Traditional Curriculum Design

Curriculum design traditionally has focused on the

transmission of discrete pieces of information-frequently rote facts and formulas--from teacher to
student. Because the information is considered important
in its own right, traditional curriculum designers often
pay little attention to whether or not students use the
information in any real-life context. In this kind of
curriculum, segregated "silos" of knowledge (labeled
"disciplines") are used to impose order on information
(Beane, 1991).
In reality, most learning situations demand an integration
of various kinds of knowledge, and information is
considered valuable insofar as it fills an experienced
desire or need for information. For example, to lose
weight one would need information about nutrition,
physiology, mathematics, and psychology. The need or
desire to lose weight would determine how valuable the
information is.
Because traditional curriculum design does not reflect
these realities, it often does not provide students with
opportunities to develop the kinds of critical thinking
skills and problem-solving abilities that are central to
thinking and learning (Jones, Palinscar, Ogle, & Carr,
1987). Furthermore, traditional curriculum design does
not include opportunities to build the kinds of personal
and collaborative skills that support learning (Tinzmann,
Jones, Fennimore, Bakker, Fine, & Pierce, 1990).
A traditional curriculum is an educational curriculum
which follows established guidelines and practices. This
term can refer both to a curriculum as a whole, as in the
set of courses which students must take to graduate and
the order in which they are presented, and to the
curriculum in the form of the content taught in an
individual class. The traditional curriculum is sometimes
criticized for being too narrow, and a number of
education professionals have developed alternative
educational methods, or suggestions for teaching a
traditional curriculum in a more expanded way.
In the sense of an entire curriculum, a traditional
curriculum includes core subjects and electives. Core
subjects usually include topics like math, science,
history, and English. Students may also take courses in
the social sciences, and can expand their curriculum with
topics like art, foreign languages, music, acting, and so
forth. The curriculum is designed in a progressive way,
with each level being slightly more challenging than the

last, requiring students to build skills and use them as

their work their way through the curriculum.
The traditional curriculum can also be heavily standardsbased, with testing used to measure accomplishment and
progress. This practice has also been criticized by
educations, as standards-based curricula can take on a
teach to the test format in which students are provided
with information which will help them pass a test, but
not necessarily with information which they can use. For
example, math education might be very based on
learning set formulas and ways of doing math, but not on
developing math skills which could be useful in real life.
Traditional and Progressive Views of Education
1. Both traditional and progressive views of
education take into account the needs of the
student, the teacher, and the role of the
curriculum.
However,
traditional
and
progressive forms of education differ greatly in
their approach. In a traditional classroom, the
teacher is an authority figure. The format of
instruction is lecture-based with minimal
opportunity for democratic participation
although some question and answer sessions
may follow the lecture. The teacher alone
formulates the curriculum and students offer
little if any input into the lesson plans. A
traditional lesson plan will not include trendy
issues or matters of popular culture.
DESIGN CUR
Follow these steps to design a training curriculum:
1. Select the content of the curriculum based on
the goals and objectives you have defined.
2. Prioritize training topics.
Tip
:
These priorities will determine when and how
you offer the training.

3. Incorporate the training topics into an hourly

or daily schedule.
4. Decide what training exercises or methods to
use.

Prog
5. Prepare a lesson plan for each hour or topic
in the training course or workshop.
Pic traditional

Teaching process

Learning process

Child or Learner-Centered Approach

Child or Learner-centered approach places
the child at the center of education. It begins
with understanding the educational contexts
from which a child comes. It continues with
the teacher evaluating the child's progress
towards learning objectives. The curriculum
is constructed based on the needs, interest,
purposes and abilities of the learners.
Teachers attempt to maximize student
productivity, knowledge acquisition, skills
augmentation and development of personal
and professional abilities. Teachers may use
a variety of instructional tools and methods,
as well as flexible arrangements of time and
place. This design considers the following:
1. A new respect for the child is fundamental.
2. A new freedom of action is provided.
3. The whole activity is divided into units of
work.
4. The recognition of the need for using and
exploring many media for self-discovery and
self-direction is embraced.
Subject-centered Approach
This approach prescribes different and
separate subjects into one broad field. The
characteristics of the subject-matter, and the
procedures, conceptual structures or
relationships which are found within or
among the subject-matter, dictate the kinds
of activities that will be selected.
Curriculum makers who are developing a
curriculum organized around a given subjectarea; will look at the facts, concepts, and
skills related to, or encompassed by, that
subject area, and plan activities that will lead
learners from their prior experiences into
mastery of the elements of the subject area.
This approach considers the following:
The primary focus is the subject matter.
The emphasis is on bits and pieces of
information which are detached from life.

 The continuing pursuit of learning outside

the school is not emphasized. Learning
should only take place inside...