SUPPLEMENTARY
READINGS
These supplementary readings were added with the aim
to broaden the knowledge and understanding of the
graduate students with the history, trends, issues
and processes in curriculum development
and supervision of instruction
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EDUCATION FOR ALL FILIPINOS
Legal Bases of Education
The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines Article XIV Section 1, the State
shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels
and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.
Philosophy
The education of the Filipino is anchored on the philosophy of humanism
and egalitarianism. The former regards man as both the means and the end of
development. The latter ensures that neither poverty nor difference in political
breed and culture shall pose obstacles to fulfillment of this basic need.
Aim of Education
The whole specimen of the learning process shall ensure the provision of
good quality and relevant education. Such quality education shall be instrumental
in the pursuit of the common good – peace and unity, environmental integrity and
sustained growth and development. The ultimate aim of education is to develop in
the learner desirable knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that can effectively
use to alleviate poverty and improve the quality of his life, his family and
community and the larger society.
Education shall be pursued along the concept of a holistic learning system
where education is equated with lifelong with the world as a classroom. Hence,
there shall evolve an educational system that spans the formal and non-formalinformal divide.
In the anticipation of the massive changes brought about by the
industrialization by the year 2000, education shall guard against the weakening of
the family as a basic social unit, the erosion of desirable traditional values and
the onslaught of materials, alienation and other negative outcomes associated
with industrial progress.
Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of the basic education is to meet basic learning needs or
the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary for people to survive, to
improve the quality of their lives and to continue learning. From 1990 to the year
2000, the education sector together with the other sectors of society shall aim to
provide basic education for all Filipinos. Towards this end, the following
objectives shall be addressed:
1. The institutionalization of early childhood development as a basic service
for all children in the country;
2. The improvement in the quality and efficiency of primary education;
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3. The eradication of illiteracy; and
4. The provision of basic knowledge, skills and values that allow adults to
improve their quality of life and their opportunity to participate in the
development process.
TARGETS:
At the global level, the targets for the year 2000 are as follows:
Primary Education
Each country will strive to ensure that at least 80% of all 14-year-old
boys and girls attain a common level of learning and achievement for primary
education set by the respective national authorities.
Adult Education
Access to basic skills and knowledge for all
Literacy:
Massive reduction of illiteracy with targets to be set by each country and
priority by age and sex.
POLICIES AND STRATEGIES
Key policies and strategies have been identified to address the issues of
quality, relevance and sustainability and ensure the attainment of basic education
for all.
1. Focus on specific groups
All efforts shall be exerted to bring basic education to the rural
poor, the urban slums, cultural communities, refugees, women and
disabled, other educationally disadvantaged groups and the gifted.
2. Establishment of a viable alternative learning system encompassing nonformal and informal education
To meet the inadequacy of traditional formal schooling in providing
for the basic learning needs of children and young adults available
alternative learning system encompassing the non-formal and informal
shall be designed and develop.
3. Improvement of learning achievement emphasizing creative and critical
thinking
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Achievement levels in early childhood and elementary education
shall be raised with a particular emphasis on creative and critical thinking.
4. Intensification of values education
Values education in the formal and non-formal learning systems
shall involve the development of the Filipino as a citizen imbued with love
for God and country respect for human rights and concern for ecological
balance.
5. Promotion of scientific literacy and culture
Shall propagate a culture of scientific thinking and raise the level of
scientific literacy of the population.
6. Installation of a system of monitoring and evaluation of learning
achievement and educational programs
A monitoring and evaluation system shall be installed to determine
learning achievement and measure the effectiveness and impact of
educational programs and projects. Monitoring and evaluation shall trace
the status of programs vis-à-vis their objectives.
7. Upgrading teacher competencies and improving their welfare
The overall environment for the teaching professions shall be
enhanced by the creation of a well-organized system of recruitment,
utilization and professional development of teachers.
8. Strengthening of existing linkages and forming of new alliances
Convergence of health, nutrition, population, housing and other
basic social services shall be institutionalized to ensure the survival and
full development of the child.
8. Vigorous mobilization of non-government organization
The full participation of non-government organizations (NGOs) in
the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of education
programs shall be actively sought.
Ultimate aims of education in terms of their universal applicability
These aims are identified as: scientific humanism, development of reason,
creativity, search for balance among the various intellectual, ethical, emotional
and physical components of personality (the whole man) and positive perceptions
of mankind’s historic fate.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
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Introduction
The various types of curriculum organization in schools can be viewed
from two perspectives. One emphasizes the subject to be taught; the other
emphasizes the student. In the first case, the curriculum is viewed as a body/
content/or subject matter, leading to certain achievement outcomes or products.
The second approach defines curriculum in terms of the needs and attitudes of
student; the concern is with process – in the other words, with the climate of the
classroom or school.
Essentially, an integrated curriculum is one that transcends the boundaries
imposed by traditional subject groupings. It allows students to move across
“disciplines” as they learn about their world. Integrated curriculum does not do
away with the distinction between those subjects or learning areas – these
remain important for the purposes of balance and organization.
Why Integrate?
Schools choose to integrate the curriculum for a number of reasons:
 It provides a meaningful context and purpose for learning;
 It is time efficient in a crowded school day;
 It provides for a range of interests, learning styles,
understanding.
levels
of
Advantages of Integrated Curriculum







enables students to access the information using a variety of learning
styles;
promotes synthesizing of knowledge;
creates multiple entry points for students to become engaged in the
lesson;
promotes divergent thinking;
addresses different learning styles and intelligences;
fosters coordination and teamwork among a group of teachers and
students;
helps students comprehend concepts and ideas beyond the facts and
figures, through logical connections of subjects.
Five types of Integration
1. Content/Subject Discipline – distinct knowledge bases/set of skills (within)
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2. Parallel Discipline – timing the lessons between units (between)
3. Multi-Disciplinary – deliberate design of 2-3 disciplines leading to a
focused center (among)
4. Inter-Disciplinary – organized center using all disciplines
5. Integrated – student centered issues
Schools may start with simple discipline integration and move towards
more comprehensive and complex integration designs as they have time, interest
and resources.
Separate subject curriculum
The separate subject curriculum is based on the concept of knowledge
organized by “disciplines” or scholarly fields of specialized inquiry. Within this
approach students are expected to encounter and master selected content from
various disciplines through school subjects that are intended to represent them.
While proponents of the separate subject approach may agree on its use as a
way of organizing the curriculum, there are continuing debates over what content
from particular disciplines should be included in the school curriculum and how
subjects ought to be “learned”. The separate subject approach has a long
tradition at the university level and was promoted in the U.S. for the elementary
and high schools in the 1890s by committees of the National Education
Association that made recommendations for standardizing the curriculum. The
separate subject curriculum is often referred to as the “traditional” or
“departmentalized” curriculum.
Multidisciplinary or Multi-subject Curriculum
The multidisciplinary or multi-subject curriculum is intended to correlate
two or more subjects in relation to some organizing theme, concept, topic, or
issue. Planning for such a curriculum usually begins with identification of a topic
or theme, followed by the question, “what can various subject areas contribute to
the study of the theme?” In this way two concerns are addressed. First, as
subjects are connected in the context of the theme or topic, they may seem less
fragmented to students. Second, by opening a topic to consideration through the
lenses of two or more subject areas, it may be better and more completely
understood. Like the separate subject approach, the multidisciplinary or multisubject approach continues the purpose of encountering and mastering content
from various subjects. Moreover, though a central theme or topic is used to
correlate them, the separate subjects retain their identity and, typically, their
separate time slots in the school schedule. The multidisciplinary or multi-subject
approach has roots in the correlated curriculum advocated by the Herbartians in
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the late 19th century and has also been referred to as “curriculum correlation”
and “parallel disciplines”.
Interdisciplinary curriculum
“Interdisciplinary” is a broad term used to refer to both curriculum
designs and projects that seek to combine two or more disciplines of knowledge.
Interdisciplinary curriculum design begins with particular disciplines and uses
them to create new fields of inquiry, such as Art History or Environmental
Studies, in which the individual disciplines are necessary – but not alone
sufficient – for work within the new fields of inquiry. In a sense, as the two
examples suggest, these new fields are often close to what might be thought of
as new disciplines. Interdisciplinary projects use various disciplines in
combination to solve problems or consider issues that cannot be adequately
addressed by any one of the disciplines alone. Interdisciplinary curriculum
designs have also been referred to as “fused” or “cross-curricular”.
Student-Centered Curricula
The subject-centered curricula focus on cognitive aspects of learning as
represented in traditional subject disciplines. A direct contrast can be found in
the many varieties of student-centered curricula. The student centered approach
emphasizes students’ interests and needs – the effective aspects of learning. At
its extreme the student-centered approach is rooted in the philosophy of Jean
Jacques Rousseau, who encouraged childhood self-expression. Implicit in
Rousseau’s philosophy is the necessity of leaving the child to his or her own
devices: Rousseau considered creativity and freedom essential for children’s
growth. Moreover, he thought children would be happier if they were free of
teacher domination, the demands of subject matter, and adult-imposed
curriculum goals.
