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Curriculum Design: A Systems Approach

Rebakka Milles
rmilles@antioch.edu
Antioch University New Enlgand


The first day of curriculum design was day that I cannot erase from my memory. It felt
strange to walk into a classroom that was set up in rows. Our professor was standing in the
front of the room, and I felt like he was unfriendly and cold. I think it was the way he was
carrying himself. Last semester he had been a guide and facilitator, often sitting with us as we
discovered new concepts and deepened our understanding of problem solving. This semester
though he was standing, straight and rigid. He wasnt encouraging as we were instructed to
take a test. I was so anxious and uncomfortable with this approach. I realized that this seemed
so unfamiliar to me because it had been years since Id been in a classroom with an atmosphere
like that. How did I learn in such an environment? Later we found out that it was a simulation, I
was relieved. Participating in this was a good reminder of how I dont want my class to feel
when my students walk in. Throughout the rest of the curriculum design course we were given
tools and principals to help design a curriculum that captures students attention and fosters
inquiry, deep understanding, and an appreciation for learning.
Curriculum Design System
As I began to write this I played with multiple different metaphors relating to curriculum
design. I decided to choose one that was related to the curriculum I was charged with
designing. I had to design a one month unit on ecosystems. Just as a natural system, the
curriculum design is a complex system that is constantly changing and evolving. Each part of the
design is interconnected and must come together to foster harmony and synergy.
There are six main themes of curriculum design; each part is related to one another, and
when used in conjunction reveals a holistic design. The complex system of curriculum design is
nested within larger systems; such as the class culture, the educational institution, and the
larger world beyond.

Parts of the System:
Postmodern: Dynamic and Flexible
A system is characterized by constant change, activity, or progress. The postmodern
curriculum design model is fluid. Its in continuous growth, change, and movement.
The postmodern approach offers new ways of thinking about curriculum design. It
allows for change based on the needs of the students, new information on learning, and
societys values. The postmodern design is always in a state of growth and change. Students are
encouraged to question and challenge concepts, and are provided with multiple different
opportunities to explore different viewpoints.

Coherent: Energy Moves
Energy, material and information flow among the different elements that compose the
system. A systems boundaries can be created by the observer. A coherent curriculum is
bounded by a guiding question proposed by the teacher. The flow of information can come
from within the small unit, the larger systems of the classroom, educational facility, or
community. Although the flow of information can come from multiple elements, it is always
important to bring each lesson back to the larger, holistic picture or the boundary of the unit.
A coherent curriculum allows information to flow between different elements of the
curriculum all within the boundary of the guiding questions and the larger scope of the unit.
Each lesson of a coherent curriculum flows together uniting it with a larger more holistic
question. Lessons add relevance and enhance understanding while encompassing a compelling
larger purpose.
Teachers can organize the curriculum around a large explicit topic with one guiding
question. Student centered activities and lessons should open door that foster connections to
the whole picture to be made. Subtopics of the unit or other disciplines can be reunified by
creating threads to each other.

Constructivist: Interrelationships
A system receives input from, and sends output into, the wider environment through
relationships. The constructivist design principal receives input from the students about their
current understandings, and provides information for students to create and build upon the
relationships and understandings of the wider environment.
A constructivist learning approach builds on and restructures the students
understanding of the world. It provides evidence to reconstruct or build upon their current
understandings of the world. This approach to learning acknowledges that learning is not linear;
it is more complex, like a web of connections. The web has many strands of cognitive
dissonance, experiential inquiries, challenging current concepts, and providing new evidence
and information, leading to new constructed meanings of the world.
Constructivist learning can happen through classroom activities that challenge students
truth of how their world works. Meaningful experiences either support or transform these
truths (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). A teacher can structure classroom experiences to foster the
creation of personal meaning through problem-solving activities and other activities that
promote hands-on, minds on learning.


