SELECTION AND ORGANISATION

OF CURRICULUM CONTENT
 MEANING OF CONTENT
The content is the main component of a
curriculum.
The content is the “knowledge” or the “subject
matter” which must be conveyed to learners.
The selection and organisation of content in the
curriculum is always determined by the type of
curriculum design.
SELECTION AND ORGANISATION OF
CONTENT
Curriculum design refers to the arrangement of
the different elements of a curriculum. These
elements are the objectives(outcomes), the
content, the teaching, learning and assessment
methods and the teaching and learning
resources. The following are the three types of
curriculum designs which have been used in
Malawi.
 Contents -based Curriculum
• This is the oldest curriculum design and is the best known by many
educators. This is also called a “Collection curriculum” by Basil
Bernstein(2000).
• In this curriculum design, content is organised by specific subjects
or disciplines.
• This curriculum design focuses on what is to be covered in the
teaching and learning process, rather than focusing on the student,
and the results that he/she produces.

• This was the design and structure of the preceding secondary

school curriculum before the current secondary school curriculum.

• The following is an example of the design features, structure and

layout of the Content Based Syllabus.
 Contents-Based Curriculum
Topic Objectives Content Suggested Suggested Suggested
teaching teaching modes of
and learning and Assessment
activities learning
methods
STUDENT-CENTRED CURRICULA(Outcomes-
Based Education and Integrated curriculum)
• Student-centred curricula are not content-
free, but they emphasize on the student or
the learner and their learning needs and
interests.
• Refer to notes on Goals, Aims and objectives
in Outcomes Based Education
• The following is an example of the design
features, structure and layout of the
Outcomes-Based Content Syllabus.
 Outcomes-Based Education
Assessment Success Theme/ Suggested Suggested Suggested
Standards Criteria Topic teaching/le teaching, teaching,
arning and learning and learning and
assessment assessment assessment
activities methods resources
Differences between Contents-Based
and Outcomes Based Education
Contents-Based Outcomes-Based
1. It uses objectives approach to 1. It uses outcomes approach. Outcomes
education. Objectives approach approach to education emphasizes on
emphasizes on what the teacher will do what the learners will be able to do or
rather than on what the learner will be achieve at the end of the learning
able to do at the end of the learning experieince.
experience.
2. Describes the intention of learning 2. Describes the results of learning
3. Focuses on the teacher as a transmitter 3. The teacher is a learning facilitator and mediator of
knowledge. The learners take active responsibility for
of knowledge and learners are passive their own learning by being actively involved in
recipients of knowledge. It is teacher- research, debate, role-play and experiments.It is
centred. It uses ‘banking’ methods of learner-centred. A variety of teaching methods,
teaching. Considers learners as empty inclusive and accomodating all learners of different
learning styles are used.
vessels into which knowledge is to be
poured. Mainly using chalk and talk.

4. Learners qualify by passing exams 4. Learners qualify by a range of assessments.

Key differences between contents-
based and outcomes based education
Contents-Based Outcomes Based
5. Assessment is used to grade learners 5. Assessment is used to find out what
for promotion. It is focuses on the learner can do and to help teachers to
assessment of learning plan learning programmes. It is
assessment for learning.
6. It uses norm referenced assessment, 6. Asssement is criterion referenced,
using formal tests and end of year exams. covering a number of assessment
standards which include skills,
knowledge, understanding, attitudes and
values and it includes teacher and peer
assessment.
7. The main learning and teaching 7. It uses a wide range of resources.
resource used is the textbook which Teaching involves critical thinking and
concentrates on delivering the contents reasoning.
of the syllabus which memorisation of
facts and information by the learners.
8. Learners do not have learning 8. Learners know what outcomes in terms
 INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
• This is also called “fused” curriculum. This is
where originally stand-alone subjects or
disciplines are combined to form one subject. A
theme is selected to cut across several individual
subject disciplines. In some subjects within the
Revised Secondary school curriculum, for
example, Performing Arts, which is a combination
of Drama, Dance and Music, the revised
secondary school curriculum to some extent is a
combination of OBE, Content -based and
integrated curriculum. It is therefore to some
extent a ‘hybrid’ curriculum.
 TYPES OF INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
Boydell (1973)has identified the following types
of curriculum integration.
1. The first form is what is called ‘cooperative integration.’ This is where a teacher
can remain class-based, teaching his own subject but planning his lessons around
some central theme of significance which might have been agreed upon by a
group of teachers.
2. The second form of curriculum integration is what is called the ‘co-ordinated
pattern’ of integration. This is also called ‘Correlation’ integration. In this type of
integration, the teacher can remain class-based, but agrees to reconstruct his
entire lessons to incorporate other areas or bodies of knowledge from other
subjects in his/her lessons in order to allow maximum co-ordination with other
subjects.

