In Progress
Please note that this Unit Profile is still in progress. The content below is subject to change.Overview
Curriculum Foundations and Decision-making builds students’ knowledge and understanding of the key learning theories of behaviourism, humanism, constructivism, social-constructivism and connectivism as a basis for exploring pedagogical approaches to curriculum construction and decision-making. Analysis and critique of the view of learners and approaches to teaching and learning articulated in the Early Years Learning Framework and Australian Curriculum documents are an important focus of this unit. Students reflect on how learners are positioned to make transitions to new learning contexts and evaluate strategies for designing authentic relevant curriculum and environments for diverse learner groups with a focus on inquiry, active investigation and problem-solving. Students collaborate in groups to apply these strategies across selected learning contexts including early years settings to either: (a) the design and presentation of child-centred open-ended learning experiences; or (b) the creation of a learning environment with possibilities for developing literate, numerate, scientific, technological or environmental understandings
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student Evaluation feedback
Potential use of quizzes
Include a quiz to assess students’ ability to recognise teaching strategies
Feedback from Student Evaluation feedback
Assessment 2
Reword assessment task 2
Feedback from Student Evaluation feedback
Use of examples used in tutorials
Include more examples that are inclusive of primary and early childhood
- Identify key ideas, contemporary influences and conflicting perspectives on curriculum development and planning
- Evaluate the application of key learning theories to the goals and priorities of 21st century learning
- Summarise the view of learners, teaching and learning articulated in current national curriculum documents and policies specific to educational and/or early childhood settings
- Analyse examples of teaching practice to evaluate the selection of teaching strategies for child-centred learning for students with a diverse range of interests, backgrounds and needs
- Design learning opportunities that incorporate a range of resources and strategies to promote language development, curiosity, inquiry, imagination, self-expression, higher-order thinking and problem-solving in a range of settings and learning areas.
Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to engage with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Career Stage) focus areas of:
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.2 Understand how students learn
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
3.3 Use teaching strategies
3.4 Select and use resources
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning
In addition, competency elements from the Diploma of Children’s Services (Early Childhood Education and Care) are taught and assessed in this unit.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | |||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 50% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||