Progressive education gave impetus to student-centered curricula.
Progressive educators believed that when the interests and needs of learners
were incorporated into the curriculum, intrinsic motivation resulted. This does
not mean that student-oriented curricula are dictated by the whims of the
learner. Rather, advocates believe that learning is more successful if the
interests and needs of the learner are taken into account. One flaw of studentcentered curricula, however, is that they sometimes overlook important cognitive
content.
John Dewey, one of the chief advocates of student-centered curricula,
attempted to establish a curriculum that balanced subject matter with students’
interests and needs. As early as 1902, he pointed out the fallacies of either
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extreme. The learner was neither “a docile recipient of fads” nor “the starling
point, the center, and the end” of the school activity. More than 30 years later,
Dewey was still criticizing over permissive educators who provided little
education for students under the guise of meeting those students’ expensive and
impulsive needs. Dewey sought instead to use youngsters’ developing interests
to enhance the cognitive learning process. In the last decade, many educators
have again called for nearly the same synthesis.
There are at least five (5) major types of student-centered curricula:
Child-centered curriculum. The movement from the traditional subjectdominated curriculum toward a program emphasizing student interests and needs
began in 1762 with the publication of Rosseau’s Emile, in which Rosseau
maintained that the purpose of education is to teach people to live. By she turn of
the next century the Swiss educator Johann Pestalozzi was stressing human
emotions and kindness in teaching young children. When Friedrich Frobel
introduced the kindergarten in Germany in 1837, he emphasized a permissive
atmosphere and the use of songs, stories, and games as instructional materials.
Early in the 20th century, Maria Montessori, working with the slum children of
Rome, developed a set of didactic materials and learning exercises that
successfully combined work with play. Many of her Principles became popular in
the United States during the 1960s as part of the compensatory preschool
movement.
Early progressive educators in the United States adopted the notion of
schools with a child-centered curriculum. After Dewey’s organic school (which
lie described in Schools of Tomorrow), many other private and experimental
schools developed – the best known of which were Columbia University’s Lincoln
School, Ohio Sates Laboratory School, the Laboratory of Missouri Elementary
School, the Pratt School in Alabama. These schools had a common feature: their
curricula stressed the needs and interests of the students. Some stressed
individualization; others grouped students by ability or interests.
Many child-centered programs today are carried on in free schools or
alternative schools organized by parents and teachers who are dissatisfied with
the public schools. These schools are typified by a great deal of freedom for
students and noisy classrooms that sometimes appear untidy and disorganized.
The teaching-learning process is unstructured. Most of these schools are
considered radical and anti-establishment, even though many of their ideas are
rooted in the well-known child-centered doctrines of progressivism.
Summerhill, a school founded in 1921 by A.S. Neil and still in existence
today, is perhaps the best-known free school. Neill’s philosophy was to replace
authority with freedom. He was not concerned with the formal learning; he did
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not believe in textbooks or examinations. He did believe that those who want to
study will study and those who prefer not to study will not, regardless of how
teachers teach. Neill’s dual criteria for success were the ability to work joyfully
and the ability to live a happy life.
Although Neill, Edgar Friedenberg, Paul Goodman, and John Holt all
belong to an earlier generation of school reformers, other radicals have emerged.
They include Paul Freire, Henry Giroux, Ivan Illich, Herbrt Kohl, and Jonathan
Kozol. These educators stress the need for, and in many cases have established,
child-centered free schools or alternative schools.
Critics condemn these schools as places where little cognitive learning
takes place. They decry a lack of discipline and order. They fee that the
reformers’ attacks on establishment teachers and schools are over generalized
and unfair and that the language of the attack is oversimplified and rhetorical.
Opponents do not find the radicals’ idea of schooling to be feasible for mass
education, and they wish to hold the radicals accountable for irresponsible
pedagogical decisions. Proponents counter that children do learn in these childcentered schools, which – instead of stressing conformity – are made to fit the
child.
Activity-centered curriculum. This movement, which grew out of the
private child-centered schools, has strongly affected the public elementary
school curriculum. William Kilpatrick, one of the Dewey’s colleagues, was its
leader. Kilpatrick differed with Dewey’s child-centered view; he believes that
the interests and needs of children could not be anticipated and therefore a
preplanned curriculum was impossible. He attacked the school curriculum as
unrelated to the problems of real life; he advocated purposeful activities that
were as lifelike as possible and that were tied to a child’s needs and interests.
During the 1920s and 1930s, many elementary schools adopted some
ideas from the activity-centered curriculum, perhaps best summarized and first
put into practice by Ellsworth Ceilings, a doctoral student of Kilpatrick’s. A host
of teaching strategies emerged, including lessons based on life experiences,
group games, dramatizations, story projects, field trips, social enterprises, and
interest centers. All of these activities involved problem solving and active
student participation; they emphasized socialization and the formation of stronger
school-community ties.
Recent curriculum reformers have translated ideas from this movement
into community and career-based activities intended to prepare students for
adult citizenship and work and into courses emphasizing social problems and
social responsibility. They have also urged college credit for life experiences.
Secondary and college students often earn credit today by working in welfare
agencies, early childhood programs, tutoring programs, government, hospitals,
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and homes for the aged. Schools can also make use of the rich experiences of
the business and scientific community, neighborhood libraries, recreational or
park district agencies, playhouses, and youth agencies (such as the Scouts). As
one educator pointed out, “We take for granted that our schools are communities,
when in fact, they are merely institutions that become communities only when we
work at it.” Schools employing an activity-centered curriculum envision students
as involved citizens rather than just as test takers and future workers. By
encouraging hands-on activities and real-life experiences, these schools give
students a sense of ownership in the school, a sense of community.
Relevant curriculum. Unquestionably, the curriculum must reflect social
change. This point is well illustrated in The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, a satiric
hook on education, written in 1939 by Harold Benjamin, a reconstructionalist,
under the pseudonym Abner J. Peddiwell. He describes a society in which the
schools continued to teach fish catching (because it would develop ability), horse
clubbing (to develop strength), a tiger scaring (to develop courage) long after the
streams had dried up and the horses and timers had disappeared. The wise men
of the society argued that “the essence of true education is timeless… something
that endures through changing conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and
firmly in the middle of a raging torrent. Benjamin’s message was simple: the
curriculum was no longer relevant.
The 1960s and 1970s saw a renewed concern for a relevant curriculum,
but with a somewhat different emphasis. There was less concern that the
curriculum reflects changing social conditions and more concern that the
curriculum be relevant to students. This shift was part of the Dewey legacy:
learners must be motivated and interested in the learning task, and the classroom
should build on their real-life experiences.
The demand for relevance came from both students and educators. In fact,
the student disruptions of the 1960s and 1970s were related to this demand.
Proponents who advocate this approach today see the following needs: (1) the
individualization of instruction through such teaching methods as independent
inquiry and special projects; (2) the revision of existing courses and development
of new ones on such topics of student concern as environmental protection, drug
addiction, urban problems, and cultural pluralism; (3) the provision of educational
alternatives (such as electives, minicourses, open classrooms) that allow more
freedom of choice; (4) the extension of the curriculum beyond the school’s walls
through such innovations as work-study programs, credit for life experiences,
and external degree programs; and (5) the relaxation of academic standards and
admission standards to schools and colleges.
Efforts to relate subject matter to student interests have been largely ad
hoc, and many were fragmented and temporary. This has been a source of cones
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to advocates of relevance. In other cases, changes made in the name of
relevance have in fact watered down the curriculum.
Humanistic curriculum. Like many other modern curriculum developments,
humanistic education began as a reaction to what was viewed as overemphasis
on cognitive learning in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Terry Borton, a
Philadelphia schoolteacher, was one of the first to write about this movement. He
contended that education had only two (2) major purposes: subject mastery and
personal growth. Nearly early school’s statement of goals includes both
purposes, but Borton, and later others asserted that goals related to personal
growth, feeling, and the happy life was included only for show. Almost everyone
knows, the argument went, how little schools have done to promote learning
related to personal insights and the affective domain. In his best-selling book,
Crisis in the Classroom, Charles Silberman also advocated the humanizing of U.S.
schools. He charged that schools were repressive, teaching students’ docility and
conformity.
The humanistic model of education grew out of the human potential
movement in psychology. Within education it is rooted in the work of Arthur
Jersld, who linked good teaching with knowledge of self and students, and in the
work of Arthur Combs and Donald Snygg, who explored the impact of selfconcept and motivation on achievement. Combs and Snygg considered selfconcept to be the most important determinant of behavior.
