EDED11455 - Curriculum Foundations and Decision-Making

General Information

Unit Synopsis

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

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the 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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Bundaberg
Cairns
Mackay
Online
Rockhampton

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 50%
2. Practical and Written Assessment 50%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 79.07% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20.38% response rate.

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.

Source: Student evaluation
Feedback
The assessment tasks to be reviewed.
Recommendation
The assessment task wording will be reviewed.
Action Taken
The assessment task wording was reviewed and it was decided that it was accurate and appropriate.
Source: Student evaluation
Feedback
Reconsider the use of group work in assessment task 2.
Recommendation
The second assessment task will be amended to use pairs instead of groups.
Action Taken
We did try the pairs method and this did seem to work more effectively not only with the organisation but also in the results.The students who collaborated well received good marks.
Source: Evaluation Feedback
Feedback
Student diversity
Recommendation
Revision of the unit materials will ensure that they demonstrate learner diversity.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Evaluation Feedback
Feedback
Foster more student interaction
Recommendation
The unit coordinator with revise the unit to ensure that there is student interaction included each week.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Identify key ideas, contemporary influences and conflicting perspectives on curriculum development and planning
  2. Evaluate the application of key learning theories to the goals and priorities of 21st century learning
  3. Summarise the view of learners, teaching and learning articulated in current national curriculum documents and policies specific to educational and/or early childhood settings
  4. 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
  5. 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 • • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
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 • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment • • • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • • • •