Topic 2a TSL 3143

Lecturer: Yee Bee Choo

IPGKTHO
 Models of Curriculum Design

Objective Model (Tyler, 1949)

Interaction Model (Taba, 1962)

Process Model (Wheeler, 1967)

Naturalistic Model (Walker, 1971)

 Tyler’s Objective Model
Ralph Tyler’s Objective Model (1949) is
• known for the special attention it
gives to the planning phases.
• the very first step in this approach is
the defining of objectives of the
course/program/lesson.
• deductive for it proceeds from the
general (examining the needs of
society, for example) to the specific
(specifying instructional objectives).
 Tyler’s Objective Model
Tyler’s Model is also classified as “product”
model. It focusses on
• The nature and structure of knowledge
• The needs of the society
• The needs of the learner
 Tyler’s Objective Model
Tyler’s model is a linear model and the ‘ends-
means’ model.

Selection of Organisation
Objective learning of learning Evaluation
experience experience
 Tyler’s Objective Model
• This model is linear in nature, starting from
objectives and ending with evaluation.
• It is important to note that:
– Objectives form the basis for the selection and
organisation of learning experience.
– Objectives form the basis for assessing the curriculum.
– Objectives are derived from the learner,
contemporary life and subject specialist.
• To Tyler, evaluation is a process by which one
matches the initial experiences with the
outcomes.
 Tyler’s Objective Model
• Tyler recommends that curriculum planners identify general
objectives by gathering data from three sources:
1. The learners
2. Contemporary life outside the school
3. Subject matter
• After identifying numerous general objectives, the planners
refine them by filtering them through two screens:
– The philosophical screen
– The psychological screen
• The general objectives that successfully pass the two screens
become what are now popularly known as instructional
objectives.
 Tyler’s Curriculum Planning Model

Society Philosophy

Subject SOURCES Objectives Screens Instructional

Matter Objectives

Learner Psychology

Selection of Organization of
Learning Learning Evaluation
Experiences Experiences

Curriculum
Curriculum Design Evaluation
 Tyler’s Objective Model
Advantages
1. It provides an easy to follow step-by-step
guide to curriculum planning and
development
2. It begins with a set of clear objectives that
teachers must plan tasks and work towards
achieving the specified outcomes
3. It aims at student's developing behavior as
their target of teaching.
 Tyler’s Objective Model
Disadvantages
1. It does not have a feedback mechanism to tell people
how to correct it.
2. It seems lack a procedure between evaluation and
organisation, and this procedure is execution. For
example, they do not apply to all subjects or the
design of a subject’s content.
3. It sees curriculum development as a fixed, linear
process.
4. The division of labor at the various points/steps are
fixed so curriculum ‘actors’ are unaware of what
others do .
5. It cannot account for the many/complex outcomes of
learning.
 Tyler’s Objective Model
Disadvantages
6 It limits what students can learn.
7 It treats ends and means separately.
8 It doesn’t indicate who decides what is
‘worthwhile’ learning.
9 It doesn’t consider that not all learning
outcomes can be measured
10 It fails to consider the changing environment.
11 It fails to recognise that the future cannot be
predicted accurately with precision.
 Taba’s Interactive Model
• Tyler’s highly influential model was modified by
Hilda Taba (1962), who proposed a variation that
recognised that while documenting the
curriculum that can be linear and logical, the
process of design is a lot messier.
• Her interactive model adds the idea of a needs
analysis, and reflects more accurately actual
iterative design practice.
Taba’s Interactive Model
 Taba’s Interactive Model
• Taba said Tyler’s model was more of
Administrative Model.
• Her model is somewhat similar to Tyler’s
model; however, it further divides into two
parts: content and learning experience.
 Taba’s Interactive Model
• Taba took what is known as a grass-roots
approach to curriculum development.
• She believed that the curriculum should be
designed by the teachers rather than handed
down by higher authority.
• Further, she felt that teachers should begin
the process by creating teaching-learning
units for their students in their schools rather
initially in creating a general curriculum
design.
 Taba’s Interactive Model
• Taba’s Model is an inductive approach rather
than traditional deductive.
• It is an inductive approach to curriculum
development, starting with specifics and
building up to a general design.
• Taba proposed 7 major steps to her grass-
roots model in which teachers would have a
major input throughout the curriculum
development process.
 Taba’s Interactive Model
Taba developed seven steps that should take place when
developing curriculum.
1. Identify the needs of the students and the expectations of
society.
2. Formulate the learning objectives.
3. The learning content will be selected based on the
objectives.
4. How the content is organized needs to be decided upon by
the teachers based on the students.
5. The learning experiences need to be selected.
6. The organization of the actual learning activities needs to be
determined.
7. Determine what is going to be evaluated and how to
determine the effectiveness of the curriculum.
 Teacher Input
Taba’s Curriculum
Planning Model

Evaluation

Diagnosis of
Needs
Organization
of Learning
Activities
Formulation
Teacher Of Objectives
Input Selection of
Learning
Selection of Activities
Content

Organization
Of Content

Teacher Input
 Taba’s Model
Advantages
• Teacher is involved in the development of the
curriculum.

