ST.

MARY’S COLLEGE OF CATBALOGAN

CATBALOGAN CITY, SAMAR

LEARNING MODULE IN EDUC. 18

(THE TEACHER AND THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM)

Name: _________________________________ Course/Year level: __________________

Date: ___________________________ Semester/ School Year: ___________________
Contact Number: ___________________

Module 2 Lesson 2
Approach about School Curriculum

I. Desired Learning Outcomes

After going through this module, you can expect to:
1. Described the different approaches about school curriculum
2. Explain by examples hoe the approaches clarify the definition of curriculum
3. Reflect on how the three approaches interrelate with each other.

II. Let’s do this

Use the diagram or flowchart below to identify in order the approaches of school
curriculum. Put on arm to show how the parts are interrelated with one another to form a
whole.

School Curriculum
Approaches

III. Let’s Analyze

1. What can you say about your flowchart? Where you able to identify the
approaches of school curriculum? Were you able to show how the parts are
interrelated with one another?
2. Do these 3. Approaches use by our teacher? Explain

IV. Let’s Add to what you know

Three Ways of Approaching a Curriculum
 Curriculum can be approached or seen in three ways. It can be defined as a
content, a process or an outcome. If you examine the definitions provided by the experts
in the field, there are three ways of approaching a curriculum. First, is to approach it as
content or a body of knowledge to be transmitted. Second, is to approach it as a process
or what actually happens in the classroom when the curriculum is practiced.

1. Curriculum as a Content or Body of Knowledge

It is quite common for traditionalist to equate a curriculum as a topic outline,
subject matter, or concepts to be included in the syllabus or a books. For example, a
primary school mathematics curriculum consist of topics on addition, multiplication,
subtraction, division, distance. Weight and many more. Another example is in
secondary school science that involves the study of biological science, physical science
environmental science and earth science. Textbooks tend to begin with biological
science such are plants and animals, physical science with the physical elements, force
and motion, earth science with the layers of the earth and environmental science with
the interaction of the biological and physical science and earth’s phenomena, climate,
vegetation followed by economic activities such as agriculture, mining, industries,
urbanization and so forth.
If curriculum is equated as control, then the focus will be the body of knowledge
to be transmitted to students using appropriate teaching method. There can be a
likelihood that teaching will be limited to the acquisition of facts, concepts or subject
matter can also be taken as a means to an end.

All curricula have content regardless of their design or models. The fund of
knowledge is the repository of accumulated discoveries and inventions of man from the
explorations of the earth and as products of research. In most educational setting,
curriculum is anchored on a body of knowledge or discipline.

There are four ways of presenting the content in the curriculum.

These are:
1. Topical approach, where much contents is based on knowledge and experiences are
included;
2. Concept approach with fewer topics in clusters around major and sub concepts and their
interaction, with relatedness emphasized;
3. Thematic approach as a combination of concepts that develops conceptual structures
and
 4. Modular approach that leads to complete units of instruction.
Criteria in the Selection of Content
There are some suggested criteria in the selection of knowledge or subject matter.
(Scheffer, 1970 in Bilbao, et al 2009)
1. Significance – Content should contribute to ideas, concepts, principles and
generalization that should attain the overall purpose of the curriculum. It is significant if
content becomes the means of developing cognitive, affective or psychomotor skills of
the learner. As education is a way of preserving culture, content will be significant when
this will address the cultural context of the learners.
2. Validity – the authenticity of the subject matter, forms its validity knowledge becomes
obsolete with the fast changing times. Thus there is a need for validity check and
verification at a regular interval, because content which maybe valid in its original form
may not continue to be valid in the current times,
3. Utility – Usefulness of the content in the curriculum is relative to the learners who are
going to use these. Utility can be relative to time. It may have been useful in the past,
but may not be useful now or in the future. Questions like; Will I use this in my future
job? Will it add meaning to my life as a lifelong learner? Or will the subject matter be
useful in solving current concerns?
4. Learnability – the complexity of the content should be within the range of experiences
of the learners. This is based on the psychological principles of learning. Appropriate
organization of content standards and sequencing of contents are two basic principles
that would influence learnability.
5. Feasibility – can the subject content be learned within the time allowed, resources
available, expertise of the teachers and the nature of the learners? Are there contents of
learning which can be learned beyond the formal teaching-learning engagement? Are
there opportunities provided to learn these?
6. Interest – will the learners take interest in the content? Why? Are the contents
meaningful? What value will the contents have in the present and future life of the
learners? Interest is one of the driving force for students to learn better

