Curriculum Design Development and Implementation
Introduction
Curriculum development and implementation are two essential aspects of Florence County School District 2 in ensuring consistent teaching and learning. The planned curriculum builds and reflects on the culture and identity, allows educators to align, and allows for collaboration. Florence County School District 2 runs the K-12 curriculum system, with a total of 1083 students. In the Florence County School District 2, math proficiency is 33%, and reading proficiency is 40%. In Florence County, South Carolina, there is a history of discrimination and segregation based on culture and race. However, this is an issue of the past as Florence County School District 2 practices cultural equality and diversity. Efforts to reintroduce a culture of superiority limit equality and thus are instantly reprimanded and intolerable. In curriculum development, Florence County School District 2 includes reading, geography, writing, English, grammar, agriculture, algebra, hygiene, literature, morals, ethics, and more. When developing a curriculum, all these elements must be considered. However, in this pilot curriculum, the subjects to consider will include technology, math, science, and liberal arts. These subjects will be mandatory for students to pass to graduate to high school. In this case, the systems approach to curriculum development is the most suitable. This paper builds on the pilot curriculum developed in Assignments 1 and 2 to discuss the approaches suitable for the planned curriculum and the cultural influences this pilot curriculum will have on Florence County School District 2.
Aspects of Assignment 1 & 2
Specific Curriculum Area and Grade Levels for the Pilot Curriculum
This pilot curriculum focuses on four (4) curriculum areas, i.e., math, technology, science, and liberal arts (psychology, history, and economics). The target grade levels for the pilot curriculum cut across PK to K12 students. In Florence County School District 2, there are 1083 students in this grade level. The goal for developing this curriculum for math, science, technology, and arts is to increase the proficiency levels and raise the number of students graduating to high school. The current proficiency in math at the Florence County School District 2 is 33%, yet this curriculum considers math a foundational subject for helping students gain excellent mathematical concepts for daily lives application. Also, the pilot curriculum considers technology an essential subject, given its significance in the modern-day workplace and real-life practices (Muhajirah, 2020). Liberal arts is also considered an important curriculum area, with subjects like economics, history, and psychology forming the basis of its lesson plan. This subject is considered helpful in helping learners understand their educational needs, strengths, and career passions. All these subjects are considered fundamental from K1, K2, K3, all the way to K12 grade levels.
Four (4) Instructional Goals of the Curriculum
As mentioned above, the proposed curriculum cuts across PK to K12 grade levels. There are four core instructional goals of the planned curriculum. These four goals align to the four curriculum areas, i.e., math, science, technology, and arts, which are the backbone of this K12 curriculum design. The first instructional goal seeks to equip students with basic math solving skills that they can apply to real-life problems such as algebra, calculus, and economic models. Prior to graduating high school, this goal will ensure students cover at least two-thirds of the math concepts in the classroom. The second instructional goal for the curriculum addresses the importance of students’ ability to apply basic technological skills in real-life issues. In the classroom, students can be equipped with technology application skills such as Skype, virtual learning, and digital learning (Muhajirah, 2020). Students will also be taught hardware and software concepts. The third instructional goal seeks to equip students with scientific application skills. As explained in Assignment 1, this goal will include simple things like understanding how Covid-19 spreads to complex things like global warming. The ability to implement scientific applications in the world will enable learners to better participate in matters affecting the community and society at large. The fourth goal will ensure that students understand liberal arts, such as psychology, economics, and history. Students will understand the concepts of racism, inequality, and discrimination and how they affect the effectiveness of the K12 curriculum development. This will ensure that students pursue their K12 education and gain the ability to relate with diverse people in respectful ways.
Approaches of the Planned Curriculum & Potential Cultural Influences
Systems approach: In reference to the instructional goals, the most consistent theoretical approach is the systems approach to curriculum development. The study (Pfannkuch, 2018) argues that math, educational technology, science, and art are systems approaches. According to (Pfannkuch, 2018), the systems approach facilitates the handling and understanding a complex phenomenon or situation. In order to achieve the instructional objectives, this approach to curriculum development will offer equal opportunities to all grade levels, cutting across the administration, instruction, curriculum, and evaluation aspects of the planned curriculum.
Realism: Besides, the most suitable philosophical approach to this proposed curriculum is realism. Realism advocates for designing a curriculum suitable for realistic education, which allows learners to solve different life challenges and lead happy life. This approach requires teachers to study and understand the logic, scientific tools, and critical thinking systems of educating students on ways of understanding and perceiving reality (Pfannkuch, 2018). This K12 education system, including realism, will allow students to understand the scientific processes, acquire critical thinking skills, and research approaches to improving hygiene and health. This rationale aligns with the instructional goal of equipping learners with the ability to implement scientific applications globally.
Cognitivism: The psychological motivation approach suitable for this proposed curriculum is cognitivism. Cognitive learning theory adopts metacognition to understand how diverse thought patterns affect learning. This motivational approach will focus on how students receive information, organize, store, and retrieve information, and apply it in real-life experiences (Muhajirah, 2020). In this proposed curriculum, thinking, knowledge, and memory are essential, and this is what the four core instructional objectives seek to achieve. Thus, cognitive learning strategies will be vital in shaping this curriculum design.
Potential Cultural Influences: The various approaches used for this planned curriculum include the systems approach, realism, and cognitivism. In Florence County School District 2, segregation and discrimination are issues of the past. The school district maintains cultural diversity, equality, and sensitivity. Problems of cultural supremacy are reprimanded and not encouraged. Under the realism approach, teachers educate students to avoid judging others based on their values, race, gender, or cultural ideals (Pfannkuch, 2018). Using the cognitivism approach, students appreciate the diversity of opinions, behavior, ideas, and thought patterns. Thus, the systems approach, realism, and cognitivism theory are more proactive in integrating the cultural influence of diverse students into the new curriculum. Besides, they are consistent with the four instructional goals.