Disadvantages
1. Teachers not understanding the connection
between the content, activities, teaching
methods and evaluation.
2. Keeping the resources up to date.
3. Maintaining training for new teachers on the
method as well as support needed for teachers
as they must review the plan often.
 Wheeler’s Process Model
• In 1967, Wheeler further modified Tyler’s straight
line model as cyclical model.
• This he did because Tyler’s model did not provide
for feedback or help students achieve the
evaluative outcome or expected objective.
• He believes that curriculum decision making can
start from any point and can come back to any of
the points like a cycle.
• Evaluation in Wheeler’s model is not terminal.
Findings from the evaluation is fed back into the
objectives and the goals, which influence other
stages.
 Wheeler’s Process Model
Wheeler’s cyclical/circular model has five
procedures:
1. Selecting an objective
2. Choosing learning experience
3. Choosing content
4. Organizing, integrating learning experience
and content,
5. Evaluating.
Wheeler’s Process Model

Aims, Goals &

Evaluation
Objectives

Organisation & Selection of

Integration of Learning Learning
Experiences & Content Experiences

Selection of
Content
 Wheeler’s Process Model
Wheeler’s contends that:
• Aims should be discussed as behaviours referring
to the end product of learning which yields the
ultimate goals. One can think of these ultimate
goals as outcomes.
• Aims are formulated from the general to the
specific in curriculum planning. This results in the
formulation of objectives at both an enabling and
a terminal level.
• Content is distinguished from the learning
experiences which determine that content.
 Wheeler’s Process Model
Advantages
• It has a feedback mechanism, so it provides students with
ways to measure their progress or accuracy.
• It also sets the school objective as a final step in as well as
the first. It clearly calls for the setting up of objectives.

Disadvantages
• The objective includes behavioral characteristics.
Behavioral objectives have some limitations on execution.
E.g. How can one measure a student’s increased
smoothness in writing?
• It seems to lack a procedure between organising and
integrating learning experience content and evaluation.
According to Huang & Yang (2004), this procedure is the
execution of this integrated content.
 Walker’s Naturalistic Model
• A naturalistic model is a descriptive model
which contrasts to the classical model
(prescriptive model) by Tyler. It is also called a
communicative approach.
• The communicative approach starts with the
more subjective perceptions and views of the
designers, the target group and other
stakeholders.
 Walker’s Naturalistic Model
• The term naturalistic describes how
curriculum was actually developed rather
than how it should be developed.
• Walker suggests that better curriculum
planning and development will result if
persons participated in the process and
reached a consensus about the final product.
 Walker’s Naturalistic Model
• Walker (1971) felt that the objectives or rational
models were unsuccessful and devised a model, which
has three phases. These phases are
1. Platform – includes “…ideas, preferences, points of
view, beliefs and values about the curriculum” (Print:
1993:113).
2. Deliberations – here interaction between stakeholders
begin and clarification of views and ideas in order to
reach a consensus of a shared vision.
3. Design – here, curriculum developers actually make
decisions, which are based on deliberations (above).
These decisions affect curriculum documents and
materials production.
Walker’s Naturalistic Model
 Walker’s Naturalistic Model
Advantages
• Input is given by the curriculum developers,
target group, other stakeholders in the
development of the curriculum.
• Stakeholders engaging in the planning and
development stages empowers and
acknowledges them, especially teachers, as
valuable contributors.
• Users and other parties involved are given
ample opportunity to contribute.
 Walker’s Naturalistic Model
Disadvantages
• Walker describes what happens in the process
of curriculum design but does not describe
what actually happens in the classroom.
• The process for deliberation can be time
consuming and resource intensive, and can
result in curriculum products that may not be
consistent and aligned internally.
• Consensus is often hard to achieve when
developing curriculum at national or regional
levels.
 Conclusion
• Curriculum development is basically ‘process’
and ‘product’.
• ‘Process’ is concerned with the methods and
means ‘how’ whereas the ‘product’ looks at
the outcomes, the end product ‘what’.
 Conclusion
• There are two approaches that have been
developed: normative and descriptive.
• The normative approaches are Objectives
(Tyler 1949) and the rational (Taba 1962 and
Wheeler 1967) because they provide a
sequence of steps. These have technical
interests of control.
• The procedural approach (Walker 1972) falls
into the second category of descriptive
approaches because it is an interactive model.
 Conclusion
• All of these models – linear, interactive,
cyclical and naturalistic – are efficient, logical
and clear.
• They probably don’t reflect actual curriculum
design practice for most teachers, but they
serve as useful checklists and tools for
documenting curriculum.
 Tutorial 2a
• What is the difference between the objectives
model and the process model of curriculum
design?
• Which model or models of curriculum design
do you think your national school curriculum
was based?
• How does the model affect what you actually
teach in class?
 References
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: theory
and practice. New York, Harcourt, Brace, and
World.
Tyler, R. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and
instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Walker, D. (1971). A naturalistic model for
curriculum development, School Review, 80(1),
51-65.
Wheeler, D.K. (1967). Curriculum process. London,
University of London Press.