Theories, Models and Strategies

1. Curriculum
What Should be learned?
Beverly Grace C. Oblina
MA-TESL

2. What is curriculum?
Curriculum is a design PLAN for
learning that requires the purposeful and
proactive organization, sequencing, and
management of the interactions among
the teacher, the students, and the content
knowledge we want students to acquire.

3. •Outcome-Based Education
•Core Curriculum
•Whole language
•Character Education
•Multiculturalism
•Tech-Prep
•Paideia

4. Definition
- In outcome-based learning, all school programs
and instructional efforts are designed to have
produced specific, lasting results in students by
the time they leave school.

5. • OBE is an educational process that focuses on what
students can do or the qualities they should develop after
they are taught.
• OBE involves the restructuring of curriculum, assessment
and reporting practices in education to reflect the
achievement of high order learning and mastery rather than
accumulation of course credits.
• Both structures and curricula are designed to achieve those
capabilities or qualities.
• Discourages traditional education approaches based on
direct instruction of facts and standard methods.
• It requires that the students demonstrate that they have
learnt the required skills and content.
04/01/2012
Outcome-Based Education (OBE)
Gift 2012 by Dr P H Waghodekar,
Aurangabad 5

6. OBE addresses the following key questions:
• What do we want the students to have or be able to do?
• How can we best help students achieve it?
• How will we know whether they students have achieved it?
• How do we close the loop for further improvement
(Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI))?
Benefits of OBE:
1. More directed & coherent curriculum.
2. Graduates will be more “relevant” to industry & other
stakeholders (more well rounded graduates)
3. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is in place.
04/01/2012
Focus and Benefits of OBE
Gift 2012 by Dr P H Waghodekar,
Aurangabad 6

7. 7
Expectations on Students under
OBE – the Outcomes
• Students are expected to be able to do more challenging
tasks other than memorize and reproduce what was taught.
• Students should be able to: write project proposals,
complete projects, analyze case studies, give case
presentations, show their abilities to think, question,
research, and make decisions based on the findings.
• Be more creative, able to analyze and synthesize
information.
• Able to plan and organize tasks, able to work in a team as a
community or in entrepreneurial service teams to propose
solutions to problems and market their solutions.

8. Definition
- In a core curriculum, a predetermined body of
skills, knowledge, and abilities is taught to all
students.
Discussion
- The core curriculum movement assumes there
is a uniform body of knowledge that all
students should know. Presumably, this
curriculum will produce educated and
responsible graduates for the community.

9. Core Curriculum
Curriculum--The curriculum is built on a
mandated core, which is defined and
designed outside the classroom. All
students learn a common set of
knowledge, skills, and abilities. Though
academic content remains the primary
focus of the core curriculum, some core
teaching is moving toward application and
problem solving.

10. Core Curriculum
Instruction--Instruction is based on a
defined core content. Rather than
focusing on discovery, teaching
revolves around imparting a
predetermined body of knowledge.
Although the core curriculum method
does not preclude using critical
thinking, problem solving, and team
learning, it prompts teaching toward
the "correct" answer.

11. Core Curriculum
Assessment--The core content
literally shapes the assessment
process. The core curriculum
method easily lends itself to
traditional testing based on
information recall, as well as the use
of conventional letter grades.
However, a core curriculum doesn't
preclude the use of authentic
assessment and portfolios.

12. Definition
This philosophy about
curriculum--in both language arts
and a broader, more general
program--is based on recent
research of how children acquire
oral and written language skills.

13. Whole language is a currently controversial
approach to teaching reading that is based
on constructivist learning theory and ethnographic
studies of students in classrooms. With whole
language, teachers are expected to provide a
literacy rich environment for their students and to
combine speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Whole language teachers emphasize the meaning
of texts over the sounds of letters, and phonics
instruction becomes just one component of the
whole language classroom.
Constructivist learning theory is based on the
idea that children learn by connecting new
knowledge to previously learned knowledge. The
term is a building metaphor that includes students
using scaffolding to organize new information. If
children cannot connect new knowledge to old
knowledge in a meaningful way, they may with
difficulty memorize it (rote learning), but they will not
have a real understanding of what they are learning.

14. Whole Language
Whole language is considered a "top down"
approach where the reader constructs a personal
meaning for a text based on using their prior
knowledge to interpret the meaning of what they
are reading. Problems associated with whole
language include a lack of structure that has been
traditionally supplied by the scope and sequence,
lessons and activities, and extensive graded
literature found in basal readers. Whole language
puts a heavy burden on teachers to develop their
own curriculum.

15. The Whole Language movement is not a
teaching method but an approach to learning
that sees language as a whole entity. Each
language teacher is free to implement the
approach according to the needs of particular
class. Advantages claimed for Whole
Language are as follows: focuses on
experiences and activities that are relevant to
Ss’ lives and needs, use of authentic materials,
it can be used to facilitate the development of
all aspects of an L2. Whole Language
promotes fluency at the expense of accuracy.

16. Definition
This curriculum method revolves around
developing "good character" in students by
practicing and teaching moral values and
decision making.
Educators from this diverse array of schools
have transformed their school cultures,
reduced discipline referrals, increased
academic achievement for all learners,
developed global citizens, and improved job
satisfaction and retention among teachers.

