SELECTING CURRICULUM CONTENT

 What is Content?
 Which Content?
 What Criteria are the most valid ones to use in the selection
process?
 Are there some things that everyone should know?
Something that only some students need to know?
Conceptions of Content
 Those facts, observations, data, perceptions, discernments,
sensibilities, designs, and solutions drawn from what the
minds of men have comprehended from experience and
those constructs of the mind that reorganizes and rearrange
these products of experience into love, ideas, concepts,
generalizations, principles, plans and solution (Saylor and
Alexander, 1966)
 Knowledge (facts, explanations, principles, definitions)skills
and processes (reading, writing, calculating, dancing, critical
thinking, decision making, communicating) and values (the
beliefs about matters concerned with good and bad, right and
wrong, beautiful and ugly)-Hyman,1973
 World Knowledge to school Knowledge
KNOWLEDGE CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
Information knowledge selected school content at
Formally organized for educational purposes levels sufficient for use
Criteria for Selecting Content
 Self-Sufficiency
Economical manner-economy of teaching effort and
educational resources, economy of student effort and
economy of subject matter
Content chosen should address self –sufficiency so that
individual learners commence transforming themselves into
more complete individual and social beings.
 Significance
Contribute to the basic ideas, concepts, principle,
generalizations and so on of the overall aims of the
curriculum.
Content should also consider the development of particular
learning abilities, skills, processes, and attitude formation
 Validity
The authenticity of the content
ICT-knowledge become obsolete and even incorrect
new knowledge- content become misleading or even false

 Interest
knowledge exist in the learner when it is meaningful to
his/her life
the content of the curriculum must be selected with
student’s interest in mind/welfare of the student
 Utility
usefulness of the content
current utility and future utility

 Learnability
optimal placement and appropriate organization and
sequencing of the content
content selected –in the range of students experience
no bias
 Feasbility
time allowed, the resources available,expertise of current
staff,political climate, existing legislation, dollar and cents