The main principles of curriculum construction may be mentioned as under

The main principles of curriculum construction may be mentioned as under:

1. Principle of Child Centeredness.

As modern education is child-centred the curriculum should also be child-centred. It should be based on the child's needs, interests, abilities, aptitude, age level and circumstances. The child should be central figure in any scheme of curriculum construction. In fact, curriculum is meant to bring about the development of the child in the desired direction so that he is able to adjust well in life.

Highlights

Principles of Curriculum Construction are:
1. Principles of Child Centredness ;
2. Principle of Community Centredness ;
3. Principle of Activity Centredness ;
4. Principle of Variety ;
5. Principle of Co-ordinations and Integration;
6. Principle of Conservation;
7. Principle of Creativity;
8. Principle of Forward. Looking;
9. Principle of Flexibility;
10. Principle of Balance;
11. Principle of Utility.

1. 2. Principle of Community Centredness.

Though the child's development and growth is the main consideration of curriculum construction, yet his social behaviour is also to be suitably developed, both the individual development and the social development of the child deserve equal attention. He is to live in and for the society.

Therefore, his needs and desires must be in conformity with the needs and desires of the society in which he is to live. The values, attitudes and skills that are prevailing in the community must be reflected in the curriculum. However, the society is not static. It is dynamic. Its needs and requirements are changing with the rapid developments taking place in all fields. While working for the development, this factor cannot be ignored.

3. Principle of Activity Centredness.

The curriculum should centre round the multifarious activities of pupils. It should provide well selected activities according to the general interests and developmental stages of children. It should provide constructive, creative and project activities. For small children, play activities should also be provided.!

The purposeful activities both in the class-room and outside the class-room should be provided. It is through a net work of activities that the desired experiences can be provided and consequently desirable behavioural changes can be brought about in children.

4. Principle of Variety.

The curriculum should be broad-based so as to accommodate the needs of varied categories of pupils, so that they are able to take up subjects and participate in activities according their capacities and interests.

The needs of pupils also change from place to place. For example, the pupils in rural areas, urban areas, and hilly areas will have different needs. The needs of boys and girls are also different. So these considerations should be reflected in the curriculum.

5. Principle of Co-ordination and Integration.

Of course, the pupils are to be provided with selected experiences through various subjects and activities but these must be well integrated. Various subjects and activities have to serve the same ultimate purpose, the achievement of the aims of education. The activities and subjects should not be put in after-tight compartments but these should be inter-related and well integrated so as to develop the whole child.

6. Principles of Conservation.

One of the main functions of education is to preserve and transmit our cultural heritage. This is essential for human progress. Culture consists of traditions, customs, attitudes, skills, conduct, values and knowledge. However, the curriculum framers must make a suitable selection of the elements of culture, keeping n view their educational value and the developmental stage of pupils.

7. Principle of Creativity.

The conservation of culture helps to sustain the society. The culture should not be simply transmitted but also enriched. There should be provision in the curriculum to develop he creative powers of the child so that he becomes a contributory member society. Raymont says, "In curriculum that is suited to the needs of today and of the future, there must be definitely creative subjects."

8. Principle of Forward Looking.

Education is to enable the child to lead a successful social life. So the curriculum should not cater to the present needs of the child alone. The needs of his future life should also be considered. The curriculum should also include knowledge, skills, experiences, influences etc. which will develop in the child abilities and power to make effective adjustments in the later life.

9. Principle of Flexibility.

In our age, rapid developments are taking place in various fields. Consequently the needs of society are hanging. The content of curriculum cannot be same for all times to come. It should not be static. It must be dynamic and change with the changing times. It should reflect the latest trends in the field of education and psychology.

10. Principle of Balance.

The curriculum must maintain a balance between subjects and activities, between direct and indirect experiences, between academic and vocational education, between compulsory and optional subjects, between formal and informal education, between individual and social aims of education etc.

11. Principle of Utility.

Curriculum should be useful rather than ornamental. It should not only include subjects which owe their place in it to tradition. The curriculum must have practical utility for students. So there should be some provision for technical and vocational education in the curriculum.

The various principles of curriculum construction should be kept in mind. Various regional and national conditions should also be considered. It fact, all considerations which will help in achieving the aims of education should be given due consideration.

Factors that May Affect the Learning Process

7 Important Factors that May Affect the Learning Process

Some of the important factors which may affect the learning process are as follows:

It has been found out that the pupil’s difficulty in learning may be due to many factors within the child himself.

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1. Intellectual factor:

The term refers to the individual mental level. Success in school is generally closely related to level of the intellect. Pupils with low intelligence often encounter serious difficulty in mastering schoolwork. Sometimes pupils do not learn because of special intellectual disabilities.

2. Learning factors:

Factors owing to lack of mastery of what has been taught, faulty methods of work or study, and narrowness of experimental background may affect the learning process of any pupil. If the school proceeds too rapidly and does not constantly check up on the extent to which the pupil is mastering what is being taught, the pupil accumulates a number of deficiencies that interfere with successful progress.

