Meaning of Curriculum:

 Curriculum (Noun) the subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college.

 In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational
process.
 Etymological Meaning of Curriculum: The word "curriculum" began as a Latin word which means "a race" or
"the course of a race" (which in turn derives from the verb currere meaning "to run/to proceed").
Definitions:
 There is no generally agreed upon definition of curriculum. Some influential definitions combine various elements
to describe curriculum as follows:
 According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d.), curriculum is defined as the following: the courses offered by
an educational institution, a set of courses constituting an area of specialization.
 Latin: Running course,
 Scotland 1603: Carriage way, road,
 United States 1906: Course of study
 United States 1940: Plan for learning (study)
 The planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the
attainment of educational objectives
 Curriculum is, perhaps, best thought of as that set of planned activities which are designed to implement a
particular educational aim – set of such aims – in terms of the content of what is to be taught and the knowledge,
skills and attitudes which are to be deliberately fostered together with statements of criteria for selection of
content, and choices in methods, materials and evaluation.
 Kerr defines curriculum as, "All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in
groups or individually, inside or outside of school."
 Braslavsky states that curriculum is an agreement among communities, educational professionals, and the State on
what learners should take on during specific periods of their lives. Furthermore, the curriculum defines "why,
what, when, where, how, and with whom to learn."
 Outlines the skills, performances, attitudes, and values pupils are expected to learn from schooling. It includes
statements of desired pupil outcomes, descriptions of materials, and the planned sequence that will be used to help
pupils attain the outcomes.
 The total learning experience provided by a school. It includes the content of courses (the syllabus), the methods
employed (strategies), and other aspects, like norms and values, which relate to the way the school is organized.
 The aggregate of courses of study given in a learning environment. The courses are arranged in a sequence to
make learning a subject easier. In schools, a curriculum spans several grades.
Concept of Curriculum:
The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program.
In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school, but it is rarely used in such a general
sense in schools.
The concept of curriculum is as dynamic as the changes that occur in society: In its narrow sense, curriculum is
viewed merely as a listing of subject to be taught in school; while in a broader sense, it refers to the total learning
experiences of individuals not only in schools, but in society as well.
To accommodate difference of view, Hamid Hasan (1988) telling that curriculum concept can be evaluated in four
dimension, that is
1. Curriculum as an idea; yielded pass or through research and theory's, specially in the field of education and
curriculum
2. Curriculum as plan written, as materialization of curriculum as an idea; what in it load about target, materials,
activity, appliances, and time
3. Curriculum as an activity, representing execution of curriculum as a plan written; in the form of study practice
4. Curriculum as a result of representing consequence of curriculum as an activity, in the form of got of
curriculum target namely reaching of change of certain ability or behavior from all educative participants.
Curriculum: Curriculum is a focus of study, consisting of various courses all designed to reach a particular
proficiency or qualification. A curriculum can consist of more than one course. Curriculum refers to the training
assigned to a student. Curriculum is a focus of study, consisting of various courses all designed to reach a particular
proficiency or qualification.
Listed below are seven (7) dimensions of curriculum:
1. Philosophical
2. Historical
3. Political
4. Ethical/Moral
5. Cultural
6. Global
7. Technological
Syllabus:
Course syllabus include such items as the standard of attainment required on entry and at the end of the course,
textbooks, test or examinations and any other general items connected with giving both the teachers and students a
fairly comprehensive picture of what will be required; while the examination syllabus gives in very general terms the
intended course coverage at the various levels.
A syllabus is simply an outline and timeline of a particular course. It will typically give a brief overview of the course
objectives, course expectations, list reading assignments, homework deadlines, and exam dates.
Most often people tend to equate the word ―syllabus‖ with Curriculum‖. This should not be so. As can be understood
from explanations already given, curriculum is wider in scope than ―syllabus. A syllabus is part of a curriculum but it
is not the Curriculum.
Syllabus is the content of the school subjects offered in the school, and it is a sub-set of the curriculum.
A syllabus normally contains what students will learn in the various school subjects in a year or for a longer period of
schooling leading to certification. It is a long-term plan of work for students. It is normally prepared by the classroom
teachers.
Scheme of Work:
The expansion of the syllabus, giving an indication of the order in which, the subject topics will be dealt with, the
division of content into weekly, monthly or terminal periods is the scheme of work.
The curriculum of a school is not the scheme of work. As the name implies, a scheme of work is a breakdown of the
contents of what student are expected to learn in a given period. In other words, a scheme of work is the systematic
arrangement of subject matter and activities within a given time period, such as a term or a semester.
Whatever the learners are expected to learn are broken down into instructional units including activities and are
normally prepared by the classroom teacher.
It is usually a guide in planning what is to be done per week over a term or semester and for the three terms or two
semesters in an academic year as the case may be.
Course of Study:
A course is a set of inventory items grouped together for ease of assignment and tracking.
A course of study is an educational programme leading to the award of a certificate at the end of the programme for a
particular set of learners.
A course of study therefore refers mainly to a programme of learning that are offered to students – with various course
contents – at the end of which they are awarded a certificate indicating the type of course of study they had undergone.
Lesson Note/Plan:
Brief notes of how the teacher intends to go about the classroom instruction is a lesson paln; while lesson note on the
other hand are detailed notes of lesson to be given by a teache.
