MYLS Curriculum Development and Design 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of curriculum refers to what students actually learn as a result of their school experiences, which may differ from the official plan?
- Explicit curriculum
- Hidden curriculum
- Null curriculum
- Learned curriculum (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Learned curriculum
The learned (or received) curriculum is what students actually internalize, which may differ from the intended or taught curriculum.
Question 2: Eisner's concept of the 'null curriculum' refers to:
- Content taught through classroom routines
- Content deliberately excluded from formal instruction (Correct answer)
- Content mandated by state standards
- Content delivered through extracurricular activities
Correct answer: Content deliberately excluded from formal instruction
The null curriculum is what schools choose not to teach, and Eisner argued this omission sends powerful messages about what is valued.
Question 3: A literacy curriculum designer uses readability scores and Lexile levels primarily to ensure:
- Cultural relevance of texts
- Appropriate text complexity for grade-level standards (Correct answer)
- Alignment with phonics sequences
- Sufficient vocabulary breadth
Correct answer: Appropriate text complexity for grade-level standards
Lexile levels and readability scores help designers match text complexity to students' developmental reading levels and grade expectations.
Question 4: In curriculum design, 'horizontal alignment' ensures that:
- Skills build progressively from one grade to the next
- Content is consistent across different subjects at the same grade level (Correct answer)
- Assessments match instructional objectives
- Pacing is uniform across all classrooms
Correct answer: Content is consistent across different subjects at the same grade level
Horizontal alignment coordinates content and skills across different subject areas or classrooms at the same grade level.
Question 5: Which numeracy curriculum approach emphasizes understanding mathematical concepts deeply before procedural fluency?
- Drill-and-practice model
- Conceptual-first approach (Correct answer)
- Mastery learning sequence
- Spiraling method
Correct answer: Conceptual-first approach
A conceptual-first approach prioritizes building understanding of mathematical ideas before students practice algorithms or procedures.
Question 6: A curriculum framework that separates objectives into cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains is based on the work of:
- Vygotsky
- Bloom (Correct answer)
- Bruner
- Dewey
Correct answer: Bloom
Benjamin Bloom led the development of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, classifying goals into three domains.
Question 7: When assessing curriculum effectiveness, which data source best indicates whether students have met intended learning outcomes?
- Teacher satisfaction surveys
- Student performance data on aligned assessments (Correct answer)
- Textbook completion rates
- Parent feedback forms
Correct answer: Student performance data on aligned assessments
Student performance data on assessments that are directly aligned to curriculum objectives provides the most direct evidence of curriculum effectiveness.
MYLS Curriculum Development and Design 3
Which type of curriculum refers to what students actually learn as a result of their school experiences, which may differ from the official plan?