3. Physical factors:

Under this group are included such factors as health, physical development, nutrition, visual and physical defects, and glandular abnormality. It is generally recognized that ill health retards physical and motor develop­ment, and malnutrition interferes with learning and physical growth.

4. Mental factors:

Attitude falls under mental factors attitudes are made up of organic and kinesthetic elements. They are not to be confused with emotions that are character­ized by internal visceral disturbances. Attitudes are more or less of definite sort. They play a large part in the mental organization and general behavior of the individual.

5. Emotional and social factors:

Personal factors, such as instincts and emotions, and social factors, such as cooperation and rivalry, are directly related to a complex psychology of motivation. It is a recognized fact that the various responses of the individual to various kinds of stimuli are determined by a wide variety of tendencies.

6. Teacher’s Personality:

The teacher as an individual personality is an important element in the learning environ­ment or in the failures and success of the learner. The way in which his personality interacts with the personalities of the pupils being taught helps to determine the kind of behavior which emerges from the learning situation.

7. Environmental factor:

Physical conditions needed for learning is under environmental factor. One of the factors that affect the efficiency of learning is the condition in which learn­ing takes place. This includes the classrooms, textbooks, equip­ment, school supplies, and other instructional materials.

Formative and Summative Assessment

What is the difference between formative and summative assessment?

Formative assessment

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

• help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
• help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

• draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic
• submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture
• turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:

• a midterm exam
• a final project
• a paper
• a senior recital

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

Techno-Pedagogy

Technology in professional development is a complex issue (Borko, Whitcomb, & Liston, 2008).  Technology can, and has, helped higher education overcome previous outreach barriers, particularly in reaching students in remote locations. Because technologies are continually changing, the instability of technology, as well as the unfixed nature of the knowledge required in using them, places additional demands on faculty to keep up with the constant stream of new technologies. Due to the constantly changing nature and development of new technology, a gap exists in researching the effectiveness of new tools on teaching and learning.  Positioning educational technologies as artifacts within their social applications of teaching and learning, and providing a grammar of practice  identifying specific techno-pedagogical competencies allows faculty to make “the work of practitioners at the center of professional study” in a community of practice (Grossman, 2011; Lave, 1991).

Technology is a broad and constantly changing skill-set required of faculty, and selecting the appropriate techno-pedagogical strategies to effectively engage students in the content is a separate skill-set. Media literacy influences student development, and developing a critical analysis of media consumption is an important skill for students.  In understanding how technology and media intersect with learning, consider the compatibility between theories of technology and education, and how that relates to your content.

There is a need for faculty, as well as the institutional level, to identify and articulate the occupational realities when technology and competencies intersect, while understanding and communicating how technological resources and strategies can engage students and enhance student learning (Moore & Readence, 1984). The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge  is a collaboratively developed framework of scholars and researchers seeking to conceptualize and clarify the competencies that evolve from the intersection between pedagogy and technology. Investments in new and interactive technologies in education require both the technical and pedagogical skills to use them. According to the National Educational Technology Standards, faculty should be competent in designing digital assessments, modeling digital work creatively, promoting digital citizenry, as well as inspiring student learning (Jacobsen, Clifford, & Friesen, 2002; Lebec & Luft, 2007; Voithofer, 2007; Wentworth, Waddoups, & Earle, 2004).

Therefore, in order to provide targeted and appropriate professional development and support for faculty, the Center for Teaching Excellence uses the Technology, Pedagogy andContent Knowledge (TPACK) framework for identifying interrelated competencies related to teaching with technology.

English - Critical pedagogy

Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach inspired by Marxist critical theory and other radical philosophies, which attempts to help students question and challenge posited "domination," and to undermine the beliefs and practices that are alleged to dominate. In other words, it is a theory and practice of helping students achieve "critical consciousness."

In practical terms, the goal of critical pedagogy is to challenge conservative, right-wing and traditionalist philosophies and politics.^[1] Critical pedagogy developed in the 1960s and '70s as a reaction amongst academics of an activist, radical left-wing inclination to the repeated failure of socialist governments around the world to deliver on their promises of economic equality.^[1] Critical pedagogic educator Ira Shor defines critical pedagogy as:

Habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional cliches, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse. (Empowering Education, 129)

In this tradition the teacher works to lead students to question ideologies and practices considered oppressive (including those at school), and encourage "liberatory" collective and individual responses to the actual conditions of their own lives.

The student often begins as a member of the group or process he or she is critically studying (e.g., religion, national identity, cultural norms, or expected roles). After the student begins to view present society as deeply problematic, the next behavior encouraged is sharing this knowledge, paired with an attempt to change the perceived oppression of the society. A good picture of this development from social member to dissident to radical teacher/learner is offered in both Paulo Freire's book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and bell hooks' book Teaching to Transgress. An earlier propenent of a more active classroom, where students direct the epistemological method as well as the actual object(s) of inquiry is the late Neil Postman. In his Teaching as a Subversive Activity, Postman suggests creating a class where students themselves are entirely in control of the syllabus, class activities, and grading.

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