2. The third integration is ‘real’ integration. This is where a theme is selected to cut
across several individual disciplines or subjects. This theme takes care of all
disciplines or subjects. Subject disciplines cease to have separate identity.
Teachers teach the theme instead of their subjects having at the back of their
minds the idea that the theme has taken care of their individual subjects.
REASONS FOR INTEGRATED CURRICULUM

1. The rapid rise in the amount of knowledge that

children should learn. This has led curriculum
designers to add more things to curriculum reforms or
reviews. This has resulted in teachers experiencing an
increased body of knowledge and overcrowded
curriculum
coupled with large classes. This makes teachers
experience the feeling that ‘there just isn't enough
time to get it all in’ or ‘the school day just isn't long
enough for all that I'm supposed to do’. This feeling of
frustration is one of the motivations behind
development of integrated curriculum.
REASONS FOR INTEGRATED
CURRICULUM
2. Concerns about curriculum relevancy, and a lack of
connections and relationships among disciplines. This
rationale for curriculum integration has found its basis
in the work of Piaget (1896-1980) and others who hold
a holistic view of learning. Each of these theorists is
concerned with children having an understanding of
concepts.
Integrated curriculum is viewed a move away from
memorization and recitation of isolated facts and
figures to more meaningful concepts and the
connections between concepts. Proponents of
curriculum integration view it as a way of making
education more meaningful.
REASONS FOR CURRICULUM
INTEGRATION
3. Theories of how children learn have also led many a curriculum designer
and developer to adoption of curriculum integration. Cromwell (1989) looks
at how the brain processes and organizes information. According to
Cromwell, the brain organizes new knowledge on the basis of previous
experiences and the meaning that has developed from those experiences.
The brain processes many things at the same time, and holistic experiences
are recalled quickly and easily. Put to use in the classroom, Cromwell’s
learning theory points toward interdisciplinary learning or thematic teaching.
The current movement toward an integrated curriculum has its basis in the
work of learning theorists who advocate that learning is best accomplished
when information is presented in connected patterns.
REASONS FOR CURRICULUM
INTEGRATION
4. The movement toward a global economy and
international connections, as well as the rapid
changes in technology, is pushing education
toward integration (Lipson, 1993).
According to Lipson, the ability to make
connections, to solve problems by looking at
multiple perspectives, and to incorporate
information from different fields, will be an
essential ingredient for success in the future.
CHALLENGES OF CURRICULUM INTEGRATION
1. Integrated curriculum underspecies or dilutes knowledge. It presents shallow knowledge of the integrated
subjects.

2. Teachers are themselves taught in isolated disciplines in both content and

methodologies in teacher training institutions. Teacher training institutions do not
adequately prepare teachers to make the transition from an isolated subject-based
curriculum to a more integrated one. Consequently, teachers have difficulty thinking
in a holistic and integrated fashion in teaching students.

3. Teachers are not provided adequate teacher in-service trainings on appropriate

integration techniques and team building within the school. Consequently, teachers
have difficulty in teaching integrated curricula.

4. Integration takes considerable time to develop. Many schools seeking a thematic

approach to integration do not provide for adequate planning time to meet with other
professionals and to do research on the common theme. This results in the teachers having
difficulties in teaching integrated curricula.

