OMEGA R. GRESOLA | DEPT.

OF TEACHER EDUCATION
 Chapter 1. Curriculum Essentials

1. The School Curriculum: Definition, Nature, and Scope

Lesson Objectives:

1.1 describe the nature and scope of curriculum

1.2 differentiate the two perspectives on curriculum

1.3 develop a definition of curriculum
What is curriculum?
What is curriculum?

“curere” [Latin] which means

to run

‘course’ or ‘track’ to be
followed
What is curriculum?

Adapted by Petrus Ramus in

1576 and the University of
Glasgow to mean
“a course of study”
 What is your
understanding of
curriculum?
Traditional Progressive
 Try to identify the common
theme (similarities) among the
definitions from traditional point
of view, and do the same for the
progressive point of view.
Traditional Perspective

Robert M. Hutchins

Emphasis on “permanent
studies” where the rules of
grammar, reading, rhetoric,
logic, and mathematics are
emphasized
Traditional Perspective

Arthur Bestor

The focus of curriculum should

focus on fundamental
intellectual disciplines
(grammar, literature, writing,
science, mathematics, history,
and foreign language)
Traditional Perspective

Joseph Schwab

Believes that the sole source of

the curriculum is a discipline;
coined the word discipline as a
ruling doctrine for curriculum
development
Traditional Perspective

Phillip Phenix

Curriculum should consist

entirely of knowledge which
comes from various disciplines
Progressive Perspective

John Dewey

Education is experiencing

Reflective thinking is a means

that unifies curricular elements
that is tested by application
Progressive Perspective

Holin Caswell (left)

Doak Campbell (right)

Curriculum is all the

experiences that children have
under the guidance of teachers
Progressive Perspective

Bunny Othaniel Smith,

William Oliver Stanley Jr.,
James Harlan Shore

Curriculum as a sequence of
potential experiences, set up in
schools for the purpose of
disciplining children and youth
Progressive Perspective

Colin Marsh (left)

George Willis (right)

Curriculum is all the

experiences in the classroom
which are planned and enacted
by the teacher, and learned by
the students
 Traditional
✓ Emphasis on intellectual
training

Arthur Bestor
o focus of curriculum should
Progressive
focus on fundamental
intellectual disciplines

o Essentialism is highly
academic
 Traditional
✓ Emphasis on intellectual
training
✓ List of courses to be
studied
Progressive
Joseph Schwab

o Coined the term ‘discipline’

as a ruling doctrine for
curriculum development
o Essentialism is highly
academic
 Traditional
✓ Emphasis on intellectual
training
✓ List of courses to be
studied
Progressive
✓ Often associated with
written documents
 Progressive
✓ More holistic

✓ Focus on experiences

Traditional John Dewey

o Progressive education
movement
o Learning by doing
o Education is experiencing
o Reflective thinking
 Progressive
✓ More holistic

✓ Focus on experiences

Traditional ✓ Education is not limited to

academics
 Curriculum as a cumulative
tradition of organized knowledge

Curriculum as an experience
Fundamental
Concepts in
Curriculum as an instructional plan
Curriculum

Curriculum as an instructional
outcome
“The curriculum is the plans made for guiding learning
in the schools, usually represented in retrievable
documents of several levels of generality, and the
actualization of those plans in the classroom, as
experienced by the learners and as recorded by an
observer; those experiences take place in a learning
environment that also influences what is learned.”

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2019

Thank you for listening,
see again you next week! ☺