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Six steps for curriculum development

This is an excerpt from Essentials of Teaching Health Education 3rd Edition With HKPropel Access, The by Sarah Benes & Holly Alperin.

The curriculum development process in this chapter uses a backward design—that is, it begins with student outcomes (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005, 2011). The focus is on implementing the general principles of curriculum development rather than on a specific model. Wiggins and McTighe (2011) reference three stages for this design: identifying the results you want for students from the unit, determining the evidence you will collect to measure learning against desired results, and creating a learning plan to help ensure students are prepared to provide evidence of learning. This is done so students can transfer learning outside the classroom and into their experiences.

We recognize that many curriculum development models are used, and if your school or district is aligned with a specific model, use that approach. But we encourage you to see where you might take key points from this chapter and integrate them into whichever model your district uses. The process described in this chapter can be applied in other models, such as Understanding by Design; you may just need to add steps to the process or use a specific format. The process described in this chapter is based on the backward-design approach and is largely informed by our practical experience in curriculum development with teachers in the field and in teaching curriculum development in college and university teacher preparation programs. Regardless of the model used, the focus is on student outcomes and letting those outcomes guide curriculum planning.

We also recognize that your school or department may benefit from higher-level conversations, including program- or department-level discussions, about your collective purpose, mission, vision, and goals. While we feel this is important, and certainly you should align your curriculum to meet any expectations that exist, this chapter is intended to focus specifically on curriculum development. We encourage you to also take time to work on these higher-level elements, which can help to reinforce the importance of health education, show alignment with other academic subjects in the school, and provide the framework for your curriculum and implementation. We want to emphasize the importance of this work while recognizing that a deep dive is beyond the scope of this book, and we feel you can establish an effective curriculum to meet the needs of your students even if these other elements are not in place.

This chapter highlights a six-step process, beginning with the students and the community and ending with specific lesson plans.

1. Get to know the students and the community.
2. Use data to determine the health topics, functional information, and skills.
3. Create a scope and sequence.
4. Develop a unit plan, objectives, and outcomes.
5. Develop unit assessments.
6. Create lesson plans and learning experiences.

Even though the steps are presented sequentially, curriculum development is an iterative, ongoing process. The curriculum should be planned, implemented, evaluated, and revised as necessary, and this may not happen in a sequential order. These steps are a guide for the planning process. Figure 15.1 shows the cyclical, continual nature of the curriculum development process.

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