Note of lesson/lesson plan is a guide for teachers to assist them in the orderly presentation of a lesson to the learners in
order to facilitate learning.
Teachers draw the plan for teaching a particular lesson from the scheme of work. That is, just as the scheme of work is
a breakdown of the syllabus, so the lesson note is a breakdown of the scheme of work into daily lessons, which are
planned by the teacher. In this plan, the teacher explains the step by step procedure which he/she would follow in
presenting the lesson to the learners.
It usually contains the activities expected of the students as well as the teachers during the period of the lesson.
The lesson note/plan is therefore not ―curriculum‖.
The classroom is the implementation point of the programme of learning, which is just one of the major components
of the curriculum. Thus, the lesson note is an important aspect of curriculum implementation, especially the
programme of learning component of the curriculum.
Fusion
Fusion refers to the organization for instructional purpose of content from several subject areas into unified course.
Such an arrangement ignores the conventional barriers or boundaries between existing subjects.
In this multidisciplinary approach, teachers fuse skills, knowledge, or even attitudes into the regular school
curriculum. In some schools, for example, students learn respect for the environment in every subject area. The school
records the number of days without a fight as “peace days”; teachers write the accumulated number of peace days on
the blackboard in every classroom. Teachers wear peace signs, and students greet each other with the peace sign.
Fusion implies the breakdown of subject boundaries and selection of material from various fields to achieve the
objectives that have been set up.
Fusion can involve basic skills. Many schools emphasize positive work habits in each subject area.
Educators can fuse technology across the curriculum with computer skills integrated into every subject area. Literacy
across the curriculum is another example of fusion. For example in the social studies curriculum History, Geography,
and Civics frequently united at the junior high school level in to one course.
Proponents of the plan claim that under such a procedure the solution and arrangement of material can be based on
social objectives and not on the traditional content basis.
Fusion courses vary to a considerable extent. The earliest courses attempted to blend the material in two or three
subjects. History, Geography, and Civics were the fields generally chosen for the fusion experiments. Such a
procedure was natural for long before the term fusion had been used in education, teachers has pointed out the
importance of a geographical background for the study of history and often history and civics were closely related.
However in later years the use of the fusion textbook declined.
Integration
One of the guiding principles of the curriculum is coherence, whereby students are offered “a broad education that
makes links within and across learning areas”. When used effectively, curriculum integration provides a learning
environment that offers this coherent education, allowing connections to be made within and across subjects.
Nonetheless, it could be argued that curriculum integration remains one of the most confused topics in education
today. Many teachers and researchers use the term to mean a variety of things, some of which have nothing to do with
curriculum integration.
The confusions surrounding the term have undoubtedly hindered consistent professional development and research in
this area.
Curriculum integration is a design that supports the need for learners to be actively involved in their learning, through
being part of the decision-making process.
Curriculum integration is simply a matter of rearranging lesson plans as overlaps among subject areas are identified.
One of the best ways to understand curriculum integration is to discuss what it is not. First, it is not a historical. The
roots of curriculum integration are to be found in the progressive education movement of the early 1900s and are
evident in the work of Dewey, Kilpatrick and others.
Dewey stated that within the curriculum, “facts are torn away from their original place in experience and rearranged
with reference to some general principle” Curriculum integration is responsive to this concern because it values the
students’ prior knowledge and uses this as an initial starting point to be built upon. This is an active process that
makes learning relevant to what the students already know.
Integration means the creation of units of understanding that consisted of integrated materials of instruction from
several fields in order to present a whole picture of a phase of knowledge rather than a part.
Integration as applied to subject matter is generally accepted as a median between correlation and fusion. Integration
the process that cuts across the subject boundaries more freely than is done in correlation in order to place greater
stress on inter-relationship.
The objective of such field however makes it desirable that the various fields of knowledge should not be taught by
several individuals.
A single instructor of wide training world is better if the course is to have unity.
However the work may be successfully carried out in the social studies teacher assumes full charge of the course and
directs the work of the other teachers. Integrated courses present many administrative problems.
Correlation
Correlation design Allows for some linkage of separate subjects in order to reduce fragmentation of the curricular
content.
Correlation design is similar to broad-field design in that it is focused on integration.
The difference is that correlation design combines only two subjects while broad-field will combine several subjects.
In many ways, one could say that correlation design is a simplistic version of broad-field design. Some examples of
correlation design social psychology, which is sociology and psychology; bio-statistics, which is biology and
statistics; and music technology, which focuses on music and its use through technology.
Generally, correlation design is found at the university level where students need expertise in specific subjects.
Correlation means the seeking and utilizing of points of contacts and relationships among subjects in order to bring
about association in general field of knowledge and to some degree among the various parts of the curriculum.
Correlation considers a systematic and continued association of one subject to another keeping the subject at high
school level.
This planned arrangement deals with a common topic or area of interest. Correlation is nothing more than the attempt
to tie up knowledge that the pupil is studying with the knowledge in a related field.
The advantages of correlation design are that it fills in the gaps within curriculum of two subjects that are related.
The two subjects are combined in innovative ways and the students are able to see the connections between the two of
them.
The disadvantages are that few teachers have enough expertise in the two subjects to successful correlate them in a
curriculum.
In addition, few teachers have the time to collaborate with their peers on a project such as this.
Despite these issues, correlation design is an option for teachers interested in creating a unique curriculum for the
needs of their students.