CEP Curriculum Development & Design 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which curriculum design approach organizes content around broad concepts that transcend disciplinary boundaries?
- Subject-centered design
- Interdisciplinary design (Correct answer)
- Learner-centered design
- Activity-centered design
Correct answer: Interdisciplinary design
Interdisciplinary design organizes curriculum around broad concepts or themes that integrate multiple disciplines rather than keeping subjects separate.
Question 2: A school wants to align its curriculum with state standards while addressing local community needs. Which process best describes this work?
- Curriculum mapping
- Curriculum differentiation
- Curriculum alignment (Correct answer)
- Curriculum compacting
Correct answer: Curriculum alignment
Curriculum alignment is the process of ensuring that what is taught matches both external standards and contextual goals such as local community needs.
Question 3: In backward design, what is the FIRST step a curriculum developer should take?
- Plan learning activities
- Select instructional materials
- Identify desired learning outcomes (Correct answer)
- Create formative assessments
Correct answer: Identify desired learning outcomes
Backward design (Wiggins & McTighe) begins by identifying desired results before planning assessments or learning activities.
Question 4: Which term describes the unintended lessons students learn through the social environment and routines of school?
- Null curriculum
- Hidden curriculum (Correct answer)
- Explicit curriculum
- Core curriculum
Correct answer: Hidden curriculum
The hidden curriculum refers to implicit lessons about norms, values, and behaviors conveyed through school culture, routines, and social interactions.
Question 5: A curriculum developer notices that important 21st-century skills like critical thinking are never explicitly taught. This gap represents which curriculum concept?
- Hidden curriculum
- Enacted curriculum
- Null curriculum (Correct answer)
- Received curriculum
Correct answer: Null curriculum
The null curriculum refers to what schools choose NOT to teach — the content or skills deliberately or inadvertently omitted.
Question 6: Which scope and sequence principle ensures that students revisit and deepen understanding of concepts across grade levels?
- Continuity
- Sequence
- Articulation
- Spiral curriculum (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Spiral curriculum
Bruner's spiral curriculum revisits core concepts at increasing levels of complexity as students advance through grade levels.
Question 7: When developing curriculum for English Language Learners, which approach integrates language acquisition with content learning?
- Sheltered instruction (Correct answer)
- Pull-out ESL
- Immersion-only instruction
- Translation-based learning
Correct answer: Sheltered instruction
Sheltered instruction (SIOP model) makes content comprehensible for ELLs while simultaneously developing their academic language proficiency.
CEP Curriculum Development & Design 2
Which curriculum design approach organizes content around broad concepts that transcend disciplinary boundaries?