The selection of the subject matter or content, aside from the seven criteria mentioned earlier,
may include the following guide in the selection of the CONTENT.
Guide in the selection of the Content in the Curriculum
1. Content is commonly used in the daily life.
2. Content is appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners.
3. Content is valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the future career.
4. Content is related to other subject fields or discipline for complementation and
integration.
5. Content is important in the transfer of learning in other disciplines.
BASIC Principles of Curriculum Content
 In 1952, Palma proposed the principle of BASIC as a guide in addressing CONTENT in
the curriculum. B.A.S.I.C refers to Balance, Articulation, Sequence, Integration and continuity.
In organizing content or putting together subject matter, these principles are useful as a guide.
BALANCE – Content should be fairly distributed in depth and breadth. This will
guarantee that significant contents should be covered to avoid too much or too little of the
contents needed with in the time allocation.
Articulation – as the content complexity progresses with the educational levels,
vertically or horizontally across the same discipline smooth connections or bridging should be
provided. This will assure no gaps or overlaps in the content. Seamlessness in the content is
desired and can be assured if there is articulation in the curriculum. Thus, there is a need off team
among writers and implementers or curriculum.
Sequence – The logical arrangement of the content, refers to sequence or order. This can
be done vertically for deepening the content or horizontally for brodening the same content. In
both ways, the pattern usually is from easy to complex, what is known to the unknown, what is
current to something in the future.
Integration – Content in the curriculum does not stand alone or in isolation. It has some
ways of relatedness or connectedness to other contents. Contents should be infused in other
disciplines whenever possible. This will provide a holistic or unified view of curriculum instead
of segmentation. Contents which can be integrated to other disciplines acquire a higher premium
than when isolated.
Continuity – Content when viewed as a curriculum should continuously flow as it was
before, to where it is now and where it will be in the future. It should be perennial. It endures
time. Content may not be in the same form and substance as seen in the past since changes and
developments in curriculum occur. Constant repetition, reinforcement and enhancement of
content are all elements of continuity.
2. Curriculum Approached as a Process
We have seen that the curriculum can be approached as content. On the other hand, it can
also be approached as a process. Here, curriculum is not seen as a physical thing or a noun, but
as a verb or an action. It is the interaction among the teachers, students and content. As a process,
curriculum happens in the classroom as the questions asked by the teacher and the learning
activities engaged in by the students. It is an active process with emphasis on the context in
which the processes occurs. Used in analogy of the recipe in a cookbook, a recipe is the content
while the ways of cooking is the process.
Curriculum as a process is seen as a scheme about the practice of teaching. It is not a
package of materials or a syllabus of content to be covered. The classroom is only part of the
learning environment where the teacher places action using the content to achieve an outcome.
Hence the process of teaching and learning becomes the central concern of teachers to emphasize
critical thinking, thinking meaning-making and heads-on, hands-on doing and many others.
 As a process, curriculum links from the content. While content provides materials on
what to teach, the process provides curriculum on how to teach the content. When accomplished,
the process will result to various curriculum experiences for the learners. The intersection of the
content and process is called the Pedagogical Content Knowledge or PCK. It will address the
question: If you have this content, how will you teach it?
This section will not discuss in detail the different teaching strategies from where
learning experiences are derived. Rather, it will describe how the process as a descriptor of
curriculum is understood. The content is the substance of the curriculum, how the contents will
be communicated and learned will be addressed by the process.
To teachers, the process is very critical. This is the other side of the coin: instruction,
implementation, teaching. These three words connote the process in the curriculum. When,
educators ask teachers: What curriculum are you using? Some of the answers will be: 1.
Problem-based. 2. Hands-on, Minds On. 3. Cooperative Learning 4. Blended Curriculum 5. On-
line 6. Case-based and many more. These responses approach curriculum as a process. These are
the ways of teaching, ways of managing the content, guiding learning, methods of teaching and
learning strategies of teaching or delivery modes. In all of these, there are activities and actions
that every teacher and learner do together or learners are guided by the teacher. Some of the
strategies are time-tested traditional methods while others are emerging delivery modes.
When curriculum is approached as a PROCESS, guiding principles are presented.
1. Curriculum process in the form of teaching methods or strategies are, means to achieve
the end.
2. There is no single best process or method. Its effectiveness will depend on the desired
learning outcomes, the learners, support materials and the teacher.
3. Curriculum process should stimulate the learners’ desire to develop the cognitive,
affective, psychomotor domains in each individual.
4. In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles should be considered.
5. Every method or process should result to learning outcomes which can be described as
cognitive, affective and psychomotor.
6. Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be considered. An effective
process will always result to learning outcomes.
7. Both teaching and learning are the two important processes in the implementation of the
curriculum.