5. The pedagogical thinking of thematic integration requires that teachers shift their
traditional ways of teaching and assessment. Teachers must therefore be prepared to
teach and assess the learning in new ways. In practice, this does not occur because
most teaching continues in the traditional manner and, consequently, so does the
testing. This results in an integrated curriculum not to be effectively taught.
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF
CONTENT
According to Fraser(1998), the selection of
content is based on the following criteria:
1. Validity and significance
The knowledge or subject matter selected to be
learned should be meaningful and of importance
to the learner. For example, can the content put
in the curriculum apply to a wide range of
problems? Can the content provide useful
orientation of students to the world around
them.
 Criteria for selecting content
2. Learnability
Learning content should match the learners’
intellectual abilities and level of physical development.
It should be within the capabilities of the students to
process.
3. Durability (lifespan)
Knowledge is always changing. Consequently, content
selected to be included in the curriculum should be
relatively of a long life span. Content that relates
directly to the principal idea or fundamental thought is
selected. These principles tend to be less subject to
change.
Criteria for selecting content in the
curriculum
3. Cultural and environmental compatibility
Learning is promoted if the learners are able to
link the new knowledge or skills taught to them
to their existing knowledge. This makes the
new knowledge user-friendly. Content should
therefore be culturally and environmentally
sensitive.
 Criteria for selecting content
4. Usefulness(relevance)
The teacher should consider the usefulness of
the content. For example, which is more
relavant content in the case of Malawi, in terms
of Foreign Languages which can learned by
students.
 CRITERIA FOR SELECTING CONTENT
5. Relevance and applicability
If certain tasks are to be performed by the
learner, the learning content selected should
bring about the development of the skills
necessary for these tasks. Learning content
should therefore be selected to achieve the
desired outcomes. Consequently, the content
must be relevant.
 ORGANISATION OF CONTENT
• In a curriculum design itself, content is organised in ways
that it will facilitate student learning. The first step in
organising content in a curriculum is to organise it into
stand-alone subjects or disciplines of learning or to
integrate the content from different subjects or disciplines
of learning into one broad field of study. For example,
content in Contents-Based Curriculum is organised in
stand-alone subjects or disciplines. In Outcomes-Based
education, it is put after the outcomes. It is also usually
integrated. In an integrated Curriculum, content of
different stand-alone subjects are fused together through a
theme cutting across the different subject areas. Content is
thus presented as “Themes” in an Integrated curriculum.
 ORGANISATION OF CONTENT
• The second step in organising content is to put it into
Scope and Sequence.
• Scope and sequence is concerned with the
arrangement of content in terms of breadth and
depth both within each grade level and from one
grade to the next. Scope and sequene of content in a
syllabus is presented in a Scope and Sequence chart.
• Scope looks at what are the topics to be taught in a
certain grade and how much content should be
covered at each grade level?
 ORGANISATION OF CONTENT
• Sequence is concerned with the arrangement of
topics in a syllabus in a way that will facilitate
teaching and learning. For example, which piece
of content is a prerequisite to which? What
learning experiences should precede which and
when? Are the various elements of the content to
be taught arranged in a meaningful order of
difficulty from one grade to the next. Does the
sequence take into account the mental maturity
of students?
FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN ORGANISING
CONTENT INTO SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
1. Continuity in learning.
Is each topic developed further at each grade
level? Is there a gradual development of each
topic from one grade level to the next? Or are
there any gaps? Is there an acceptable reason or
rationale for any apparent lack of continuity.
Continuity deals with the continued presence of
curriculum elements and this is very important.
FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN ORGANISING CONTENT
INTO SCOPE AND SEQUENCE

• Once a topic has been introduced, it must be

continued at each successive grade.
2. Articulation
• There must be a relationship between and
among the topics. Is there any connection
between one topic and another?
• Theory and practice must go together.
 ORGANISATION OF CONTENT
3. Balance
There must be a balance between the breadth
and depth of content and the amount of time
available for the teaching.
4. Integration
Scope and sequence must take into account the
fact that learning is more effective when
content from one subject is related
meaningfully to content in another subject.
 ORGANISATION OF CONTENT
• For example, Osmosis in Biology can be
related to pressure and capilarity in physics as
well as to solutions in Chemistry.
WAYS OF SEQUENCING CONTENT
• Logical ordering of content refers to ordering the content
according to the structure of the discipline or subject. For
example, particular concepts are prerequisite for learning
of some concepts in a subject or discipline.
• Psychological ordering refers to ordering the content in the
curriculum by basing on psychology of learning. Psychology
of learning refers to how human beings process
information to learn. For example, learners learn more
effectively when they deal with concrete first before the
abstract. For example, in Geography, students will learn
better when they are first taught about issues related to
their immediate environment before being taught issues
related to a more distant environment. `
EXAMPLES OF LOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
ORDERING OF CONTENT

• EXAMPLES OF LOGICAL ORDERING OF CONTENT

1. Chronological ordering
Facts and occurences are arranged in time
sequence.
2. Conventional ordering
The first component of a concept of a particular
series is presented first and ends with the last one.
EXAMPLES OF LOGICAL ORDERING

3. Divergent ordering
This is where content is not necessary ordered in a linear
way where a completion of one occurrence will lead to
another but this where content presentation is extended
in different directions to deal with a topic as a whole or
holistically to ensure better understanding of the content
by
the students.
EXAMPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY
ORDERING OF CONTENT
1. Heuristic ordering
This is where the content is presented from
abstract to concrete to allow discovery learning
of students.