Glossary of Education
Curriculum is an organized program of learning, usually segregated by subject area, composed of four main categories: content, instruction, assessment, and context. Curriculum content can be understood as the information and skills students should learn and eventually know by studying the material. The instruction of curriculum refers to the way the course content is taught to students, perhaps through lectures and class discussions, for example. Assessment is an important element of curriculum because it establishes how students will be measured on performance. Often assessments take the form of exams, oral presentations, research projects, or writing assignments. The curriculum context is a broad term for the educational environment in which the course material will be taught; for example, to understand the curriculum for an elementary school science class, it is important to note that the level of rigor should be suitable for elementary school students.