Creating and Assessing a Curriculum

In order to develop a curriculum, one must determine what will be taught, the persons

whom will be taught, and how they will be taught. In particular, one should consider the issue(s)

or problem(s) that has brought about the need for this curriculum to be created as well as the

needs of the learners. From there, learning objectives should be determined in addition to the

methods and relevant information needed to meet those objectives. Lastly, there should be a way

to evaluate the curriculum in order to gauge its effectiveness. All of these steps are crucial when

developing environmental education curricula that often cover extremely broad and complex

topics (Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, 2014).

The important steps in creating a curriculum include planning, determining the content

and methods, implementation, and evaluation (Natural Resources Management and Environment

Department, 2014). In the planning stage, the scope of the curriculum and the needs of the class

are determined. Assessing the needs of the students can be done through focus groups,

observations of the learning environment, or by knowledge, attitude, and practice surveys. From

these assessments, one can prioritize the needs of the students and identify the characteristics of

the class. When determining the content and methods of the curriculum, one must define the

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intended outcomes of the curriculum and transform these outcomes into learning objectives for

the curriculum. In addition, one must determine methods that will accomplish those objectives

which may consist of activities and lessons. Once the methods and the content of the curriculum

are created, it can be implemented by presenting it to the target audience. Following the

completion of the curriculum, its effectiveness should be evaluated. There are two types of

evaluation: formative, which provides feedback during the process, and summative, which

determines the impact of the curriculum after it is completed. From these evaluations, the

curriculum can be revised and re-tested if necessary to improve its effectiveness (Natural

Resources Management and Environment Department, 2014).

In order to make a curriculum that will engage students and help them better understand

the concepts, it is important to use creative activities and learning techniques that actively engage

students. In a Stanford University study researchers found a positive correlation between levels

of student engagement in the classroom and learning (Carroll et al., 2010). Furthermore, this

finding is supported by scholarly works that emphasize the need to utilize active teaching

techniques as opposed to passive techniques (Egan, 1992). Table 1 below lists and describes

creative learning techniques that can be used.

Table 1: Creative Learning Techniques (Iowa State University, 2014)

Creative Learning Technique

Definition

Assumption

The class makes a list of assumptions about a topic and then

each assumption is analyzed.

Brain sketching

In small groups, students are given a problem or concept. Each

student independently sketches something relating to the

concept or question and passes it to the next person in their

group. The student then expands on the sketch or is inspired to

make a new one.

Brainstorming

The class comes up with ideas and thoughts about a topic.

These ideas can be ridiculous at first and then changed to be

useful.

Concept Mapping

The class is given a focus question in which they must create a

list of key concepts (the most general at the top and the more

specific at the bottom of the list). From there, the class will

create a graphic of the hierarchical organization of the

concepts, linking the concepts together.

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DO IT

Define the problem

Be Open to many solutions

Identify the best solution

Transform it into an action

Fishbone Diagram

The class is given a problem, and must come up with its

causes. This creates a diagram in which the causes are

branches to the problem. For each branch, sub causes can be

determined.

Laddering

The class is given an idea and they must determine the

category it belongs to (ladder up) and find examples of the idea

(ladder down).

Mystery Spot

The class is given a mystery that they must solve. The story

evolves as the students investigate.

Questioning Activity

The class is given a topic and is tasked with coming up with

100 questions.

Random Action

The class is given a random noun and is asked to determine its

attributes and associations.

Reverse Brainstorming

The class is given a list of ideas and is asked particular

questions about each idea.

Role-playing

Each student assumes the role of someone affected by a

particular issue.

Slip Writing

Each student is given small pieces of paper and the class is

given a question. Each student must write down an idea about

the question on each one of their slips.

Storyboarding

The class is given a set of topic cards and will create categories

or general points for each topic card. Specific points will be

created for each category or general point. These cards will be

displayed on a cork board or a similar apparatus.

Though it is important to engage students while educating, some studies have claimed

that students actually prefer to utilize a mixture of both lectures and activities in the classroom.

One such study conducted by Brawer et al. (2012), used a qualitative questionnaire and

quantitative survey to assess whether students like the use of lectures as an educational

technique. This study was conducted on medical and dental students in their first year graduate

school. The researchers of the study found that students thought lecture was an important aspect

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of the learning process. Some specific reasons provided by students for preferring the utilization

of lectures included the focus and emphasis that a lecturer can provide. Also, students liked that a

lecture could be a multisensory experience where one could write, hear and see the information

being presented (Brawer et al., 2012).

Developing a Lesson Plan

A curriculum encompasses several different lessons. For each lesson, a plan can be

developed, which is the road map for an educator that is determined by the learning objectives of

the lesson. The objectives should be ranked and the objectives that are essential should be

determined in addition to those that can be omitted if time runs out (Milkova, 2014). This type of

curriculum design is known as backward design or backward mapping, which puts an emphasis

on student learning objectives (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). When implementing a backward

design approach towards developing a curriculum, it is imperative that the learning objectives be

clearly defined by the educator. The learning objectives are crucial in determining the types of

teaching methods that an educator should use in individual lessons of a curriculum, as well as

providing a very focused goal for each lesson (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).