A humanistic curriculum emphasizes affective rather than cognitive
outcomes. Such a curriculum draws heavily on the work of Abraham Maslow and
Carl Rogers. Its goal is to produce “self-actualizing people,” in Maslow’s words,
or “total human beings” as Rogers puts it. The works of both psychologists are
laden with such term as choosing, striving, enhancing, and experiencing – as well
as independence, self-determination, integration, and personal relationships.
Advocates of humanistic education contend that the present school
curriculum has failed miserably by humanistic standards, those teachers and
schools are determined to stress cognitive behaviors and to control students not
for students’ good but for the good of adults. Humanists emphasize more than
affective processes; they seek higher domains of spirit, consciousness,
aesthetics, and morality. Humanists would attempt to form more meaningful
relationships between students and teachers; they would foster student
independence and self-direction and promote greater acceptance of self and
others. The teacher’s role would be to help learners cope with their
psychological needs and problems, to facilitate self-understanding among
students, and to help students develop fully.
Values-centered curriculum. As social and economic conditions change, so
do people and the idea they value; this is a natural and inevitable process. Yet
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because of the fast pace of modern society, the breakdown of the nuclear family,
and tile decline in church influence, people today often suffer from value
confusion, the symptoms of which may include apathy, uncertainly, and
inconsistency. A values-centered curriculum attempts to alleviate the confusion
by placing special emphasis on moral and ethical issues.
Much recent educational concern has focused on values. For example,
advocates of multicultural education stress not only knowledge of the diverse
cultures and ethnic experiences of American society, but also appreciation and
respect for cultures other than one’s own. In this respect, multicultural education
fits into a values-centered curriculum. Even more fundamentally, some
educators, parents, and community members have come to the conclusion that
too many students lack a strong sense of right and wrong. It is up to the school,
these people argue, to teach such basic values as honesty, responsibility, selfdiscipline, compassion, tolerance, and respect for the rights of others.
But how should values be taught? Educators have developed various
methods to teach valuing. For example, value clarification is a technique
designed overcome value confusion and to help people become positive and
purposeful. According to Louis Raths and his associates, who have written one of
the most popular books on the subject, the process of valuing follows seven (7)
steps: :choosing freely, choosing from alternatives, choosing after thoughtful
consideration, prizing and cherishing, affirming, acting upon choices, and
repeating (such choices)…as a pattern in life.”
In addition to value clarification, at least four (4) other distinct teaching
methods have appeared. The first is inculcation, in which accepted values are
taught with the support of common law. Next is moral development, highlighting
moral and ethical principles and their application. Third is analysis of issues and
situations involving values. A fourth is action learning, by which values are tried
tested in real-life situations. In addition, the humanistic approaches used
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers may be described as evocation, a calling forth
from the individual of personal values and the ability to make choices and think
creatively.
One drawback to humanistic and value-clarification theories is their lack
of attention to cognitive learning. When asked to judge the effectiveness of their
curricula, both humanists and value educators generally rely on testimonials and
subjective assessments, rather than empirical evidence or student achievement
scores. Even more important, value to be taught or how to teach them. Parent
may be enraged is a school attempts to teach values that differ from those of the
home and family. Especially in such controversial areas as sex, religion, and
justice, values education may become a minefield.
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Curriculum Organization Approaches
Curriculum
Approach
Corresponding
Philosophy or Theory
Content
Emphasis
Instructional
Emphasis
Child-centered
curriculum
Progressivism
Student needs
and interest;
student
experience
Activity-centered
curriculum
Progressivism
Student needs
and interest;
student
activities
schoolcommunity
activities
Play oriented;
creative
expression; free
learning
environment
Active,
experimental
environment;
project methods;
effective living
Relevant
curriculum
Progressivism,
reconstructionism
Student
experiences and
activities; felt
Values-centered
curriculum
Reconstructionism,
existentialism
Democratic
values; ethical
and moral
values; crosscultural and
universal
values; choice
and freedom
Student-centered
Social and
personal
problems;
reflective thinking
Feelings,
attitudes, and
emotions;
existentialism
thinking; decision
making
Toward an Integrated Curriculum
Though integration as a curriculum design technique builds and reinforces
both general education and vocational education, educators must remain
cognizant of the most critical element to any curriculum design: the learner.
Learners’ needs, and the relevancy of the curriculum designed to meet those
needs, represent the “bottom line” to the curriculum integration process.
What does this learner relevancy mean to the curriculum designer?
Curriculum is relevant to the learner and engages the learner by:
 Combining general and specific content;
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
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
Focusing on learner values, culture, discovery, thinking processes, and
workplace experiences;
Creating learning situations that transfer learning and knowledge;
Reflecting the complexities of knowledge and its application in diverse
context, problems, and situations.
By reinforcing general and vocational education concepts and skills, and
by connecting learning to real life/work applications, curriculum integration
increases the relevancy of learning experiences. Educators designing curriculum
must ask the basic question of the teaching-learning paradigm: what does the
student need to know and be able to do? Integrated School-to-Work curriculum
influence what skills and information students learn, how well they learn, and
how transferable these skills and knowledge are to real world-applications.
Ten (10) Views for Integrating Curriculum
Fragmented
Connected
Description: The traditional model of
separate and distinct discipline, which
fragments the subject area.
Description: Within each subject area,
course content is connected topic to
topic, concept to concept, one year’s
work to the next, and relates ideas
explicitly.
Nested
Description: Within each subject, the
teacher targets multiple skills: a
social skill, a thinking skill, and a
content-specific skill.
Sequenced
Description: Topics or units of study
are rearranged and sequenced to
coincide with one another. Similar
ideas are taught in concert while
remaining separate subjects.
Example: English Teacher presents a
historical novel depicting a particular
period while the History teacher
teaches that same period.
Example: Teacher designs the unit on
photosynthesis to target consensus
seeking, sequencing, and plant life
cycle.
Shared
Description: Shared planning and
teaching take place in two disciplines
in which overlapping concepts or
ideas emerge as organizing elements.
Example: Science and Math teachers
use data collection, and graphing as
Webbed
Description: A fertile theme is
webbed to curriculum contents and
disciplines; subjects use the theme to
sift out appropriate concepts, topics,
and ideas.
Example: Teacher presents a simple
topical theme, such as circus, and
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shared concepts that can be teamtaught.
webs it to other subject areas.
Threaded
Description:
The
metacurricular
approach threads thinking skills,
social skills, multiple intelligences,
technology, and study skills through
the various disciplines.
Integrated
Description: This interdisciplinary
approach
matches
subjects
for
overlaps in topics and concepts with
some team teaching in an authentic
integrated model.
Example: Teaching staff targets
prediction in Reading, Math, and
Science while Social Studies teacher
targets forecasting current events.
Example: In Math, Science, Social
Studies, Fine Arts, etc. teachers look
for patterning models and approach
content through these patterns.
Immersed
Description: The disciplines become
part of the learner’s lens of
expertise: the learner filters all
content through this lens and
becomes immersed in his or her own
experience.
Example:
Student
or
doctoral
candidate has an area of expert
interest and sees all learning through
that lens.
Networked
Description: Learner: Learner filters
all learning through the expert’s eye
and makes internal connections that
lead to external networks of experts
in related fields.
Example: Architect, while adapting
the CAD/CAM technology for design,
networks with programmers and
expands her knowledge base.
Learning Activity
1. What are the concepts and principles of integrated curriculum?
2. What are the importance, advantages and types of integrated curriculum?
3. How does the integrated curriculum differ from the traditional model of
curriculum?
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INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
CURRICULUM
Curriculum has given rise over the years to many interpretations. Good’s
Dictionary of Education describes curriculum as “a systematic group of courses
or sequences of subjects required for graduation of certification in a major field
of study, for example, social studies curriculum, physical education curriculum…”
Hollis L. Caswell and Doak S. Campbell viewed curriculum not as a group
of courses but as “all the experiences children have under the guidance of
teachers”.
The more recent definition according to Saylor and Alexander is defined
by listing its elements:
All curricula, no matter what their particular design are composed
of certain elements. A curriculum usually contains a statement of aims and
of specific objectives; it indicates some selection and organization of
content; it either implies or manifests certain patterns of learning and
teaching, whether because the objectives demand them or because the
content organization requires them. Finally, it includes a program of
evaluation of the outcomes.
INTEGRATION
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Integrate means “to make whole or complete by adding or bringing
together parts. Curriculum workers should concerns themselves with the problem
of integrating subject matter. By integration we mean the blending, fusion, or
unification of disciplines. Unlike determination of scope and sequence, which
must be accomplished, the integration of disciplines is an optional and
controversial undertaking. Whether or not curriculum planners choose to
integrate subject matter hinges upon their philosophy of the nature of knowledge,
the nature of learners, and the purposes of education.