3. Curriculum as a Product
Besides viewing curriculum as content that is to be transmitted, or process that gives
action using the content, it has also been viewed as a product. In other words, product is what
the students desire to achieve as a learning outcomes.
The product from the curriculum is a student equipped with the knowledge, skills and
values to function effectively and efficiently. Approach. The real purpose of education is to
bring about significant change in students’ pattern of behavior. It is important that any
 statement of objectives or intended outcomes of the school should be a statement of changes
to take place in the students. Central to the approach is the formulation of behavioral
objectives stated as intended learning outcomes or desired products so that content and
teaching methods may be organized and the results evaluated. Products of learning is
operationalized as knowledge, skills, and values.
Curriculum product is expressed in form of outcomes which are referred to as the
achieved learning outcomes. There maybe several desired learning outcomes, but if the
process is not successful, then no learning outcomes will be achieved. These learned or
achieved learning outcomes are demonstrated by the person who has meaningful experiences
in the curriculum. All of these are result of planning, content and processes in the curriculum.

V. Let’s Apply what you have Learned

Making an Inventory of Curriculum Approach as Content, Process and Product.

Instruction: Choose a book that is being used in elementary, high school or college,
identify the following: Content, Process, Product.

Inventory of the Curriculum Content, Process and Product

Title of the Book:
Grade Level: Subject area used:

No. Content Process Product/Outcome

Example: Example: Example:

A. Type of Curriculum A. Individual A. Lists of types of
the Classroom Research curriculum.
B. Interview B. Skill in interview
C. Observation and observation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
VI. Let’s See what you have Learned
Instruction: Match the CONCEPT in column II with the CHOICES in Column III.
Write the letter of your ANSWER in Column I.

I. Answer II. Concepts III.Choices

 1. Curriculum as way of doing A. Content
2. Authenticity of the content B. Process
3. Curriculum as the subject matter C. Product
4. Fair distribution of the content across the D. Validity
subjects
5. Curriculum as the outcome of learning E. Balance

6. Seamless flow of content vertically or F. Articulation

horizontally in the curriculum
7. Evidence of successful teaching G. Sequence
8. Content is enduring and perennial, from the H. Integration
fast to future
9. Allows the transfer of content to other fields. I. Continuity

10. Arrangement of content from easy to J. Learning

difficult outcomes

VII. Additional Activities

1. Enumerate the distinctive features of the following design qualities/Principles.
Qualities Distinctive Features
1. Scope
2. Sequence
3. Continuity
4. Integration
5. Articulation
6. Balance

2. Concepts the statement below:

1. The smooth flow of the curriculum on both vertical and horizontal
dimensions, it is the way in which curriculum components occurring later in a program
sequence relate to those occurring earlier.
2. Absence of disruption in the curriculum overtime.
3. The breadth and depth of curriculum content at any level or at any
given time.
4. Students must obtain and use knowledge in ways that advance their
personal, social and intellectual goals.
 5. Is linking all types of knowledge and experiences contained within the
curriculum plan is known as integration.
6. It is concerned with the order of topics overtime.

VIII. Let’s Reflect

Instruction: after learning from this lesson, how would you prepare yourself to become a
teacher, using the three approaches to Curriculum? Write in the space below:

Congratulations! You have just finished the MODULE 2 LESSON 2!

I. References
Bilbao, Pumita P., Ed. D. Et. Al; 2014, Curriculum Development for Teacher.
Quezon City, Lorimos Publishing, INC.
Reyes, Emerita, Ed. Et. Al. 2015, Curriculum Development, Quezon City, Adriana
Publishing Co., Inc.
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