REFLECTION 1: CURRICULUM

WHAT IS CURRICULUM ?

DEFINITION OF CURRICULUM

Standard dictionary defines curriculum as a course of study offered by any academic institutions. A curriculum is all about what should be done during teaching process in class. Some authors define curriculum as "the total effort of the school to bring about desired outcomes in school and out-of-school situations" or "a sequence of potential experiences set up in school for the purpose of disciplining children and youth in group ways of thinking and acting". 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 the school".

REFLECTION QUESTION : WITHOUT CURRICULUM, STUDENT LEARNING AND TEACHERS TEACHING WOULD BE BETTER.

YES OR NO 

I totally disagree with the statement above. A curriculum is actually what happens during a course that is lecture, demonstrations, field visit and so on. It is an important element in education. This is because the aims of education are reflected in the curriculum. In other words, the curriculum is determined by the aims of life and society.

If there is no curriculum, the teachers will wonder what are they supposed to be teaching the students. A curriculum determines what and how the teachers are expected to teach their students. Basically, a curriculum contains complete content, skills, or topics for teachers to cover with some approaches and instructional materials.

Besides that, a curriculum also give an insight to the teachers especially to the fresh teachers on how students make sense of key concept, the potential misunderstandings that students may have along the way of comprehension, and the instructional strategies that are particularly effective for teaching a given concept or skills.

In conclusion, teaching and learning process will not work best if there is no proper and planned curriculum.