Generally speaking, educators support the conception of integrating
subject matter. Tyler defined integration as “the organization of these
experiences should be such that they help the student increasingly to get a
unified view and to unify his behavior in relation to the elements dealt with”.
Taba commented, “it is recognized that learning is more effective when facts and
principles from one field can be related to another, especially when applying this
knowledge.
Whether or not the curriculum is integrated and the degrees to which it
may be integrated are decided more on the basis of the curriculum planners’
philosophies than on empirical data. It is impossible to prove without a doubt that
integrating content necessarily leads to more productive, better educated
citizens than organizing education into separate subjects.
THREE (3) FOCUS OF INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
The integrative curriculum has taken three forms, which differ slightly
from one another in the selection of a basis for organizing the daily program of
the school and in the extent to which the framework of the curriculum is planned
in advance.
a) The child centered curriculum
The Philosophy underlying this curriculum design is that the child is the
center of the educational process and the curriculum should be built upon his
interests, abilities, purposes, and needs. This type of curriculum emerged from
the extensive research carried on in the early 20th century by John Dewey and
his followers. A new respect for the child, a new freedom of action, were
incorporated into curriculum building in the child-centered school.
b) The experience curriculum is one that places emphasis on the immediate felt
interests and felt needs of the learner and not on the anticipated needs and
interest. There is need here of cooperative planning of the curriculum with the
learner so that the teacher can discover his genuine interest and needs. Thus,
the first step involves the learner’s own choice of an activity or area of interest
on which he desires to work. The second step takes place when the learner
confers with the teacher and tells him what he wants to do. The teacher as
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responsible in bringing the learner to a realization of the scope of the area
selected, of his responsibilities, and of the kinds and amount of labor which will
be involved. The third step is an exploration by the learner of the materials he
will need, both those of a subject-matter nature and those of the learning
experiences, such as visiting a water supply sources or staying in a farm. During
this step, the teacher suggests and supplies aids and refers the learner to
different kinds of materials. In the fourth step the learner fuses his experiences
and activities, intellectual and otherwise, into the acquisition and mastery of his
chosen area of interest. He clarifies his experience; make an oral or a written
illustrated report of it take a standard of teacher-made test upon core aspects,
or do two or more of these satisfactorily as evidence of his progress.
The Experience curriculum does not have a general framework, no course
of study, and no pre-planned curriculum guide. The planning is made by the
teacher and the learner in terms of the demands of the immediate situation.
c) Social Functions
Three categories of social function can be served by integrative teaching.
These can be described as teaching and learning through sharing, coping with
disciplinary issues, and relating school and society.
i) Teaching and Learning through Sharing (learning is a form of sharing)
Children learn a remarkable amount form each other in the
course of their everyday lives, and this avenue to knowledge should
not be closed to them in school. This is one argument in favor of mixed
ability teaching, a form of social integration that might well be a
natural concomitant of curriculum integration. Teachers likewise can
learn a great deal from each other, and as Hamilton (1975) has shown,
the degree and effectiveness of integration depends on the extent to
which teachers can communicate and work together. Many types of
integrated work would be impossible without such cooperation. To
cross subject boundaries, teachers have to plan their work together,
assist each other in the teaching situation, and continue a working
dialogue not only between themselves but also with the children. The
children for their part are often required to make their individual
contributions through work in group, to assist each other when
necessary, and to learn from their own strengths and mistakes and
those of their fellows. Such a situation affords considerable
opportunity for teaching and learning through sharing.
ii) Coping with Interdisciplinary Issues
One of the varieties of curriculum integration involves dealing
with issues in contemporary society that can be fully understood only
through an interdisciplinary approach. Integration has a very significant
part to play in the education of children and adult by introducing them
to such issues. Without repeating what was said previously, it can be
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affirmed that the kind of contribution that integration can make in this
respect is a very positive one for the issues are generally of a
practical nature and of direct concerned to the children themselves. If
not dealt with through some form of integration, they would at best be
misunderstood or at worst never dealt with at all. Sex education is
perhaps one of the best examples. It is a subject that is taught
adequately through many different subjects on the school curriculum
and through the use of subjects such as psychology and sociology
which are not normally taught in school. The use of some from of
integration is the only way in which this can be taught.
iii) Relating School and Society
One of the inevitable consequences of educational involvement
in contemporary social issues is the forging of closer links between
school and society. The pursuit of a purely academic approach to
learning often has the effect of dissociating knowledge form the real
situation of life. Subjects tend to get bound up in their own traditions
and are of ten not amenable to the kind of transformation that is
necessary for meaningful learning in today’s world. Knowledge in
school thus becomes dissociated from knowledge in society. It is for
such reasons that sociologists such as Bernstein (1971) differentiate
between the commonsense knowledge of the everyday world and the
uncommon sense knowledge of the school. In this terms schooling
becomes a form of socialization out sphere of the family and peer
group and into the world of scholar. Many teachers, who have had
academic education, have the opposite kind of experience when they
start teaching particularly when they have to deal integrated topics.
They find that despite their academic education, they have to learn
topics even in their own subject areas which are relatively new to
them, but which are only of marginal interest to academics.
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OPEN UNIVERSITY
The Open University which emanates from the open education concept
may also be known as distance learning program. The basic concern expressed
by the open education movement of the 1960s and early 1970s was the
conception of freedom. At the onset the clientele was the child who proponents
felt should have freedom from teacher domination, freedom from the millstone of
subject matter, freedom from adult-imposed curriculum goals. However, in the
Open University program the focus is shifted to an adult learning situation in the
context of adapting curriculum for “individualized instruction”. Charles et. Al.
(1978) described the open education as referring to:
organization and management that allow much student
choice and self-direction. The teacher helps, but dominates
neither the planning nor the learning activities. Instead, the
teacher “facilitates” student learning. This facilitation is done
through talking, exploring, suggesting options, helping find
resources, and deciding on ways of working that suit the
group.
Emphasis
falls
continually
on
maintaining
relationships, interacting positively with others, fostering of a
sense of personal and group worth, and providing for the
development of individual potential.
The Open University is a system of delivering higher educational services
in a manner that differs from the traditional or formal highly structured and
classroom oriented model. In the Open University system, the students do not
attend classes inside a classroom as in formal educational rather; the students
may obtain the education wanted in their residences, working places, etc.
The basis of open education in the Philippines derives from the 1987
Constitution. Article XIV of the said constitution states that, quality education at
all levels should be made available and accessible to all Filipinos and that nonformal, informal and indigenous learning system as well as self-learning,
independent, and out-of-school study program particularly those that respond to
community needs be developed.
Objectives of the Open University
The objectives of the open education may vary but basically include the
following:
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1. provide an affordable and portable education for all, and thus help bring
about a better quality of life for all Filipinos;
2. offer an alternative effective delivery of instruction and training;
3. re-engineer the traditional learning approaches through the use of
modules, radio, TV, electronic mail, internet and other technology;
4. establish a strategy of resource networking with colleges and universities
as well as with government and non-government organizations for the
optimum use of resources;
5. promote general efficiency and effectiveness among teachers.
The advantages of the Open University model include:
1. Comparatively cheaper. Cheaper because classrooms and physical
structures which are expensive may not be needed.
2. Quality maintained. A teacher may handle more students and yet not
sacrifice the quality of education.
3. Built-in flexibility. The teacher adjusts accordingly to meet student’s
situation due to built-in flexibility.
4. Tardiness or absences are not accounted for since there is no specific
“class time”.
5. Reduced expense. Since there is no regular class, the student is relieved
of incurring transportation fares.
6. Progress is based on student’s own learning ability.
7. Allows the student to intersperse his educational schedule with other
equally important activities and engagement at home, office, or elsewhere.
8. Provides opportunity for more people to avail of education without being
required to be in the classroom.
9. Relieves the student of constraints like distance, no study leave while
working, etc.
The disadvantages of the open university may include:
a) difficulty in assessing the actual learning that may have taken place;
b) a degree program engaged in may be unduly overextended;
c) the presence of the teacher is not felt.
The open university system caters for the needs of or has as its clientele
professionals, out-of-school youth, economically disadvantaged students,
unemployed adults, men in uniform and others who may want to pursue a degree
or non-degree course.
By the use of modern technology, the prospects of this educational model
is enhanced.
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CAI AND DIFFERENT CURRICULAR AREAS
A few researchers undertook to compare the effectiveness of Computer
Assisted Instruction (CAI) in different curricular areas. Their findings, though not
exclusive, indicate that CAI activities are most effective in the areas of science
and foreign languages, followed in descending order of effectiveness, by
activities in mathematics, reading, language arts, and English as a second
language, with CAI activities in ESL found to be largely ineffective.
WHY STUDENTS LIKE CAI
CAI enhances student attitudes toward several aspects of schooling.