Strategy for Incorporating Critical thinking Skills using Bloom’s Taxonomy
Advanced efforts are required to close the cultural supremacy gap that still exists in the Florence County School District 2. In particular, Florence County School District 2 should address the pertinent issues surrounding students’ critical thinking skills such as morals, knowledge, reflection, problem-solving, thought patterns, and decision making. Using Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive goals, the best strategy for incorporating critical thinking skills into the pilot curriculum includes the use of group work discussions, games, teamwork sessions, field trips, and other interactive approaches (Himeno, 2017). By relying on these strategies, room for open communication will be created for students to express their diverse opinions, ideas, views, and thoughts without discrimination and prejudice.
Student Learning Outcomes for the four Instructional Goals
There are four core instructional goals in this planned curriculum. Each instructional goal should have at least three learning outcomes.
(1). Students will be able to compute basic math problems to apply to real issues such as economics and the exponential rate at which a pandemic can spread.
The learning outcomes include:
- Understand the basic math concepts and formulas
- Gain and maintain problem-solving skills
- Be able to read and interpret basic computations in math
(2). Students should be able to apply basic technological applications in their life. This includes operating technological devices and diagnosing minor issues.
The learning outcomes include:
- Be able to operate technological devices to diagnose minor issues
- Gain awareness on how to connect and use devices in real-life applications, e.g., video calls
- Be able to create and innovate new ideas through ICT
(3). Students will be able to implement scientific applications in the world. This includes simple things such as why diseases can spread from one person to another to complex things such as global warming.
The learning outcomes include:
- Be able to participate in matters affecting the community
- Be able to understand the effects of individual actions on the environment
- Be more responsible and passionate about maintaining health and hygiene
(4). Students will understand their history and those of others, understand psychology, economics, and other liberal arts.
The learning outcomes include:
- Acquire basic historical research skills, including effective use of archives, libraries, and databases
- Broaden their communication skills by learning how to express and organize their thoughts
- Gain writing and intellectual integration abilities
Instructional Lesson useful in Facilitating Mastery of Learning Outcomes
The first instructional goal seeks to equip students with abilities to compute basic math problems and apply mathematical concepts in solving real-life issues. The main learning outcome of this instructional goal is to ensure that students are able to understand basic math formulas and apply the skill in problem-solving. In designing a lesson plan for this planned curriculum, the use of formative assessments is the best approach. The proposed lesson plan is presented below….
….Middle of Paper….
Technology use in the Proposed Lesson Plan
There are multiple technology tools used in engaging students. In Florence County School District 2, technology is a core instructional goal. However, the first instructional goal focuses on math. In the proposed math lesson plan, student activities include group discussions, online interactive sessions, strategic questioning, and more. In reference to this lesson plan, the proposed approach for which students will use technology to achieve the learning outcomes is the use of computers for Zoom interactive sessions. According to (Himeno, 2017), computers help in the organization and presentation of information. Using the computer technology, students will connect to a Zoom session and participate in online discussions about the main subjects being taught. These Zoom sessions can be teacher-guided or guided by group leaders appointed by the educator. In the Zoom technology of interactive discussions, the group leader encourages student participation, uses math-related questions to stimulate discussion and response, uses teaching aids, sets up a workgroup context, and gets involved in the interactive discussion. This computer-aided technology will allow students to reflect on actual classroom contexts, express their understanding of math concepts, and become more aware of their progress in solving math problems and real-life problems.
Approach in which technology will be used to deliver the Lesson
Classroom technology is increasingly gaining relevance in lesson planning. There are many ways to enhance lesson planning with technology. Technology-enhanced lesson plans promote access, scheduling, and assessment. In reference to the proposed lesson plan to boost the understanding of math concepts to students, students can use technology in lesson organization, creating visual aids and videos, and promoting class reading. In lesson organization, teachers use technology in the form of PowerPoint presentations, Google Docs, and Microsoft Word (Himeno, 2017). For example, using PowerPoint presentations, teachers in the Florence County School District 2 will project notes onto a big screen for students to understand and grasp the main content. In the creation of visual aids and videos, teachers will design instructional videos and upload them on YouTube for students to watch at home and learn the basic math concepts applicable to real-life issues. For purposes of class reading, teachers will embrace technologies such as the Kindle library and the use of e-books for the guided lesson plan. Students will be able to download the books and read the concepts on their own to improve their cognition and comprehension abilities.
Conclusion
Curriculum development is important in many ways. The context of this pilot curriculum is Florence County School District 2. Located in South Pamlico Highway, Florence County School District 2 has 1083 students from PK to K12. The focus curriculum areas for this curriculum include science, math, technology, and arts. The target grade levels range from PK to K12 students within Florence County School District 2. The four instructional goals align with the four curriculum areas. In developing this curriculum, approaches such as the systems approach, realism, and cognitive learning theory have been considered. The overall goal is to close the cultural supremacy gap that exists in the district. This helps in the promotion of cultural respect, equality, and sensitivity to diverse cultural ideals. Classroom technology plays a significant role in achieving this planned curriculum’s objectives.
References
Himeno, K. (2017). Recent Trends of Research on Classroom Instruction and Teacher Education Based on the Educational Technology Approach. Educational Technology Research, 39(1), 5-13.
Muhajirah, M. (2020). Basic of Learning Theory:(Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, and Humanism). International Journal of Asian Education, 1(1), 37-42.
Pfannkuch, M. (2018). Reimagining curriculum approaches. In International handbook of research in statistics education, 387-413.