The teacher's mind is an abstract construct that flows into structures of academic

curriculums and are lived through institutionalized learning practices. This means that
the intertwined complexities of the teacher's principles and perspectives of life, are the
precursors of the foundations we incorporate into the curriculums we set to teach our
students of who and what to become.

In this particular discussion of the Foundations of Curriculum Development to be exact,

there have been three identified foundations of the curriculum that have been
considered to contribute significant impacts to how curriculums are made, based on the
teacher's idea of the world and life as a whole.

The first among the three foundations of curriculum development is the philosophical
foundation that serves to be the bull’s eye that needs to be hit in the process of learning.
The goal, as an element of the curriculum is driven by the philosophical concepts that
determines which outputs should be pursued and achieved in the process of teaching
and developing students. The philosophical foundation is important in narrowing and
focusing the teaching efforts, to stay sharp and on track as teachers and the academe
achieve the desired results of honing their students to the best they could be.

In an institution that believes in the philosophy of idealism, where the best of the world
can be achieved and experienced on how one constructs it to be inside their heads, the
goal then of the curriculum will be teaching students of how they would perceive the
world to be as a better place to live in and ultimately achieve them in the future,
because it is anchored on the idea that we will settle for how the world should be, rather
than what it is today. On the other hand, for institutions that practice the principles of
reconstructionism, the goals of their curriculum would be motivating students to believe
that the things and ideas are constantly changing, that what is true in the past, may no
longer be correct today; and the things we are resolved to see as the truth today, may
be disproved in the future. Such philosophy, commonly sets the goal to make students
always hungry and curious of defying the standards of the past and the present in the
pursuit of the ever changing truth that never settles in time.

The second foundation of curriculum development that should be given emphasis in the
creation of curriculums is sociological foundation, as it is the essential source of the
relative knowledge of students based on their environment and access to information
that should be integrated or infused to the contents of the curriculum. In a nutshell,
sociological foundation is the precept to the content creations of curriculums.
For institutions that value the social theory of interactionism, curriculums are developed
to create initiative in the mindset of the students as a vital asset of thriving best in the
community and the world in a larger picture. Such is also reflected on their emphasis to
the mastery of language and communication skills development among the students
and the content of the lessons. This could also mean focused discussions that promote
self-expression and leadership excellence.

Further, content creations of curriculums that follow the functionalism social theory will
focus more on integrating matters of discussion where the smallest units of life, society,
and organizations are empowered as they are valued as the precursor of attaining
greater affirmative results to the causes of human survival and development. This
particular theory infuses the need of why students should specialize on particular fields
of knowledge and expertise as they from part of a larger system in the society.
Meanwhile, socialism-theory-based institutions pursue the individual supremacy of
students in the content of their curriculum. They tell stories about legends,
superhumans, and how society is deprived of equal access to scare resources, that one
needs to rise as a hero of oneself in reality just so to experience life at an advantage. In
a sense, the content of the curriculum is aimed at making students better themselves
over others.

The third foundation of curriculum development is the psychological foundation, which

satisfies the two last elements of a curriculum, namely; approach and evaluation. The
psychological theories allow a directed decision-making on the part of the teachers on
how to select various approaches of learning to students and how to evaluate the
amount or level of learning and skills development acquired by the students in the
process.

For a curriculum that is based on the theory of bahaviorism, the approach would be
introducing common real-life activities and situations of how students should behave
and conduct oneself, and be evaluated with a pre-test and post-test scoring of
performances after the conduct of instructions and teaching methods; putting high value
on the difference between the scores. Some situations may also call for just a post test,
like in laboratory moving exercises, where students are evaluated on how well they
handle instruments and follow instructions in the process. Assuming that from knowing
nothing in handling a microscope, their performances will be evaluated based on the
application of the knowledge and skills that are introduced to them prior the moving
exercise.
In the perspective of the cognitivism theory as used in the development of curriculums,
students are taught to enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills that are not
necessarily observed physically. Teaching approaches of mental analysis and
performing arithmetic functions in the mind, memorization of terms and details in a
particular order, can also be observed as a part of the approach and evaluation
elements of such curriculum, as opposed to a subjective approach of curriculums that
follow the constructivism theory, where students are given a large leeway to interpret
things that they experience and observe in the real world. Realizations and
comprehensions about certain learnings and experiences students are exposed to,
allow them to apply value-adding powers by giving meaning and significance to the
situations they’re exposed to, then teachers evaluate how relevant these interpretations
are to the experiences they have had.

In summary, the philosophical, social, and psychological foundations of curriculum

development influence teachers on where to derive the goals that they will set, the
content that they will share, as well as the approach to create competence and develop
the skills of the students in a designed metric that is congruent to the elements of a
curriculum.

With all that are discussed, they only underscore further the life-changing roles of
teachers in creating a better generation of the human race in the future. As it was once
said by Dr. Rizal, that our youth is the hope of our motherland; I dare say, that the
teachers are our bridges to that hope.