17. Character Education
Character education includes and complements
a broad range of educational approaches such
as whole child education, service learning,
social-emotional learning, and civic education.
All share a commitment to helping young people
become responsible, caring, and contributing
citizens.
Character education teaches students to
understand, commit to, and act on shared
ethical values--in other words, "know the good,
desire the good, and do the good." Typical core
values include respect, responsibility,
trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and community
participation.

18. To be effective in schools, character
education must involve everyone—school
staff, parents, students, and community
members—and be part of every school day.
It must be integrated into the curriculum as well
as school culture. When this happens and
school communities unite around developing
character, schools see amazing results.

19. Definition
Multiculturalism is based on the belief that varying
cultural dynamics are the fourth force--along with the
psychodynamic, behavioral, and humanistic forces--
explaining human behavior. Since the ability to
recognize our own and others' cultural lenses is
essential to all learning, it must be taught, along with
communication and thinking skills, as prerequisites to
learning.

20. Basic Elements
The National Council for Social Studies, in its
Curriculum Guidelines for Multicultural Education,
lists the key functions of multicultural education as:
Providing students with a sharp sense of self
Helping students understand the experience of
ethnic and cultural groups in history
Helping students understand that conflict between
ideals and reality exist in every human society
Helping students develop decision-making, social
participation, and citizenship skills
Achieving full literacy in at least two languages

21. "Multicultural" is broadly understood to include
experiences shaping perceptions common to age,
gender, religion, socio-economic status, and
exceptionality of any kind, as well as cultural,
linguistic, and racial identities.
This controversial approach has stirred
passionate critics, who contend that it aims to
replace "Eurocentrism" with "othercentrisms."
Critics also allege that multiculturalism hinders the
assimilation of various cultures into America's
greatest hallmark: the melting pot.

22. Definition
Tech prep is most traditionally and frequently
defined as a four-year program (during grades
11-14) that leads to an associate degree or two-year
certificate in a specific career field. This
curriculum includes a common core of required
mathematics, science communications, and
technologies that is integrated, applied, and
sequenced.

23. There is a strong consensus that American
schools have generally ignored the average
student: the middle 50% of teenagers who
complete high school, but do not attend four-year
colleges, universities, or graduate schools.
These students are no longer prepared to enter
today's changed workforce, which demands
workers who can think, problem solve, work in
teams, and apply knowledge. The tech prep
curriculum was designed as the instructional
strategy for preparing such students to work in
a labor market that requires more technical
skills.

24. Curriculum--High schools and community
colleges coordinate the tech prep curriculum
together, eliminating duplication and ensuring
skills are acquired in the best possible
sequence. Critics of tech prep programs
maintain that neither the curriculum in the high
school nor the community college has changed
to reflect the issues and problems of today's
workplace. Predominantly, the focus is on
teaching math, science, and communication for
both application and contextual purposes.

25. Instruction--Tech prep instruction is still
classroom-oriented. Most of the occupational
skills are taught in the laboratory setting. There
is a strong push to try integrating what happens
in the academic classroom with activities in the
occupational labs.

26. Assessment:--In the occupational labs, we see
a greater use of assessing work samples and
projects than in traditional classes. However,
there is still a heavy reliance on traditional tests
and grades. The drawback of this is that
although tech prep prepares students for the
job market, it may not prepare them for the lack
of traditional assessment in the workplace--in
other words, employers don't rate employee
performances with letter grades and test
scores.

27. Definition
This "essentialist" curriculum created in
1982 by Mortimer Adler and The Paideia
Group proposes a single, required, 12-
year course in general, humanistic
learning as a foundation for the future
learning of all students.

28. Basic Elements
The Paideia plan is built on the understanding that
education serves to prepare individuals for (1)
earning a living, (2) citizenship, and (3) self-development.
With that in mind, here is the plan's
proposed framework:

29. GOALS
Acquisition of organized knowledge
Development of intellectual skills (learning skills)
Enlarged understanding of ideas and values
MEANS
Didactic instruction
Coaching, exercises, supervised practice
Socratic questioning and active participation
AREAS
Language, literature, fine arts, math, natural science, history,
geography, social studies
Speaking, listening, calculating, problem solving, critical
judgment
Discussion of books (not texts) and art performances

30. Theodore Sizer of the Paideia Group insists
that Paideia is not a detailed curriculum for
deliberate reasons. The Paideia Group
believes that only the teachers and principals
who can change education should design a
specific curriculum blueprint. Instead, the
Paideia plan provides a framework and
process for "crafting the critical details of the
program in ways appropriate to their own
communities."

31. Designing a curriculum involves the
interaction of several participants,
reaching beyond the academic wall to
impact the entire community. Without an
effective curriculum, students would not
be able to understand or meet the
challenges of society. A curriculum
prepares an individual with the
knowledge to be successful, confident
and responsible citizens.

33. Reference:
http://edglossary.org/core-course-of-study/
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/
may93/vol50/num08/The-Core-
Knowledge-Curriculum%E2%80%94What's-
Behind-Its-Success%C2%A2.aspx
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/jar/Reading_Wars.html
http://www.aaeteachers.org/index.php/character-education-
programs
http://character.org/key-topics/what-is-character-education/
Educational Leadership (March 1984): Dennis
Gray, "Whatever Became of Paideia? (And How
Do You Pronounce It?), p. 56-57. Daniel Tanner,
"The American High School at the Crossroads," p.
4-13.

34. Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives,
Banks, J.A. and Banks, C.M. (Eds). Boston: Allyn
& Bacon.
"Character Education," Education Leadership,
November, 1993.