DESE Curriculum Development & Instructional Strategies 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which curriculum design approach organizes content around broad themes that connect multiple subject areas?
- Subject-centered design
- Learner-centered design
- Integrated (interdisciplinary) design (Correct answer)
- Problem-centered design
Correct answer: Integrated (interdisciplinary) design
Integrated or interdisciplinary design connects content across subjects around unifying themes or concepts.
Question 2: A teacher notices that a student with an IEP struggles with grade-level text. The MOST appropriate instructional accommodation would be to:
- Reduce the number of learning objectives for the student
- Provide audio recordings of the text alongside the written version (Correct answer)
- Exempt the student from reading assignments
- Assign the student to a lower-grade reading group permanently
Correct answer: Provide audio recordings of the text alongside the written version
Providing audio recordings is an accommodation that gives access to the same content without changing the learning objective.
Question 3: What does the term 'vertical alignment' mean in the context of curriculum development?
- Aligning curriculum across different subjects at the same grade level
- Ensuring consistent content and skills build progressively across grade levels (Correct answer)
- Aligning curriculum with state and national standards
- Matching instructional strategies to student learning styles
Correct answer: Ensuring consistent content and skills build progressively across grade levels
Vertical alignment ensures that curriculum content and skills build logically and progressively from one grade level to the next.
Question 4: A teacher uses Socratic questioning to guide students to discover properties of geometric shapes. This approach is MOST associated with:
- Explicit instruction
- Constructivist learning theory (Correct answer)
- Behaviorist learning theory
- Direct instruction model
Correct answer: Constructivist learning theory
Constructivist theory holds that students build knowledge through guided discovery and questioning rather than passive reception.
Question 5: When a teacher intentionally leaves certain topics out of the curriculum because they are deemed inappropriate or unnecessary, this is referred to as the:
- Explicit curriculum
- Hidden curriculum
- Null curriculum (Correct answer)
- Supplemental curriculum
Correct answer: Null curriculum
The null curriculum refers to what schools choose not to teach, which itself sends a message about value and priority.
Question 6: A teacher uses exit tickets at the end of each lesson to gauge student understanding. This is an example of:
- Summative assessment
- Norm-referenced assessment
- Formative assessment (Correct answer)
- Criterion-referenced assessment
Correct answer: Formative assessment
Exit tickets are a formative assessment tool used to check for understanding during or at the end of a lesson to inform instruction.
Question 7: In project-based learning (PBL), which element is considered the MOST essential for authentic engagement?
- A driving question rooted in a real-world problem (Correct answer)
- A standardized rubric for grading all projects
- Direct teacher instruction before the project begins
- Individual (non-collaborative) student work
Correct answer: A driving question rooted in a real-world problem
A compelling driving question anchored in a real-world context is the hallmark of authentic PBL and sustains student inquiry.
DESE Curriculum Development & Instructional Strategies 3
Which curriculum design approach organizes content around broad themes that connect multiple subject areas?