First, a creative introduction should be developed in order to engage students in the

concept as well as gauge the students’ previous knowledge of the subject (Milkova, 2014). Next,

the specific activities should be planned which can include real-life examples, analogies, and

visuals. It is important to determine the amount of time each activity will take, factoring in time

for explanation and discussion. In addition, one should plan ways in which to check for the

student’s understanding of the topic, such as asking questions specific to the lesson. Lastly, a

conclusion should be created that summarizes the topics discussed and previews the next lesson.

In planning a lesson, one should make sure to have a realistic timeline in mind and anticipate

what problems or questions students may have (Milkova, 2014).

In addition, an important component of a lesson plan is being able to assess how effective

it is. Two types of lesson assessment include formative and summative assessment, which

provide feedback during and after the development process, respectively (Carnegie Mellon

University, 2014a). When using formative assessment, an educator can get a more immediate

feedback through use of inquiry during the lesson process. An example of formative assessment

would include having students create concept maps about the contents of the lesson. This

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feedback can then be applied before the delivery of the lesson is completed. Ways to apply

formative assessment during an ongoing lesson include conducting further discussion on topics

that are not well understood by students and readjusting the time frame of a lesson based upon

students’ receptiveness to certain topics. When summative development is used, an educator

administers a proposed lesson in its entirety, and then seeks feedback through the use of a high-

stakes assessment. In terms of a single lesson, summative feedback is applied only after the

lesson is administered to students. Examples of summative assessment can include exams,

homework, or even projects (Carnegie Mellon University, 2014b).

Pre- and Post-testing

Pre- and post-tests measure the learning during a class by comparing what the student

knew before to what they know after. The pre-test determines the starting point for the

curriculum and determines what topics need to be emphasized and what can be omitted. The

post-test determines what students learned and the appropriateness of the learning objectives. In

addition, the post-test establishes who needs extra help on the subject as well as what should be

changed in the curriculum to best reflect learning objectives. Pre-tests should be administered at

the beginning of the class following the introduction of the subject matter, while a post-test

should be administered directly after the class as well as at later date. The importance of

conducting both of these tests is to gauge the immediate effectiveness of the curriculum as

measured by the first post-test as well as the long-term retention of the material as measured by

the second post-test. The tests should be focused on the objectives of the curriculum and can

include multiple choice and short answer questions. Once the pre- and post-tests are compared,

the strengths and weaknesses of the student’s knowledge can be determined. The curriculum can

then be revised based on the established weaknesses (Boston University School of Medicine,

2013).

When developing pre- and post-tests, it is advantageous to have these tests be

isomorphic, or of similar form, to each other (Gormally et al., 2012). By utilizing nearly identical

pre- and post-tests, data gathered from these tests can be directly compared. Additionally, this

allows educators to more easily identify which learning objectives were well addressed in a

curriculum, as well as those that were not. In a study conducted by Gormally et al. (2012), pre-

and post-tests comprised of entirely multiple-choice questions were utilized to assess science

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literacy skills in university undergraduates after the completion of a basic life science course.

The pre- and post-test they used contained 28 multiple-choice questions that were rigorously

scrutinized by both expert biology educators and undergraduate students. After addressing any

imperfections, the questions were categorized in accordance to the learning objective or skill it

addressed. In doing this, the researchers were able to directly compare the answers to the

questions in both tests and determine whether the completion of a life science course increased

students’ scientific literacy skills. In this study, significant positive learning gains were reported

for the class. Gains were also reported across a majority of learning objectives, with some

objectives having larger learning gains than others (Gormally et al., 2012).

It is also possible to use isomorphic pre-and post-tests that are comprised entirely of short

answer questions. This can have the advantage of making students think critically about the

questions, and synthesize more detailed responses from recalled knowledge. This type of test

structure was utilized by Brownell et al. (2013) in a study on the ways that students think about

and approach experimental design in biology courses. In this study the pre- and post-tests that

were used were completely isomorphic, and utilized a single Expanded Education Data Analysis

Tool (E-EDAT) prompt, or open-ended question, that asked students to design a scientific

experiment to determine the effects of ginseng. Each student in the class had to complete two

activities, designated as the “design” activity and the “analyze” activity. These activies served as

the lesson that was being tested in this study. Both the “design” and “analyze” activity pertained

to a theoretical experiment about the growth rates of poppy plants. A detailed answer key was

provided for the E-EDAT pre- and post-test, which explicitly outlined the responses that would

be awarded full credit for each facet of the question. As well, the answer key included responses

that would be awarded partial credit and the grading breakdown for each of these answers. After

the pre- and post-tests were graded, various means of statistical analysis were applied to

determine whether students experienced learning gains. The overall findings showed that

introductory biology students were more likely to experience significant learning gains when

compared to advanced biology students. The two tests also helped identify areas where

introductory students had the most misconceptions (Brownell et al., 2013).

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In document Developing an Educational Module on the Impacts of Climate Change on Puerto Rico and its Inhabitants (Page 37-43)