Some researchers took these investigations a step further by asking students
what it is about CAI that they like. The following is a list of reasons given by
students for liking CAI activities and/or favoring them over traditional learning.
These student references also contribute to our understanding of why CAI
enhances achievement.
Students say they like working with computers because computers:
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are infinitely patient
never get tired
never get frustrated or angry
allows students to work privately
never forget to correct or praise
are fun and entertaining
individualize learning
are self-paced
do not embarrass students who make mistakes
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make it possible to experiment with different options
give immediate feedback
are more objective than teachers
free teachers for more meaningful contact with students
are impartial to race or ethnicity
are great motivators
give a sense of control over learning
are excellent for drill and practice
call for using sight, hearing, and touch
teach in small increments
help students improve their spelling
build proficiency in computer use, which will be valuable later in life
eliminate the drudgery of doing certain learning activities by hand (e.g.,
drawing graphs)
work rapidly – closer to the rate of human thought.
COST EFFECTIVENESS
While cost considerations are not a major focus of this report, it is worth
nothing that some of the research on effectiveness also addressed the costeffectiveness of CAI and other computer applications. Ragosta, Holland, and
Jamison (1982) concluded that equal amounts of time of CAI reinforcement and
the more-expensive one-to-one tutoring produced equal achievement effects.
Niemiec, Sikorski, and Walberg (1989) also found CAI activities significantly
more cost-effective than tutoring and suggested that computers be used more
extensively in schools. And in their 1986 study of costs, effects, and utility of
CAI, Hawley, Fletcher, and Piele noted that the cost differences between CAI and
traditional instruction were insignificant and concluded that “the microcomputerassisted instruction was the cost effective of choice” for both grades addressed
in the study.
SUMMARY
The research base reviewed in preparation for this report indicates that:

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the use of CAI as a supplement to conventional instruction produces
higher achievement than the use of conventional instruction alone.
research is inconclusive regarding the comparative effectiveness of
conventional instruction alone and CAI alone.
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computer-based education (CAI and other computer applications) produce
higher achievement than conventional instructional alone.
student use of word processors to develop writing skills leads to higher
quality written work than other writing methods (paper and pencil,
conventional typewriters).
students learn material faster with CAI than with conventional instruction
alone.
students retain what they have learned better with CAI than with
conventional instruction alone.
the use of CAI leads to more positive attitudes towards computers, course
content, quality of instruction, school in general, and self-as-learner than
the use of conventional instruction alone.
the use of CAI is associated with other beneficial outcomes, including
greater internal locus of control, school attendance, motivation/time-ontask, and student-student cooperation and collaboration than the use of
conventional instruction alone.
CAI is more beneficial for younger students than older ones.
CAI is more beneficial with lower-achieving students than with higherachieving ones.
economically disadvantaged students benefit more from CAI than students
from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.
CAI is more effective for teaching lower-cognitive material than highercognitive material.
most handicapped students, including learning disabled, mentally retarded,
hearing impaired, emotionally disturbed, and language disordered, achieve
at higher levels with CAI than with conventional instruction alone.
there are no significant differences in the effectiveness of CAI with male
and female students.
students’ fondness for CAI activities centers around the immediate,
objective, and positive feedback provided by these activities.
CAI activities appear to be at least as cost effective as – and sometimes
most cost-effective than – other instructional methods, such as teacherdirected instruction and tutoring.
COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION
Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) refers to a system of educational
instruction performed almost entirely by computer. Such systems typically
incorporate functions such as:
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assessing student capabilities with a pre-test
presenting educational materials in a navigable form
providing repetitive drills to improve the student’s command of knowledge
possibly, providing game-based drills to increase learning enjoyment
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assessing student progress with a post-test
routing students through a series of courseware instructional programs
recording student scores and progress for later inspection by a
courseware instructor
Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) (sometimes –Aided)
Individually paced instruction and frame-based, computer-aided
instruction comprised early attempts to provide adaptive instruction and,
although successful for some types of learning, fell short because their learning
environments had low fidelity and their ability to adapt was limited to branching
between static screen (Muray 1998).
In the 60s, the first attempts to use computers in educations were based
on rather behavioristic theories with emphasis on feedback and reinforcement
actions (Gazzaniga & Scarafiotti 1997).
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The teaching path was fixed and linear
The communication style was mono-directional (from the computer to the
student) and imperative
Individuality was restricted to the amount of time spent in the learning
process
The CAI programs proved useful above all for training
Most severe criticism: the rigidness based on the action/reaction principle.
CAI refers to the computer programs that provide drill and practice
exercises while CMI refers to programs that evaluate and diagnose students’
needs, guide then though the next step in their learning, and record their
progress. Both CAI and CMI can be used with little teacher intervention. CEI, on
the other hand, requires the teacher to be involved in planning and helping to
carry out learning activities.
COMPUTER IN CURRICULUM
Computer is one of the technical innovations integrated in the curriculum
nowadays.
In the 1970s many investigators compared the live teacher with the new
innovations of the period: programmed learning, closed-circuit television, films,
and slide tapes. In the end, they concluded that the element within a given
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medium (structure, pacing, presentation) had more influence on the level of
learner success that any differences measured between different media.
Computers
In mind storms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas, Segmour Papert
offers a fresh alternative in the technological curriculum. Papert arranges the
computer so that young people learn to control, not to be dominated by their
technological environment. To him, the computer is a vehicle for Piagetian
learning by which children are encouraged to integrate new concepts into their
exciting repertories as they manipulate objects defined as figures on an
interactive computer display. Thus, children “take new knowledge and make their
own by playing with it and building on it.” Although more than 40, 000 teachers
have logo in their classrooms; they tend to use it as a means of enrichment
rather than as a way to improve students’ cognitive abilities.
Papert’s use of computers may see a free-form curriculum structure, but
the structure is imposed by the end for language. Pupils must talk “turtle” in
order top operate the machine. Papert’s idea is a far cry from using computers as
electronic workbooks and drill exercise. His idea is for children to manipulate the
computer to create their own vision of the world and thus prepare them for the
future by learning about.
First Karpluss model for developing a computer curriculum has three (3)
phases. First phase, students play with the phenomenon, building insights
through a series of experiences in subject area. Second phase, students acquire
concepts in the content area. Third phase, students do something with the
mastered content. Examples of third-step computer activities are language arts
(creative writing and publishing of ideas), science (modeling a biological system
and predicting outcomes), arts (integrating graphic and textual material to explain
one’s ideas, composing music, or creating new visual forms).
As laboratory instrument, computers can be used to sense and record
variables like temperature, motion, and sound in the environment. The
cooperation curriculum project “Kinds Network” (sponsored by National
Geographic Society) is a good example of capitalizing on the sensory and
recording features a K-12 students from various parts of the country collect data
on acid rain and weather with standardized collection times and procedures.
These data are pooled into a large computer. Similarly in language arts
“Computer Chronicles”, a newspaper network allows students in Alaska,
California, Hawaii, Israel and Mexico to write and edit articles for publication in
the student’s local newspaper.
From the historical study of the classroom use of technology since 1960,
Larry Cuban predicts that the teacher acceptance of the computer for reinventing
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the curriculum is doubtful. Teachers are slow to adopt any technical innovations
when they do not see it as a practical tool for their curriculum goals and
instructional demands. Instead of having their student search, sort and create
new meaning with computers, teachers, will use it to cope with the routine,
tedious problems drill, simulations games – that machine do so patiently.
Conceptualizing the Nature of Computer-based Learning
1. The tutorial metaphor: computer as tutor. In tutor applications, the
computer acts as a tutor by performing a teaching role. The general
process is as follows: the computer presents some information: the
student is asked to respond to a question or problem related on the
information: the computer evaluates the students’ response according to
specified criteria: and computer determines what to do next on the basis
of its evaluation of the response.
2. Computer as pupil. When the computer becomes a tutor, student is given
the opportunity to learn through teaching. The process of teaching the
computer to perform a task requires that the student, as teacher analyze
and understand the task more thoroughly. To do this, the user has to learn
how to communicate with the computer in a language that the computer
understands. Why should students learn computer programming skill
constitutes a new and fundamental intellectual resource. It is tool for
thinking and problem solving. It is a very powerful resource available for
teaching children to learn by doing and think about what they do.
Psychologically, computer, programming also provides students with a
sense of control.
3. Simulations. Simulations are representations of models of real system or
phenomena from galaxies to atom from soil erosion to flying a starship.
Symbolic representations can be constructed that approximate the look
and feel of the real and imagined world. The understanding of certain
aspects of astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology, geography and so on
can often be enhances through the use of a corresponding representation
model. Simulations allow students to experience certain phenomena.
Vicariously with less risk and cost.
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PLANNED AND HIDDEN CURRICULUM
Within the confines of the school curriculum, two kinds of curriculum seem
to operate. The first is known as planned curriculum while the second is hidden
curriculum.
