Objectives 

This module provides opportunities to explore current developments and to understand the central concept involved in: 

• Defining curriculum objectives and broad learning outcomes;
• National curriculum standards (competency-based, learning areas, subjects, learning outcomes).
• Curriculum integration, diversification and differentiation.

And to exemplify curriculum design through the specific areas of: 

• School Health and HIV/Aids Prevention;
• Science and Technology Education (STE);
• Citizenship and Social Transformation;
• Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Focus 

The compartmentalization of knowledge into disciplines is antithetical to how students experience life because life in the real world isn’t divided into disciplines. Thus, in order for learning to be relevant, the curriculum must mirror the real world so that students can see the connection between life and their learning in school, which is the essence of integrated learning. Learning that is integrated is relevant because this is when students can apply what they have learned in the classroom in their daily lives. On a higher level, however, learning becomes meaningful when individually the students are able to internalize their learning and reflect it in their behavior.  Learning then becomes integrated into the self and becomes a part of one’s being.  

Integrated learning enables the students to view essential content in multifarious contexts as subject area boundaries are practically redrawn. Learning becomes seamless as students draw on the content learned in one area and apply it in another area or the skill developed in one area is used to process the information in another area. Thus, learning does not occur in dichotomies or in fragments, but holistically as the students’ learning horizon broadens and deepens. This module illustrates how integrated learning takes place in different subject areas, e.g., science and technology, that can serve as model for other disciplines like a core for total learning. 

Key words 

Applied science, citizenship, competencies, content-based instruction, cross-curricular provision, curriculum design, education for sustainable development, HIV/AIDS prevention, integrated learning, learning objectives, learning outcomes, problem-based learning, school health education, science and technology education; social cohesion, social transformation, standards, subject integration, time allocation.