The Three Levels of Organizing Structure

Organization happens at different scales. A curriculum is structured at three levels at once, from the broad shape of the whole program down to a single day’s lesson. Knowing the three levels helps a developer see where continuity and integration can succeed and where they break down.

The largest level

The largest level is the overall shape of the curriculum. There are four common forms:

1. Subject-specific. The familiar separate subjects: arithmetic, geography, history, spelling. Each stands alone.
2. Broad fields. Related subjects clustered into one domain, such as social studies (combining civics, geography, and history), language arts, mathematics, or natural sciences.
3. Core combined with fields or subjects. A core curriculum for general education, joined with broad fields and specific subjects.
4. Undifferentiated. The whole program treated as a single unit, with no subject divisions, as in the curricula of less formal institutions like scouting and guiding.

Flashcard

What are the forms of the largest level of organizing structure?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Subject-specific, broad fields, core combined with fields or subjects, and undifferentiated

Subject-specific keeps subjects separate; broad fields cluster related ones; core joins a general core with fields or subjects; undifferentiated treats the whole program as one unit.

The intermediate level

The intermediate level is the level of courses. It comes in two kinds:

1. Sequenced courses. Courses organized so their complexity increases over time, such as Social Sciences 1, 2, and 3. As the depth of content increases across them, the sequence also builds a kind of unification. These are planned as a unifying sequence.
2. Discrete courses. Single-semester or year-long courses that are not planned as part of a longer time sequence. When grade 9 algebra does not build on grade 8 arithmetic, the two are discrete courses, with no sequential organization at the intermediate level.

The difference matters for sequence. Sequenced courses carry a thread forward; discrete courses do not, so a learner gains no cumulative depth across them.

The lowest level

The lowest level is the smallest unit of organization, and it has three common forms:

1. The lesson taught in a single day, treated as a discrete unit. This is historically the most widely used structure.
2. The topic, which may last several days or weeks.
3. The unit, organized around problems or major learner purposes, usually spread over several weeks.

A warning comes with the lowest level. Continuity and integration can be achieved through discrete subjects, but discrete lessons create problems, and vertical organization becomes impossible to attain when the day’s lesson is the only unit. Vertical organization demands that courses be organized over a period of years, in larger units and a larger framework. The smaller the only unit a curriculum uses, the harder it is to build anything cumulative.

Flashcard

What are the three forms of the lowest level of organizing structure?

Tap to reveal

Answer

The single-day lesson, the topic of days or weeks, and the multi-week unit

The lesson is historically the most common. But relying only on single lessons makes vertical organization impossible, since cumulative depth needs larger units arranged over years.