Curriculum Design Models

Curriculum
Models
A Definition of Curriculum
(Daniel Tanner, 1980)
“The planned and guided learning

experiences and intended learning outcomes,
formulated through the systematic
reconstruction of knowledge and experiences,
under the auspices of the school, for the
learners’ continuous and willful growth in
personal social competence.”
1. SUBJECT-CENTERED
Design Model
Subject-Centered Curriculum
This model focuses on the content of

the curriculum.
The subject centered design

corresponds mostly to the textbook
written for the specific subject.
The subject-centered curriculum can be

focused on
 traditional areas in the traditional disciplines
 interdisciplinary topics that touch on a wide
variety of fields
 on processes such as problem solving
 on the goal of teaching students to be critical
consumers of information.
A curriculum can also be organized around a

subject center by focusing on certain
processes, strategies, or life-skills, such as
problem solving, decision making, or
teamwork.
In the Philippines, our curricula in
any level is also divided in different
subjects or courses. Most of the
schools using this kind of structure
aim for excellence in the subject
matter content.
Examples of Subject-centered curriculum:
1. Subject Design
The drawback of his design is that sometimes learning is
so compartmentalized.
It stresses so much the content that it forgets about
students’ natural tendencies, interest and experiences.
2. Discipline Design
Discipline refers to specific knowledge and through a method
which the scholars use to study a specific content of their
fields.
Examples of subject-centered curriculum:
3. Correlation Design
This comes from a core, correlated curriculum design that
links separate subject designs in order to reduce
fragmentation. Subjects are related to one another but each
subject a maintains its identify.
4. Broad field design/interdisciplinary

This design was made to prevent the compartmentalization
of subjects and integrate the contents that are related to
each other.
Examples of Subject-centered curriculum:
Students in history should learn the subject

matter like historians, students in biology should
learn how biologist learn, and so with students
in mathematics should learn how
mathematicians learn.
The discipline design model of curriculum is often
used in college
Discipline becomes the degree program.

2. LEARNER-CENTERED
Design Model
Learner-Centered Curriculum
centeredon certain aspects of the learners
themselves.
may explore the learner’s own life or family

history or local environment.
1. Child-centered design
(John Dewey, Rouseau, Pestallozi and Froebel )
• It is anchored on the needs and interests of the child.
•The learner is not considered as a passive individual

but as one who engages with his/her environment. One
learns by doing. Learners interact with the teachers and
the environment.
2. Experience-Centered design
Experiences of the learners become the starting point of the

curriculum.
Thus the school environment is left open and free.
Learners are made to choose from various activities that the

teacher provides.
The learners are empowered to shape their own learning from

the different opportunities given by the teacher.
3. Humanistic design -
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.Maslow
The development of self is the ultimate objective of

leaning. It stresses the whole person and the
integration of thinking, feeling and doing. It considers
the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains to
be interconnected and must be addressed in the
curriculum. It stresses the development of positive
self-concept and interpersonal skills.
Advantages:
 It gives power to the learners: they are
identified as the experts in knowing what
they need to know.
 The constructivist element of this approach

honors the social and cultural context of the
learner.
Advantages:
 It creates a direct link between in-class
work and learners' need for literacy outside
the classroom.
As a result, learners can more easily transfer new skills

to day-to-day use (Purcell-Gates, et al., 2001). The
immediacy of this transfer of skills at home, at work, and
in communities also encourages learner persistence.
Disadvantages:
 It often relies on the teacher's ability to create or select
materials appropriate to learners' expressed needs.
This requires skill on the part of the teacher, as well as
time and resources: at a minimum, texts brought in from
real life, a wide pool of commercially available materials
from which to draw, and a reliable photocopier. Given
the reality of teachers' professional preparation and
working conditions (Smith, et al., 2001), lack of skill,
time and resources makes creating curriculum with this
approach difficult.
Disadvantages:
 Teachers may also find it difficult to strike

an acceptable balance among the
competing needs and interests of students.
3. PROBLEM-CENTERED
Design Model
Problem-Centered Curriculum
Problem-centered curriculum, or problem
based learning, organizes subject matter
around a problem, real or hypothetical, that
needs to be solved.
Problem-centered curriculum is inherently
engaging and authentic, because the
students have a real purpose to their inquiry -
- solving the problem.
 Types of problems to be explored may include:
 Life situations involving real problems of practice

 Problems that revolve around life at a given
school
 Problems selected from local issues
 Philosophical or moral problems
1. Life-situations design
It uses the past and present experiences of learners as a means to
analyze the basic areas of living.
As a starting point, the pressing immediate problems of the society and

the student’s existing concerns are utilized.
Based on Herbert Spencer’s curriculum writing, his emphases were

activities that sustain life, enhance life, and in rearing children, maintain
the individual’s social and political relations and enhance leisure, tasks
and feelings.
The connection of subject matter to real situations increases the

relevance of the curriculum.
2. Core design
It centers on general education and the problems

are based on common human activities.
The central focus of the core design includes

common needs, problems, concerns, of the
learners.

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Curriculum

“The planned and guided learning

This model focuses on the content of

The subject centered design

The subject-centered curriculum can be

A curriculum can also be organized around a

4. Broad field design/interdisciplinary

Students in history should learn the subject

Discipline becomes the degree program.

may explore the learner’s own life or family

• It is anchored on the needs and interests of the child.

•The learner is not considered as a passive individual

Experiences of the learners become the starting point of the

Thus the school environment is left open and free.

Learners are made to choose from various activities that the

The learners are empowered to shape their own learning from

The development of self is the ultimate objective of

 The constructivist element of this approach

As a result, learners can more easily transfer new skills

 Teachers may also find it difficult to strike

 Life situations involving real problems of practice

As a starting point, the pressing immediate problems of the society and

Based on Herbert Spencer’s curriculum writing, his emphases were

The connection of subject matter to real situations increases the

It centers on general education and the problems

The central focus of the core design includes

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