Curriculum has been defined in different ways by different authors. Doll
(1978) remarked that curriculum is the formal and informal content and process
by which learners gain knowledge and understanding, develop skills, and alter
attitudes, appreciations, and values under the auspices of that school. Oliva
(1977) went further to equate curriculum with educational program and divided it
into four (4) basic elements namely: the program of studies, the program of
experiences, the program of services, and the hidden curriculum.
Planned Curriculum
Planned curriculum is a curriculum that is carefully structured, analyzed,
and approved by higher authority for implementation in the field. Taba implied
that a planned curriculum may contain a statement of aims and specific
objectives; selection and organization of content; manifest certain patterns of
learning and teaching and evaluation of the outcomes. This was supported by
Michaelis who defined planned curriculum as broad goals and specific objectives,
content, learning activities, use of instructional media, teaching strategies, and
evaluation that is planned and carried out by school personnel.
Details of Planned curriculum
1. Goals and Objectives
Goals are general statement of purpose. Oliva (1982) stated says a goal is
a purpose or end stated in general terms without criteria of achievement. They
relate to the educational aims and philosophy. Goals are long-range and broad
which can lead to specific curriculum objectives. They are stated in general
terms that provide directions for curriculum development. In policy making, goals
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give direction and enable the identification of specific contributions that the
various area of the curriculum can make towards their achievement.
Alsiken (1997) mentioned that goals represent what the members of a
society consider most important in the development of that society and in the
education of children and youth.
Objectives are stated in specific and measurable terms. They are based on
broad goals. Objectives should always be SMART – Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound.
2. Content
This refers to the series of subject matter carefully selected and
organized to be taught to the students. Posner (1995) calls content the heart of
any curriculum. He further, considered it in one sense as one dimension of a
learning objective. The verb of the objective expresses the behavior, and the
object of the verb expresses the content. For instance, one learns to interpret
(the behavior) poetry *content).
3. Learning Activities
These refer to the proposed activities of both the teacher and students as
the subject matter is carried out. According to McNeil (1996) five (5) kinds of
criteria are used for guiding and justifying the selection of learning activities
which are: philosophical, psychological, technological, political, and practical.
4. Instructional Media
The intent of the use of instructional materials is to produce specified
learner competencies. The use of audiovisual materials in instruction adds
enrichment to the learner. This explains why quantity and quality of instructional
materials is of vital importance to curriculum development. Educational
technology has provided materials such as computer software, audio visual
equipments, textbooks, teacher’s guides, laboratory apparatus and the like.
5. Teaching Strategies
This involves the methods, procedures, and techniques the teacher uses
to confront students with the subject matter and to bring about effective
outcomes (Oliva 1982). A strategy includes multiple procedures or techniques.
Common instructional strategies are the lectures, small group discussion,
independent study, library research, mediated instruction, repetitive drill, and
laboratory. According to the objectives, the subject matter, the student, the
community, the teacher.
6. Evaluation
Types of evaluation are:
a) Diagnostic – used to detect learners difficulties. It also discloses
the underlining causes of learning difficulties.
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b) Formative – provides the student with feedback regarding the
success or failure in the attainment of classroom instruction. It
identifies the specific learning errors that should be corrected.
c) Summative – determines the extend objectives of instruction have
been achieved. It is the basis used for assigning grades. The
techniques of summative evaluation may be: oral, project, term
paper, teacher-made achievement tests.
HIDDEN CURRICULUM
According to McNeil (1996), the term hidden curriculum refers to
unofficial instructional influences, which may either support or weaken the
attainment of manifest goals. It shows that some of the outcomes of schooling
have not been formally recognized. The hidden curriculum infers then that
learning in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains may take place
simultaneously with planned curriculum. Obviously, hidden curriculum gives rise
to several questions: from whom is it hidden? Whose interests are served by it?
What do we do with it when we find it? When this is taken cognizance of, the
atmosphere may be prepared to make such learning even conducive. One factor
should be stressed and that is hidden curriculum may have a negative or positive
impact. While some educational critics consider the negative aspect of hidden
curriculum, there is no doubt that there is a positive side also to it which may
even be overpowering.
INDIVIDUALIZED AND PERSONALIZED INSTRUCTION
Individualized Instruction
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An approach whereby the unique characteristics of every learner are
expressed and recognized and provisions are made for him to have the
maximum opportunity for educational growth development according to his
potentials.
Is a method of instruction in which content, instructional materials,
instructional media, and pace of learning are based upon the abilities and
interests of each individual learner.
“instruction of a student based on his or her unique learning style”.
Personalized Instruction

Goes one step beyond to add a personal touch to learning. This is done in
such a ways as showing special interest in each child as a unique person
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with a unique cultural background; considering and using students’
interests, problems and concerns to make instruction more relevant,
meaningful and significant.
As a system of education, these instructions have the following objectives:
1. Continuous progress curriculum permitting students to learn at a pace
consistent with their potential and needs for building successes.
2. A curriculum based upon measurable learning objectives.
3. A curriculum relevant to the needs and interests of the learner.
4. A variety of materials to facilitate different learning styles in meeting
different objectives.
Comparison of Traditional and Individualized Settings
In a traditional classroom setting, time (in the form of classes, quarters,
semesters, school years, etc.) is a constant, and achievement (in the form of
grades and student comprehension) is a variable.
In a properly individualized setting, where students study and progress
more independently, achievement becomes more uniform and time to achieve
that level of achievement is more variable.
Philosophical Basis
Individualized instruction has points of contact with the educational theory
of progressivism which emphasized the individuality of the child. The learning
should center on the child’s interest and needs. The teacher served as facilitator
while the students worked on to achieved their learning objectives.
GROUPINGS FOR INSTRUCTION
The individualization and personalization of instruction are carried through
various instructional groups and subgroups.
1. Whole-group – instruction is provided to meet identified needs of selected
children.
2. Small-group – instruction is provided to meet identified needs of selected
children.
3. Learning station – groups may be organized to work at different work
places in or out of the classroom.
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4. Divided-day plans – sometimes referred to as staggered day, extended
day or split day. Provide for half the class who come and leave an hour
before the rest of the class.
5. Special – groups are sometimes set up to meet the needs of the gifted, the
less able and handicapped children.
COMPONENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION
1. Pre-assessment – the determination of the pre-requisite skills or
understanding necessary for new learning to be introduced or the extent
to which the learners already mastered the materials taught by the
teacher.
2. Multiple-learning Activities – the need to provide different types of
learning experiences not only served as reinforcement for effective
learning but because various learning modes are unique to each student.
3. Choice of Learning Activities – giving of opportunity to the students to
choose the learning activities which have been found to be most effective
for his improvement.
4. Self-selection of Subject Matter – emphasis is on the development of the
skills of learning, decision-making, basic principles and generalization and
fundamental attitudes.
5. Self and Peer Group Evaluation – provide an opportunity for students to
have a choice in the selection of the most interesting method.
6. Creating One’s Own Learning Activities – once the students get the “feel”
of the new type of learning, there’s a desire for acquiring new skills and
understanding by creating their own learning experiences suited to their
unique styles.
TYPES OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. Self-Initiated – the student, of his own initiative, takes whatever action is
necessary to avail of the opportunities for accomplishing the learning
objective.
Examples of learning activities:
a) listening to audio-tapes
b) watching filmstrips
c) observing
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d)
e)
f)
g)
reading
interviewing a resource speaker
individual observation of field trip
preparing oral or written reports, case studies and projects of studentinitiated learning experience.
2. Peer-group initiated – learning activities of this nature are planned for the
active involvement of a small group of students whop have chosen to work
together in helping themselves achieve the objective.
Examples of learning activities:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
small discussion
role-playing
peer-teaching or micro teaching
debates panel discussion
help-session activity
3. Teacher-initiated – learning activities that involve large group instruction;
and therefore must be scheduled in advance.
Examples of learning activities:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
lecture or knowledge session
total class discussion
film-showing
classroom demonstration
conducting of experiment
inviting of resource person
field-trip
MODES TO INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION
Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) – the school selects both the
learning objectives and the media for attainment. In this system the teacher
spends little time teaching a group, and much of his time is spent evaluating pupil
performance, diagnosing pupil needs, and preparing learning prescriptions for
each child.
Individually Guided Instruction (IGI) – multi-unit program that combines
theory and practice regarding instructional programming for individual learners.
The teacher attends to the differences in a child’s rate and style of learning,
level of motivation and unique educational needs.
Program for Learning in Accordance with Needs (PLAN) is a computermanaged educational system that provides a great deal of information processed
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efficiently and each learner planned an educational program suited to his/her
values, interest and potential abilities.
Open Classroom is more free and unstructured and the emphasis is on
each learner’s interest and style, lots of informal verbal interaction among
learners and abundance of fascinating concrete and another, or even between
work and play.
