Designing the Classroom Curriculum Designing the Classroom Curriculum | Page 37

Lynch, Smith, Howarth
as the model directs the teacher to develop content and instructional techniques derived through what is
called an environmental analysis. An environmental analysis seeks to provide the child with more autonomy
and control, more opportunities for participation and interaction in natural social and physical environments.
The content of instructions is tied to the individual child, reflecting the demands of natural, age-appropriate
environments that in turn emerge from developmental theories as indicated earlier. The model directs
teachers towards being responsive to the requirements of the increasing number of environments in which
children participate (Noonan & McCormick, 1993).
The design steps are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Environmental assessment
Set priorities for the individual child
Determine present levels of the child’s competence
Establish instructional objectives
Develop instructional plans
Establish an instructional schedule
Instruct
Evaluate
Building on Walker’s naturalistic approach to curriculum development, Ross (1995) developed a three-step
process of comprising ‘platform’, ‘deliberation’ and ‘design’. Figure 3.3 illustrates this model.
Figure 3.3: The Naturalistic Model 11
The steps
Step 1. Platform
Step 2.
Step 3. Deliberation
Design
Elements
-Reference curriculum to the unique needs and lifestyles of the child, family, peers,
and community.
-Plan instruction that can be implemented naturally in daily family routines.
-Emphasize skills that are functional now and in the future.
1.Ecological assessment
2.Set priorities
3.Determine present levels of performance
4.Establish instructional objectives
5.Develop instructional plans
6.Establish an instructional schedule
7.Instruct
8.Evaluate
Platform refers to the values, beliefs and perceptions of the teacher that influence what and how the teacher
teaches while deliberation deals with decisions a teacher needs to make. Deliberation refers to the give and
take amongst professional teachers in a school or professional group. The third step is design. Once
consensus is achieved on the first two steps, then teachers build their curriculum as one would a house. The
sequence includes foundation knowledge, structural elements and hierarchical sections shown in Figure 3.3.
An apparent strength of this model is that it appears to validate a common school-based curriculum
development process used by many teachers. Its main weakness is that it is impractical in the limits of the
11
Referenced and adapted from Ross, 1995 and McDonnel and Hardman, 1988.
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