Steppingstones to Curriculum

Steppingstone 2
Choosing a Curriculum Orientation

A worldview is a set of basic beliefs and assumptions about life and reality. It answers what a
person believes about the nature and purpose of life in our world. It provides meaning, and it
guides and directs the thought and action of its adherents.

Curriculum Orientations (Curriculum platform) sets out:

-Basic worldview assumptions
-View of knowledge and of the person, and how these affect classroom learning and teaching
-General aims of curriculum

Four Curriculum Orientations

Traditional- (What content do students need most? What have thinkers found out about world
that we want students to know?)
Two main types of traditional schools: Essentialist and Perennialist
Essentialists
-Schools systematically teach basic facts, concepts, and skills.
-Teachers generally know what knowledge is significant for living and working in society.
-Teachers tell students and parents how well students achieve on tests.
Perennialists
-The basic feature of humans is their ability to reason. The main thrust of education therefore
becomes cultivating reason.
-There should be a general core curriculum for all students that emphasizes our common cultural
heritage.
-In school, thinking is more important than doing.

Process/Mastery- (How can we achieve our objectives efficiently?)

-Also called Cognitive Process
Characteristics:
-The curriculum uses efficient means to reach predetermined, detailed, and measurable ends.
-The key to efficient learning is carefully structured inquiry based on observations and guided
thought.
-Knowledge is viewed as an objective impersonal, value-free commodity to be grasped.

Experiential- (How can we best help students construct knowledge and meaning from their
experiences?)
-Students are innately good.
-Students learn through active involvement in personal meaningful learning experiences.
-Teachers facilitate learning by providing positive learning environments that stimulate active,
self-directed learning.
Christian Orientation- (How do we foster students positive response and responsibility toward
God, their fellow creatures, society, and themselves?)
-Bible is Gods authoritative Word for life.
The Content of the Curriculum
-The content of the curriculum advances a Christian worldview.
-Rooted in students experiences of Gods created reality.
Curriculum content should:
1. Be significant for students lives; students must recognize that it is meaningful
2. Explore questions of importance for our nation and culture
3. Acquaint students with the strengths and weaknesses of their cultural heritage
4. Help students develop the skills necessary for functioning effectively in society, including
the ability to assess various viewpoints and interpretations
5. Develop attitudes, values, dispositions, and commitments based on a careful
consideration of the worldviews affecting culture

A Framework for Learning

-Teachers provide classroom structures that let students experience the meaning of living out a
biblical worldview.
-Learning strategies need to take into account that students are unique images of God, called to
serve and love God and other humans.

Responsibility Teaching
-Views a person as unique, made in the image of God, redeemable in Christ, creative, a little less
than angels-but fallen, flawed and floundering.

Van Brummelen, Harro. Steppingstones to Curriculum: A Biblical Path (2nd ed). Purposeful
Design Publications, Colorado Springs, Colo, 2002. (p.23-45)