VALUES OF INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION
The individualized instruction provides the learners:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The ability of learning how to learn.
The ability to think.
The ability to make decisions.
The development of learner autonomy.
The development of student self-direction.
The development of greater student responsibility.
The development of positive student’s attitudes toward him/herself.
Toward learning, toward all people and their properties.
8. The development of student self-concept.
9. The development of a high degree of student resourcefulness.
10. Strategies for providing greater student involvement in his/her learning and
in the activities and direction of his/her school.
CONCLUSION
The current catch phrase is “no child left behind”. The phrase is quickly
adopted, but the implementation is difficult. Each child is unique. Children have
diverse learning styles. Learn at different rates, have varying socio-economic
background, and have diverse intellectual strengths. No child will be left behind if
the individual learning needs are met. It could be made possible through
individualized and personalized instruction that provides an environment where
students learn at rates appropriate to them and in manner suitable to their
learning style and other intellectual and personality characteristics. With this
method, truly no child will be left behind.
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SPIRAL CURRICULUM
The word spiral means winding around a fixed point or center, and
continually receding from it.
In spiral curriculum a particular concept or skill is addressed repeatedly,
but at each succeeding level it is given broader or deeper treatment depending
upon increasing skills, maturity, and readiness of learners.
Bruner sees spiral curriculum as the basic ideas that lie at the heart of
each of the disciplines forming their structures, should be developed in the
curriculum so that the young child advances to mature scholarship by dealing
with these ideas in progressively more complex forms. These fundamental ideas
are developed and redeveloped in spiral fashion, becoming deeper and wider, as
the child progresses through the higher grades.
As curriculum develops, it should revisit these basic ideas repeatedly,
building upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that
goes with them, and in this way reasons Bruner; it is possible to introduce him at
an early age to the ideas and styles that in later life make an educated man.
Bruner’s conception of the spiral curriculum thus fitted his conception of
the learner as an embryonic version of the advanced scholar on the forefront of
his discipline. Applying this notion of the spiral helps to facilitate the sequential
teaching learning of science structure integrated with processes of the scientist
and they maintain that not only are the same topics studied at succeeding grade
levels, but in the same manner, the processes of the scientist can be
systematically considered as varying levels of complexity as children gain
sophistications. Thus, the subject matter and the processes of learning for the
child and for the advanced scholar differ only in degree not in kind, as both
spirals upward and onward.
DEWEY’S SPIRAL CURRICULUM
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A very different conception of the spiral curriculum was proposed by
Dewey. To Dewey, growth depends upon the exercise of intelligence in
overcoming difficulties arising from the learners’ experience rather than from
problems that are set from outside. And as the learner exercises intelligence in
dealing with these difficulties, he gains new idea and working power that, in turn,
become the basis for overcoming other difficulties. In so doing he comes to
understand the necessary interrelationships among area of knowledge and the
wider social application of knowledge. This process is a continual spiral.
Thus, Deweys’ spiral not only takes its starting point from the learner’s
experience, rather than from the organized subject matter of the adult specialist,
but sees educative experience as extending the learners interest and
competencies to get higher and wider learning experience. The progressive
selection of subject matter then must be in accord with the growth of experience.
Dewey’s notion of the spiral curriculum provides not only for the vertical
integration or deepening of knowledge but also for the horizontal integration or
widening of knowledge. When educators seek to improve the coherence of
studies within a given discipline or subject field, they are attending to the vertical
articulation of the curriculum. And when they seek to develop the
interrelationships between and among different disciplines or subject fields, they
are concerned with the horizontal articulation of the curriculum. Using the study
of science a an example, Dewey contends that it should lead not only to a better
understanding of science but to a better understanding of the larger problems of
society. Vertical here is referring to the extension to knowledge to higher levels
and horizontal referring to the necessary interrelationship of knowledge.
STRENGTHS OF SPIRAL CURRICULUM
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It emphasizes thinking skills more than curriculum patterns.
It replaces memorization of facts and rote learning with higher-level
student understanding of big ideas and student inquiry into those ideas.
Students taught in this way, learn how to use that understanding in future
learning.
WEAKNESSES OF SPIRAL CURRICULUM
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Much time is needed in teaching ideas and methods of inquiry such that
basic facts are not covered.
It is too subject centered and considers less student interests.
It requires teacher understanding of subject and discipline beyond the
level that many teachers’ especially elementary school teachers, who
teacher number of subjects possess.
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ACTIVITY CENTERED CURRICULUM
Activities are prepared for purpose. Activities are needed to solve the
basic problems that aroused by the curiosity of the learner in order to help him
or her by solving the educative problems. In search of solution for the problem,
the learner gains knowledge.
The application and integrative phase is characterized by judging whether
the goal of learning has been met and what further activity is appropriate. Active
learning in the science curriculum usually begins with observation, such as where
stand in order to see someone else in a mirror, what a pencil looks like in a glass
of water, or which direction light is traveling when one “looks out” of a window.
Active learning in the reading of literature means encouraging students to
connect their prior experiences to those portrayed in the text while keeping
themselves open to new social, cultural, and economic perspectives.
Learning by Doing: The Broad Curriculum of Henry Pestalozzi
Pestalozi began his teaching by bringing 37 abandoned children of
different age to his Swiss farm where he clothed, fed, and treated them as his
own children. They were always with him, sharing work in the garden and the
field, domestic duties, wearing, spinning cotton, and learning music.
Pestalozi attempted to regenerate children who would otherwise have
been lost as vagabonds or criminals through a new, broadly based curriculum
entailing hand, heart, and head. Under his curriculum, children learned to work
with their hands to make living: they experienced gentleness, kindness, and
truthful behavior; and they acquired basic subject matter as tools for independent
use.
One of the first of Pestalozi’s curriculum plans called for students to
cultivate small plots of land. Students were to learn how to lay down pasture,
understand the uses of manure, and recognize the different sorts of grasses and
the importance of mixing them.
Pestalozi’s view of instruction began by exposing the learner to an
environment that would make a personal impression, whether physical or moral,
and then supporting the development of these impressions through other
activities.
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Pestalozi spent the next 50 years in different schools with different kinds
of students designing programs that would help children be the agents of their
own knowledge.
Another activity centered-curriculum was brought by Frederick Froebel,
student of Pestalozi, who contributed the best knowledge to the elementary
education, particularly, the practice of offering manual training at all grade
levels. Manual training reflected Froebel’s belief that it would advance creativity
and help children express their own ideas by developing dexterity (or manual
skill) in the use of tools (McNeil, 1995).
Activity Curriculum in the Philippines Setting
The philosophy of education in the Philippines changed through the
marshal law called for new curriculum. The principles and practices of education
under the new society are based on the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey –
“that education is life, education is growth, education is a social process, and
education is a reconstruction of human experiences.” Based on this concept, the
child is made the center of the educative process than the subjective matter.
Learning by doing and reaching or experiencing is emphasized.
In the pragmatic philosophy of education, the curriculum is based on
activity program and project in line with the pupil’s needs, interest, and abilities.
Work-Oriented Curriculum. According to the order No. 6, s. 1973 of the
DEC suggested work-oriented curriculum based on the philosophy of John
Dewey – “education is growth and development.” The aim is to develop the work
values.
An Ideal Activity Curriculum. It’s easy for a teacher to present educational
tasks, but ideal learning activities belong to the corresponding goals, decisions,
projects, and actions of the student.
Teachers often assign tasks or arrange situations in hopes of initiating
educative activity – exploring or problem-solving on the part of students. The
ideal activity curriculum requires tasks that both relate to the students’
conceptions of their world and offer the possibility of transforming their world.
The ideal activity curriculum requires the teacher to gain broader insights
into the real world activities of learners, as well as insights into the thinking and
behavior of students as they undertake classroom tasks.
As far as activity curriculum is concerned, one example can mentioned is
the basic philosophy of Seventh-day Adventist Education. In both elementary and
secondary education a triangle holds three philosophic terms: HEAD (mental or
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scholastic education), HEART (spiritual education), and HAND (manual
education). At the university level a Circle contains four (4) fundamentals:
PHYSICAL,MENTAL, SOCIAL, and SPIRITUAL (a wholistic) education.
The wholistic or balanced education is ideal for development.
EXPERIENCED CURRICULUM
The word Experience as defines in the dictionary, means trial, proof or
test. To have experience of, to undergo, to feel, or to meet with…
Experiential means necessary truths are derived from our own thoughts,
from our own observation of things about us. In this concept experience refers to
activities that the learner does.
The term experience curriculum comes to be used synonymously with the
activity curriculum whereby child grows through experience, active experience
that is visible to the naked eye.
The experiential curriculum consists of what students derive from and
think about the operational curriculum. Each student’s background of experience
interacts with classroom activities contributing to unique meanings from common
instruction.
