CURRICULUM

PERSPECTIVES, MODELS &

NOMENCLATURE.
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CURRICULUM
It is a planned document that provides a time-bound schedule of educational activities to
achieve prede ined learning outcomes.

COMPONENTS OF CURRICULUM
1. Course content
2. Learning outcomes
3. Educational strategies
4. Implementation (E.g., Timetables)
5. Educational environment
6. Assessment

SYLLABUS
It is a list of topics.

PERSPECTIVES OF CURRICULUM

1. Traditional:
a. There is an emphasis on mastery of basic facts and terminologies that all students
should know.
b. The authoritarian teacher and the learners are passive recipients.
c. Students are simply recorders of information.
d. The mind is a storehouse.

2. Behavioural:
a. The content of the educational program is broken down into a step-by-step series
of behaviours, each of which must be mastered before the student is allowed to
move on.
b. These objectives require a verb to express observable behaviors (i.e., the student
will be able to…)
c. Successful graduates should be able to accomplish particular, measurable goals.

3. Constructivist:
a. Active construction of learning on the foundation of previous knowledge and
ideas.
b. Interpreting it based on existing ideas and previous experience.

4. Experiential:
a. Educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused
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re lection.
b. Ensures practical knowledge, skill, or practice from direct observation or
participation in learning events.
c. To increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's
capacity to contribute to their communities.

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TYPES OF CURRICULA
1. Declared/ Of icial Curriculum: It is the curriculum written in formal documents.
2. Taught / Operational Curriculum: It is the curriculum that is delivered to the
students by the teachers.
3. Learnt Curriculum: It is the curriculum that the students experience.
4. Hidden Curriculum: Refers to the unwritten, unof icial, and often unintended lessons,
values, and perspectives students learn from school's norms and the cultures not
openly acknowledged by teachers or the school.
5. Null Curriculum: Refers to the subject matters not taught.
6. Extra Curriculum: Comprises all planned experiences outside of school.

Note: There should be a minimum mismatch between the Of icial / Declared curriculum,
Taught/Operational curriculum, and Learnt Curriculum.

CURRICULUM MODELS
Curriculum models are tools used in the development and implementation of the
curriculum.
It can have several different formats.
A college chooses a curriculum model and is determined based on actual needs and it acts
as a guide to writing a curriculum.

De ined by Organization of Content

1. System/organ-based model: Content is integrated around organs &systems of the
body.
2. Clinical presentation / Theme -based model: Content is integrated around clinical
presentations (themes).

De ined by Problem Based Learning (method of teaching)

1. Hybrid PBL (hPBL) model: Lectures or tutorials are judiciously used with PBL.
2. PBL model: lectures or tutorials are NOT used. PBL is being used as a teaching method.

De ined by Outcomes
1. Competency-based model: Competencies are the starting point of developing a
curriculum. (Competency is de ined as the overarching set of knowledge, skills, and
attitudes required to practice safely and effectively without direct supervision)
2. Outcome-based model: Learning outcomes are the starting point of developing a
curriculum

De ined by Social Responsibility

1. Community Oriented Curriculum – COME: The curriculum is based on the

community's needs, where the teaching and learning setting is usually a hospital.
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2. Community-Based Curriculum – CBME: The curriculum is based on the community

needs, where the teaching and learning setting is community.

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION

2 + 2 Curricular Model of Flexner (1910)

The curriculum was based on the Flexner report (1910). The information resulted in the
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development of a Subject-based, Isolated curriculum. The medical colleges taught pre-

clinical subjects in the irst two years and clinical subjects in the last two years.

Traditional Model (1900s)

1. The curriculum is subject-based with little integration.
2. The aim is mastery of basic facts, terminologies, and concepts of different subjects in
isolation.
3. There is an authoritarian teacher, and the learners are passive recipients.

Non-traditional Model (late 1900s)

Curricula developed based on non-traditional perspectives of curriculum development
(behavioral, constructivist, and experiential)

PBL Curriculum (Late 1960s)

1. Problem-based Learning (PBL) was irst introduced at McMaster University.
2. Medical schools accepted it throughout the world.
3. Early lack of evidence of its ef icacy and issues related to feasibility led to the calls for it
to be abandoned.
4. Several bene its were also reported.
5. Simultaneously some schools suggested modi ications to the original format of PBL
and advocated alternative approaches, which led to the birth of the “hybrid” PBL
(hPBL) curriculum

Harvard's New Pathway Curriculum (the Late 1980s)

The Curriculum altered the scope, frequency, and format of its existing didactic lectures and
laboratory sessions and hybridized them with active problem-based discussions. In the
New Pathway Harvard Curriculum, hybridization aims to innovate without sacri icing the
best of the old.

Hybrid PBL Curriculum (hPBL) (the Early 2000s)

Lim WK described PBL curricula where lectures and other didactic sessions are judiciously
used to support the active, self-directed, and student-centered learning triggered by
problem scenarios. “Hybrid PBL Curriculum,” he further elaborated, “would refer to all
curricula incorporating PBL-style teaching method.”

NOMENCLATURE/DEFINITIONS – TITLE OF CURRICULUM

The terms used in the title of a curriculum describe the following characteristics:

Integrated or Non-integrated: In an integrated curriculum, knowledge is a fusion of

topics of different subjects. The interconnectedness and interrelationship among the topics
of other subjects are created by linking information from different subjects around the
human body's organ systems.
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Outcome-based or competency-based: the starting point of the curriculum development

is irst de ining the competencies or learning outcomes the graduating student will have.

Modular: the curriculum consists of modules. A Module is a unit of curriculum

organization that is independent, nonsequential, and typically short in duration. In a
module, subjects are usually integrated around themes or organ systems of the body. Two
or more modules may be combined to form a larger unit called a block.
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Subject-based: Teaching based on subjects of MBBS that are either taught in isolation from
each other or integrated, keeping the identity of the subjects intact.

System-based: Teaching based on body systems that are integrated, keeping the identity of
the subjects intact.

Theme-based: Integrated teaching based on themes. E.g., the clinical presentation of

patients and disease, etc.

Problem-based: the method of teaching used is PBL (Problem based learning) according
to a known model (E.g., Maastricht's 7 Jump model).

Problem-solving. the different methods of teaching use problem-solving skills.

Student-centered or Teacher-centered: the focus of Teaching and learning is Student-

centered or Teacher-centered.

Traditional / Behavioral / Constructivist / Experiential. These terms inform the

perspective from which the curriculum was developed.

Hybrid Curriculum: refer to all curricula incorporating traditional and later non-
traditional elements.

Hybrid PBL (hPBL) Curriculum: refer to all curricula in which traditional teaching
methods (Lectures, tutorials, etc..) are judiciously used with PBL.

NOTE:
1. Usually, medical colleges choose any number of the words mentioned above to name
their curriculum (usually 3 to 6).
2. Some colleges use separate titles for pre-clinical & clinical years of the curriculum.
3. Hybrid refers to all curricula incorporating a PBL-style teaching method

Example
The curriculum of Foundation University Medical College in the Pre-clinical years is
Subject-based, Integrated, Modular, and Hybrid problem-based Learning (hPBL), and in
the Clinical years is Clerkship-based, Community oriented, Experiential, and Clinical
problem-solving.
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