you do and say (step-by-step
guide)
 Closure – How will you help students make a transition
to the next activity?

Skills and Learning Objectives
 What skills do students need prior to this
lesson or unit of study?
 How will you scaffold your students and tap
into their own prior knowledge?
 What skills should students gain as a result
of this lesson?
 What key abilities and processes will
students develop related to specific content?
 Write skills as action verbs that are
measurable through assessment.
http://www.sd104.s-cook.k12.il.us/ppt

Writing Measurable
Instructional Objectives
 Instructional objectives connect instructional
planning with curriculum content as measured
by assessment.
 By participating in this activity students will:
 Learn about…?
 Gain greater understanding of…?
 Practice…?
 Develop an awareness of…?
 Express understanding of…?
 Develop skill in…?
 Begin to be able to…
 How will you measure learning outcomes?

Reflective Practice
 How will your assessment guide your teaching practice?
 Was your instruction effective in promoting student
learning?
 What might need to be “re-taught”?
 How can you teach it differently when assessment
demonstrates that some students did not learn the
material?
 Is there a better way to teach this material?
 What will you do differently next time?
 How could you extend this activity for another lesson?

Resources
 Curriculum 21 - http://www.curriculum21.com/home
 Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Mapping The Big Picture
(introductory chapters) -
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/197135.aspx
 Curriculum 101: Janet Hale -
http://www.curriculummapping101.com/
 Dr. Janet Hale - http://www.21-
learn.com/teamtarget/ProfessionalDevelopment/curr_m
ap_hale/index.htm
 Understanding by Design Website -
http://www.ubdexchange.org/

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