Democratic: Diversity
A system is comprised of diverse interactions, niches, and biodiversity. A curriculum
designed with democratic principals in mind is comprised of the diverse interactions of the
students, each functioning within their own niche of learning. Their voices along with student
choice offer diversity of learning within the unit.
A democratic curriculum design approach includes values such as the rights and equity
of all individuals within the community embedded in the system. It provides access to a wide
variety of information and diverse view points on the unit topic. This approach offers an open
flow of ideas from all people and enables students to be informed and learn to become critical
readers of society. Students are given opportunities to study something that interests them
within the larger unit, and lessons can be designed so students have the opportunity to really
make a difference.

Authentic: Chaos
A system is self-sufficient and self-organizing. Sometimes a chaotic disturbance will
occur within a system, and the system is partly navigated by the disturbance. An authentic
learning experience is typically self-organized by curricular impulses that may navigate the
curriculum off course a little. However, authentic learning can lead to further inquiry and real
learning rooted in play, led by students (Sobel, 1994). A teacher can capitalize on the students
enthusiasm and use it as a teachable moment, thus bringing stability and equilibrium back to
the system.
Teachers can create a space for students to play and mess about in the classroom. This
will help the teachers to be mindful of student interests and provide activities that can foster
authentic learning through the students interests. When authentic learning occurs it gives
students and opportunity to learn about topics that relate to their interests, inquiries, and
developmental state. Teachers can capitalize on students natural curiosity and sense of
wonder.

Assessment: State of the System
A system can be assessed in multiple ways, through its services, functions, biodiversity,
and resilience. When designing a curriculum students should be assessed in a variety of ways.
The standardized test is not the most effective way of understanding what a student has
learned, nor how a teacher was teaching.
When designing curriculum it is important to use performance based assessments that
are creative and can serve a variety of purposes. Some assessments can reveal information
about the students strengths, interests, proficiency in a skill or content area, and unique ways
of learning. Other assessments can offer evidence about if the teachers goals and objectives
are being met.
Teachers can learn so much more about a student from the evidence they can collect
about the students learning in the context of in class activities with formative assessments
then by a score received on a standardized test (Falk, 2000). The student isnt being assessed
holistically nor is the process of learning being recorded on a standardized test.

Evolution and Adaptation of My Curriculum
Through my convening session I gained knowledge of how I can integrate these themes
better in my final curriculum. I can enhance my designed lessons with more challenges,
problem-solving, and opportunities for students to question and build on their current
understandings of ecosystems. In designing the creative process had shut down for me, I was
consistently feeling overwhelmed and unsure of where to start to design a coherent unit on
ecosystems. The topic is so broad and I had only taught ecosystems as parts as a value-added
piece of a curriculum. I never had to bring it back to the whole, or connect it with the teachers
guiding questions, and I dont know if the lesson was ever relevant to what they were studying
in that moment. It was difficult for me to find lessons that I thought would be able to directly
relate to the culminating project. I was feeling bound by standards, by the 5 principals, by the
goals and objectives, and by the final project. These outside factors made designing this
curriculum challenging and frustrating. I think that I did elicit great ideas from my colleagues
and since it has inspired me to re-work the curriculum and I have felt a twinge of excitement
that I hadnt felt since I chose this unit to design. I have faith that my curriculum will evolve and
adapt with these new ideas for challenges, activities, learning goals, and assessments.










Resources:
Apple, M. W., Beane, J. A., (Eds). (2007). Democratic Schools: Lessons in Powerful Education, 2
nd

ed., Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Beane, J. A. (Ed.). (1995). Toward a coherent curriculum: The 1995 ASCD yearbook. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Brooks, J. G., Brooks, M. G. (1999). In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist
Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Falk, Beverly. (2000). The Heart of the Matter: Using Standards and Assessment to Learn.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Slattery, P. (1995). Curriculum Development in the Postmodern Era. Garland Reference Library
of Social
Science, Vol. 929. Critical Education Practice, Vol. 1.
Sobel, David. (1994). Authentic Curriculum. Holistic Education Review.

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