Experience curriculum need to be planned in such a way that they help the
child to understand increasingly more complex materials and to master
increasingly more effective skills of expression. They need to move gradually
from what is familiar and concrete to what is remote and abstract. For example,
the development of social concept such as interdependence, tolerance and
democracy begins with the immediate social group, the family and more gradually
to more complex situations involving larger groups. Such concepts cannot be
mastered once and for all any grade level; they must recur again and again in
different and increasingly more mature contexts.
The point at which the child is ready for a certain level of difficulty or the
mastery of skills is determined not by the number of years he has been in school
but by his own pattern of growth and by his background of experience both in
school and out of school.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IS BASED ON FOUR (4) HUMAN IMPULSES
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1. social impulse. A child desires to share his experiences with the people
around him.
2. construction impulse. Manifested in; play rhythmic movement, shaping of
raw material in to useful objects.
3. impulse to investigate and experiment. To find out things as revealed in
the tendency of a child to do things just to see what will happen.
4. expressive or artistic impulse. A refinement and further expression of the
communicative and constructive interests.
HUMAN ACTIVITIES
The program is not structured around subject but around human activities
of observing, playing, stories, handiwork and educational tours. Projects or
experiences of immediate interest to the learners are used as means to promote
learning.
SUBJECT MATTER FROM CHILD’S WORLD
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curriculum is developed by the teacher in cooperation with pupils
subject matter evolves from the child’s world
teacher suggests activities or problems but child’s interests become the
dominant factor
units are designed by the teacher in cooperation with pupils
activities provide for individual differences among pupils
drill is carried out in meaningful terms
there is socialization of learners
the community is used as a learning laboratory
scheduling is flexible
pupils are grouped according to interests and abilities
the teacher is a guide and facilitator of learning
students share experiences with the teacher and each other
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UNITS OF INSTRUCTION
Units of Instruction are plan that many teachers use to organize what they
do in their classes so that their students reach the objectives set for them.
Teachers rely on units to arrange content, classroom activities, teaching
strategies and instructional resources into patterns of instruction.
Units of Instruction sometimes called learning units or teaching units,
contain in microform the elements basic in curriculum planning. It is in units of
instruction that the curriculum takes an operational form. They follow them as
outlines for their daily lesson plans so they can translate school goals and the
general curriculum into day to day classroom experiences for students.
Elements in Units of Instruction
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title
objective to be achieved by the students
background information
content to be learned
teaching strategies for the teacher to use
learning activities for the students to experience
materials
evaluation devices to assess students performance
assignment
references, resources
The Major Phases of Unit planning include the following:
1) The unit to be planned in selected after checking the course of study,
available instructional materials and capabilities and development
characteristics of the students for whom it is intended.
2) A background of content is prepared by reviewing related instructional
materials references for teachers and related teaching guides.
3) Objectives of the unit are outlined with specific attention to conceptual,
process, skill and effective outcomes.
4) Learning activities are identified with special attention to a variety of type,
including:
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Intake experience such as observing, reading, listening, using
audio-visual materials, interviewing, interpreting maps and photographs,
experimenting.
Experiencing experiences such as sharing, reporting, discussing,
making charts, maps, murals and other materials, role playing, dramatizing
and expressing thought and feelings through art and music.
Individual, small group and whole-group activities.
5) A sequence of learning activities is planned with specific attention to the
following:
a) The initiation of the unit through an arranged environment,
introductory discussion, related questions, and relationship to
children’s background of experiences.
b) Placing main ideas, questions or problems on order and sequencing
learning activities and related instructional materials under each
main idea, question or problem.
c) Noting opening, developmental and concluding activities for each
main idea, question or problem.
d) Possible culminating activities to provide for overall summarizing
and integrating experiences.
6) Ways of evaluating outcomes during the unit (formative education) and at
the end of the unit (summative evaluation) are identified.
7) A bibliography of materials for children and for teacher references is
prepared.
Example of Unit of Instruction
1) Title: Meteorology unit plan: What meteorology means to you?
2) Objective
A. Knowledge: To understand – cognitive
1. the different types of weather
2. the principles of weather formation
3. the role of the weatherperson
4. the names and principles of commonly
instruments
5. weather vocabulary
used
weather
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B. Attitudes: To appreciate – affective
1. the damage weather can do
2. the advantage of good weather how weather affects our daily
behavior
3. the rate of accuracy of weather predictions
4. the precision use of weather instruments
5. the fallacies of superstitions about the weather
C. Skill: To develop the ability to – psychomotor
1. read and interpret weather instrument
2. read and interpret weather maps
3. predict future weather
3) Background information:
This unit is part of a sequence that deals with ways in which the
importance of the weathers and the influence of weather to our world.
4) Content:
A. Definition of weather
B. Precipitation
1. the different types of precipitation
2. how each type of precipitation is formed
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
Reading the weather map
Reading weather instruments
Predicting weather
Effects of geographic location on weather
Effects of the earth’s rotation on weather
Effects of the earth’s tilting on weather
How to change weather that can hurt you
5) Teaching strategies and activities in teaching:
 Brief lecture by teacher on the major concept of weather
 Discuss the importance of weather
 Distribute booklet “Wonderful Weather”
 Visit the station weather
 Identify the features of weather in each session. Categorize
weather into seasons.
 Associate weather with the various months.
 Prepare and present the assignment
6) Materials
A. weather reports from newspapers
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B.
C.
D.
E.
weather maps
equipments for making fog: air pump, water, jar
barometer, thermometer, anemometer, wind vane
graph paper for each student
7) Evaluation
Tests for each section of the unit: approximately one test per week’s
study of the topic.
8) Assignment
 Read booklet distributed in class and make a brief outline of major
points.
 Read at least the first 10 pages of chapter titled “Weather” in the
text. Make notes on major points and topics your found interesting.
These notes should be written neatly in the semester notebook and
turned in later.
9) Reference
Grossman, Ruth H. and John U. Michaelis: Weather of the World. Menlo
Park, California: Addison-Wesley. 1972.
THE EXPOSITORY METHOD
Expository means telling, explaining or interpreting. It is one of the
teaching methods used in the lower grades as there is much that needs
explaining. It is also used in the secondary school or college to explain
something difficult.
Uses of the Expository Method
The use of expository method may be very relevant under certain
conditions. These conditions may include:
1. When relevant information is needed to make the class understand
a point in lesson.
2. When pupils do not have the information and time can be saved by
the teacher telling it.
3. When an idea or principle can be learned only by explanation.
4. Where the use of induction will take too much time to justify its
use, or whenever the difficulties of its use outweigh its value.
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It is noted that some lessons definitely require exposition or the
expository method. Such lessons include:
a)
b)
c)
d)
rotation and revolution of the earth;
Mendel’s laws of heredity;
How to extract the square root;
What causes the seasons, etc.
Apparently, subjects like geography, hygiene, physiology, government,
and arithmetic have topics that need explanation and will thus use this method.
Three (3) Steps of Expository Method
In order to have an effective explanation which will make the lesson
cleared to the child, the organization of the expository method may follow the
pattern described below:
Approach
The approach sets the tone for understanding. The proper mind set may
be established by recalling past experiences related to the present lesson. In this
case, the points to be explained must be placed before the class.
Presentation
In the process of explaining, it is suggested that the teacher makes use of
the following principles:
a) relate the new to previous experience
b) teacher and class should have the same viewpoint regarding what is to be
explained
c) exposition requires both explaining and also interpreting
d) materials should be organized so as to permit thinking
e) to make explanation clear and effective, devices such as the following
may be used:
1) analogies and stories
2) illustration
3) models
4) diagrams
5) demonstration
6) outlines and summaries
Application
This step shows whether the pupils understood the explanation or not.
The application could be given in the form of a test, creative work or other forms
of activities.
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Conditions for Effective Exposition
The expository method may be made more effective if the following
conditions are considered:
1) Teacher’s thorough understanding of the thing to be explained.
2) The teacher’s comprehension of the children’s ability to understand the
explanation.
3) The use of language and illustrations within the children’s experiences
and understanding.
EVALUATION
Merits:
1) One of the qualities identified about the expository method is that it is
time-saving, which means the same the teacher will use to give the
material will be shorter than if the students had gone in search by
themselves.
2) For those who are ear-minded, it serves a good method of learning.
3) It is a best way to get appreciation as the teacher usually can interpret
better than the pupils.
Demerits/Defects:
1) The explanation or the thought movement may be too rapid for some
pupils.
2) The expository method is suited for only some kinds of subject matter.
3) Hard to test pupil results as far as outcomes other information are
concerned.
Caution:
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b)
c)
d)
e)
The teacher should guard against committing errors like:
telling too much
telling too little
telling what can be developed
telling what the pupils can find out for themselves
telling only what is in the book